May 23, 2025 • 47 mins
Stepping back into Sakura-Con after the pandemic felt like returning home. This beloved anime convention in Seattle offers something corporate comic cons simply can't match—a genuine community experience where passion trumps commercialism.
What makes Sakura-Con special? For starters, it's non-profit, offering memberships rather than tickets, which virtually eliminates scalping. The 24-hour programming means panels run until 4 AM, giving you freedom to experience everything without rigid scheduling constraints. Perhaps most refreshingly, autographs are included with your membership—no additional fees required. The manageable crowd size allows you to actually move between events without feeling like cattle being herded through overcrowded halls.
This year's convention spread across two venues—the original convention center and the newly-built Summit—creating both opportunities and challenges. While industry panels from Crunchyroll and Aniplex offered glimpses of upcoming releases (including the announcement that Demon Slayer's Infinity Castle arc arrives as a movie in September), the absence of their once-prominent booth presence was noticeable. The Artist Alley received prime placement this year, though a Saturday fire incident temporarily closed this creative heart of the convention.
Not everything worked perfectly. The convention app proved problematic, forcing many attendees to navigate via photos of printed maps. The beloved Anime Theater—a 24-hour screening room that traditionally introduced fans to new series—was missing, eliminating a key discovery platform that had introduced countless fans to new favorite shows.
For those considering attending, bring comfortable shoes, water, snacks, and perhaps a dedicated payment card pre-loaded with your convention budget. Most importantly, plan ahead—whether for panels, autographs, or meals—to maximize your time and avoid spending your convention experience waiting in lines.
Ready to experience an anime convention that captures the passionate, fan-driven spirit that makes this community special? Join us next April in Seattle for Sakura-Con 2025!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Piper (00:00):
Hi, hello and welcome to Second Emulation.
Oh my God, you guys.
I'm so excited for you tolisten to this episode, like
it's going to be so good.
Your amazing host is about totake you on a deep dive into all
things movies, anime, gamingand pop culture.
Seriously, it's like the bestway to spend your time.
So grab your favorite drinkmaybe a latte or something cute
(00:22):
and get ready to have the besttime.
Ok, love that for you.
Here's your host.
Shawn (00:28):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Second Immolation, the
show where we dive deep into allthings pop culture.
I'm Sean, your host, and todaywe're going to be talking about
my experience at SakuraCon,which took place on 4-18 through
the 20th of April in SeattleWashington.
(00:48):
If you're a fan of comics ormanga, cosplay and geeking out
with fellow fans, this one's foryou.
Stick around as I break it down, share my highlights and give
you the inside scoop.
What made this convention veryspecial, as it is, I would say,
the most popular animeconvention in Seattle Washington
(01:11):
.
All right, so let's get into it.
For those who aren't familiar,sakura-con is actually one of
the biggest anime conventions,conventions in the Pacific
Northwest.
Now I've started going to these.
Possibly around 2010 is theearliest I remember going to the
(01:34):
convention around that time.
I've gone to it, at least myfirst one, around 2010, when I
was in college.
And, mind you, this conventionhas evolved over the years.
(01:58):
It wasn't as big as it is nowand the reason for that Is just
it grew Over the course as animehas become more accepted and
entered the pop culture Talkingstage.
Back in the day, anime wasn'treally as big.
(02:20):
Dragon Ball, bleach, yu YuHakusho Really brought Anime to
the masses through toonami, andthat's how I got my first
exposure to anime was to toonamion cartoon network.
Now, what sets apart sakura conor, I feel, like any anime
(02:41):
convention that comes around indifferent states is that, for
those who don't know animeconventions, particularly this
one, sakura-con is a non-profit,not-for-profit.
It's different from any comicbook convention and when you buy
(03:03):
your ticket, it's notessentially like a badge that
you would get from going to SanDiego Comic-Con or any of those
big comic conventions.
These are memberships that youpay that will have your name
printed on them and then thatwill be utilized for all three
days of the convention, for allthree days of the convention.
(03:26):
Key features of this is that,because it's a non-profit and
they don't mail out your badges,it does actually reduce the
scalpers.
My experience, or for those whohave gone to either, both can
agree that with animeconventions, both can agree that
(03:46):
with anime conventions it is areduce in traffic, with people
pestering about having you tryto buy a badge.
They also reduce the need for Iwouldn't say high security, but
just security in general.
Security, but just security ingeneral, because there's high
profile people within the comicbook industry and movie industry
(04:10):
who don't attend these things.
So having the need to protector have that extra layer of
security isn't also necessary.
Not saying that you don't needsecurity, but because of what
the convention is and what youknow it's bringing, their
(04:34):
security measures are a littlebit I want to say lower, but a
lot of it does is relied on theconvention itself.
Now, another key feature is thatthe anime convention,
especially sakura con, is 24hours.
It has, and when.
(04:55):
That 24 hours is that you cango friday, the moment the doors
or panels are open, and you cango to different panels the
exhibition hall and merch andartist alleys.
Those have specific times thatthey start and times that they
(05:15):
close, but their panels arehappening throughout the day and
they run until the followingday, until either 6 or 4 am in
the morning.
Now some anime conventions mayhave steered away from this type
of 24-7 availability.
(05:36):
I enjoy it because it allowsyou to then dip your finger and
experience into many differentpanels, many different offerings
that the convention has tooffer, and I myself cannot be
restricted to a certaincharcuterie of availability of,
(05:58):
like certain panels, artists.
There's just so much to do andyou feel like you don't have
enough time to do it.
Another key feature from sakuracon or animal anime conventions
is that the autographs are free.
(06:19):
They're included with yourmembership.
You don't have to worry abouthaving to buy an autograph, as
what you would do at comic bookconventions, anime conventions,
especially this one, as I know,is that it is included with your
(06:40):
price.
That being said, you arelimited to how many things can
be signed and if the guestdecides he wants to charge on
something, it is set by them.
But typically, autographs areincluded in your membership to
(07:01):
attend Sakura Con or similaranime conventions, which I enjoy
.
That also means that having toline up for your specific guest
you want to get autographed isvery important because they have
a limited time that they'regoing to get through people.
So that is, I think, one keyfeature, amongst the others that
(07:28):
I mentioned, that make sakuracon very unique.
Now, first impressions.
This is my second a visit,after the pandemic of going to
the convention, to at sakura con.
I went one year prior but onlywent for a day.
(07:49):
This was my second time going.
I ended up going for a littlebit over three days, got a hotel
for two, and I would say that Imissed this.
I miss going going to SakuraConso much that I forgot
everything that there is to doat SakuraCon, because prior I
(08:15):
used to go very religiously andthen the pandemic happened and
then I wasn't able to go, and sogetting to experience Sakura
Con again was like a dream cometrue.
The reason for that is also onething, like as a convention goer
is the crowd size.
(08:36):
It's very different.
It's light and day.
Emerald City-con has hugecrowds.
You feel like you're just beingherded to the entrance.
There's so many people you haveto either pick a path of where
you need to go and fight yourway to get there.
With sakura con there was noneed for that and I forgot how
(09:01):
great that feels.
Where there was the freedom togo to certain panels, go on
different floors and justexplore and not have to fight
your way to get from point A topoint B.
It was a huge relief doing that.
The crowd size for SakuraConwas much smaller for traffic
(09:26):
wise.
I don't know how many peopleactually attended, but it was
still big enough.
And this was also my firstexperience of having the
convention in two differentlocations, since Seattle has two
convention locations, onecalled the Summit, which was
(09:47):
recently built, which allowsthem to have multiple different
conventions.
I was under the impression thatthe whole convention itself
would be in that one building.
I was wrong.
What they end up doing is theyend up splitting it between the
two buildings.
The original building, whichSakura-Kan and most of the
(10:08):
conventions were held at, hadthe main stage and the video
games and things like AMV, likevideos and things of that nature
.
All type of panels were held atthe summit, so they did split
it up.
They did do exactly the samething that they did for ECC,
which kind of was a shocker forme, so I thought that they would
(10:31):
just have everything held inone building.
I believe they did do that onetime, I'm not too sure, but that
was like a big eye opener forme.
A big eye-opener for me.
Regardless, I picked the samehotel that I did for Emerald
City Comic Con, and it wasn't anissue, for the walk Just wasn't
something I was expecting fromSakuraCon.
(10:54):
What really set the tone for me, though, was that it seemed
more relaxed, people seemed tohave fun, and you could see
areas where there was very muchphoto opportunities, and me
coming back to SakuraCon and nothaving those photo
opportunities to take pictureswith people in cosplay was also
(11:15):
a missed opportunity Because,mind you, seeing people dressed
up in their costumes is nice.
I very much like it and in thepast I used to take a lot of
pictures.
A lot of things that havechanged was back in the day.
In the original building youhad, there was this giant
(11:35):
hallway.
It looked like a hall that youhave to go in and you had to get
in line and wait.
And I know my first experiencewith sakura con is I
accidentally got into a line,didn't know who it was for, only
to realize it was for the voiceactor, vegeta.
I felt bad because I wasn'tplanned or prepared.
(11:58):
All I had was the programmingand I didn't know it then.
But I didn't have anything tosign for him to sign.
He was very kind, he I had theprogram and he allowed.
He was able to sign the programwith this picture, gave himself
a margin, give him the marginsymbol and gave him himself some
hair and he signed it and thatwas like my first experience.
(12:21):
And then from then on that waslike you first experience and
then from then on that was likeyou know, how I got to enjoy the
con was that a lot of thingswere changed that evolved over
the years.
Another, I think, experience wasthat they have an app.
Now they've switched, they'vemoved away from paper programs,
(12:46):
which I understand you have toprint a lot of stuff, but I'm so
used to having a paper programor a booklet that it's easier to
plan and I get it.
They want offer a map, whichwas much needed, because one
(13:06):
thing as a convention goer isthat you need to know where
you're going.
You need to be able to planyour event throughout the day
and, mind you, since my firsttime, going or coming back to
Zekuragon, coming back to theCurricone, not having a
direction or where you're going,takes more time away from your
(13:29):
con experience than anythingelse.
So having to sit back or pulloff to the side and then go
through and figure out whereyou're going is not the best.
So having an app, which doeshelp for for some, isn't the
best because they bail it on thelast the week of the convention
(13:51):
.
So, yeah, now I went to someindustry panels, one for
cruncher roll, and they werethey in released or previewed
some anime, and then the otherwas an industry panel for
Aniplex.
Now, these were small, mind you, it's the media team.
(14:14):
But I used to remember back inthe day where these were like
almost Marvel-type filled roomswith people just waiting for
like animes to be released, andI know that the industry has
changed over the time of thecourse and that's also become a
thing.
(14:34):
One of the things I noticed isthat with Aniplex they were
giving us like what's coming out, sizzle reels of the animes,
what we can be expecting, whatkind of products and merch and,
to be honest, a lot of the stuffthat the for the industry panel
that we're showing were alreadyreleased on crunchyroll.
(14:57):
Now they did give a caveat.
We got to see when the demonSlayer, the Infinity Castle arc
is going to air, which is goingto be a movie in September.
Spoiler for those who don'tknow, who haven't seen the news
yet Infinity Castle arc forDemon Slayer Movie is going to
(15:20):
be coming out in September.
But that was like pretty muchit.
Anything else that we saw Wasalready.
You could already much it.
Anything else that we saw wasalready.
You could already find it, thenews, the updates.
So I'm not sure if that, if likethey needed to be there
necessarily and what they wereshowing was needed.
But I give the media team forAnaplex, some an A for effort,
(15:45):
because they were trying to workthe crowd and get people
excited, and I understand thisis not something that you want
to do or talk about things thatare already been revealed or
people can just get anywhereelse.
So those were like somehighlights from this SakuraCon,
(16:06):
from going to panels, panels no,I didn't go to much panels,
those were the ones, the keyones that me and my partner
wanted to go see.
Now I can't give you a list ofguests that were, that were that
had attended, because me goingto this convention or going to
sakura con was so last minutethat there wasn't really much
for me to plan for other thanjust getting the hotels and
(16:29):
getting our tickets.
So I will say that next timearound, when I do attend, we
more planned.
I'm actually going to have alist of like people I want to
get autographed autographs for,want to get autographed
autographs for, because this wasall last minute and I kicked my
(16:50):
shoot myself in the footbecause how unprepared I was to
like figure out who was going tobe there, which guests I want
to see.
Normally I have that prepared,but this time I did not.
I will say that Artist Alley,this time around, was really big
.
They gave them an open spaceand, mind you, artist Alley is
(17:12):
like the runt or the black sheepof every convention.
They are always given alocation that no one can get to
or you don't even know wherethey're at until you have to see
them on the map.
And this time they've giventhem the biggest open space area
that you can get for artistalley, which was in the main
(17:35):
convention building, which theycall the arch, and I was so
excited.
But also around this time priorto me getting there was you
probably heard on TikTok orsocial media that there was a
fire.
Yeah, and this happened on thesecond day and fortunately, me
(17:56):
and my partner weren't able toget to Artist Alley until later
in the evening on Saturday,which they were able to open it
back up and then give itextended hours.
So it was just unfortunate thatone at least half of a day of
Saturday, which is normally thebusiest for Artist alley and for
(18:17):
us to walk around, we didn'treally get to do much until
mostly the end of the evening,when they did open up.
We end up going to one of thedances there.
Now, they did have a ball thatyou could attend, which you have
to have the appropriate attire.
Me and my partner were unableto go to that, but we did decide
(18:40):
to actually go see the dancewith the djs.
Mind you, it it is the djs runor the dance runs until the
following day, I think, until 4am, but we want to experience it
because, after every time we'vegone to sakura con, we never
(19:00):
once actually attempted to go tothe dj dance, and so we wanted
to experience.
We've always, we always, goneto emma city comic cons like
dance and, mind you, they dohave a DJ and the DJ plays the
same type of music and theyalways have a theme, and so it
runs between two to three out, Ithink, three hours max, and so
(19:24):
this is something I wanted toexperience a little bit
different and, mind you, it wasinteresting.
It's what you would expect fromany type of dance rave type of
atmosphere, so that wassomething new.
Yeah, so the dance wassomething that we experienced,
(19:45):
but I think one of like for me,a big highlight, like impact for
me was not having not seeingcrunchyroll or Anaplex or any
big name industry have a booth,and the reason why I say this is
key or a big highlight, orsomething that's very impactful,
(20:05):
is that I've gone to a lot ofSakuraCon or anime conventions
over the years and Crunchyrollor Funimation and Crunchyroll
and Anaplex have always been, Iwant to say, the pioneers of
having booths in these in animeconventions, where they're
(20:27):
slinging free swag, gettingpeople to sign up.
You get to see what animethey're releasing and they're
just really going hard.
I got one of my my it's like areusable bag or tote bag from
crunchyrolls booth it was.
It has naruto, sakurakan andsasuke on it and you can wear it
(20:51):
like a backpack.
Now, my only first experiencewith crunchyroll is a little bit
of a story, but going at leastone of my first anime
conventions I was sakura con.
I went there and I went totheir booth where they were
giving this out and streaminganime was a new concept back in
(21:17):
2010 and I was like there was noway for me to watch anime
without toonami and you can't goback and re-watch the old
catalog stuff.
So I was like, okay, cool, I'lltry it.
Signed up for a free trial.
I had a console, I had a ps3back in the day and I used to
(21:40):
loaded it up information andbeen watching anime and I got
that bag.
I was as a result of that and Iwant to say that crunchyroll got
me back into anime during thattime and going to sakura con or
going to sakura con is veryimportant because it's the
(22:02):
convention that kind of broughtme back into watching anime
after college, taking a hugehiatus and not having the access
to anime as I used to when Iwas a kid.
So sakura con holds a veryimportant place in my heart, in
my partner's heart.
We we can say that we likecombo conventions until the the
(22:28):
sky falls, but sakura con isthat one passion.
Anime is a passion that we bothhave and sakura con is that one
convention.
It means a lot to us justbecause it's not as commercial.
We're able to experience newpanels and see new animes and we
(22:51):
probably would not have gottento see otherwise, and so we get
a lot of exposure from it andjust also interacting with other
people who have the sameinterest, who might recommend a
new anime to you.
So within that, I don't want tosay like a bleeding heart, but
(23:12):
sakura con serves.
It has a special place in myheart and and I'll keep going
Not the best highlight, I wantto say, but, yeah, it just
brings me joy going toSakura-Kan Now with all the type
of highlights that I canmention.
There are areas that I feel likecan be improved upon and one of
(23:37):
the things is just wait times.
With it being a nonprofit, I dounderstand that.
The printing the name tag somepeople might like it and some
people might hate it becauseit's such an unorthodox and old
thing to do that it just thewait times on getting a badge,
(23:59):
say on Friday, where everyoneyou know for that three-day
weekend or for the weekend isgetting their badge the day of,
on a Friday, and it can costhugely a big backup and there's
also potential for technicalissues which I end up hearing
did occur on Friday Earlier inthe day.
(24:21):
There were long lines as aresult.
Could they find an alternativeto printing a badge?
Maybe, but I think the reasonwhy they do it is because the
badge itself is a membership andit's as is per.
You have to write your name andcreate a profile for that year
(24:43):
up until the convention ends.
Yeah, so providing analternative, I would be open to
them having an alternative.
I do like the badges that areprinted because I could save
them and put them in a scrapbook, but having an easier, a much
more productive process and howthey print their badges and
(25:06):
you're able to pick up badgewill be much more smooth.
I know a lot of you arechampioning about getting a
badge that's more plastic,similar to the comic book
conventions.
That also leads into some likedifferent issues, but I know a
lot of people are puttingfeedback.
That's something that theyshould do.
Another improvement I feel likethey should do is a better way
(25:30):
to identify yourself.
I know within the transcommunity trans community
community there are a lot ofindividuals who were forced to
use their dead name and I dounderstand not being recognized
by that anymore, but thereshould be an option on the
(25:52):
website where you don't have tolist it for you picking up your
badge or what you want to beidentified as.
I think the one thing that theycould improve on is that when
it says what would you like tobe called as you know they have
that when they print out thebadge they shouldn't have what
(26:14):
you want to be called as andyour name.
I think that's one thing, a keyfeature that they should add,
because I do understand not alot of people want to be called
by their actual name.
Some people have a nickname.
I do understand the emotionbehind having to be identified
by your dead name as a trans,trans person, so I feel like
(26:39):
they should improve in that, inthat process, and deserve some
feedback about what they shoulddo.
And they didn't even have aprocess of like how you should
go about it.
If you are someone who doesn'twant to be identified by their
dead name but are being forced,that process needs to be much
smoother going forward.
(27:02):
Another I feel is a big thing isthe program and the app that
they utilize.
Every year they switch the appover because they are a
non-profit.
They switch the Apple becausethey are a non-profit and one
the app they used previouslywasn't as great as the app that
they use this year because theyhave to pay a company to build
(27:27):
the programming that they need.
This year the app did not workwhatsoever and even the website
was as janky as it was.
I do remember a time that I didgo that they did use an app
called guide.
I preferred that, that app forlike event planning that one I
(27:49):
did enjoy.
I don't know what feedback thatthey go into, but whoever
they're going to like going toutilize next year needs to have
a better structure and betterway to make things navigate just
make things more navigatableand address the concerns that
people are having.
Like for us, the app didn'tallow for us to save panels and
(28:13):
schedules and be notified.
I feel like that's a keyfeature that you should have if
you want to plan out your dayevery time you close out of it.
You had to re-look for sakuracon itself in order to like plan
I felt like that was annoyingand also have their descriptions
(28:33):
on where things are located.
That was was one thing.
I know it's not the volunteers'fault.
It's more so the member, theboard members, who, when they
implement these changes or whatthey want to see, they need to
understand that people who go tothe event need to be able to
navigate.
(28:54):
I had to actually step aside andactually go to the info booth,
and the info booth had only onesolution.
They told us that the app wasnot working, that to go to the
website the actual website andyou could pinch and zoom the map
, but to figure out where thingswere going, they had a cheat
(29:14):
sheet that they had on a postthat they taped over so that you
could take a picture of, and ittold you what buildings the
each programming would be basedon higher loan numbers.
That what I know that they weretrying their best, but that
does not need to happen.
This is my first timeespecially attending I would say
(29:37):
, almost all three days but theyneed to get on their a-game not
the volunteers but the boardmembers.
I don't need to be pulled asideand be referencing a photo.
That's what I did allconvention was.
Whenever we needed to gosomewhere, I had to reference a
photo that I took of Tommy,higher or lower where the panel
(29:59):
was going to be at, and thatreally got under my skin because
, again, you spend most of yourtime trying to navigate the
convention and not actuallyenjoying the convention, and so
that was like a kick in the assa little bit, because we had to
(30:24):
figure out where we were going,where things were at.
Mind you, you do that anyways,but when things don't work
accordingly, it puts a wrench inyour whole plan.
Another area that needs to beimproved upon is panels Having a
more anime-type presence.
Have them, have booths, becauseover the course of many years,
(30:50):
you started seeing that thesevendors or entry panels just
slowly remove themselves fromhaving booths.
They used to be present there.
Yeah, I saw Crunchyroll's panelwhere they advertised, hey,
these animators are going to behere.
(31:10):
But going on the exit floor,where the merch was at all,
there was merch, which which isanime much, which I was excited
I don't get me wrong, I love theanime merch but there was no
present.
Hey, anaplex is here.
Hey, crunchyroll is here.
We gotta we need to representand let people know hey, we are
(31:32):
here.
You guys we help facilitatethis.
Crunchyroll was a sponsor forSakuraCon, but that was like the
remnants were there, and sothat's something I feel like
they should improve upon.
I don't know if they will orthey can, but have be a presence
(31:54):
at these conventions and Ithink one thing which is, I'm
going to say, for me that needsto be improved upon is anime
theater.
This was one thing that Ilooked forward to every
convention, and what it is thatit is a room or a panel where
(32:19):
they play anime 24-7.
You can go in, sit, watch animeand leave.
They're playing the oldies andgoodies, anything that's current
or old.
If you haven haven't seen it,it's going to be playing there
and it runs 24 hours, fromfriday until the last day.
(32:44):
It was one of the things thatme and my partner enjoyed going
to because we could sit, sitdown and relax and just watch
anime.
Sometimes I knew like an animethat we'd never seen before we
would get introduced to and weloved it.
There was.
I can't say how many timeswe've gone to the anime theater.
(33:06):
We sat and watched anime, onlyto like add a new anime that
we've never seen to our watchlist.
So I feel like the presence ofanime theater at this sakura con
and I'm not sure if it wasthere was present last year was
lacking.
I feel like that's a bigimprovement that they need to
(33:27):
bring back, because having anamv d theater studio where you
just watch AMVs it's not great.
I don't want to sit and watchmemes of stuff of anime.
I'm not there for that.
I want to be able to relax,watch anime and see stuff that
just comes on and get exposureto it.
(33:49):
Yeah, I know people might sayyou have the app.
Crunchyroll has an app andHiDive have an app.
Yeah, that's great.
The app Crunchyroll has an appand HiDive has an app.
Yeah, that's great, butCrunchyroll wasn't here.
I don't want to watch anime onmy phone.
I could do that anytime.
The whole point of going to theconvention is to experience it
and get exposure to new stuff.
Yeah, I feel like that needs tobe improved upon, and the
(34:13):
autographs were pretty good.
They did have them located onthe same floor as emerge and it
was much more organized thanwhat I first experienced, where
it was essentially all hands ondeck, where everyone got to a
line and if you needed a viewwere like if it was a time limit
(34:37):
, they tried to get througheveryone and if you didn't make
it through, the line was cut andyou have to wait till the
following day.
It's a much more organized nowthan it was when the time I went
, and I'm happy for that becauseI know back in experience, if
you missed an opportunity, thatperson wasn't going to do
(34:59):
autographs again until eitheranother time slot or the next
following day.
It's very different from sakuracon, where they have that
person does autographs or thatguest does autographs multiple
times within the day thatthey're there.
They have a slotted time, theydo the autographs and that is
about it, and then they get toenjoy the convention.
(35:21):
So that's one thing that I feellike they did pretty well.
I think another part that needsto be improved on is the
location.
They need to stop having theconvention, like Anime or
Sakura-Con or Amar CityComic-Con divided into two
separate buildings.
(35:42):
I know they think that they'remaking it more accessible by
doing this and dividing both,but it adds a lot of confusion
towards attendees that you'regoing to have the key parts in
one location and then the otherparts in the other.
(36:02):
Mind you, the artist alley waslocated in the arch building.
We would have never known aboutit until someone let us know
about the artist alley and thisgoes back to my key point is
that artist alley is alwayslocated like somewhere and they
(36:23):
don't really advertise it asmuch and it always gets the same
treatment, and I feel like thatis something that needs to be
improved upon.
Have it in just one building.
I know people will complain andbe like oh, it's not, you're not
giving much space to theautographs and photo ops.
And artist alley summitbuilding in washington is about
(36:50):
five floors or more.
With so many rooms and panels,they can fit the convention
there, and they did.
Did they actually had EmeraldCity Comic Con in that one
building all by itself.
All you had to go is walk to,but people complained about the.
You know how the autographswere sharing the same space as
(37:14):
Artist Alley.
The thing is, I don't think youneed to do that.
There's enough space and floorswhere you can divide everyone
and everyone will have theopportunity to do, and so I just
think it's this poor plan andthey're trying to get, I think,
more maximum effort to thebusinesses around Seattle, which
, mind you, is OK, but it's just.
(37:36):
We expected it to be different.
It wasn't.
It threw us off and we'rehoping that next year they can
improve upon this.
Going forward, I would have togive a SakuraCon at least a 7
out of 10, which is my rating.
It's not perfect, but it'sdefinitely worth attending if
(37:59):
you can like get over thehurdles of navigation, foot
traffic, deciding what you wantto do and having a plan
beforehand.
Otherwise, you just are goingto get frustrated by trying to
navigate with the map and theapp that they have available and
, like every other convention, Ithink, trips on tips that you
(38:21):
need is that carry a backpack,have a water bottle, because it
can be water bottle stands,bring snacks if you need to,
because the options for theconvention, like their eatery,
is very limited unless you wantlike finger type food, or you
can wait to go outside theconvention and get food.
You can wait to go outside theconvention and get food.
(38:43):
Me and my partner had Seattledogs.
They were very awesome, verycheap, alternative than what you
pay for.
But since we were on the go, wedidn't want to spend more time
just at a restaurant and eating.
I feel like you need to plan,so if you know where you need to
eat, where you want to eat,plan ahead and then make sure
you get everything donebeforehand.
It hasn't been said enough.
But footwear Make sure you'rewearing comfortable footwear
(39:04):
because you are going to bewalking.
You're going to be walking alot and your feet are going to
hurt and your legs.
You're going to get your stepsin.
When it comes to vendors andbuying merch, if you need to, I
would say bring cash.
But if you can't bring cashcash, you have to use a debit
card.
They do have atms at specificlocation to take out cash.
(39:26):
One of my tips that I do isthat I have a venmo debit card
and what I do if I'm not goingto buy something, I preload that
with an x amount of funds thatI want to utilize for my time at
the convention.
That way I'm not having to usemy credit card or debit card.
(39:47):
I can use I have it loaded withapp or Samsung Pay and Google
Wallet, but sometimes in theselocations internet's not very
good, so I find myself utilizingphysical card.
So that's one tip I think youshould have.
Is that if you rely oncontactless payment, like apple,
(40:08):
samsung, make sure you have abackup like a physical card that
you can utilize because theirinternet service is crappy here,
and this is for any conventioncenter is that the service is
really bad and I feel likethat's something that needs to
(40:29):
be approved on.
Is that, if you have attendeeswho go to these conventions,
have wi-fi for them included inyour admissions or your ticket
when you get there, you haveaccess to this wi-fi for
attendance, because I feel like,with as much money you're
getting with your ticket, thatshould be included.
(40:51):
I do know emerald citycomic-con did it once and then
never again did it and I waslike what the hell?
So I feel like they need tobring that back.
Have accessible Wi-Fi for yourattendees that we could use in
order.
We can use that because the app, the service in these areas are
(41:13):
not great.
So those are my things.
I feel like our tips and tricksthat you know should help you at
just at SakuraCon.
But also plan ahead.
If you know you're going to seea panel, get there at least 20
minutes or half an hour earlier.
Same thing with the lines,because with SakuraCon or anime
(41:36):
conventions, because theautographs are are free, people
are going to get in line earlierand you want to be the first
one in.
You want to, you want to get inand get out as quickly as
possible so you can enjoy thecon.
You don't want to be waiting inline for too long, because I
know my experience is that ifyou don't plan ahead and you're
(41:58):
waiting in line the majority ofthe con, you'll spend most of
your time waiting in those linesand don't have the opportunity
to experience the convention asyou should.
So plan ahead, please planahead.
I did also mention earlierabout what to bring, what you
need to be comfortable with, butfor me those are the tips and
(42:20):
tricks for attending not justthis con but any convention
going forward.
So my overall verdict I knowthis is running a little bit
long is that going, being ableto go back to sakura con after
so long and experiencing maybetwo and a half days at the
(42:43):
convention, I feel like it'svery worth it to attend anime
conventions.
These are non-profit.
You do pay for a membership andI feel like it is worth it.
If you're looking to go through, to go to in your area and the
(43:03):
combo conventions are a littlebit too pricey, I feel with
anime conventions are a bang foryour buck because you can get
your ticket at a cheaper priceor membership earlier on.
It does get pricier as it getscloser to the convention and I
feel like it does offer more ofa charcuterie selection of what
(43:24):
you want to experience as like atrial run before you go to any
other conventions which are likemore corporate heavy, more
sponsored, more industry panelsfor guests and movies alike.
So I feel like animeconventions are essentially like
(43:44):
the like the black sheep, andwhen I used to go to them back
in 2010, they weren't as popular, and now, over the course of
the years, I've noticed moreconventions adjacent to
SakuraCon that have been poppingup and it makes me more happy
(44:05):
to see this more selection ofconventions across my state, my
hometown, so it makes me veryhappy.
So, again, if you have theopportunity to TIFF, you're in
Washington or you want to go toyour first anime convention, I
do recommend going to SakuraCon.
You won't be disappointed.
(44:27):
It is very relaxed and laidback and not big, not heavy on
those crowds that you wouldnormally see as like something
like San Diego Comic-Con.
I want to get a huge shout outto current and new listeners
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of Second Immolation.
(44:48):
If you enjoyed the show, don'tforget to subscribe, leave a
review, share it with yourfriends.
You can also follow us on oursocial media for convention
coverage and pop culture updates.
Let me know what your thoughtsof SakuraCon.
I love to hear them.
And then the next conventionthat I'll be going to would be
(45:12):
Rose City Comic Con, which isgoing to be in Oregon in
September.
I haven't decided about PAX,those are so close to each other
.
September I haven't decidedabout packs, those are so close
to each other.
But it is the instant that I'llbe going to Rose City Comic Con
and then, from there, actuallylooking at this slate of
conventions coming up to see ifwe can mix it up a bit.
(45:33):
All right, that does it for meand I'll catch you guys in the
next one.
All right, bye.
Piper (45:41):
Okay, wow, that was so much fun.
Your host totally nailed itright.
Like, how amazing was that.
Don't forget to subscribe soyou never miss an episode,
because, honestly, why would you?
And if you loved it, leave areview or like tell your friends
, it's like the nicest thingever.
Thanks for listening andremember stay fabulous, stay
emulated and I'll see you nexttime.
(46:02):
Bye.
Hi, hello and welcome to Second Emulation.
Oh my God, you guys.
I'm so excited for you tolisten to this episode, like
it's going to be so good.
Your amazing host is about totake you on a deep dive into all
things movies, anime, gamingand pop culture.
Seriously, it's like the bestway to spend your time.
So grab your favorite drinkmaybe a latte or something cute
(00:22):
and get ready to have the besttime.
Ok, love that for you.
Here's your host.
Shawn (00:28):
Hey everyone, welcome back to Second Immolation, the
show where we dive deep into allthings pop culture.
I'm Sean, your host, and todaywe're going to be talking about
my experience at SakuraCon,which took place on 4-18 through
the 20th of April in SeattleWashington.
(00:48):
If you're a fan of comics ormanga, cosplay and geeking out
with fellow fans, this one's foryou.
Stick around as I break it down, share my highlights and give
you the inside scoop.
What made this convention veryspecial, as it is, I would say,
the most popular animeconvention in Seattle Washington
(01:11):
.
All right, so let's get into it.
For those who aren't familiar,sakura-con is actually one of
the biggest anime conventions,conventions in the Pacific
Northwest.
Now I've started going to these.
Possibly around 2010 is theearliest I remember going to the
(01:34):
convention around that time.
I've gone to it, at least myfirst one, around 2010, when I
was in college.
And, mind you, this conventionhas evolved over the years.
(01:58):
It wasn't as big as it is nowand the reason for that Is just
it grew Over the course as animehas become more accepted and
entered the pop culture Talkingstage.
Back in the day, anime wasn'treally as big.
(02:20):
Dragon Ball, bleach, yu YuHakusho Really brought Anime to
the masses through toonami, andthat's how I got my first
exposure to anime was to toonamion cartoon network.
Now, what sets apart sakura conor, I feel, like any anime
(02:41):
convention that comes around indifferent states is that, for
those who don't know animeconventions, particularly this
one, sakura-con is a non-profit,not-for-profit.
It's different from any comicbook convention and when you buy
(03:03):
your ticket, it's notessentially like a badge that
you would get from going to SanDiego Comic-Con or any of those
big comic conventions.
These are memberships that youpay that will have your name
printed on them and then thatwill be utilized for all three
days of the convention, for allthree days of the convention.
(03:26):
Key features of this is that,because it's a non-profit and
they don't mail out your badges,it does actually reduce the
scalpers.
My experience, or for those whohave gone to either, both can
agree that with animeconventions, both can agree that
(03:46):
with anime conventions it is areduce in traffic, with people
pestering about having you tryto buy a badge.
They also reduce the need for Iwouldn't say high security, but
just security in general.
Security, but just security ingeneral, because there's high
profile people within the comicbook industry and movie industry
(04:10):
who don't attend these things.
So having the need to protector have that extra layer of
security isn't also necessary.
Not saying that you don't needsecurity, but because of what
the convention is and what youknow it's bringing, their
(04:34):
security measures are a littlebit I want to say lower, but a
lot of it does is relied on theconvention itself.
Now, another key feature is thatthe anime convention,
especially sakura con, is 24hours.
It has, and when.
(04:55):
That 24 hours is that you cango friday, the moment the doors
or panels are open, and you cango to different panels the
exhibition hall and merch andartist alleys.
Those have specific times thatthey start and times that they
(05:15):
close, but their panels arehappening throughout the day and
they run until the followingday, until either 6 or 4 am in
the morning.
Now some anime conventions mayhave steered away from this type
of 24-7 availability.
(05:36):
I enjoy it because it allowsyou to then dip your finger and
experience into many differentpanels, many different offerings
that the convention has tooffer, and I myself cannot be
restricted to a certaincharcuterie of availability of,
(05:58):
like certain panels, artists.
There's just so much to do andyou feel like you don't have
enough time to do it.
Another key feature from sakuracon or animal anime conventions
is that the autographs are free.
(06:19):
They're included with yourmembership.
You don't have to worry abouthaving to buy an autograph, as
what you would do at comic bookconventions, anime conventions,
especially this one, as I know,is that it is included with your
(06:40):
price.
That being said, you arelimited to how many things can
be signed and if the guestdecides he wants to charge on
something, it is set by them.
But typically, autographs areincluded in your membership to
(07:01):
attend Sakura Con or similaranime conventions, which I enjoy
.
That also means that having toline up for your specific guest
you want to get autographed isvery important because they have
a limited time that they'regoing to get through people.
So that is, I think, one keyfeature, amongst the others that
(07:28):
I mentioned, that make sakuracon very unique.
Now, first impressions.
This is my second a visit,after the pandemic of going to
the convention, to at sakura con.
I went one year prior but onlywent for a day.
(07:49):
This was my second time going.
I ended up going for a littlebit over three days, got a hotel
for two, and I would say that Imissed this.
I miss going going to SakuraConso much that I forgot
everything that there is to doat SakuraCon, because prior I
(08:15):
used to go very religiously andthen the pandemic happened and
then I wasn't able to go, and sogetting to experience Sakura
Con again was like a dream cometrue.
The reason for that is also onething, like as a convention goer
is the crowd size.
(08:36):
It's very different.
It's light and day.
Emerald City-con has hugecrowds.
You feel like you're just beingherded to the entrance.
There's so many people you haveto either pick a path of where
you need to go and fight yourway to get there.
With sakura con there was noneed for that and I forgot how
(09:01):
great that feels.
Where there was the freedom togo to certain panels, go on
different floors and justexplore and not have to fight
your way to get from point A topoint B.
It was a huge relief doing that.
The crowd size for SakuraConwas much smaller for traffic
(09:26):
wise.
I don't know how many peopleactually attended, but it was
still big enough.
And this was also my firstexperience of having the
convention in two differentlocations, since Seattle has two
convention locations, onecalled the Summit, which was
(09:47):
recently built, which allowsthem to have multiple different
conventions.
I was under the impression thatthe whole convention itself
would be in that one building.
I was wrong.
What they end up doing is theyend up splitting it between the
two buildings.
The original building, whichSakura-Kan and most of the
(10:08):
conventions were held at, hadthe main stage and the video
games and things like AMV, likevideos and things of that nature
.
All type of panels were held atthe summit, so they did split
it up.
They did do exactly the samething that they did for ECC,
which kind of was a shocker forme, so I thought that they would
(10:31):
just have everything held inone building.
I believe they did do that onetime, I'm not too sure, but that
was like a big eye opener forme.
A big eye-opener for me.
Regardless, I picked the samehotel that I did for Emerald
City Comic Con, and it wasn't anissue, for the walk Just wasn't
something I was expecting fromSakuraCon.
(10:54):
What really set the tone for me, though, was that it seemed
more relaxed, people seemed tohave fun, and you could see
areas where there was very muchphoto opportunities, and me
coming back to SakuraCon and nothaving those photo
opportunities to take pictureswith people in cosplay was also
(11:15):
a missed opportunity Because,mind you, seeing people dressed
up in their costumes is nice.
I very much like it and in thepast I used to take a lot of
pictures.
A lot of things that havechanged was back in the day.
In the original building youhad, there was this giant
(11:35):
hallway.
It looked like a hall that youhave to go in and you had to get
in line and wait.
And I know my first experiencewith sakura con is I
accidentally got into a line,didn't know who it was for, only
to realize it was for the voiceactor, vegeta.
I felt bad because I wasn'tplanned or prepared.
(11:58):
All I had was the programmingand I didn't know it then.
But I didn't have anything tosign for him to sign.
He was very kind, he I had theprogram and he allowed.
He was able to sign the programwith this picture, gave himself
a margin, give him the marginsymbol and gave him himself some
hair and he signed it and thatwas like my first experience.
(12:21):
And then from then on that waslike you first experience and
then from then on that was likeyou know, how I got to enjoy the
con was that a lot of thingswere changed that evolved over
the years.
Another, I think, experience wasthat they have an app.
Now they've switched, they'vemoved away from paper programs,
(12:46):
which I understand you have toprint a lot of stuff, but I'm so
used to having a paper programor a booklet that it's easier to
plan and I get it.
They want offer a map, whichwas much needed, because one
(13:06):
thing as a convention goer isthat you need to know where
you're going.
You need to be able to planyour event throughout the day
and, mind you, since my firsttime, going or coming back to
Zekuragon, coming back to theCurricone, not having a
direction or where you're going,takes more time away from your
(13:29):
con experience than anythingelse.
So having to sit back or pulloff to the side and then go
through and figure out whereyou're going is not the best.
So having an app, which doeshelp for for some, isn't the
best because they bail it on thelast the week of the convention
(13:51):
.
So, yeah, now I went to someindustry panels, one for
cruncher roll, and they werethey in released or previewed
some anime, and then the otherwas an industry panel for
Aniplex.
Now, these were small, mind you, it's the media team.
(14:14):
But I used to remember back inthe day where these were like
almost Marvel-type filled roomswith people just waiting for
like animes to be released, andI know that the industry has
changed over the time of thecourse and that's also become a
thing.
(14:34):
One of the things I noticed isthat with Aniplex they were
giving us like what's coming out, sizzle reels of the animes,
what we can be expecting, whatkind of products and merch and,
to be honest, a lot of the stuffthat the for the industry panel
that we're showing were alreadyreleased on crunchyroll.
(14:57):
Now they did give a caveat.
We got to see when the demonSlayer, the Infinity Castle arc
is going to air, which is goingto be a movie in September.
Spoiler for those who don'tknow, who haven't seen the news
yet Infinity Castle arc forDemon Slayer Movie is going to
(15:20):
be coming out in September.
But that was like pretty muchit.
Anything else that we saw Wasalready.
You could already much it.
Anything else that we saw wasalready.
You could already find it, thenews, the updates.
So I'm not sure if that, if likethey needed to be there
necessarily and what they wereshowing was needed.
But I give the media team forAnaplex, some an A for effort,
(15:45):
because they were trying to workthe crowd and get people
excited, and I understand thisis not something that you want
to do or talk about things thatare already been revealed or
people can just get anywhereelse.
So those were like somehighlights from this SakuraCon,
(16:06):
from going to panels, panels no,I didn't go to much panels,
those were the ones, the keyones that me and my partner
wanted to go see.
Now I can't give you a list ofguests that were, that were that
had attended, because me goingto this convention or going to
sakura con was so last minutethat there wasn't really much
for me to plan for other thanjust getting the hotels and
(16:29):
getting our tickets.
So I will say that next timearound, when I do attend, we
more planned.
I'm actually going to have alist of like people I want to
get autographed autographs for,want to get autographed
autographs for, because this wasall last minute and I kicked my
(16:50):
shoot myself in the footbecause how unprepared I was to
like figure out who was going tobe there, which guests I want
to see.
Normally I have that prepared,but this time I did not.
I will say that Artist Alley,this time around, was really big
.
They gave them an open spaceand, mind you, artist Alley is
(17:12):
like the runt or the black sheepof every convention.
They are always given alocation that no one can get to
or you don't even know wherethey're at until you have to see
them on the map.
And this time they've giventhem the biggest open space area
that you can get for artistalley, which was in the main
(17:35):
convention building, which theycall the arch, and I was so
excited.
But also around this time priorto me getting there was you
probably heard on TikTok orsocial media that there was a
fire.
Yeah, and this happened on thesecond day and fortunately, me
(17:56):
and my partner weren't able toget to Artist Alley until later
in the evening on Saturday,which they were able to open it
back up and then give itextended hours.
So it was just unfortunate thatone at least half of a day of
Saturday, which is normally thebusiest for Artist alley and for
(18:17):
us to walk around, we didn'treally get to do much until
mostly the end of the evening,when they did open up.
We end up going to one of thedances there.
Now, they did have a ball thatyou could attend, which you have
to have the appropriate attire.
Me and my partner were unableto go to that, but we did decide
(18:40):
to actually go see the dancewith the djs.
Mind you, it it is the djs runor the dance runs until the
following day, I think, until 4am, but we want to experience it
because, after every time we'vegone to sakura con, we never
(19:00):
once actually attempted to go tothe dj dance, and so we wanted
to experience.
We've always, we always, goneto emma city comic cons like
dance and, mind you, they dohave a DJ and the DJ plays the
same type of music and theyalways have a theme, and so it
runs between two to three out, Ithink, three hours max, and so
(19:24):
this is something I wanted toexperience a little bit
different and, mind you, it wasinteresting.
It's what you would expect fromany type of dance rave type of
atmosphere, so that wassomething new.
Yeah, so the dance wassomething that we experienced,
(19:45):
but I think one of like for me,a big highlight, like impact for
me was not having not seeingcrunchyroll or Anaplex or any
big name industry have a booth,and the reason why I say this is
key or a big highlight, orsomething that's very impactful,
(20:05):
is that I've gone to a lot ofSakuraCon or anime conventions
over the years and Crunchyrollor Funimation and Crunchyroll
and Anaplex have always been, Iwant to say, the pioneers of
having booths in these in animeconventions, where they're
(20:27):
slinging free swag, gettingpeople to sign up.
You get to see what animethey're releasing and they're
just really going hard.
I got one of my my it's like areusable bag or tote bag from
crunchyrolls booth it was.
It has naruto, sakurakan andsasuke on it and you can wear it
(20:51):
like a backpack.
Now, my only first experiencewith crunchyroll is a little bit
of a story, but going at leastone of my first anime
conventions I was sakura con.
I went there and I went totheir booth where they were
giving this out and streaminganime was a new concept back in
(21:17):
2010 and I was like there was noway for me to watch anime
without toonami and you can't goback and re-watch the old
catalog stuff.
So I was like, okay, cool, I'lltry it.
Signed up for a free trial.
I had a console, I had a ps3back in the day and I used to
(21:40):
loaded it up information andbeen watching anime and I got
that bag.
I was as a result of that and Iwant to say that crunchyroll got
me back into anime during thattime and going to sakura con or
going to sakura con is veryimportant because it's the
(22:02):
convention that kind of broughtme back into watching anime
after college, taking a hugehiatus and not having the access
to anime as I used to when Iwas a kid.
So sakura con holds a veryimportant place in my heart, in
my partner's heart.
We we can say that we likecombo conventions until the the
(22:28):
sky falls, but sakura con isthat one passion.
Anime is a passion that we bothhave and sakura con is that one
convention.
It means a lot to us justbecause it's not as commercial.
We're able to experience newpanels and see new animes and we
(22:51):
probably would not have gottento see otherwise, and so we get
a lot of exposure from it andjust also interacting with other
people who have the sameinterest, who might recommend a
new anime to you.
So within that, I don't want tosay like a bleeding heart, but
(23:12):
sakura con serves.
It has a special place in myheart and and I'll keep going
Not the best highlight, I wantto say, but, yeah, it just
brings me joy going toSakura-Kan Now with all the type
of highlights that I canmention.
There are areas that I feel likecan be improved upon and one of
(23:37):
the things is just wait times.
With it being a nonprofit, I dounderstand that.
The printing the name tag somepeople might like it and some
people might hate it becauseit's such an unorthodox and old
thing to do that it just thewait times on getting a badge,
(23:59):
say on Friday, where everyoneyou know for that three-day
weekend or for the weekend isgetting their badge the day of,
on a Friday, and it can costhugely a big backup and there's
also potential for technicalissues which I end up hearing
did occur on Friday Earlier inthe day.
(24:21):
There were long lines as aresult.
Could they find an alternativeto printing a badge?
Maybe, but I think the reasonwhy they do it is because the
badge itself is a membership andit's as is per.
You have to write your name andcreate a profile for that year
(24:43):
up until the convention ends.
Yeah, so providing analternative, I would be open to
them having an alternative.
I do like the badges that areprinted because I could save
them and put them in a scrapbook, but having an easier, a much
more productive process and howthey print their badges and
(25:06):
you're able to pick up badgewill be much more smooth.
I know a lot of you arechampioning about getting a
badge that's more plastic,similar to the comic book
conventions.
That also leads into some likedifferent issues, but I know a
lot of people are puttingfeedback.
That's something that theyshould do.
Another improvement I feel likethey should do is a better way
(25:30):
to identify yourself.
I know within the transcommunity trans community
community there are a lot ofindividuals who were forced to
use their dead name and I dounderstand not being recognized
by that anymore, but thereshould be an option on the
(25:52):
website where you don't have tolist it for you picking up your
badge or what you want to beidentified as.
I think the one thing that theycould improve on is that when
it says what would you like tobe called as you know they have
that when they print out thebadge they shouldn't have what
(26:14):
you want to be called as andyour name.
I think that's one thing, a keyfeature that they should add,
because I do understand not alot of people want to be called
by their actual name.
Some people have a nickname.
I do understand the emotionbehind having to be identified
by your dead name as a trans,trans person, so I feel like
(26:39):
they should improve in that, inthat process, and deserve some
feedback about what they shoulddo.
And they didn't even have aprocess of like how you should
go about it.
If you are someone who doesn'twant to be identified by their
dead name but are being forced,that process needs to be much
smoother going forward.
(27:02):
Another I feel is a big thing isthe program and the app that
they utilize.
Every year they switch the appover because they are a
non-profit.
They switch the Apple becausethey are a non-profit and one
the app they used previouslywasn't as great as the app that
they use this year because theyhave to pay a company to build
(27:27):
the programming that they need.
This year the app did not workwhatsoever and even the website
was as janky as it was.
I do remember a time that I didgo that they did use an app
called guide.
I preferred that, that app forlike event planning that one I
(27:49):
did enjoy.
I don't know what feedback thatthey go into, but whoever
they're going to like going toutilize next year needs to have
a better structure and betterway to make things navigate just
make things more navigatableand address the concerns that
people are having.
Like for us, the app didn'tallow for us to save panels and
(28:13):
schedules and be notified.
I feel like that's a keyfeature that you should have if
you want to plan out your dayevery time you close out of it.
You had to re-look for sakuracon itself in order to like plan
I felt like that was annoyingand also have their descriptions
(28:33):
on where things are located.
That was was one thing.
I know it's not the volunteers'fault.
It's more so the member, theboard members, who, when they
implement these changes or whatthey want to see, they need to
understand that people who go tothe event need to be able to
navigate.
(28:54):
I had to actually step aside andactually go to the info booth,
and the info booth had only onesolution.
They told us that the app wasnot working, that to go to the
website the actual website andyou could pinch and zoom the map
, but to figure out where thingswere going, they had a cheat
(29:14):
sheet that they had on a postthat they taped over so that you
could take a picture of, and ittold you what buildings the
each programming would be basedon higher loan numbers.
That what I know that they weretrying their best, but that
does not need to happen.
This is my first timeespecially attending I would say
(29:37):
, almost all three days but theyneed to get on their a-game not
the volunteers but the boardmembers.
I don't need to be pulled asideand be referencing a photo.
That's what I did allconvention was.
Whenever we needed to gosomewhere, I had to reference a
photo that I took of Tommy,higher or lower where the panel
(29:59):
was going to be at, and thatreally got under my skin because
, again, you spend most of yourtime trying to navigate the
convention and not actuallyenjoying the convention, and so
that was like a kick in the assa little bit, because we had to
(30:24):
figure out where we were going,where things were at.
Mind you, you do that anyways,but when things don't work
accordingly, it puts a wrench inyour whole plan.
Another area that needs to beimproved upon is panels Having a
more anime-type presence.
Have them, have booths, becauseover the course of many years,
(30:50):
you started seeing that thesevendors or entry panels just
slowly remove themselves fromhaving booths.
They used to be present there.
Yeah, I saw Crunchyroll's panelwhere they advertised, hey,
these animators are going to behere.
(31:10):
But going on the exit floor,where the merch was at all,
there was merch, which which isanime much, which I was excited
I don't get me wrong, I love theanime merch but there was no
present.
Hey, anaplex is here.
Hey, crunchyroll is here.
We gotta we need to representand let people know hey, we are
(31:32):
here.
You guys we help facilitatethis.
Crunchyroll was a sponsor forSakuraCon, but that was like the
remnants were there, and sothat's something I feel like
they should improve upon.
I don't know if they will orthey can, but have be a presence
(31:54):
at these conventions and Ithink one thing which is, I'm
going to say, for me that needsto be improved upon is anime
theater.
This was one thing that Ilooked forward to every
convention, and what it is thatit is a room or a panel where
(32:19):
they play anime 24-7.
You can go in, sit, watch animeand leave.
They're playing the oldies andgoodies, anything that's current
or old.
If you haven haven't seen it,it's going to be playing there
and it runs 24 hours, fromfriday until the last day.
(32:44):
It was one of the things thatme and my partner enjoyed going
to because we could sit, sitdown and relax and just watch
anime.
Sometimes I knew like an animethat we'd never seen before we
would get introduced to and weloved it.
There was.
I can't say how many timeswe've gone to the anime theater.
(33:06):
We sat and watched anime, onlyto like add a new anime that
we've never seen to our watchlist.
So I feel like the presence ofanime theater at this sakura con
and I'm not sure if it wasthere was present last year was
lacking.
I feel like that's a bigimprovement that they need to
(33:27):
bring back, because having anamv d theater studio where you
just watch AMVs it's not great.
I don't want to sit and watchmemes of stuff of anime.
I'm not there for that.
I want to be able to relax,watch anime and see stuff that
just comes on and get exposureto it.
(33:49):
Yeah, I know people might sayyou have the app.
Crunchyroll has an app andHiDive have an app.
Yeah, that's great.
The app Crunchyroll has an appand HiDive has an app.
Yeah, that's great, butCrunchyroll wasn't here.
I don't want to watch anime onmy phone.
I could do that anytime.
The whole point of going to theconvention is to experience it
and get exposure to new stuff.
Yeah, I feel like that needs tobe improved upon, and the
(34:13):
autographs were pretty good.
They did have them located onthe same floor as emerge and it
was much more organized thanwhat I first experienced, where
it was essentially all hands ondeck, where everyone got to a
line and if you needed a viewwere like if it was a time limit
(34:37):
, they tried to get througheveryone and if you didn't make
it through, the line was cut andyou have to wait till the
following day.
It's a much more organized nowthan it was when the time I went
, and I'm happy for that becauseI know back in experience, if
you missed an opportunity, thatperson wasn't going to do
(34:59):
autographs again until eitheranother time slot or the next
following day.
It's very different from sakuracon, where they have that
person does autographs or thatguest does autographs multiple
times within the day thatthey're there.
They have a slotted time, theydo the autographs and that is
about it, and then they get toenjoy the convention.
(35:21):
So that's one thing that I feellike they did pretty well.
I think another part that needsto be improved on is the
location.
They need to stop having theconvention, like Anime or
Sakura-Con or Amar CityComic-Con divided into two
separate buildings.
(35:42):
I know they think that they'remaking it more accessible by
doing this and dividing both,but it adds a lot of confusion
towards attendees that you'regoing to have the key parts in
one location and then the otherparts in the other.
(36:02):
Mind you, the artist alley waslocated in the arch building.
We would have never known aboutit until someone let us know
about the artist alley and thisgoes back to my key point is
that artist alley is alwayslocated like somewhere and they
(36:23):
don't really advertise it asmuch and it always gets the same
treatment, and I feel like thatis something that needs to be
improved upon.
Have it in just one building.
I know people will complain andbe like oh, it's not, you're not
giving much space to theautographs and photo ops.
And artist alley summitbuilding in washington is about
(36:50):
five floors or more.
With so many rooms and panels,they can fit the convention
there, and they did.
Did they actually had EmeraldCity Comic Con in that one
building all by itself.
All you had to go is walk to,but people complained about the.
You know how the autographswere sharing the same space as
(37:14):
Artist Alley.
The thing is, I don't think youneed to do that.
There's enough space and floorswhere you can divide everyone
and everyone will have theopportunity to do, and so I just
think it's this poor plan andthey're trying to get, I think,
more maximum effort to thebusinesses around Seattle, which
, mind you, is OK, but it's just.
(37:36):
We expected it to be different.
It wasn't.
It threw us off and we'rehoping that next year they can
improve upon this.
Going forward, I would have togive a SakuraCon at least a 7
out of 10, which is my rating.
It's not perfect, but it'sdefinitely worth attending if
(37:59):
you can like get over thehurdles of navigation, foot
traffic, deciding what you wantto do and having a plan
beforehand.
Otherwise, you just are goingto get frustrated by trying to
navigate with the map and theapp that they have available and
, like every other convention, Ithink, trips on tips that you
(38:21):
need is that carry a backpack,have a water bottle, because it
can be water bottle stands,bring snacks if you need to,
because the options for theconvention, like their eatery,
is very limited unless you wantlike finger type food, or you
can wait to go outside theconvention and get food.
You can wait to go outside theconvention and get food.
(38:43):
Me and my partner had Seattledogs.
They were very awesome, verycheap, alternative than what you
pay for.
But since we were on the go, wedidn't want to spend more time
just at a restaurant and eating.
I feel like you need to plan,so if you know where you need to
eat, where you want to eat,plan ahead and then make sure
you get everything donebeforehand.
It hasn't been said enough.
But footwear Make sure you'rewearing comfortable footwear
(39:04):
because you are going to bewalking.
You're going to be walking alot and your feet are going to
hurt and your legs.
You're going to get your stepsin.
When it comes to vendors andbuying merch, if you need to, I
would say bring cash.
But if you can't bring cashcash, you have to use a debit
card.
They do have atms at specificlocation to take out cash.
(39:26):
One of my tips that I do isthat I have a venmo debit card
and what I do if I'm not goingto buy something, I preload that
with an x amount of funds thatI want to utilize for my time at
the convention.
That way I'm not having to usemy credit card or debit card.
(39:47):
I can use I have it loaded withapp or Samsung Pay and Google
Wallet, but sometimes in theselocations internet's not very
good, so I find myself utilizingphysical card.
So that's one tip I think youshould have.
Is that if you rely oncontactless payment, like apple,
(40:08):
samsung, make sure you have abackup like a physical card that
you can utilize because theirinternet service is crappy here,
and this is for any conventioncenter is that the service is
really bad and I feel likethat's something that needs to
(40:29):
be approved on.
Is that, if you have attendeeswho go to these conventions,
have wi-fi for them included inyour admissions or your ticket
when you get there, you haveaccess to this wi-fi for
attendance, because I feel like,with as much money you're
getting with your ticket, thatshould be included.
(40:51):
I do know emerald citycomic-con did it once and then
never again did it and I waslike what the hell?
So I feel like they need tobring that back.
Have accessible Wi-Fi for yourattendees that we could use in
order.
We can use that because the app, the service in these areas are
(41:13):
not great.
So those are my things.
I feel like our tips and tricksthat you know should help you at
just at SakuraCon.
But also plan ahead.
If you know you're going to seea panel, get there at least 20
minutes or half an hour earlier.
Same thing with the lines,because with SakuraCon or anime
(41:36):
conventions, because theautographs are are free, people
are going to get in line earlierand you want to be the first
one in.
You want to, you want to get inand get out as quickly as
possible so you can enjoy thecon.
You don't want to be waiting inline for too long, because I
know my experience is that ifyou don't plan ahead and you're
(41:58):
waiting in line the majority ofthe con, you'll spend most of
your time waiting in those linesand don't have the opportunity
to experience the convention asyou should.
So plan ahead, please planahead.
I did also mention earlierabout what to bring, what you
need to be comfortable with, butfor me those are the tips and
(42:20):
tricks for attending not justthis con but any convention
going forward.
So my overall verdict I knowthis is running a little bit
long is that going, being ableto go back to sakura con after
so long and experiencing maybetwo and a half days at the
(42:43):
convention, I feel like it'svery worth it to attend anime
conventions.
These are non-profit.
You do pay for a membership andI feel like it is worth it.
If you're looking to go through, to go to in your area and the
(43:03):
combo conventions are a littlebit too pricey, I feel with
anime conventions are a bang foryour buck because you can get
your ticket at a cheaper priceor membership earlier on.
It does get pricier as it getscloser to the convention and I
feel like it does offer more ofa charcuterie selection of what
(43:24):
you want to experience as like atrial run before you go to any
other conventions which are likemore corporate heavy, more
sponsored, more industry panelsfor guests and movies alike.
So I feel like animeconventions are essentially like
(43:44):
the like the black sheep, andwhen I used to go to them back
in 2010, they weren't as popular, and now, over the course of
the years, I've noticed moreconventions adjacent to
SakuraCon that have been poppingup and it makes me more happy
(44:05):
to see this more selection ofconventions across my state, my
hometown, so it makes me veryhappy.
So, again, if you have theopportunity to TIFF, you're in
Washington or you want to go toyour first anime convention, I
do recommend going to SakuraCon.
You won't be disappointed.
(44:27):
It is very relaxed and laidback and not big, not heavy on
those crowds that you wouldnormally see as like something
like San Diego Comic-Con.
I want to get a huge shout outto current and new listeners
Thanks for tuning into thisepisode of Second Immolation.
(44:48):
If you enjoyed the show, don'tforget to subscribe, leave a
review, share it with yourfriends.
You can also follow us on oursocial media for convention
coverage and pop culture updates.
Let me know what your thoughtsof SakuraCon.
I love to hear them.
And then the next conventionthat I'll be going to would be
(45:12):
Rose City Comic Con, which isgoing to be in Oregon in
September.
I haven't decided about PAX,those are so close to each other
.
September I haven't decidedabout packs, those are so close
to each other.
But it is the instant that I'llbe going to Rose City Comic Con
and then, from there, actuallylooking at this slate of
conventions coming up to see ifwe can mix it up a bit.
(45:33):
All right, that does it for meand I'll catch you guys in the
next one.
All right, bye.
Piper (45:41):
Okay, wow, that was so much fun.
Your host totally nailed itright.
Like, how amazing was that.
Don't forget to subscribe soyou never miss an episode,
because, honestly, why would you?
And if you loved it, leave areview or like tell your friends
, it's like the nicest thingever.
Thanks for listening andremember stay fabulous, stay
emulated and I'll see you nexttime.
(46:02):
Bye.
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