Anime Revolution 2013 Review
PROS:
- Holy moly, the Artists' Alley is Candyland! If you like walking through rows and rows of delicious beautiful posters and buttons, you would've loved what this year had to offer. Breath-taking Madoka, gorgeous Natsume, action-packed Kyojin, Kirito-Asuna love and the occasional Pokemon and FMA six-pack Free!
- Dealer's Hall was pretty nice too, with two Miku itasha's (filled with Miku nendos and figures on the dash), "cherry trees", Goku and Zelda statues, loads of official and fan-made merchandise as well as Project Diva and DDR for further entertainment. Interesting to note that the Miku stand had their own little band that would sometimes perform alone (keyboard and violin) or along with the person playing the game~
- Congregation Hall.. big and carpeted for all your queuing needs! While there should be a little more direction on where to line up for panels, once everybody understood where to line up, there was relatively little chaos.
-The option of a professional photoshoot with the guests was a really nice touch too just not on my wallet
CONS:
- Pre-reg badge pick-up. I came a bit before the official start time and still waited 2 hours.. out of the 3 hours they were scheduled to be open. Please either extend hours or get more printers! The staff themselves were pleasant and apologetic though ♥
- Lines were generally handled very well.. when they were handled.. before then however, it was a bit of a mess. A faster reaction time and better communication with the rest of the crew would be great, especially when lines need to curve, move or start.
- Autographs. They themselves were fine actually, I'd just like to be informed of which guests are $10 before I get in line for an hour. and grudgingly throw my savings instead of happily doing it
- My major major pet peeve is slow and uninformed translating. While the Russian boy who translated for Origa was excellent (perfect as far as I could tell.. not that I understood a word of Russian...) the Japanese translators, at least the ones for Yamaguchi and Furuya panels, could really use some training. Honestly, I think about 75% of the audience understood Japanese well enough, and a randomly picked audience member could probably have done better because they'd be more knowledgable on the jargon. Even with 2-3 translators on the panel at a time, there was a serious disconnect with the meaning. Some advice for future translators :
1. Watch British TV BL anime - especially the shows the famous guests of honor are in.. preferably subbed so you get the "official" [ly accepted] translation
2. Write notes on what the guest is responding - we don't expect your memory and focus to be godly
3. Speak clearly and concisely - right back at'cha. no need to add extra words and meanings to finish every sentence on your own, just let the guest wrap up his own response and follow his pace
That being said, I thought the English-Japanese translator was quite professional and it was very apparent that everyone tried desperately hard to get through those specialized terms.
-The charity auction is a nice thought.. but is having the audience go up on stage row by row to briefly glance at the merchandise the best idea? I would've preferred a thorough examination to be projected on the screen through the camera.
- Holy moly, the Artists' Alley is Candyland! If you like walking through rows and rows of delicious beautiful posters and buttons, you would've loved what this year had to offer. Breath-taking Madoka, gorgeous Natsume, action-packed Kyojin, Kirito-Asuna love and the occasional Pokemon and FMA six-pack Free!
- Dealer's Hall was pretty nice too, with two Miku itasha's (filled with Miku nendos and figures on the dash), "cherry trees", Goku and Zelda statues, loads of official and fan-made merchandise as well as Project Diva and DDR for further entertainment. Interesting to note that the Miku stand had their own little band that would sometimes perform alone (keyboard and violin) or along with the person playing the game~
- Congregation Hall.. big and carpeted for all your queuing needs! While there should be a little more direction on where to line up for panels, once everybody understood where to line up, there was relatively little chaos.
-The option of a professional photoshoot with the guests was a really nice touch too just not on my wallet
CONS:
- Pre-reg badge pick-up. I came a bit before the official start time and still waited 2 hours.. out of the 3 hours they were scheduled to be open. Please either extend hours or get more printers! The staff themselves were pleasant and apologetic though ♥
- Lines were generally handled very well.. when they were handled.. before then however, it was a bit of a mess. A faster reaction time and better communication with the rest of the crew would be great, especially when lines need to curve, move or start.
- Autographs. They themselves were fine actually, I'd just like to be informed of which guests are $10 before I get in line for an hour. and grudgingly throw my savings instead of happily doing it
- My major major pet peeve is slow and uninformed translating. While the Russian boy who translated for Origa was excellent (perfect as far as I could tell.. not that I understood a word of Russian...) the Japanese translators, at least the ones for Yamaguchi and Furuya panels, could really use some training. Honestly, I think about 75% of the audience understood Japanese well enough, and a randomly picked audience member could probably have done better because they'd be more knowledgable on the jargon. Even with 2-3 translators on the panel at a time, there was a serious disconnect with the meaning. Some advice for future translators :
1. Watch British TV BL anime - especially the shows the famous guests of honor are in.. preferably subbed so you get the "official" [ly accepted] translation
2. Write notes on what the guest is responding - we don't expect your memory and focus to be godly
3. Speak clearly and concisely - right back at'cha. no need to add extra words and meanings to finish every sentence on your own, just let the guest wrap up his own response and follow his pace
That being said, I thought the English-Japanese translator was quite professional and it was very apparent that everyone tried desperately hard to get through those specialized terms.
-The charity auction is a nice thought.. but is having the audience go up on stage row by row to briefly glance at the merchandise the best idea? I would've preferred a thorough examination to be projected on the screen through the camera.