Mizucon 2010

At around 10:00 a.m. this morning, I was afraid that my day at Mizucon would turn into a disappointing con-horror story. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

I arrived at the con at 9:15, just to be sure that nothing would go wrong. The con was supposed to start at 10:00, so I wasn't surprised that no one was at the con's registration booth yet. I knew that my panel was supposed to be in function space 1- but no room was labeled "Function space 1" or marked with the schedule corresponding to my room. I walked to the dealer's room and asked where function space 1 was supposed to be.

I eventually figured it out, along with a con staffer- meaning that I set up shop in a room that had a slide projector when no one else claimed it. The con staffer was nice enough to draw a sign saying "Yuri Anime & Manga Panel" and place it outside the room, and he and two other people helped me make the projector work. At about 10:15, with only those three people there, I started the panel, and at about 10:30 a larger crowd suddenly came in. (Yayyy!! ^_____^)

The panel was pretty much divided into the same sections as my last few panels, with some editing and re-mixing of the content (which I do before every new panel because I don't want to grow bored with my own presentations). The audience participation was good- the usual mixed batch of questions and comments. ("Most of what you're describing so far sounds like it's really school-focused. Any reason why?" "Why didn't you say why it [Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito] has a bad ending? Is it that bad?" "The Utena movie is insane!!" <---Just like saying, "The sky is blue." "Why didn't you include Kämpfer? Because you think it's a crappy show?" My answer: "Yeah.") This time around, there weren't any heathens people who weren't familiar with Haruka and Michiru in Sailor Moon. And the only really weird moment was when I asked, "So, what are your favorite yuri titles?" and some guy frantically waved his hand and said "Have you read Legal Drug? It's yaoi." Despite the "Ack!!"-inducing beginning, it was a fun panel.

Then I went to the Artist Alley/Dealer's Room, where the con staffer who was helpful earlier offered to show me around before he had to help his friend "E" sell Japanese snacks. There were a lot of tempting things, but I wound up getting the two items that made me squeal internally- a Sailor Moon plush and a plush of Yui from K-ON! It's silly, but...eeeee!! They're so cute! ^___^ Here they are on my dresser.

I got lucky- the person who I bought the Yui-plush from knocked $5.00 off the price after I said I wanted it. I also got two boxes of Pocky from "E." Most of the merchandise focused on the usual anime and manga favorites, with a nice mix of more niche series and K-pop/gothy J-pop-related goods. (I like visual kei, but my budget at this con belonged to Usagi and Yui.) After the con, I went to Bayside to have a late lunch at the Mambo café and do a little window shopping. All in all, a good day.

Also- I didn't do a panel at Yasumicon, as originally planned, because Yasumicon was canceled for this year within a month of its date. The biggest downside is that I planned on going with my best friend, who was a great assistant at one of my earlier panels (she offered to be my "seed"; if people in the audience were shy during the discussion portion, she would jump-start it; that precaution wasn't necessary at all)- but she couldn't make it to Mizucon. On the plus side, I got the push I needed to go to a new con. (And of course, I got me some adorable plushies. There were three different types of Sailor Moon plush dolls, but I didn't have any trouble choosing the one I wanted. There were two Yuis, and I kept going back and forth between the booths selling them to compare- which was easy because they were right next to each other.) I'm willing to do a panel at Mizucon next year if they do a better job of labeling their rooms. (I'll definitely contact them about that.)