Geek Babble- Anime Weekend Atlanta 2019

 

With many of my favorite anime conventions being held in a small window between the months of March and June, I try to find conventions outside this window that appeal to me to spread things out during the year.  Last year, Anime Weekend Atlanta had made a number of improvements since my initial attendance in 2015 to become by far my favorite anime convention.  Chalk this up to reasonable pricing to a vibrant atmosphere to excellent programming.  However, while 2018’s AWA was held in late September, this year’s AWA was pushed to late October so as to not conflict with baseball season, which didn’t really become an issue until the opening of a nearby baseball stadium 2 years ago.  How is AWA going to do now that it is held on the same weekend as Youmacon and is now in direct competition with its Detroit-based counterpart for attendees?

 

Well, first of all, whatever effect the schedule change had in attendance figures seemed quite minimal, as the convention center felt almost as crowded as last year, though the crowds ebbed and flowed much more significantly this year.  AWA is still held at the Cobb Galleria Convention Center along with the attached Renaissance Hotel, with at least half a dozen overflow hotels at least a 15-minute walk away.  Utilizing a hotel’s shuttle service is highly recommended, and thankfully was included in the hotel I chose, the Embassy Suites.  Costs thankfully still remain more than reasonable, especially considering the relatively modern rooms and free breakfast, plus the fact that the Embassy Suites was the third closest hotel to the Renaissance.  Hotel reservations for the Renaissance were done with a model which I would love to see implemented at other conventions: If one wished to pay for the entire stay at the high-demand Renaissance hotel upfront and not be able to cancel his or her reservation, one can access the website and book a room early.  Whatever rooms are left will then be released an hour later in the general pool and include cancellation privileges.

 

 

Now, things didn’t start off all that well upon arriving at the convention, mainly because of several miscommunications regarding the shipment of my badge, but again, AWA’s staff pulled through once again and got things clarified and fixed relatively quickly and were extremely hospitable at trying to make things right.  Badge pickup started on a rainy Thursday around 12:00 noon though by later that afternoon crowds for badge pickup had died down quite significantly.  There was once again an attendee-run private table sale event on Thursday evening called the “Super Happy Fun Sell,” along with a small amount of panel programming, though most Thursday evening programming consisted of video rooms, along with one concert featuring a later Vocaloid character, ARIA.  Now, this was a paid concert with tickets costing at minimum $55 and going all the way up to over $1,000, and why the convention chose to hold this concert on a Thursday still puzzles me.  Another complaint and trend which I was disappointed to see was the elimination of a paper convention booklet, and instead AWA would rely on a schedule printed on a poster-sized piece of paper, plus whatever was released on their oftentimes buggy phone app.  Now, while this schedule does work on mobile browsers without installing a specialized app, viewing the schedule on a mobile browser was excruciatingly slow and laggy.  Releasing the schedule a little earlier would have also been appreciated.

 

By Friday, the weather had cleared up quite nicely and would remain that way the rest of the weekend, though many attendees were griping about how the temperatures were only in the mid-to-upper 50s.  Now, Anime Weekend Atlanta is known for its programming, and perhaps the most noticeable thing this year was the sheer number of panels dedicated to nostalgia and looking back at the past.  A set of panels I was glad to see were ones dedicated to getting younger anime fans up to speed on older anime to watch (we’re talking about series from the 1990s).  There were also quite a lot of panels this year dedicated to science fiction, video games and JRPGs, along with Gundam and mechs (this year is of course the 40^th anniversary of Gundam).  Having a number of educational panels is again quite welcome for AWA, with standouts being a cosplay educational panel on Sunday late morning and a Kyoto Animation panel on Saturday evening.  Major kudos goes to the anime 18+ great debate panel for actually having substance rather than descending to a braindead screaming match, though criticism goes to the Bungo Stray Dogs panel on Sunday morning for forgetting the #1 rule of Powerpoints: don’t read directly from your slides and use it as just an outline.  I also do question why there was a “World History of Anime” panel on Saturday at 1:45 to 2:45 AM which I wanted to attend had I not been very tired.  While there were fewer things this year which perked my interest, Anime Weekend Atlanta still greatly exceeded its expectations and holds its position well.

 

In the convention center’s lower level, the arcade and tabletop game rooms have been moved to a different area closer to the restaurants, and more of the crowd and activities have been filtered to that section of the building.  There was also a dedicated area for cosplay repair which also housed what appeared to be sceneries and backdrops for photoshoots as signs indicated, but upon further inspection, the room instead housed a gallery of past high-end cosplays made by other individuals.  The restaurants in the lower level of the convention center managed their crowds significantly better than in years past so they did not spill out into the open atriums.  But perhaps the biggest improvement to AWA this year is something which didn’t happen:  Last year, elevators and escalators failed one after another, forcing attendees to take long alternative routes to their destinations as the broken connectors stayed broken for several days on end.  This year, I saw just one failure in the Renaissance on Thursday and it was quickly fixed.  Staff had done an excellent job as usual at crowd control and directing traffic, and remained cordial and professional as in years past.  There was external security staff but there didn’t seem to be very many instances of them going on power trips or being heavy handed.  Attendees themselves overall seemed to want to have a good time and control themselves and were overall friendly, though one memorable instance was seeing a group of attendees demonstrating what appeared to be Japanese rope bondage in the Renaissance atrium on Saturday night.

 

 

Now, other aspects of Anime Weekend Atlanta proceeded as usual, which overall was a good thing.  The dealers room still opened on Friday at 10:00 AM and included a large variety of items for sale from a number of franchises.  There was a bit more emphasis on food sales this year than in the past, but thankfully there were few vendors who brought the same merchandise as others.  While the dealers room, artists alley, and car show were held in the same room as in years past, more of the space was dedicated to the artists alley than in prior years and it was the star of this year’s show.  While the emphasis this year was mostly on prints, the submissions were excellent and is the area in which I spent the most time and money.  Perhaps the most surprising property to be represented was “Promare,” just having been released in the past few months, and it showed not only in the artists alley but also in cosplays.  If only there was a Promare photoshoot.  Or a Persona/SMT photoshoot.  Or an Overwatch photoshoot.  Marvel?  DC?  Kingdom Hearts?  All not present and unaccounted for, though there were 2 photoshoots for Boku no Hero Academia.

 

Okay, so there were photoshoots missing, some administrative misunderstandings and the panel roster this year lagged versus prior years.  The date change was also quite unwelcome for me.  But all in all, Anime Weekend Atlanta still remains an excellent convention overall and the pluses greatly outweighed the minuses.  It is a convention which feels “just right” for both veterans and newcomers, where attendees and staff are all willing to work together to have a good time.  There is a lot to offer, and more than enough is done so that whatever is offered is done consistently and executed properly.  The I’s are dotted and the t’s crossed, and the price, while slowly creeping higher, still is more than reasonable giving all that it has to offer.  Perhaps the most disappointing aspect now is that next year’s convention will be held the same weekend as Youmacon.  I look forward to my next visit, whenever that may be.

 

Do please check out my photos here:  Wandeirng Photos Here and RWBY Photos Here