It’s so hard for me to believe that it has been a full year since My Remote Radio released almost everyone’s favorite episode, Twape, where I attended my first Anime convention and learned all about hentai.  Well, apparently I wasn’t too frightened away because I am now a repeat offender at this convention.  This was my second Acen in a row, and I have to say…this year was so much better.

So aside from the grueling process that we as press are put through to get our passes, everything went incredibly smoothly.

Welcome Back!

I really didn’t have high expectations for this con, basing everything off my experience from last year, but I have to say that seeing the crowd lining up in costume to get their badges Friday morning, I knew that this year was going to be different.  Friday was so absolutely packed, that it probably equaled the size of the Saturday crowd from last year.  But we’ll come back to costumes in a moment.

The first thing I noticed this year was just how absolutely proud people were to be attending this con.  Fans here wanted nothing more than talk to other fans about how awesome the convention is, and what they were into.  Which is always the mark of a good convention. And contrary to the name on the door, this was a con for ALL fans. Not just of Anime.

That’s right, at Acen, though it’s primary focus is anime, it really was an all encompassing and fan loving environment. Where you can dress however you want and not feel ashamed, and I was proud to be a part of that.

(Just so everyone knows, no, we did not dress up this year.  However, we did make the decision that we will be dressing up next year for sure.)

As press however, we did have a slightly different experience than most of the regular fans on the floor. I had never encountered this before, but we apparently have a stigma against us at Acen.  We are the equivalent to the jocks in high school that gave people wedgies.

Seriously.

I felt terrible when I learned this, but it totally explains why I was turned down for so many interviews at this convention.  Though people are proud of who they are and what they love, they still have their guard up to people with that badge that says press, they still shy away from being on camera to voice their love… and I completely understand their viewpoint on this.  Who knows just how someone will cut an interview to make them sound.  I’m sure there are malicious press publications out there that would have a heyday with the footage we have.

So before you read on with this review, and read on to see the amazing pictures and interviews we got, I want to let everyone know this one very important part of My Remote Radio.

We will never, and I mean ever, make fun, chastise, or alter footage to poke fun at you.  All of our interviews are legit, most are done with patrons in character.  We love the fact that conventions exist for people to cut loose and showcase what they love.  That is why we go all out to get involved.

So to all of you walking the floor who thought we were the enemy, look for us next year when we are in costume right along side you.

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The Floor

That…is a bedsheet

Of all the conventions I have ever been too (and that is really quite a few), I noticed that Acen had the most unique product for the fans to choose from.  At conventions past the booths are filled with t-shirts, figures (both new and old), and comics galore.  However with Acen, the merchandise that ties in with games, series, books is almost too vast to imagine.  They had product for everything, of everything.  I saw action figures, model sets, game tables, bento boxes, bedsheets, body pillows, t-shirts, etc, etc.

You could walk down two rows and see two totally different product.  Half of which was so mobbed on the first two days of the con, that I didn’t even see any of it until Sunday!  Sadly, I made no purchases this year…though I was tempted on many occasions.

There were numerous panels this year to attend as well.  One thing that surprised me, people went to them!  When we did panels at C2E2, aside from the Boy Wonder movie premiere, they were ghost towns.  Panels that talked about online games I’d never heard of were filled to the brim, the line for the masquerade was 3 hours at least, and the voice actor panels were so full of energy, it made me want to elbow my way in to find out more about these people.  Before My Remote Radio was a blip on the radar, I never attended panels at conventions, I went to meet the celebrities and do some shopping.  However, as conventions are shifting focus toward becoming giant, expensive autograph cons, it’s nice to see that people are still genuinely interested in all the events a con has to offer.

Now Let’s Talk costumes

This was the reason I wanted to attend Acen.

I don’t watch much anime, so I was in the dark on a lot of the costumes out there.  Heck, Junk is kinda my go-to anime guru, and he didn’t know a lot of the costumes out there!  However, our lack of knowledge wasn’t that big of a deal, because for every costume we didn’t know, there was one we did.  I saw countless Doctors alongside the faithful Amy Pond.  There was a Jessica Rabbit, two Slave Leias, Sonics, Tails, Mario, Luigi, even Ash from Evil Dead made an appearance.  It was the most diverse group of costumed characters I’ve ever seen.

It was also the most scantily clad at some points (not complaining).  There were a few characters that I had no idea who they were, and I really didn’t mind.  I guess the scantily clad costumes makes sense because from some of the anime that I’ve seen, the female costumes are not only elaborate but also skimpy.  So to those women who could pull them off and look great, I tip my hat to you.

My last point on costumes is just how dedicated the people are to committing to the character.  I overheard one man say that his costume took seven years to make.  That wasn’t just crafting the actual costume, but also included dieting and working out to get into shape for the character.  Now that is dedication my friends.  I wish I would have gotten that guy on camera, because I think that that is just such a great story.

But a large amount of these costumes are handcrafted by the wearers…and that totally blows my mind.  The last time I ever tried to make something was in seventh grade and it was a sweatshirt.  They gave me right-handed scissors (I’m left-handed), and my sweatshirt ended up with holes all down the front, a neck you couldn’t fit your head through, and arms that went to your elbows.  Long story short, I don’t think me making a cosplay costume is a good idea anytime soon.

Yaoi?

So what would this post be without posting something new and kinda weird to me that I learned about at the convention.  Much like in Twape, when I learned about hentai, this year I learned about a new sect of hentai…yaoi.

Now, I had no idea what this was last year, and I remember seeing a lot of rainbow flags with that word on it…I was just too dense to pick up the hint then.  Yaoi, is animated gay porn.  Well, from what I understand it isn’t just gay porn , it’s just “non-mainstream” I guess you would call it.  So I guess there is a guy-on-guy section, a girl-on-girl, and so on and so forth into the more odd categories like old person-on-old person.

I can’t personally vouch for these other segments, many of the yaoi books/movies were wrapped up and neatly packaged so you couldn’t see the covers.  I’m just telling you what I heard.

Keep watching the videos to see me get spanked with a yaoi paddle too haha.

Final Thoughts On Acen

It’s probably one of the most fun, most all encompassing, most friendly conventions that I have ever been to, and I recommend that everyone check it out.  Even if you aren’t into Japanese culture, you’ll find something/someone who you will like, and you will have an absolute blast.

I know My Remote Radio will definitely be making another appearance at Acen next year…but this time in costume.

Were you there?  What did you think?

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