Sakura Con 2010 was Another Huge Success

Mayumi Tanaka posing for some pictures with the One Piece Cosplay Group

Sakura Con 2010 took place on April 2-4 2010 and was another great success. Since 2006, the annual anime convention has been held at the Seattle Convention and Trade Center. The mostly stormy weather throughout the weekend didn’t stop thousands of anime fans in their costumes to attend. This year’s attendance hit 18,000+. Of course most of the attendees came dressed as their favorite anime characters, video game characters, and various other costumes.

The escalators leading up to the main area of the convention were packed all weekend and because of the high attendance, some people who didn’t pre-register had to wait around 5 hours just to get a one day pass. But that didn’t discourage the fans. This year Sakura Con managed to bring in some big names from both the Japanese anime industry and the American anime industry. Big names from the Japanese anime world included Mayumi Tanaka (the famous seiyuu known for roles like Luffy from “One Piece”, Krillin from the “Dragon Ball” series, Koenma from “Yu Yu Hakusho” etc), Ryo Horikawa (another famous seiyuu who voiced Andromeda Shun from “Saint Seiya”, Hattori Heiji from “Meitantei Conan”, Vegeta from the “Dragon Ball” series, etc), Tsuyoshi Nonaka (known for his work for the mechanical design for “D.I.C.E” as well as the mecha design in various sentai and tokusatsu series), Noizi Ito (character designer and artist for the “Shakugan no Shana” novels and the illustrator for the “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” series, etc), and Takahiro Yoshimatsu (animator and character designer for titles like Jubei-chan, TRIGUN, and TRIGUN Badlands Rumble”, etc).

The American anime industry guests this year included Vic Mignogna (American voice actor known for roles like Edward Elric from “Fullmetal Alchemist”, Broly from “Dragon Ball Z” etc), Troy Baker (American voice actor known for his roles as Abel Nightroad from “Trinity Blood”, Frank Archer from “Fullmetal Alchemist” etc), Brina Palencia (American voice actress known for such roles as Juliet in “Romeo x Juliet”, Yin from “Darker Than Black, etc), Richard Epcar (American voice actor who has done Batou in the “Ghost in the Shell” series and his roles in “Robotech”), and Todd Haberkorn (American voice actor who has played Watanuki from “XXXholic”, Kono in “Darker than Black”, etc). For a full list of the 2010 guests, check out: http://www.sakuracon.org/programming/guests.php

Many events took place at this year’s Sakura Con including a concert with the J-Pop groups HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR and Dazzle Vision, panels with all of the guests, the world premiere of the movie “TRIGUN Badlands Rumble”, a masquerade ball, cosplay contest and fashion show as well as an AMV contest and karaoke contest. The “TRIGUN” movie played at Sakura Con 2010 before even premiering in Japan, so it brought many fans who wanted to see it throughout the weekend. It was shown one time each day of the convention and there was a line each time to see it. There were no bags or any electronic devices allowed into the room since it was the world premiere. Also, there were no English subtitles available at the showing, which caused some viewers to leave however most of the fans agreed that it was a great movie. Attendees could also enjoy the 24 hour theater rooms that played various anime and Japanese live action movies. They could also go to “The Wired”, which is the Sakura Con gaming area that included various arcade games (like DDR, Guitar Freaks, Drum Mania, Street Fighter, etc), a retro gaming room (where people could play NES, SNES, N64 games), a console gaming room, a Microsoft Game Testing room, and the Rock Band performance Stage. Artist Alley was also back at the con this year and allowed various artists to showcase their talents and do original art pieces for attendees as well.

Of course one of the highlights of an anime convention is the Exhibitors’ Room and Sakura Con 2010 didn’t disappoint. They had a huge room with over 100 vendor booths where attendees could buy their favorite anime DVDs, manga, anime goods (plushies, keychains, charms, cosplay goods, clothes, just to name a few), yaoi, hentai, and pretty much anything else an anime otaku could ask for. Uwajimaya and Kinokuniya were some of the big name exhibitors there as well as FUNimation and Japan Files. Pink Gorilla Games was also present and sold various Japanese and American retro games and provided some Japanese arcade games that fans could enjoy in the exhibitors’ room as well. Along with the various anime and video game related booths, there were booths featuring information on Japanese culture, living in Japan, and Asian arts like the JET program, and Meito Shodo-Kai Calligraphy Association.

Sakura Con 2010 provided a great experience for long time anime fans and new anime fans alike. With so many activities to enjoy around the clock and so many great guests to interact with, Sakura Con 2010 was a huge success. It’s grown so much over the years and continues to grow into one of the biggest anime conventions in the US. Anime fans in Seattle are surely anticipating Sakura Con 2011 and beyond.

Sakura Con’s official website: http://www.sakuracon.org
For some more photos I took at this event, check out: Michelle Tymon’s Sakura Con 2010 photos
For videos I took at the event, check out: http://www.youtube.com/user/gshock99
TRIGUN Badlands Rumble official website: http://www.trigun-movie.com/