Sakura-Con 2009 was one of the best yet. Not only did they have big guests from the anime world like Yamaguchi Kappei and Sasaki Nozomu, they brought big names from Jpop/Jrock like HANGRY&ANGRY and Girugamesh. The Washington State Convention and Trade Center was once again filled with Anime, Manga, Jpop, Jrock, and video game fans once again.
The weather this year was typical Seattle weather: rain. All three days. That didn’t seem to stop the fans from dressing up in the costumes though. Driving around downtown Seattle, you could see anime fans blocks away from the Convention Center. With the member count at 16,586 this year compared to last year’s 13,600 (source: http://www.sakuracon.org/aboutus/history.php), it just shows that Sakura-Con grows bigger and better every year. My first year at the con was back in 2004 when it was still being held at the Seatac Hilton and Marriott hotels. In 2006, the convention moved to the Washington State Convention and Trade center and brought an incredible amount of people with it.
This year was also the biggest year for guests. Not only were they able to get JRock Visual powerhouse Girugamesh, they were also the first to bring HANGRY&ANGRY to the US for their first performance. On top of that, they also got smile.dk, Myuji, as well as the local band The Slants. The big guests didn’t stop with the musical guests: they were also able to bring 2 stars of the Seiyuu world, Yamaguchi Kappei and Sasaki Nozomu. For a list of all of the great guests they were able to get, click on this link: http://www.sakuracon.org/programming/guests.php
Even though I was running around all three days of the convention, I had a great time. I was able to go to press conferences, concerts, and autograph signings for some of the guests so here are my reports for each of the people I got to cover.
To view images from this event, please click here (Photography by Jamie Ferguson)