Other than being the aforementioned acronym [Anime Weekend Atlanta], AWA is a 3 day convention for anime/manga/otakudom that took place in the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. Panels ranged from “Artistic Bento” to “ Traveling to Japan” to “MANime- The Manly Anime Panel” along with a countless amount of others. Since the con went on in a Hotel, it was a 24 hour celebration that never slept!
My favorite panel/showings were Durarara! the anime, and AMV Hell. Durarara is a conglomerate of stories built into one, that all mesh together and serve as a backdrop for the mystery of the Headless Motorcycler that cruises around town as a “transporter,” ultimately doing good and saving people. But there is much more to this story than meets the eye...
AMV Hell was basically a “Robot Chicken” sort of arrangement of AMVs, all about 30 seconds and about complete randomness. Most times they were explicit and weird and creepy, but at the same time others were ingenious and made me laugh out loud. I had no clue what I was walking in to see, then I was walking out with tons of spoilers in my mind, unsettling thoughts, but most importantly laughing so hard it hurt. Don’t hate me, Deretsun, I gotta post this ;D
The major guest of honor was, of course, Vic Mignogna. The line for his autograph was perpetually longer than the line for free food, but at one point I walked past him and said, “Hey Vic!” at which he replied “Hey, stranger!” without a second glance.
Of course AWA had it’s share of cosplayers, but to be honest there was a smaller group of costume clad con-goers at this one. But as they say, quality makes up for quantity. Everyone who was in costume seemed to have worked really hard on their outfits:
Master Roshi!
Ukuu and Aya Shameimaru from Touhou!
Kimblee and Greed from Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood!
Luffy vs. Vegeta, who would win?
Hidan and Sasuke from Naruto Shippuden!
It was also really funny what you can see at a Hotel/Con. Good guys, bad guys, and weird guys doing normal person things:
Sasori and Deidara enjoy McDonalds...
But in the end they really gave me the desire and motivation to want to cosplay at the next convention I go to! Beware, AWA [and Animazement and possibly Otakon] 2011!
Interestingly enough, I spent the majority of my time in the Dealer’s room and Artist’s alley. I have to remark that their places of sale were by far the largest I have ever seen! It was amazing how they filled up such a space with such a density of shops and advertisements! The most interesting was Funimation’s “booth.” Where they had a huge screen playing Anime openings and trailers for things I’d never seen before, selling various [and possibly rare] DVDs, along with…
DVD grab bags.
The grab bag. Sometimes in the shape of a brown lunch bag, sometimes larger like a paper shopping bag. Sometimes it’s a “grab box.” But in the end, the grab bag is nothing but trouble unless luck has been your ally since birth. Grab bags are basically bags of random stuff that in the end have a greater retail price than what you pay for them, but in most cases consists of mostly stuff no one wants to buy. In the end you get a good deal for what you bought, but usually it’s not even close to what you wished for. I learned this the hard way. A $30 Funimation grab bag got my friend THREE full DVD sets for Welcome to the NHK, Tenchi Muyo, and Air. A $30 Funimation grab bag got me THREE full DVD sets for Shin-chan.
Go figure.
But in the end I bought more than I ever bought. I owe many kind souls various amounts of monetary dues, but the heist was fairly successful:
My favorite purchases are the Touhou artbook, and a random Mokona jumping figure:
And as you can some items are “?”ed out. I wonder what’s behind those mysterious question marks? ^^’
Well, that’s all for now folks! I highly recommend AWA for anyone close to Georgia! Show your otaku pride!
-chansu
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