"The guests stole the show"

When all was said and done, the best part of Anime Overdose was Fuchizaki Yuriko. The other guests weren't far behind, but whenever Fuchizaki was on stage, she exuded grace and style.

Fuchizaki speaks Japanese beautifully. She's so expressive that even I could follow her words easily, not even noticing whether she was speaking English or Japanese. If she got tired of voice acting, she could easily find work teaching Japanese to English speakers.

The other guests were likewise amazing. Carl Macek had a disarming smile and a relaxed anecdote for everyone. Nimiya Saki did some impromptu sound direction. He also translated when necessary, doing so with consummate skill. Murasaki Hirofumi got a table in the dealers' room and looked like he was having a good time selling merchandise. Fred Patten and Gilles Poitras, the grey eminences of anime fandom, had an answer for every question. PMBQ was relaxed, informal, and friendly.

Every panel that I went to was fun, and that's a rare thing.

In some sense, every panel was like a masquerade. The guests showed off their talents while encouraging the attendees to do the same. It's one of the basic elements of the small-con style, and AoD pulled it off brilliantly.

AnimeOD's basic lesson is thus: it really doesn't matter how disorganized your con is. As long as the guests get a chance to shine, the fans will forgive you.

Because, believe me, it was disorganized. Events started late, the schedule jumped around like mad, and high-level staffers ran through the lobby looking for each other. It could have been better-run. Some of the events didn't occur, and some of those that did were not as entertaining as could be hoped.

The venue was too spread out. Most of the events were held in one area, and a few were held in another building clear across the campus. A staffer said that there was a good chance they'd move these events to another, closer building next year, though.

Rob Pereyda, the con chair and head nutcase, did an excellent job--but he needs to delegate. Seriously. No one wants to see Hiko Seijuro running through the hall every five minutes. Hiko Seijuro, as all Kenshin fans know, is too cool to run.

Believe it or not, the other issue that I have with the con is the sheer quantity of prizes available. At the opening ceremonies, I heard a figure of $40,000 worth in free stuff. There were, at an optimistic guess, around 1000 attendees. That's a lot of free stuff per person, and if I were a sponsor, I'd be looking pretty hard at whether there might be a more efficient way to use my promotional budget.

(Full disclosure. I got none of this swag. Not that I am bitter.)

But none of that mattered. The guests stole the show. I can only assume that the behind-the-scenes machinery devoted to keeping the guests happy went off like clockwork, because they laughed at all the right times, doing what they do best.

This year's AnimeOD had a real niche--great guests, relaxed feel, and some fun panels. Anyone who can make it to next year's really should, because this was something special. Just take the chance, and see if they can pull it off again.

—chris