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Convention Blues from a 47-year-old Anime Fan (May 2013)

I wish I had a tape recorder (do they still make them?). I’ve found that I wander and pace around my apartment or out on the street talking and ranting at myself, and frequently answering back. I suppose that I’m the most interesting person I know to vent my spleen at. I suspect that I look like a nutty homeless person to a passerby.

In any case, I’ve been going over what I talking about with my parents and friends and I would like to expand on it. I suppose it makes me feel better and it’s less expensive than adding minutes to my damn phone.

As I mentioned, this may be the first time that I’ve ever voluntarily chosen not to go to Project A-Kon at the end of this month. (I believe that I missed it once or twice due to being out of town with relatives.) As one of the original Founding Fathers of the convention, I should be getting a free admission pass, so that’s not a financial problem. The problem will be that I won’t be able to purchase anything. Most of the items do not interest me since they’re shows I don’t care about or they’re moronic rubbish. But now with the release of the Yamato 2199 remake, there may be things of note for a change. But I have no currency to spare right now. I have a yen for yen, but no yen in possession.

In the end, this may not matter, since I tend to buy anime via Internet – fewer middlemen and probably a better price. I’m become much less materialistic anyway, as you know. But, in a way, that’s also the problem – why go when you don’t buy? And why spend time in a video room? The stuff they show is now licensed – you can buy it or see it on the Net or on video. The only plus is a huge screen and sound system. I don’t draw and I don’t buy art, so the artist floor doesn’t do much for me other than looking at the pretty paintings. I don’t waste hours at gaming tables with loud fanboys. I don’t dress up in costumes. I don’t stand out. I am now left out.

As I said on the phone, I am Moses at the river Jordan. I helped to bring all of this about. In the beginning (G-d echo with thunder), we said ‘let there be anime’, and there was and it was good. As you recall, it was originally a stag party, consisting of teenage boys with bad B.O. and bad attitudes. But it’s grown up now. The big change is that anime now has a huge female fandom. They started making stuff to attract the girls, like girl superheroes, handsome bishonen (“beautiful boys”) and stories of regular girls growing up in high school, etc. Now a large percentage of attendees are girls, sometimes rather rabid fangirls. Lots of parents bring their kids along, often wearing costumes and buying all kinds of gizmos. It’s become mainstream.

But I’m Moses at the river Jordan. I’m an “old schooler” – an old timer. The kids nowadays wouldn’t know a Yamato from a yarmulke (though that may change a bit with the new show). Also, I’m an obsolete spare part. I was practically the only person in the area who had access to any of this stuff on video. I provided all of the VHS tapes. I ran the rooms. I helped write up synopses books in the days of non-subtitled. Now, of course, you just pop in the DVD or Blu-Ray direct from the studio. This was what we wanted to achieve, of course – to make the stuff commonplace. I knew it would happen – I wanted it to happen. But I’m still on that riverbank, watching the masses enjoying the fruits of my labors, but left unknown on Mount Nebo.

Incidentally, from a male perspective, many of these female fans are hot. Some are hot enough to maybe even get Dad’s tired testicles twitching. But there’s the rub – again, back in my day, it was primarily Y chromosome only. Now that the ladies are involved, I face the Emma Watson Paradox: gorgeous, smart, confident, has her head on straight – and I’m old enough to be her father. Ah, the hell of being a horny older man. Of course, if the girls were around in my fandom days, I would have been too bashful to talk to them anyway. I’m just fucked – but I’m not getting fucked.

To be frank, it’s become depressing to attend. I don’t go to a convention for all three days anymore – for the last few years, I usually go for several hours and I’m done. I take a lap or two through the dealer’s room (rarely buying), check the schedules for anything interesting in the video rooms (usually not), I might see a few people I know from the old days or get an autograph from a voice actor/actress – but that’s all, folks. You can’t even get into the big Costume Contest – you have to get in line for hours just to get a decent seat.

I often wonder if there was any way to have somehow gotten into the industry. Probably not – I’m not a salesman and I’m not fluent enough in Japanese. Actually, I think the anime fad is in a decline at the moment – like most things, 90% of it is crap; you have to shovel lots of crap to find the diamonds. The Japanese have also been doing some bizarre stuff on the business end that has alienated many American folks. Like Star Trek, it’ll have its ups and downs over the years.

So there it is – I have accomplished my mission, but as the Vorlons would say, there will be no heroic praises and monuments. I will be alone and forgotten, with no name. What a pisser.

ADDENDUM (September 7): Another sign that things are passing me by – I forgot all about a local anime convention! The other major anime convention in the Dallas area is AnimeFest, which takes place around the Labor Day weekend. I was considering buying a model spaceship that a friend has expressed interest in. I have an idea what it costs on the Net so I thought about seeing if it would be at a convention dealer’s room and cost compare. Well, AnimeFest is coming up on Labor Day and – OMG, wait a minute – it’s now the Tuesday after fucking Labor Day! It had totally slipped my mind to the point that I didn’t even write it down in my planner book! I’m that far gone already, huh?

Description
Convention Blues from a 47-year-old Anime Fan (May 2013)

I wish I had a tape recorder (do they still make them?). I’ve found that I wander and pace around my apartment or out on the street talking and ranting at myself, and frequently answering back. I suppose that I’m the most interesting person I know to vent my spleen at. I suspect that I look like a nutty homeless person to a passerby.

In any case, I’ve been going over what I talking about with my parents and friends and I would like to expand on it. I suppose it makes me feel better and it’s less expensive than adding minutes to my damn phone.

As I mentioned, this may be the first time that I’ve ever voluntarily chosen not to go to Project A-Kon at the end of this month. (I believe that I missed it once or twice due to being out of town with relatives.) As one of the original Founding Fathers of the convention, I should be getting a free admission pass, so that’s not a financial problem. The problem will be that I won’t be able to purchase anything. Most of the items do not interest me since they’re shows I don’t care about or they’re moronic rubbish. But now with the release of the Yamato 2199 remake, there may be things of note for a change. But I have no currency to spare right now. I have a yen for yen, but no yen in possession.

In the end, this may not matter, since I tend to buy anime via Internet – fewer middlemen and probably a better price. I’m become much less materialistic anyway, as you know. But, in a way, that’s also the problem – why go when you don’t buy? And why spend time in a video room? The stuff they show is now licensed – you can buy it or see it on the Net or on video. The only plus is a huge screen and sound system. I don’t draw and I don’t buy art, so the artist floor doesn’t do much for me other than looking at the pretty paintings. I don’t waste hours at gaming tables with loud fanboys. I don’t dress up in costumes. I don’t stand out. I am now left out.

As I said on the phone, I am Moses at the river Jordan. I helped to bring all of this about. In the beginning (G-d echo with thunder), we said ‘let there be anime’, and there was and it was good. As you recall, it was originally a stag party, consisting of teenage boys with bad B.O. and bad attitudes. But it’s grown up now. The big change is that anime now has a huge female fandom. They started making stuff to attract the girls, like girl superheroes, handsome bishonen (“beautiful boys”) and stories of regular girls growing up in high school, etc. Now a large percentage of attendees are girls, sometimes rather rabid fangirls. Lots of parents bring their kids along, often wearing costumes and buying all kinds of gizmos. It’s become mainstream.

But I’m Moses at the river Jordan. I’m an “old schooler” – an old timer. The kids nowadays wouldn’t know a Yamato from a yarmulke (though that may change a bit with the new show). Also, I’m an obsolete spare part. I was practically the only person in the area who had access to any of this stuff on video. I provided all of the VHS tapes. I ran the rooms. I helped write up synopses books in the days of non-subtitled. Now, of course, you just pop in the DVD or Blu-Ray direct from the studio. This was what we wanted to achieve, of course – to make the stuff commonplace. I knew it would happen – I wanted it to happen. But I’m still on that riverbank, watching the masses enjoying the fruits of my labors, but left unknown on Mount Nebo.

Incidentally, from a male perspective, many of these female fans are hot. Some are hot enough to maybe even get Dad’s tired testicles twitching. But there’s the rub – again, back in my day, it was primarily Y chromosome only. Now that the ladies are involved, I face the Emma Watson Paradox: gorgeous, smart, confident, has her head on straight – and I’m old enough to be her father. Ah, the hell of being a horny older man. Of course, if the girls were around in my fandom days, I would have been too bashful to talk to them anyway. I’m just fucked – but I’m not getting fucked.

To be frank, it’s become depressing to attend. I don’t go to a convention for all three days anymore – for the last few years, I usually go for several hours and I’m done. I take a lap or two through the dealer’s room (rarely buying), check the schedules for anything interesting in the video rooms (usually not), I might see a few people I know from the old days or get an autograph from a voice actor/actress – but that’s all, folks. You can’t even get into the big Costume Contest – you have to get in line for hours just to get a decent seat.

I often wonder if there was any way to have somehow gotten into the industry. Probably not – I’m not a salesman and I’m not fluent enough in Japanese. Actually, I think the anime fad is in a decline at the moment – like most things, 90% of it is crap; you have to shovel lots of crap to find the diamonds. The Japanese have also been doing some bizarre stuff on the business end that has alienated many American folks. Like Star Trek, it’ll have its ups and downs over the years.

So there it is – I have accomplished my mission, but as the Vorlons would say, there will be no heroic praises and monuments. I will be alone and forgotten, with no name. What a pisser.

ADDENDUM (September 7): Another sign that things are passing me by – I forgot all about a local anime convention! The other major anime convention in the Dallas area is AnimeFest, which takes place around the Labor Day weekend. I was considering buying a model spaceship that a friend has expressed interest in. I have an idea what it costs on the Net so I thought about seeing if it would be at a convention dealer’s room and cost compare. Well, AnimeFest is coming up on Labor Day and – OMG, wait a minute – it’s now the Tuesday after fucking Labor Day! It had totally slipped my mind to the point that I didn’t even write it down in my planner book! I’m that far gone already, huh?