Moricon

The library in Milton, WV is holding a free gathering for anime and manga fans called Moricon this Saturday, November 16th from 6pm to 9pm.

Activities at the event are an anime trivia game show, a video game room run by LANding Zone,  a cosplay contest, anime viewing room, face painting, origami, and a free café.  Last year’s café had some good curry, rice balls, tea, and other snacks.  A small event, but a good way to spend a few hours if you live nearby.

The whole thing will be free and open to everyone to come and hang out.  The library will be closed down during the event, so you can not check anything out.

The event is part of the Milton Library Manga Club.  The club meets every Friday from 4-5pm.  Activities rang from watching anime and playing video games to learning about Japanese culture and planning Moricon.

Tsubacon Review

Another year and another Tsubasacon.  The tenth anniversary passed this year with loads of fun and special recognition from both the governor’s office and Huntington’s mayor office.

There was some layout restructuring this year, first time in a long time, since the center had done some remodeling.  The vendor room was moved to the other side of the building and panel rooms and sub-main to their place.  Lightened traffic down the hallways with the vendors and artist alley away from each other, but helped to create extra noise outside the panel rooms.

The guests were friendly and nice, of what I saw of them.  Maybe it was just me, it seemed they did not put them as front and center to the fans.  Then again I did not try too hard.

My panels ran pretty well all three days.  Fair to good attendance and very interactive crowds.  Also got to check a few other panels.  The ones I saw were quite good, a blend of learning and having fun.  Though not all.

The music acts were nice if a bit loud for myself.  Seriously I walked out of the Junko concert cause it was physically painful.  I did like here work though, picked up a CD and all.

There was plenty of cosplayers from all kinds of fandoms: animes, video games, Doctor Who, MLP, comics, and what ever else people liked.

Disappointed in the CCG room and schedule they had.  The guy in charge of Weiss Schwarz did not show and all of Sunday’s games were cancelled.  Also not a lot of room.  I did not check during the tournaments so I did not get to see them going on.  The video room did not really have too much that interested me during the weekend and the only time I actually looked in there, no video was playing and I swear there were two people napping in their chairs.

The vendors’ room was fuller than last year and had a good selection of items to pick up.  Artist Alley also had a nice selection, not a lot of repeat items.

Very much a con for people looking to hang out with friends, both old and new. Still lacks that real special spark to make it a great con, but very much improved.  Great for cosplayers, video game fans, cartoons, and internet memes.

Pictures by Aaron Bellomy