Hello everyone. As most of you that have been following my blog know, I have attended Animecon 2017 this weekend. To say that Animecon only focusses itself on anime would be selling it short. If I were to give a description for it, I would say it is more a celebration of all things Asian. Besides being able to watch a lot of anime, there are also all kinds of Asian movies to see, workshops to participate in, games to play, and a whole lot of other stuff. I have made this post to give you an impression of my weekend, and I hope you will enjoy reading it.
The Hotel
Animecon took place in The Hague, which is about a two hour drive from where I live. So in order to not travel back and forth the entire weekend, I decided to stay at a hotel. Normally this would be pretty expensive, but because of the con taking place, a special discount was granted. It was one of the most luxurious hotels that I have ever stayed at, and as you can see from the pictures above, the room itself as well as the view was pretty amazing.
Busy, busy, busy….
It was a very busy weekend with a lot of people attending. Checking in at the hotel took me almost 40 minutes, and getting in to the con itself also took me just about the same time. At least everyone was in very good spirits, and I got to admire a lot of cosplayers. The weather outside was luckily very good, so I honestly did not mind the wait.
What I saw: Anime
Ofcourse with a title like Animecon one should not be surprised that there was a lot of anime on offer. With four different movie theatres playing all kinds of different shows and movies at the same time, you had to make a selection. Down below is an overview of the anime that I chose to see.
Magic-Kyun Renaissance Episodes 1-4
This was a pretty fun series to start off with. For some reason it reminded me a bit of Harry Potter. It tells the story of a girl called Kohana who attends The Magical Arts High School. Upon her arrival she meets a number of people there, that throughout a variety of different arts can produce sparkles, a kind of magical effect. I don’t exactly know why, but I found this series to be quite enjoyable. It was beautifully animated, the characters looked great, and the story was pretty unique.
Chaos;Child Episodes 1-5
This series seriously creeped me out. It was too bad they only showed the first 5 episodes because I could have continued watching this the entire evening. A massive earth quake destroys the city of Shibuya. Six years later the city has been rebuilt, and the survivors continue with their lives. But then a series of mysterious deaths begin to occur that happen to coincide with a string of murders that also happened six years ago. With genuinely disturbing imagery, and a very scary atmosphere, I absolutely loved this one.
The Piano Forest
The Piano Forest was a very beautiful movie, that focussed on a young boy called Shuhei who moves from Tokyo to a smaller city. Shuhei’s dream is to become the best piano player in the world, but because of that he at first doesn’t fit in with his classmates at the local school. But then he comes in contact with the young boy Kai, who lives in the Red Light District. Kai also plays the piano, but in a nearby forest on a mysterious piano that only he seems to be able to get to work. A friendship is soon formed between the unlikely pair, but one that does not come easy. Although this movie was pretty slow, the story was very engaging, and just a great watch from beginning to end.
Bubblegum Crisis OVA 1-3
This was old school anime at it’s best. A series that was made back in the 80’s, it has influences from classic movies like Blade Runner. It tells the story of four girls who make up the Knight Sabers, who fight crime in a future city in high powered exo suits. With blasting 80’s rockmusic, a great atmosphere, and a classic animation style, this was great to see back again after all these years.
And that’s it for the first part of this report. Join me again on the second part, where I will talk about the Asian films that I have seen this weekend. Also I will be showing you some of the great food on offer as well as the new things that I bought (and trust me when I say that my wallet was pretty empty after this weekend lol). As always thank you for reading, and I hope to see you back for part 2, that will be published later today.
That looks like it would have been an amazing weekend. Totally jealous right now.
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Lol, sorry about that 😊 Well you’d better not read part 2 then…you will even get more jealous haha 😊 But yes, it was a terrific weekend. Can’t wait to go again next year 😀
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I wish I could have went ☹️☹️☹️ glad you enjoyed it!!
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Thank you, it definitely was a lot of fun. I hope there will be a convention like this where you live as well 😀
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Well I’m in Ny so there will be some. I just have to clear my schedule more haha.
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Looks like I want to go too (next year)!
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Lol 😂😂 Well that ofcourse would be awesome. It was a great con, and next year will probably be even better, as they are getting bigger every year. So…I see a roadtrip coming up 😂😂
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Wow it seemed like there was alot of great stuff going on during this con. I always love when they have anime playing for participants to watch. I’m pretty sure WeekendOtaku opted to watch “Myriad Colors Phantom World” from seeing it playing at a con.
Thanks solely to your post, I’m going to have to look into watching
“Magic-Kyun Renaissance” and I stopped mid-read to look Google “The Piano Forest.”
Thank you for sharing your experiences with us! I’m glad you had such a great time.
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Thank you again.Yes it was hard to decide what to watch though, there were so many good things playing at the same time that it was hard to make a decision.
Haha, well I just stopped writing this response to check on Myriad Colors Phantom World 😊 Looks great ! (And ofcourse that expands my to watch encyclopedia again lol 😂). As for Magic-Kyun, it was pretty original. I’m going to try and finish the series myself, as it did have me interested. And the Piano Forest is just a very beautiful movie that is really worth the watch 😊
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Yay, looks like you had plenty of fun! 😊 And all those anime titles sound so interesting. I really want to check out Chaos Child in particular. Creepy atmosphere, disturbing mysteries, what’s not to like? 😉 Thanks for the wonderful introduction once again!
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Haha, thank you very much and ofcourse you are welcome. Yes Chaos Child was really creepy in a very good way. I’m glad I can continue with it on Crunchyroll, because I really want to know how this ends. With a story that good, you just have to bingewatch it lol 😊
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Sounds like they had a lot going on at this. What was the attendance like? Our cons sound kind of lame compared to what you had there.
I got through about 10 minutes of Chaos;Child before becoming completely lost. Also little sister’s hand and WHOSE EYES ARE THOSE EYES and I figured it wasn’t going to work out.
Kimmie above might have misled you into thinking Myriad Colors is good. You may want to read my review and de-prioritize accordingly 😛 I’m pretty curious about Piano Forest though.
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Lol, well I don’t know about that, your cons look seriously awesome as well. As for the attenderen, it was very busy, especially on saturday. Strangely enough, the anime/movie theatres were pretty empty, with most people just heading out to the gamerooms, workshops and ofcourse the buying floor. Did not bother me though, as it gave me a good view of the screens (and bot having to look at the back of someone’s head lol).
Really? That truly surprises me, for me Chaos Child was genuinely creepy. I’m going to definitely finish it and do a full review. Maybe you can give it another go, you might never know 😊
Haha..okay, will check out that review of Myriad Colors…you have really made me curious now.
Piano Forest was great…it kind of reminded me a little bit of Your Lie In April…just a little bit mind you, but is is well worth checking out 😊
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Ah, I want to live where you do! All the cons at my place are so lame….
Glad you had fun though!
Piano forest has been on my list for a while now…..
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Well, hopefully a con like this comes near where you live as well 😊 I had a lot of fun, it was absolutely amazing 😀
As for The Piano Forest, it really was a beautiful movie. Even though it was at times pretty slow, I really liked the story andbtheandand atmosphere it created. Well worth checking out. I might do a full review for it, if I can find some time (which pretty much is always a problem for me lol 😂).
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Wow, sounds like you’ve had a really great time. Niice 😀
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Definitely, best Con I have ever been to, hands on 😊
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So cool! I wished I could go the Animecon👍🏻😎
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Yeah, it was really cool. Best Con that I have ever visited, that’s for sure. Can’t wait for next year 😊
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I live far away and hope someday I can go to any Animecon and Comic-Con😌 👍🏻
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Wow that seems amazing. Watching series with others like in theatres sounds like great fun.
Did you ever get the munchies while watching?
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Haha..well…there was one serious problem: you were not allowed to bring food or drinks inside the theatres themselves. So I definitely had to take a view breaks in between. But that was okay, as there was a lot pf great food on offer…and I guess it is also a very good idea to take breaks for some time 😀
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That’s really an awesome getaway! Did you wear a costume? I can imagine how fun it must have been, meeting a lot of fans like yourself there. Thanks for sharing your trip! I have never thought to go to one before.
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Thank you, yes it was an absolutely amazing trip, and I really had a lot of fun 😊 I myself did not wear a costume, but there were definitely a lot of people that wore some very professional costumes. Great to see, and some of these were really well made 😊
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You should’ve wear the costume.. at least it could enhance your experience hehe..
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. Well, hopefully a con like this comes near where you live as well 😊 I had a lot of fun, it was absolutely amazing 😀
As for The Piano Forest, it really was a beautiful movie.
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. Maybe you can give it another go, you might never know 😊
Haha.
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Ah, so this is the place that introduced you to Chaos;Child.
The hotel room looks very swanky. I am surprised to hear that they discounted prices due to the convention. When I went to Comic Con in London all the hotels in the area increased their prices over the weekend, to capitalize on the demand.
I like Bubblegum Crisis’ eighties soundtrack. Bubblegum Crisis 2070 is the first anime I bought on DVD.
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Yep it was, and honestly I would have loved to have seen the entire series in one go at that time. Five episodes just did not feel like enough 😀
The hotelroom was one of the best things, and the discount surprised me as well. It was the most luxurious room I have ever stayed in. I already hooked for next year, that is how much I enjoyed this con. Hopefully it will be just as awesome 😊
Bubblegum Crisis is truly terrific, and the soundtrack is one of the best things about it!
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Ahh this looks so fun! Love all the cosplay pics and gosh the food looks so good in your part 2 post!
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Haha, thank you 😀 It really was a terrific con. I have already hooked the con for next year. It’s than the 20th time it will be held, so I expect it to be even better than this year 😀
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