Convention Survival Guide
Anime conventions are a bit of a tricky place for us with sensory issues, but it seems like a lot of us like anime and end up going to them. However, with the right tactics, conventions can be a lot of fun.
So, I figure that we should have a place to share our survival tactics. Like, there's the usual 6-2-1 rule (each day get: six hours sleep, two meals, one clean-up/bath) and be careful with your cash, but what are the autistic specific tactics that we use?
I know for me, since I go for entire weekends, I make sure to book a room in the convention hotels, so that I have a place I can go for a little time-out period. For about an hour, I munch on snacks, relax the laces of my costume and kick off my shoes before reapplying the make up, straightening the wings and going back down to noisy crowds.
Also, because I cosplay, I make sure that what I'm wearing is at least tolerable for long periods of time. I use Halloween as a trial time, to see whether repairs hold up to the strain and whether I can handle the fabrics and weight of the costume in general.
So, how do you survive conventions? or is there any questions that people who haven't been to conventions want to ask on how to survive?
what is anime?
Japanese cartoon features. Usually action-oriented. Stylized. Big eyes. In many there are some stock conventions. One I particularly like is that when characters are upset, they turn into toddlers throwing hissy fits, mouth open wide, tears exploding from their eyes.
My favorite director is Hiyao Miyazaki, a good place to start. His films are fine art; he's the master. Look up Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, Ponyo. Dubbed into English and distributed by Disney. If you don't mind subtitles, some prefer the Japanese originals without the dubbing and the often dumb theme music that Disney imposes. Ponyo's end credit music sucked -- what were they thinking?!
There is an American anime-inspired series that my kids adored: Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is worth checking out with any kids or grandkids. M. Knight Shamalyan bought the screen rights and is making a feature film out of it; reports of his efforts thus far are mixed. I'm afraid he will ruin it. What's great about the Nick cartoon series is that it's pan-Asian. My daughter is Chinese and loved seeing characters that look like her.
Anime programs for kids include Pokemon. My kids were into that for a short while. Now it's Bakugan, but mostly the plastic orb collectables. Soon Naruto, no doubt.
It's just a genre of animation that originated in Japan. It ranges from little kids' shows (like Pokemon) to really serious, heavy fare like Grave of the Fireflies (which is, by the way, highly recommended) -- there's a lot of action anime, but plenty of other types as well.
I agree with Califmom -- Miyazaki is a good place to start if you're curious, as it's high-quality, relatively easy to find, and has some of the less excruciating dubs that I've seen (most dubbing of anime is just...painfully bad, which probably is part of the reason it's still largely regarded as kids' fare outside of Japan.) Recommendations other than that would really depend on what kind of show and art style a person prefers, as there's a lot of variety. :)
Recommendations also depend on parental guidance and the rating systems too. Anime crosses all genres and age groups.
wow, this is a lifesaver :) thanks
My daughter is planning on going to her first Anime Convention, so this information will come in handy! Thanks!
Make sure you retrieve info from websites or forums a full week before the convention. THe sites tend to get a lot of traffic the week of, and if the site goes down then often the tech guys can't get back in and fix it until a week after.
I had the contact info for my room on the website, and because it went down I ended up spending the weekend without a bed. I napped in the all night anime room (lol, watching Hentai with strangers) and thankfully had some people on staff who took me under their wing/watched my stuff. Never found the person I had arranged to share a room with.
Savannah Nicole Logsdon-Breakstone Director of Advocacy