I made an experiment, and decided to visit a manga convention. For some time I was not doing so (apart from special occasions like Magnificon a few years ago), and I was curious whether I will find myself on such event. Conveniently Nanicon took place over a weekend I had a free slot so I went there.
Fresh start
As it was my 301st convention I may consider it a fresh start. After all those years and cons, I am back again where I started. Of course I cannot “reset” everything, but in some regards it was like a new beginning. As I didn’t attend manga conventions for such a long time I knew almost no one. The only people I met before where from the concom, volunteers, and dealers. The number of people I knew was though a bit higher than at DOJIcon 2, still the difference was not substantial.
With over 2000 people, Nanicon was quite crowded.
I had to “learn” many things. The dynamics of Nanicon was way different compared to what I am now accustomed to. On a high level it was quite “normal”, but looking into details it felt different. The topics covered in the programme, the way how programme rooms “worked” (many rooms ran by specific groups), even parts of nomenclature were new to me. Taking all of that into consideration, Nanicon was a new experience.
Having said all the above, I cannot tell that it was “like my first con”. Some things were different or felt different, but many aspects were quite typical. Even if not “typical”, at least recognizable for me.
The Difficult Art of Meeting People
As always, I spent part of the time socializing. It was good to meet some of my friends whom I expected there, and some who were a surprise. I regret that a few friends I hoped to see were not attending Nanicon. I didn’t attend any social evening (not sure if there even was one), but had enough time over the days to have some meaningful conversations.
Part of the Nanicon took place outside.
What I didn’t manage to do was meeting new people, and by saying that I mean befriending them. Obviously I met many fans, but those were either brief conversations or even not that. By no means it is the fault of other convention members. It was me who felt a bit alienated. As to why it was like that, there are a few reasons. Being way older than the vast majority of members was one reason. Another was the fact that I am not up to date with the current anime. Because of the latter I had no idea how to even start a conversation, and it blocked me.
Convention Game
The theme for this year’s Nanicon was yokai, and it made a nice background to the convention game. Our goal was to win against/banish at least five different yokai. The idea was (as it often is) to encourage people for participation in the attractions the con offered. My first task was dancing on DDR without putting a foot at the centre of the device. Then I had to sing in karaoke using “something strange” instead of a microphone (my umbrella was perfect for that). My third battle required sorting RPG dice by type in less than a minute. All those were pretty cool and manageable for me. The fourth one, however, was too hard. There was a shooting range on the outside, and the task was to have three successful shots out of six available. I don’t know how to shoot at all, and thus I lost being able to hit only one yokai (represented by an aluminium can).
Akwarela yokai was not to be fought, but instead it had to be brought to the convention game table.
There were more tasks (two of which I skipped) and in the end I managed to win against six different yokai. It met the minimum requirements and I got a small prize. Well I got convention currency that I exchanged for a paper fan. This was a blessing as the weather was way above my thermal tolerance.
The Heat
Friday and Saturday were very hot with temperature outside being over 30ºC. As Nanicon took place in school there was no AC, and I may only try guessing how hot were the rooms. The one thing I am sure of is that they were way too hot for me. The good side is that the convention team did two important things that helped a lot.
The RPG room was quite hot if the windows were closed.
Most of the windows to the programme rooms were covered by the space blankets. On one hand they provided some shade, and on the other allowed to reflect at least part of the heat going inside. In order to provide proper ventilation lower parts of the windows remained uncovered. I have no idea to what extent the foils worked, but at least I felt that it must be a bit better.
The other crucial thing, was organizing a water tank truck that stood outside for most of Saturday and Sunday. I visited it many times, and it was a blessing. Nanicon is not the first convention that did it (e.g. Bazyliszek a few weeks ago also had such offer), but it was a good thing. Still, even with water and reflective surfaces the temperatures were hard to bear.
The Programme
I made my decision on attending Nanicon when the con released the programme. I expected it may be hard for me to socialize, so I wanted to have something to do instead. Convention game was a great thing (and also functioned as a starter for some word exchange) but it was not enough. I found it a bit surprising that so many attractions were of interest to me. Maybe most of them were not the “must see” types, but many were interesting.
One of the programme items I attended at Nanicon.
In the end I attended only a few items of varying quality. Some were pretty good while some disappointed me. I regret not making it to visit some other items I had on my list. One of the things that “stole” my time was RPG session. One of the classrooms hosted the Eteryczny Młot (Etheric Hammer) group who offered multiple sessions over the course of three days. I played just one in D&D and it was enjoyable. I would be happier with a bit more of spotlight but it was satisfying nonetheless.
The Future
I enjoyed many parts of the convention. An example can be dealers. I got the impression that more than half of them were artists offering their creations. Even though most were not for me, it was a great opportunity for people to do what they love for work. Some of the dealers made stamp rallies for Nanicon members. People participating could get a gift should they make purchases in a few selected booths. Another thing I appreciated was convention merch. Most of it could was available by the convention currency or by cash. The selection was surprisingly wide – stickers, pins, posters, pink toilet paper (don’t ask me why – I have no idea), mugs, soap, towel, fans, and more. The designs used were amazing. I especially enjoyed pins with the designs of yokais from the convention game.
One of the programme rooms run by a fan group had a small exhibition of the old consoles.
Was Nanicon a start of a new cycle of my convention going? I don’t think so. At least for now I don’t expect to move more into anime cons instead of the SFF ones. Having said that, it showed me that I may still enjoy manga events, and I plan to attend some more in the future. Maybe even Nanicon in 2027.
You can find more pictures in my FB gallery.
My next post will appear no later than in the first half of September.