The
start of OtakuCon in Miami Beach marks the debut of an organization
that has radical new plans for anime conventions in the U.S. During the
15-year growth of conventions, they've been run by fan organizations
which have staged no more than a single event in a season. However, the
Kunicon organization that ran OtakuCon intends to run more than a dozen
events in a single year in markets all over the U.S., and all of them
will be first-time events in 2005. Frank Camacho, co-chair of the Miami
Beach event, said they're planning to expand the number of conventions
while not stepping on the toes of existing events or angering their
organizers. One of those gestures can be seen in the change of name of
Kunicon's events from the inaugural OtakuCon to Kunicon. Camacho said
they were made aware that the OtakuCon title was close to the name of
the established Otakon in the Northeast, and decided to switch
subsequent names to Kunicon to avoid any confusion. There was a
representative of Otakon's organizing Otakorp group on hand at the
Miami Beach event when Camacho made that statement.
Kunicon's
creators come from the Miami area, and they saw that part of South
Florida as a good place to start. "You're looking at six million
people, and that would break down to 40 thousand fans that would have
to drive four or five hours to go to a convention," Camacho said. "It's
time that Miami had a giant convention." OtakuCon's co-chair said they
were expecting to break Anime Boston's record of having the largest
first-time anime convention in the U.S.; the 2003 event in the Hub drew
around 4,000, while OtakuCon was expected to possibly double that
number, Camacho said. He acknowledged the new Florida event got off to
a rough start with the registration lines opening about an hour late on
the opening day and scheduled events also running as far behind their
announced time, but Camacho said they'd try to do better on Saturday
when the big crowds showed up.
Camacho
said he's aware of the bad fandom reputation generated by the Slanted
Fedora and Creation companies that staged sci-fi conventions for
profit, and they're going to avoid the mistakes made by those
companies. Specifically, they're promising to work with fans in the
areas where they stage conventions. Camacho said their inaugural St.
Louis event is going to bring together groups that had wanted to hold
an anime conventions but had not been able to finish the job. The same
is going to happen in San Diego, where the Kunicon group is going to
cooperate with area clubs and some of the people who stage the big
Comic-Con International. When Kunicon has events in the same markets as
established events, they're promising to hold their conventions several
months apart (as in the Denver-area convention that will be about three
months before Nan Desu Kan). And one of the ironies of scheduling came
out on the OtakuCon weekend, when a group announced that they're going
to hold a Robotech convention in Anaheim, Calif. on the same weekend as
Anime Expo (although that event might be held with Anime Expo's
blessing and support).
The
start of OtakuCon in Miami Beach marks the debut of an organization
that has radical new plans for anime conventions in the U.S. During the
15-year growth of conventions, they've been run by fan organizations
which have staged no more than a single event in a season. However, the
Kunicon organization that ran OtakuCon intends to run more than a dozen
events in a single year in markets all over the U.S., and all of them
will be first-time events in 2005. Frank Camacho, co-chair of the Miami
Beach event, said they're planning to expand the number of conventions
while not stepping on the toes of existing events or angering their
organizers. One of those gestures can be seen in the change of name of
Kunicon's events from the inaugural OtakuCon to Kunicon. Camacho said
they were made aware that the OtakuCon title was close to the name of
the established Otakon in the Northeast, and decided to switch
subsequent names to Kunicon to avoid any confusion. There was a
representative of Otakon's organizing Otakorp group on hand at the
Miami Beach event when Camacho made that statement.
Kunicon's
creators come from the Miami area, and they saw that part of South
Florida as a good place to start. "You're looking at six million
people, and that would break down to 40 thousand fans that would have
to drive four or five hours to go to a convention," Camacho said. "It's
time that Miami had a giant convention." OtakuCon's co-chair said they
were expecting to break Anime Boston's record of having the largest
first-time anime convention in the U.S.; the 2003 event in the Hub drew
around 4,000, while OtakuCon was expected to possibly double that
number, Camacho said. He acknowledged the new Florida event got off to
a rough start with the registration lines opening about an hour late on
the opening day and scheduled events also running as far behind their
announced time, but Camacho said they'd try to do better on Saturday
when the big crowds showed up.
Camacho
said he's aware of the bad fandom reputation generated by the Slanted
Fedora and Creation companies that staged sci-fi conventions for
profit, and they're going to avoid the mistakes made by those
companies. Specifically, they're promising to work with fans in the
areas where they stage conventions. Camacho said their inaugural St.
Louis event is going to bring together groups that had wanted to hold
an anime conventions but had not been able to finish the job. The same
is going to happen in San Diego, where the Kunicon group is going to
cooperate with area clubs and some of the people who stage the big
Comic-Con International. When Kunicon has events in the same markets as
established events, they're promising to hold their conventions several
months apart (as in the Denver-area convention that will be about three
months before Nan Desu Kan). And one of the ironies of scheduling came
out on the OtakuCon weekend, when a group announced that they're going
to hold a Robotech convention in Anaheim, Calif. on the same weekend as
Anime Expo (although that event might be held with Anime Expo's
blessing and support).
