| Yes, we at i360 are aware it has been almost a month
since PMX, and
it's about a week until AX, but some of us on staff had this little
thing called the real world to deal with (something two on staff
have no idea of). And while Nishi-kun was off graduating from
college, I, D-kun, was dealing with a slightly odd work week
including six days of work, and one day or rest, after which the
body tells you when you're done in some interesting ways. But
enough with excuses. You want the skinny on Pacific Media Expo,
even if the picture is a little rose tinted, and dust ball covered
after this long. Hey at least the pictures are up!
Once again, some of the staff made the harrowing half-an-hour drive
down past the orange curtain, and have alighted upon the hallowed
grounds of the Anaheim Convention Center and the Anaheim Hilton.
But we were not there for Anime Expo. We were there for a new
convention for those of us here in Southern California. They dubbed
it the Pacific Media Expo, and it is supposed to cover so much more
than just anime. Despite the fact that we were declined press passes
for
this con, we took this as an opportunity to practice our guerrilla
reporting and Gonzo journalism.
The convention Mission states:
"Pacific Media Expo (PMX) is a trade show dedicated to promoting
the
Pacific Rim's entertainment and media industries. PMX is focused
on
cultural exports such as anime, music, live-action films, and
comics. PMX is also a showplace for two new generations in
entertainment: Asian-American joint media projects, and Asian-
American artists."
The convention started off with a relative bang, with a concert
the
night prior with the musical talents of Ms. Nami Tamaki, and T.M.
Revolution. The concert was very well done, and even though the
event was not filled to capacity, that just meant that all those
hard-core fans who showed up for the concert got to actually hear
the songs the artist intended to play, while giving the event a
slightly intimate feel. Both artists of course played their
respective title tracks from the new Gundam series, Gundam Seed,
as
well as some of their other notable tracks. To close out the night
perfectly, T.M. Revolution came back for the encore with arguably
the best closing theme for Rurouni Kenshin, "Heart of sword".
The day after the concert the convention started in full swing.
For
those of us hardened by the rigors of Anime Expo, seeing a
convention like this held in its same location had many feeling
it
would be a lot like Expo. I was pleasantly surprised to find that
despite being held in the same location, the convention invoked
thoughts of Animagic in Lancaster, instead of Anime Expo, or the
San Diego Comic-Con.
The attendance was fairly small (about 3000 by according to some
sources). But that is to be expected with Fanime having been
the same week. According to some of the dealers, the fish just
weren't biting either. With a large part of the California anime
community up north at Fanime, the attendance couldn't have been
expected to be that great. As for the dealers, some popular opinions
were that those fans that did wind up stopping in at PMX wound up
doing so because they could not afford to make a trek up north.
And
with Anime Expo a little over a month away, a lot of the fans
that did go were more of the browsing type, getting a feel for the
land so that they would know what to keep an eye out for at Anime
Expo.
As Nishi-kun is prone to say of Ani-Magic, PMX felt like a vacation
con to me. A lot of lounging was done. Some networking with people
took place; people who I had never met who have heard of this site
and like what we do. There was as well meeting with cosplayers we
run
into at con, after con, after con.
The convention didn't really have much to offer in the way of
cosplayer selection as the galleries go to show, so the staff that
did go were able to conserve a lot of energy on cosplayer hunting.
They offered a good selection of things to watch in their Video
rooms, with rooms specifically set aside for Live-action movies
from
Hong-Kong and Japan, as well as a more diverse selection of Anime
titles to watch. They even kept the party going by having concerts
from Silver Ash, and Psycho Le Cemu for Saturday and Sunday.
Unfortunately I opted out on the Guest of Honor panels, and though
I
might have been able to have gone to the autograph session
afterwards without the ticket, one need not have worried if they
missed the panels, as the convention decided to have an Open
Autograph Session which included Yasuhiro Nightow, Takahiro
Yoshimatsu, Daisuke Moriyama, and Shino Masanori. The lines for
the
Autograph session were obscenely short, twenty minutes at worst
in
one line, after which you could have gotten in the next line, and
quickly received your next autograph.
All in all, a fairly relaxing convention. They are hoping next
year
to move the timing of the convention to later in the year to
fall on the Labor day weekend, and hopefully not make fans have
to
decide on a convention to go to on the same weekend. A lot could
come of this con. Hopefully it can live up to its potential.
—aldo
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