Sakura-con 2010: A Review By Kyle Mistry

Sakura-con 2010

Apr 18 2010
Filed In: Photos, Reviews

Conventions have a tradition of being eccentric, brimming with activity, and filled with the kind of people that bring anyone’s favorite game or animation series to life. Not a convention on the west coast does a better job of re-enforcing all of these statements than Sakura-con, which recently finished it’s 13th lap around the sun in its usual host building, the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Arriving in Seattle on the Thursday before the convention began, I was not only able to pick up my badge, but managed to catch a glimpse of a few cosplayers that happened to be wandering around the convention area with their acquaintances. Naturally, I asked for some shots. A fun preview of the kind of people and costumes that Sakura-con would be filled with.

On Friday, the amount of activity I saw was unfathomable. Every floor of the convention center was bustling with cosplayers, photographers, and regular attendees looking to have some fun. People hopped back and forth throughout the center for the Dealer’s Room, Gaming Area, and above all else, the multitude of panels. A notable few of Friday’s selection that I managed to attend were the Voice Actor’s Forum, an Aikido demonstration, and Photography 101 (hey, a little refresher never hurts, right?)– all a minute selection of what Sakura-con offered, as some other panels of interest included ones around topics like 8-bit/Chiptune music development, art techniques, and even the premiere of the Trigun: Badlands Rumble movie, set for release on April 24th in Japan.

Finishing up the day, I took to a Final Fantasy photo shoot, getting some nice shots of the cosplayers that had taken the time to recreate the costumes of their favorite characters of the series, including ones from the first few games up until the most recently released Final Fantasy XIII.

Saturday’s itinerary– for me, and for a good chunk of Sakura-con attendees –involved cosplaying (in my case, Zack Fair of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII fame). While this did hinder my ability to cover the convention slightly, I was able to still get around easily enough, even if only with one of my two camera lenses.

Day two kicked off fairly quickly with a cosplay contest, which exhibited a phenomenal display of craftsmanship by a few fellow cosplayers. As I only caught the end of that, I don’t have much to say about it, but I will say that the caliber of costumes that were presented repeated themselves throughout the day.

On Sunday, things wound down a bit. Not nearly as many people, nor activity, as Saturday, but still a good amount of people to see and things to do. Things started to get interesting at noon when a Lolita Fashion Show began. It showcased every form of the Lolita fashion style imaginable, ranging from sweet, to gothic, to punk, to even steampunk and country. It was a fairly quaint, small show, but gathered a large audience, and more than enough photographers shooting from every corner of the room.

Almost immediately after the Lolita Fashion Show was a performance by rock/pop-band Soul Candy. Unfortunately, their vocals were a fair bit softer than the borderline-metal vocals of the High and Mighty Color’s, and it seems the audio crew forgot to re-adjust the equipment to compensate; Soul Candy’s singer was nearly drowned out by the much louder guitars. Regardless, they managed to put on quite a performance, with massive projector screens on each side of the stage mirroring their performance at different angles.

The most fun thing about Saturday (that had me kicking myself for not bringing my other camera lens) was the plethora of photo shoots, with Kingdom Hearts and Bleach being the day’s highlights. My qualm with these were that in spite of their approval by the con, there was nobody in particular to keep them organized; in fact, the con staff more or less ignored their existence. Fortunately, the Kingdom Hearts shoot was directed by a Saix cosplayer who picked up a few tips from a previous Hetelia shoot. Bleach, however, was a much different story– indoors, it started horribly cluttered and without any direction. Myself and a fellow Zack Fair cosplayer did manage to get it moved outdoors and have it organized a bit more, though still with a good amount of chaos. All that aside, the cosplayers who did hear our small voices did comply, and were more than happy to help get the other cosplayers together.

The day wound down with not much else to do; cosplayers sat around the center going over their newly purchased merchandise, eating, drinking, and talking to their (newly made) friends. Overall, a fantastic weekend, and surely a convention that lived up to its reputation of one of the biggest on the west coast. While the con’s attendance has grown dramatically since the last, I hope the next to be a bit more organized than this one; regardless, I look forward to attending again next year.