My first anime convention?

[Alice]

A few of my friends and I are planning a trip to attend an anime convention (about 300 km away from our town). We're going to be between 2 and 7 people and we're mostly 15, but some of us will be 16 in April (when the convention is). None of us ever went to an anime/Japanese pop culture convention type of thingy and I'd really like to know how it is. How much money each of us should bring, if we should go to both days or just one of them, if we should cosplay and stuff like that. It's a small country, so there probably won't be any famous mangakas or so ( :c ). Also, are the people there friendly?

 

[ringking]

Money: As much as you have or as much as you feel safe carrying. Theres lots of things to buy at conventions, so its easy to blow through $500 no problem if your happy to spend that much. Of course, you are in a crowded area, it would only be to easy to pickpocket, hence why I say take only what you feel safe carrying around. Also, bring cash. I know that stands counter to what I just said about pickpockets, but many of the vendors wont have access to EFTPOS and even if there is an ATM, the line for it will be very long and it will probably not take long for it to run out of cash.

Days: I always advocate going every day of the convention unless its only a small one. In my experience, you usually spend the first day shopping around and attending the opening, by which time there is not much time to go to panels or signings. Having two days will allow you to mix it up or dedicate each day to different things, so you can take your time to enjoy the con rather than rushing around missing stuff. Also, some panels you might want to see may have conflicting times, so you can always catch the second panel the following day if there is one.

Cosplay: Do it if you want, no good reason to not if you have access to the costume and stuff. Of course, this is not to say that you have to. I prefer to cosplay only on one day of the three that my local con runs for, makes it easier to move around because you dont have to stop for people to take photo's.

People: Most of them are, like anywhere really. The great thing about it is that since you share a common interest, its really easy to find a topic of conversation. There are exceptions of course, ive had experiences with angry narutards, fanboys who got angry at me for taking the last thing they wanted at a stall and a man who went around groping cosplayers, but generally they are nice.

Other tip: BRING YOUR OWN FOOD AND WATER. Capitals to stress how important that is. Food is usually really really expensive at conventions (like $10 for two slices of pizza expensive) so its a good idea to bring your own. Drinks are the same, but water is especially important because you'll be in a building with lots of people, and if your venue is anything like mine the AC may not be able to take that much body heat. There was a point a few years back were people started passing out from the heat despite the fact we were in an airconditioned room.