Kuzuricon Report
Kuzuricon 2009 was a blast of a convention which, while small, made attendees happy and built some lasting friendships between fans. When it comes to anime conventions, it is usually hardest to report on smaller conventions. There are no huge industry announcements; news of new anime releases typically come from larger events. A report on a smaller convention has to focus more on the people, the events, and the overall convention, rather than just the big news from the industry.
View Kuzuricon 2009 Pictures
While it was a great event overall, attendance was lower than could be expected given multiple industry guests and a full three day 24 hour schedule. The first year for any convention is often small, and this year Kuzuricon had an especially tough time getting attendees. With several contributing factors there were no more than a hundred fans in attendance. The largest factor affecting attendance was likely the convention's close chronological proximity to the largest convention in the state, Youmacon, which boasts thousands of attendees. Kuzuri Con 2009 was a first time event, held in the McCalmly Plaza Hotel in Battle Creek, Michigan, and it also ran opposite of another competing first-year convention in Detroit on the same weekend. A smaller convention does have it's benefits, however, including more personal interaction with guests and the ability to shape the convention to the way you want it. Chris Patton was awesome, for example, interacting with many of his fans throughout the event.
Despite the limited attendance, the staff and attendees of Kuzuricon made a great convention. Experienced convention attendees already know that it's not the industry guests, nor the staff, nor the events that make a good convention memorable, but it's the other attendees, and the attendees were especially great. Over 90% of all the attendees were in some form of cosplay, ranging from Naruto to Fullmetal Alchemist, helping create an entertaining masquerade and build the convention atmosphere. Among the attendees there was nothing but a determination to have fun, enjoy the convention, and make new friends (believe me on this, we met all of them).
During a lull in convention activities Saturday afternoon, nearly twenty cosplaying attendees took over a nearby playground, with a spontaneous game of red rover anime-edition breaking out on the lawn. Convention events included everything from the near-famous “Chris Patton shares too much” panel born from Nan Desu Kan, to a Kuzuricon-special titled “Random Panda,” a random audience-participation panel offering the chance to win a Panda plushie. The convention even included nearly 24 hour access to a complete game room and an anime screening room, with staple games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Rockband in the gaming room and several unique anime in the showing rooms.
Convention staff were friendly and polite throughout the event; we heard absolutely no complaints about any rude behavior by staff or attendees. The staff we met were big anime fans, knowledgeable about many different anime shows, with the convention chair even auctioning off a large manga collection near the end of the convention.
For a first year convention, Kuzuricon brought together several fans to build a fun, energetic, environment. Although next year they should focus on promoting the convention among the local fan base, with size demonstrated by the size of Youmacon also in Michigan, the staff and attendees still created a great event that will be remembered as a fun convention that will hopefully return again and again.