Anime Fusion is the fourth anime convention to come to Minneapolis, behind others such as Anime Detour and AniMinneapolis (which announced it's most recent guest last month). Fusion drew together hundreds of anime fans for the weekend at the Ramada Mall of America, right across the street from the big mall itself.

View pictures from Anime Fusion 2012

Schedule and Events - 3.7/5
Overall, Fusion presented a nice variety of panels covering topics from Yaoi to "Twilight still sucks" (which we heard was actually a defense of the books, which is like defending against Sephiroth equipped with no materia - it's just not possible). Overall, the panels were neat and some were popular to capacity (Anime Speed Dating for example) - but that became the problem, as some panels were so popular that dozens of people were turned away because of the size of the allotted rooms. The first night's dance was a little unpredictable - it wasn't a "rave" - but they still kicked the ass of any high school dance, and that's enough to be "good" in most people's books.

Like RamenCon, Fusion had no formal dance, which is pretty much a mandatory way to get us geeks to socialize. Table top gaming was open 24-hours, though the ConSuite was only open at night.

Location - 3.5/5
The Ramada across from the Mall of America has an epic advantage - it's right across from the Mall of America! When we held AniMinneapolis 2012 there, we had the same problems - the hotel rooms all had showers only, and the hallways are far too narrow in all the busiest intersections. But with a nice pool and extremely easy to access convention space, the Ramada gains quite a bit of ground. Due to awkward sizing, rooms and hallways always feel either crowded or half-empty.

Dealers and Artists - 4.6/5
The dealers and artists room was a highlight of the convention, with quite a variety of vendors selling everything anyone could want, ranging from Corsets to various types of furry fur.

Guests - 2/5
No anime convention is complete without the epic guest list of voice actors that you've been dying to meet - but Anime Fusion only had two. Kyle Hebert is a regular to the area. Ryan Reynolds is pretty new to conventions, appearing in some of the newest shows including Hetalia and Deadman Wonderland.

Organization and Attitude - 4/5
Almost every single staff member or department head was a staff member for the local Anime Detour convention, and they brought on all the tried and tested methods they could, right down to almost exact copies of the website design. Things were run like a well-oiled machine.

Congoers in Minnesota are always pretty positive people, but for a first time event the convention's rules were a little too restrictive. All weapons, wooden swords included, were against the rules, and I found the same overly restrictive staff attitude that plagues many conventions. They have no press passes because it's "simpler." But anime cons are meant to give attendees an opportunity to have fun in a safe place, and they did that well.

Cosplay - 3.5/5
Most of the attendees were cosplaying, though there were still only a few that really stood out, including Vash, Ezio, and a couple of the groups.

View pictures from Anime Fusion 2012

Overall - 3.6/5
Fusion's score is helped by having a huge variety of dealers and artists, but large points are lost for having a small guest list for the size. Fusion is helped by having a nice schedule of events and great attendees, but again loses points for lack of a full ConSuite (no soda) and no formal dance. However attendees absolutely had fun, and that's what matters, so Anime Fusion looks to have a promising future.