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San Jose Convention Center<br>San Jose, California
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1994 to present
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8,200 paid attendees in 2005
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http://wwwfanimecom
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(also known as simply "'''Fanime'''") is an annual
Anime Convention run by the ''Anime Resource Group'' (ARG) and is one of the ten largest anime conventions in North America.
{Link without Title} Originally conceived by Aaron Pilgrim as a gathering of local anime clubs in Northern California, the first one was held at Hayward State University. The anime clubs at that first '''Fanime''' were Beefbowl Anime, Chabot Anime, Foothill Anime and No-Name Anime.
Later, it was held at the
Foothill College campus in
Los Altos Hills . It then moved to the
Santa Clara Convention Center. It is currently held at the
San Jose Convention Center on
Memorial Day weekend.
FanimeCon has hosted a variety of industry guests, and
Hiroyuki Yamaga of
Gainax and
Steve Bennett of
International Comics & Entertainment attend regularly. The convention also features a
Masquerade ("Der
Cosplay "),
AMV contest, swap meet, game show,
Karaoke ,
Video Gaming ,
Tabletop Gaming , dances, musical performances, etc.
In recent years, one of the most popular attractions at has been its Asian Film Room. The room, which showcases
East Asian Cinema from
Hong Kong ,
Korea , and
Japan , is one of the most unique additions to '''Fanime''', providing a slice of video programming that is usually not seen at other
Anime conventions. Its popularity has also expanded the convention's programming to include
Asian TV Dramas .
The first Fanime was a one-day event held at Cal State Hayward in early April of 1994. Four clubs were present: Foothill Anime, No Name Anime, Cal Animage Alpha, and Beefbowl Anime. The event was organized in weeks by then-chairman Aaron Pilgrim and drew approximately 200 Bay Area fans. There were three viewing rooms, and the big new video right then was Tenchi Muyo, Mihoshi Space Adventure.
There were three video rooms, two dealers rooms, a snack bar, and two Guests of Honor: Fred Schodt and Carl Horn. Color badges and T-shirts were introduced, and both items sold out. There were about 350 attendees.
In March 1996, the third Fanime was held at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. This, the first convention under longtime chairman Michael Wright, was the first multi-day event. At this time, Fanime moved away from being a club gathering to having its own institutional identity. It was at this time that Fanime's parent corporation, the Anime Resource Group (ARG) was formed. There were 775 registered attendees, five primary video rooms, a single large dealers room, workshops, and guest panels. The registration fee was introduced; it was $7.
The first Japanese Guest of Honor was Hiroyuki Yamaga of Gainax. The programming was expanded to include an art show, a cosplay show, an anime game show, and live music. The membership registration had grown to 1200 fans.
1998 was the first and only two-day Fanime, and it used the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Sunnyvale for nighttime activities such as a dance and game show. There were 1700 fans and staff. This was the first year for "Midnight Madness", an all-night nonstop marathon of mistranslation taken to intentionally ridiculous extremes.
In 1999, the seventh FanimeCon moved away from Foothill to become the first event held in a hotel. In March of that year, the San Jose Wyndham Hotel was host to over 2000 fans and guests. (Information copied from "All About Fanime Con" by James Matsuzaki, Fanime 2001 Program Guide, page 2)
Guests of Honor included Mari Iijima, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Ippongi Bang, Shinpei Itoh, Kuni Kimura, Sachiko Uchida, Miyo Odagi, Reijiro Kato, Studio Ironcat (Steve Bennett, Kevin Bennett, and Mark Hofmann), Fred Schodt, Allen Hastings, and Gilles Poitras. (Information from Fanime 1999 Program Guide)
In 2000, the hotel was moved from the Wyndham to the Westin, and the attendance was up to 2300 fans.
Guests of Honor included Mari Iijima, Takami Akai, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Mark Koch, Fred Patten, Steve Bennett, Mark Hoffman, Gilles Poitras, Fred Schodt, Stan Sakai, and Allen Hastings. (Information from Fanime 2000 Program Guide)
Fanime 2001 introduced many firsts. Brian Doan, better known as "Dieter", took the stage of the Masquerade and transformed it into the first "DerCosplay". The first Fanime karaoke competition was this year, as well as the first swap meet. The
R&R website lists this as the first appearance of Ramen and Rice at Fanime. Thousands of fans also made this their first Fanime, as Fanime had grown to 3750 fans and overflowed into the Hilton across the street.
Guests of Honor included Hiroyuki Yamaga, Jonathan Klein, Takami Akai, Angora Deb, Keith Burgess, Tiffany Grant, Taliesin Jaffe, Mari Iijima, Sue Ulu, Jonathan Osborne, Carl Gustav Horn, Amy Seeley, Kunihiko Ikuhara, Gilles Poitras, Kevin Bennett, Matt Miller, Kei Blue, Steve Bennett, Sachiko Uchida, Amanda Winn Lee, Jason Lee, Crispin Freeman, Allison Keith, Umashika Sporty Cosplay Troupe, Miya, Saku Kanari, Milk, Bradley Kane, Mike Ross, and Spike Spencer. (Information from Fanime 2002 Program Guide)
In honor of its 10th anniversary, Fanime introduced a concert called GakuFest with live performances by BLOOD, B!Machine, Kristine Sa, Natalise, Secret Secret, and Echoing Green. Tickets were supposed to have cost $20 per person. Guests included Akitaroh Daichi and Reiko Yasuhara, Maria Kawamura, Takahiro Yoshimatsu, Kunihiko Ikuhara, GAINAX (Hiroyuki Yamaga, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Hiroki Sato, Yasuhiro Takeda), Rebecca Forstadt, Matt K Miller, Laura Bailey, Allen Hastings, Steve Bennett, Jonathan Osborne, and Gilles Poitras. (Information from Fanime 2003 Program Guide)
Fanime 2004 introduced the Karaoke Write Your Own Lyrics Mini-Contest and was the first time the music concert was called "MusicFest". There were about 5700 paid fans. (Information from Fanime BBoard.)
MusicFest guests included ZZ, Kumiko Kato, Ramen and Rice. Other Guests of Honor included Hiroyuki Yamaga, Maria Yamamoto, Steve Bennett, Gilles Poitras, Richard Myers, and Jonathan Osborne. In addition to the standard events, Fanime 2005 also introduced a Stamp Rally that encouraged con attendees to visit various art galleries in the downtown San Jose area. (Information from Fanime 2005 Program Guide)
Guests of Honor include Hiroyuki Yamaga (Gainax), Masayuki Takano (manga-ka), Sanami Matoh (manga-ka), Ryoichi Koga (manga-ka), and Ric Meyers (asian film). FanimeCon 2006 is introducing
Stage Zero , a new way to bring the convention to the attendee. Also introducing this year is
Three Minute Video , a way for aspiring film directors to get their stuff shown. (Information from Fanime website)
