Second Emulation

Inside the Anime Convention Experience: My Return to Sakura-Con

• Shawn Juarez • Episode 78

Share episode

Send us a text

Stepping back into Sakura-Con after the pandemic felt like returning home. This beloved anime convention in Seattle offers something corporate comic cons simply can't match—a genuine community experience where passion trumps commercialism.

What makes Sakura-Con special? For starters, it's non-profit, offering memberships rather than tickets, which virtually eliminates scalping. The 24-hour programming means panels run until 4 AM, giving you freedom to experience everything without rigid scheduling constraints. Perhaps most refreshingly, autographs are included with your membership—no additional fees required. The manageable crowd size allows you to actually move between events without feeling like cattle being herded through overcrowded halls.

This year's convention spread across two venues—the original convention center and the newly-built Summit—creating both opportunities and challenges. While industry panels from Crunchyroll and Aniplex offered glimpses of upcoming releases (including the announcement that Demon Slayer's Infinity Castle arc arrives as a movie in September), the absence of their once-prominent booth presence was noticeable. The Artist Alley received prime placement this year, though a Saturday fire incident temporarily closed this creative heart of the convention.

Not everything worked perfectly. The convention app proved problematic, forcing many attendees to navigate via photos of printed maps. The beloved Anime Theater—a 24-hour screening room that traditionally introduced fans to new series—was missing, eliminating a key discovery platform that had introduced countless fans to new favorite shows.

For those considering attending, bring comfortable shoes, water, snacks, and perhaps a dedicated payment card pre-loaded with your convention budget. Most importantly, plan ahead—whether for panels, autographs, or meals—to maximize your time and avoid spending your convention experience waiting in lines.

Ready to experience an anime convention that captures the passionate, fan-driven spirit that makes this community special? Join us next April in Seattle for Sakura-Con 2025!

Hey there, podcast pals! Need a morning boost? Look no further than Dunkin' Donuts! Our freshly brewed coffee and irresistible donuts are the perfect way to kick-start your day. From classic favorites to new flavors, there's something for everyone. Join DD Perks for exclusive rewards with every purchase. Swing by your nearest Dunkin' today and treat yourself to something special. Dunkin' Delights – making mornings brighter, one sip at a time! 

 Hey, everyone! Like, super exciting news! Fan mail has been added to our podcast! We totally love hearing from you, so if you have any questions, comments, or just wanna say hi, click the link above the description. We might even feature you in an upcoming episode! So, don't be shy—click that link and share your thoughts. Okay, now back to the show

Want more of Second Emulation? Stay connected with us by following our social media channels! By clicking the link below to stay up to date with us on our socials and Game review streaming channel.

https://solo.to/secondemulation






Piper:

Hi, hello and welcome to Second Emulation. Oh my God, you guys. I'm so excited for you to listen to this episode, like it's going to be so good. Your amazing host is about to take you on a deep dive into all things movies, anime, gaming and pop culture. Seriously, it's like the best way to spend your time. So grab your favorite drink maybe a latte or something cute and get ready to have the best time. Ok, love that for you. Here's your host.

Shawn:

Hey everyone, welcome back to Second Immolation, the show where we dive deep into all things pop culture. I'm Sean, your host, and today we're going to be talking about my experience at SakuraCon, which took place on 4-18 through the 20th of April in Seattle Washington. If you're a fan of comics or manga, cosplay and geeking out with fellow fans, this one's for you. Stick around as I break it down, share my highlights and give you the inside scoop. What made this convention very special, as it is, I would say, the most popular anime convention in Seattle Washington. All right, so let's get into it.

Shawn:

For those who aren't familiar, sakura-con is actually one of the biggest anime conventions, conventions in the Pacific Northwest. Now I've started going to these. Possibly around 2010 is the earliest I remember going to the convention around that time. I've gone to it, at least my first one, around 2010, when I was in college. And, mind you, this convention has evolved over the years. It wasn't as big as it is now and the reason for that Is just it grew Over the course as anime has become more accepted and entered the pop culture Talking stage. Back in the day, anime wasn't really as big. Dragon Ball, bleach, yu Yu Hakusho Really brought Anime to the masses through toonami, and that's how I got my first exposure to anime was to toonami on cartoon network.

Shawn:

Now, what sets apart sakura con or, I feel, like any anime convention that comes around in different states is that, for those who don't know anime conventions, particularly this one, sakura-con is a non-profit, not-for-profit. It's different from any comic book convention and when you buy your ticket, it's not essentially like a badge that you would get from going to San Diego Comic-Con or any of those big comic conventions. These are memberships that you pay that will have your name printed on them and then that will be utilized for all three days of the convention, for all three days of the convention. Key features of this is that, because it's a non-profit and they don't mail out your badges, it does actually reduce the scalpers. My experience, or for those who have gone to either, both can agree that with anime conventions, both can agree that with anime conventions it is a reduce in traffic, with people pestering about having you try to buy a badge. They also reduce the need for I wouldn't say high security, but just security in general. Security, but just security in general, because there's high profile people within the comic book industry and movie industry who don't attend these things. So having the need to protect or have that extra layer of security isn't also necessary. Not saying that you don't need security, but because of what the convention is and what you know it's bringing, their security measures are a little bit I want to say lower, but a lot of it does is relied on the convention itself.

Shawn:

Now, another key feature is that the anime convention, especially sakura con, is 24 hours. It has, and when. That 24 hours is that you can go friday, the moment the doors or panels are open, and you can go to different panels the exhibition hall and merch and artist alleys. Those have specific times that they start and times that they close, but their panels are happening throughout the day and they run until the following day, until either 6 or 4 am in the morning. Now some anime conventions may have steered away from this type of 24-7 availability. I enjoy it because it allows you to then dip your finger and experience into many different panels, many different offerings that the convention has to offer, and I myself cannot be restricted to a certain charcuterie of availability of, like certain panels, artists. There's just so much to do and you feel like you don't have enough time to do it.

Shawn:

Another key feature from sakura con or animal anime conventions is that the autographs are free. They're included with your membership. You don't have to worry about having to buy an autograph, as what you would do at comic book conventions, anime conventions, especially this one, as I know, is that it is included with your price. That being said, you are limited to how many things can be signed and if the guest decides he wants to charge on something, it is set by them. But typically, autographs are included in your membership to attend Sakura Con or similar anime conventions, which I enjoy. That also means that having to line up for your specific guest you want to get autographed is very important because they have a limited time that they're going to get through people. So that is, I think, one key feature, amongst the others that I mentioned, that make sakura con very unique.

Shawn:

Now, first impressions. This is my second a visit, after the pandemic of going to the convention, to at sakura con. I went one year prior but only went for a day. This was my second time going. I ended up going for a little bit over three days, got a hotel for two, and I would say that I missed this. I miss going going to SakuraCon so much that I forgot everything that there is to do at SakuraCon, because prior I used to go very religiously and then the pandemic happened and then I wasn't able to go, and so getting to experience Sakura Con again was like a dream come true.

Shawn:

The reason for that is also one thing, like as a convention goer is the crowd size. It's very different. It's light and day. Emerald City-con has huge crowds. You feel like you're just being herded to the entrance. There's so many people you have to either pick a path of where you need to go and fight your way to get there. With sakura con there was no need for that and I forgot how great that feels. Where there was the freedom to go to certain panels, go on different floors and just explore and not have to fight your way to get from point A to point B. It was a huge relief doing that. The crowd size for SakuraCon was much smaller for traffic wise. I don't know how many people actually attended, but it was still big enough.

Shawn:

And this was also my first experience of having the convention in two different locations, since Seattle has two convention locations, one called the Summit, which was recently built, which allows them to have multiple different conventions. I was under the impression that the whole convention itself would be in that one building. I was wrong. What they end up doing is they end up splitting it between the two buildings. The original building, which Sakura-Kan and most of the conventions were held at, had the main stage and the video games and things like AMV, like videos and things of that nature. All type of panels were held at the summit, so they did split it up. They did do exactly the same thing that they did for ECC, which kind of was a shocker for me, so I thought that they would just have everything held in one building. I believe they did do that one time, I'm not too sure, but that was like a big eye opener for me. A big eye-opener for me.

Shawn:

Regardless, I picked the same hotel that I did for Emerald City Comic Con, and it wasn't an issue, for the walk Just wasn't something I was expecting from SakuraCon. What really set the tone for me, though, was that it seemed more relaxed, people seemed to have fun, and you could see areas where there was very much photo opportunities, and me coming back to SakuraCon and not having those photo opportunities to take pictures with people in cosplay was also a missed opportunity Because, mind you, seeing people dressed up in their costumes is nice. I very much like it and in the past I used to take a lot of pictures. A lot of things that have changed was back in the day. In the original building you had, there was this giant hallway. It looked like a hall that you have to go in and you had to get in line and wait.

Shawn:

And I know my first experience with sakura con is I accidentally got into a line, didn't know who it was for, only to realize it was for the voice actor, vegeta. I felt bad because I wasn't planned or prepared. All I had was the programming and I didn't know it then. But I didn't have anything to sign for him to sign. He was very kind, he I had the program and he allowed. He was able to sign the program with this picture, gave himself a margin, give him the margin symbol and gave him himself some hair and he signed it and that was like my first experience. And then from then on that was like you first experience and then from then on that was like you know, how I got to enjoy the con was that a lot of things were changed that evolved over the years.

Shawn:

Another, I think, experience was that they have an app. Now they've switched, they've moved away from paper programs, which I understand you have to print a lot of stuff, but I'm so used to having a paper program or a booklet that it's easier to plan and I get it. They want offer a map, which was much needed, because one thing as a convention goer is that you need to know where you're going. You need to be able to plan your event throughout the day and, mind you, since my first time, going or coming back to Zekuragon, coming back to the Curricone, not having a direction or where you're going, takes more time away from your con experience than anything else. So having to sit back or pull off to the side and then go through and figure out where you're going is not the best. So having an app, which does help for for some, isn't the best because they bail it on the last the week of the convention.

Shawn:

So, yeah, now I went to some industry panels, one for cruncher roll, and they were they in released or previewed some anime, and then the other was an industry panel for Aniplex. Now, these were small, mind you, it's the media team. But I used to remember back in the day where these were like almost Marvel-type filled rooms with people just waiting for like animes to be released, and I know that the industry has changed over the time of the course and that's also become a thing. One of the things I noticed is that with Aniplex they were giving us like what's coming out, sizzle reels of the animes, what we can be expecting, what kind of products and merch and, to be honest, a lot of the stuff that the for the industry panel that we're showing were already released on crunchyroll.

Shawn:

Now they did give a caveat. We got to see when the demon Slayer, the Infinity Castle arc is going to air, which is going to be a movie in September. Spoiler for those who don't know, who haven't seen the news yet Infinity Castle arc for Demon Slayer Movie is going to be coming out in September. But that was like pretty much it. Anything else that we saw Was already. You could already much it. Anything else that we saw was already. You could already find it, the news, the updates.

Shawn:

So I'm not sure if that, if like they needed to be there necessarily and what they were showing was needed. But I give the media team for Anaplex, some an A for effort, because they were trying to work the crowd and get people excited, and I understand this is not something that you want to do or talk about things that are already been revealed or people can just get anywhere else. So those were like some highlights from this SakuraCon, from going to panels, panels no, I didn't go to much panels, those were the ones, the key ones that me and my partner wanted to go see. Now I can't give you a list of guests that were, that were that had attended, because me going to this convention or going to sakura con was so last minute that there wasn't really much for me to plan for other than just getting the hotels and getting our tickets. So I will say that next time around, when I do attend, we more planned. I'm actually going to have a list of like people I want to get autographed autographs for, want to get autographed autographs for, because this was all last minute and I kicked my shoot myself in the foot because how unprepared I was to like figure out who was going to be there, which guests I want to see. Normally I have that prepared, but this time I did not.

Shawn:

I will say that Artist Alley, this time around, was really big. They gave them an open space and, mind you, artist Alley is like the runt or the black sheep of every convention. They are always given a location that no one can get to or you don't even know where they're at until you have to see them on the map. And this time they've given them the biggest open space area that you can get for artist alley, which was in the main convention building, which they call the arch, and I was so excited. But also around this time prior to me getting there was you probably heard on TikTok or social media that there was a fire.

Shawn:

Yeah, and this happened on the second day and fortunately, me and my partner weren't able to get to Artist Alley until later in the evening on Saturday, which they were able to open it back up and then give it extended hours. So it was just unfortunate that one at least half of a day of Saturday, which is normally the busiest for Artist alley and for us to walk around, we didn't really get to do much until mostly the end of the evening, when they did open up. We end up going to one of the dances there. Now, they did have a ball that you could attend, which you have to have the appropriate attire. Me and my partner were unable to go to that, but we did decide to actually go see the dance with the djs.

Shawn:

Mind you, it it is the djs run or the dance runs until the following day, I think, until 4 am, but we want to experience it because, after every time we've gone to sakura con, we never once actually attempted to go to the dj dance, and so we wanted to experience. We've always, we always, gone to emma city comic cons like dance and, mind you, they do have a DJ and the DJ plays the same type of music and they always have a theme, and so it runs between two to three out, I think, three hours max, and so this is something I wanted to experience a little bit different and, mind you, it was interesting. It's what you would expect from any type of dance rave type of atmosphere, so that was something new. Yeah, so the dance was something that we experienced, but I think one of like for me, a big highlight, like impact for me was not having not seeing crunchyroll or Anaplex or any big name industry have a booth, and the reason why I say this is key or a big highlight, or something that's very impactful, is that I've gone to a lot of SakuraCon or anime conventions over the years and Crunchyroll or Funimation and Crunchyroll and Anaplex have always been, I want to say, the pioneers of having booths in these in anime conventions, where they're slinging free swag, getting people to sign up. You get to see what anime they're releasing and they're just really going hard. I got one of my my it's like a reusable bag or tote bag from crunchyrolls booth it was. It has naruto, sakurakan and sasuke on it and you can wear it like a backpack.

Shawn:

Now, my only first experience with crunchyroll is a little bit of a story, but going at least one of my first anime conventions I was sakura con. I went there and I went to their booth where they were giving this out and streaming anime was a new concept back in 2010 and I was like there was no way for me to watch anime without toonami and you can't go back and re-watch the old catalog stuff. So I was like, okay, cool, I'll try it. Signed up for a free trial. I had a console, I had a ps3 back in the day and I used to loaded it up information and been watching anime and I got that bag.

Shawn:

I was as a result of that and I want to say that crunchyroll got me back into anime during that time and going to sakura con or going to sakura con is very important because it's the convention that kind of brought me back into watching anime after college, taking a huge hiatus and not having the access to anime as I used to when I was a kid. So sakura con holds a very important place in my heart, in my partner's heart. We we can say that we like combo conventions until the the sky falls, but sakura con is that one passion. Anime is a passion that we both have and sakura con is that one convention. It means a lot to us just because it's not as commercial. We're able to experience new panels and see new animes and we probably would not have gotten to see otherwise, and so we get a lot of exposure from it and just also interacting with other people who have the same interest, who might recommend a new anime to you. So within that, I don't want to say like a bleeding heart, but sakura con serves. It has a special place in my heart and and I'll keep going Not the best highlight, I want to say, but, yeah, it just brings me joy going to Sakura-Kan Now with all the type of highlights that I can mention.

Shawn:

There are areas that I feel like can be improved upon and one of the things is just wait times. With it being a nonprofit, I do understand that. The printing the name tag some people might like it and some people might hate it because it's such an unorthodox and old thing to do that it just the wait times on getting a badge, say on Friday, where everyone you know for that three-day weekend or for the weekend is getting their badge the day of, on a Friday, and it can cost hugely a big backup and there's also potential for technical issues which I end up hearing did occur on Friday Earlier in the day. There were long lines as a result. Could they find an alternative to printing a badge? Maybe, but I think the reason why they do it is because the badge itself is a membership and it's as is per. You have to write your name and create a profile for that year up until the convention ends. Yeah, so providing an alternative, I would be open to them having an alternative.

Shawn:

I do like the badges that are printed because I could save them and put them in a scrapbook, but having an easier, a much more productive process and how they print their badges and you're able to pick up badge will be much more smooth. I know a lot of you are championing about getting a badge that's more plastic, similar to the comic book conventions. That also leads into some like different issues, but I know a lot of people are putting feedback. That's something that they should do. Another improvement I feel like they should do is a better way to identify yourself. I know within the trans community trans community community there are a lot of individuals who were forced to use their dead name and I do understand not being recognized by that anymore, but there should be an option on the website where you don't have to list it for you picking up your badge or what you want to be identified as. I think the one thing that they could improve on is that when it says what would you like to be called as you know they have that when they print out the badge they shouldn't have what you want to be called as and your name. I think that's one thing, a key feature that they should add, because I do understand not a lot of people want to be called by their actual name. Some people have a nickname. I do understand the emotion behind having to be identified by your dead name as a trans, trans person, so I feel like they should improve in that, in that process, and deserve some feedback about what they should do. And they didn't even have a process of like how you should go about it. If you are someone who doesn't want to be identified by their dead name but are being forced, that process needs to be much smoother going forward.

Shawn:

Another I feel is a big thing is the program and the app that they utilize. Every year they switch the app over because they are a non-profit. They switch the Apple because they are a non-profit and one the app they used previously wasn't as great as the app that they use this year because they have to pay a company to build the programming that they need. This year the app did not work whatsoever and even the website was as janky as it was. I do remember a time that I did go that they did use an app called guide. I preferred that, that app for like event planning that one I did enjoy. I don't know what feedback that they go into, but whoever they're going to like going to utilize next year needs to have a better structure and better way to make things navigate just make things more navigatable and address the concerns that people are having.

Shawn:

Like for us, the app didn't allow for us to save panels and schedules and be notified. I feel like that's a key feature that you should have if you want to plan out your day every time you close out of it. You had to re-look for sakura con itself in order to like plan I felt like that was annoying and also have their descriptions on where things are located. That was was one thing. I know it's not the volunteers' fault. It's more so the member, the board members, who, when they implement these changes or what they want to see, they need to understand that people who go to the event need to be able to navigate.

Shawn:

I had to actually step aside and actually go to the info booth, and the info booth had only one solution. They told us that the app was not working, that to go to the website the actual website and you could pinch and zoom the map, but to figure out where things were going, they had a cheat sheet that they had on a post that they taped over so that you could take a picture of, and it told you what buildings the each programming would be based on higher loan numbers. That what I know that they were trying their best, but that does not need to happen. This is my first time especially attending I would say, almost all three days but they need to get on their a-game not the volunteers but the board members. I don't need to be pulled aside and be referencing a photo. That's what I did all convention was. Whenever we needed to go somewhere, I had to reference a photo that I took of Tommy, higher or lower where the panel was going to be at, and that really got under my skin because, again, you spend most of your time trying to navigate the convention and not actually enjoying the convention, and so that was like a kick in the ass a little bit, because we had to figure out where we were going, where things were at. Mind you, you do that anyways, but when things don't work accordingly, it puts a wrench in your whole plan.

Shawn:

Another area that needs to be improved upon is panels Having a more anime-type presence. Have them, have booths, because over the course of many years, you started seeing that these vendors or entry panels just slowly remove themselves from having booths. They used to be present there. Yeah, I saw Crunchyroll's panel where they advertised, hey, these animators are going to be here. But going on the exit floor, where the merch was at all, there was merch, which which is anime much, which I was excited I don't get me wrong, I love the anime merch but there was no present. Hey, anaplex is here. Hey, crunchyroll is here. We gotta we need to represent and let people know hey, we are here. You guys we help facilitate this. Crunchyroll was a sponsor for SakuraCon, but that was like the remnants were there, and so that's something I feel like they should improve upon.

Shawn:

I don't know if they will or they can, but have be a presence at these conventions and I think one thing which is, I'm going to say, for me that needs to be improved upon is anime theater. This was one thing that I looked forward to every convention, and what it is that it is a room or a panel where they play anime 24-7. You can go in, sit, watch anime and leave. They're playing the oldies and goodies, anything that's current or old. If you haven haven't seen it, it's going to be playing there and it runs 24 hours, from friday until the last day. It was one of the things that me and my partner enjoyed going to because we could sit, sit down and relax and just watch anime. Sometimes I knew like an anime that we'd never seen before we would get introduced to and we loved it. There was. I can't say how many times we've gone to the anime theater. We sat and watched anime, only to like add a new anime that we've never seen to our watch list.

Shawn:

So I feel like the presence of anime theater at this sakura con and I'm not sure if it was there was present last year was lacking. I feel like that's a big improvement that they need to bring back, because having an amv d theater studio where you just watch AMVs it's not great. I don't want to sit and watch memes of stuff of anime. I'm not there for that. I want to be able to relax, watch anime and see stuff that just comes on and get exposure to it. Yeah, I know people might say you have the app. Crunchyroll has an app and HiDive have an app. Yeah, that's great. The app Crunchyroll has an app and HiDive has an app. Yeah, that's great, but Crunchyroll wasn't here. I don't want to watch anime on my phone. I could do that anytime.

Shawn:

The whole point of going to the convention is to experience it and get exposure to new stuff. Yeah, I feel like that needs to be improved upon, and the autographs were pretty good. They did have them located on the same floor as emerge and it was much more organized than what I first experienced, where it was essentially all hands on deck, where everyone got to a line and if you needed a view were like if it was a time limit, they tried to get through everyone and if you didn't make it through, the line was cut and you have to wait till the following day. It's a much more organized now than it was when the time I went, and I'm happy for that because I know back in experience, if you missed an opportunity, that person wasn't going to do autographs again until either another time slot or the next following day. It's very different from sakura con, where they have that person does autographs or that guest does autographs multiple times within the day that they're there. They have a slotted time, they do the autographs and that is about it, and then they get to enjoy the convention. So that's one thing that I feel like they did pretty well.

Shawn:

I think another part that needs to be improved on is the location. They need to stop having the convention, like Anime or Sakura-Con or Amar City Comic-Con divided into two separate buildings. I know they think that they're making it more accessible by doing this and dividing both, but it adds a lot of confusion towards attendees that you're going to have the key parts in one location and then the other parts in the other. Mind you, the artist alley was located in the arch building. We would have never known about it until someone let us know about the artist alley and this goes back to my key point is that artist alley is always located like somewhere and they don't really advertise it as much and it always gets the same treatment, and I feel like that is something that needs to be improved upon. Have it in just one building.

Shawn:

I know people will complain and be like oh, it's not, you're not giving much space to the autographs and photo ops. And artist alley summit building in washington is about five floors or more. With so many rooms and panels, they can fit the convention there, and they did. Did they actually had Emerald City Comic Con in that one building all by itself. All you had to go is walk to, but people complained about the. You know how the autographs were sharing the same space as Artist Alley.

Shawn:

The thing is, I don't think you need to do that. There's enough space and floors where you can divide everyone and everyone will have the opportunity to do, and so I just think it's this poor plan and they're trying to get, I think, more maximum effort to the businesses around Seattle, which, mind you, is OK, but it's just. We expected it to be different. It wasn't. It threw us off and we're hoping that next year they can improve upon this.

Shawn:

Going forward, I would have to give a SakuraCon at least a 7 out of 10, which is my rating. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth attending if you can like get over the hurdles of navigation, foot traffic, deciding what you want to do and having a plan beforehand. Otherwise, you just are going to get frustrated by trying to navigate with the map and the app that they have available and, like every other convention, I think, trips on tips that you need is that carry a backpack, have a water bottle, because it can be water bottle stands, bring snacks if you need to, because the options for the convention, like their eatery, is very limited unless you want like finger type food, or you can wait to go outside the convention and get food. You can wait to go outside the convention and get food. Me and my partner had Seattle dogs. They were very awesome, very cheap, alternative than what you pay for. But since we were on the go, we didn't want to spend more time just at a restaurant and eating. I feel like you need to plan, so if you know where you need to eat, where you want to eat, plan ahead and then make sure you get everything done beforehand. It hasn't been said enough. But footwear Make sure you're wearing comfortable footwear because you are going to be walking. You're going to be walking a lot and your feet are going to hurt and your legs. You're going to get your steps in.

Shawn:

When it comes to vendors and buying merch, if you need to, I would say bring cash. But if you can't bring cash cash, you have to use a debit card. They do have atms at specific location to take out cash. One of my tips that I do is that I have a venmo debit card and what I do if I'm not going to buy something, I preload that with an x amount of funds that I want to utilize for my time at the convention. That way I'm not having to use my credit card or debit card. I can use I have it loaded with app or Samsung Pay and Google Wallet, but sometimes in these locations internet's not very good, so I find myself utilizing physical card. So that's one tip I think you should have.

Shawn:

Is that if you rely on contactless payment, like apple, samsung, make sure you have a backup like a physical card that you can utilize because their internet service is crappy here, and this is for any convention center is that the service is really bad and I feel like that's something that needs to be approved on. Is that, if you have attendees who go to these conventions, have wi-fi for them included in your admissions or your ticket when you get there, you have access to this wi-fi for attendance, because I feel like, with as much money you're getting with your ticket, that should be included. I do know emerald city comic-con did it once and then never again did it and I was like what the hell? So I feel like they need to bring that back. Have accessible Wi-Fi for your attendees that we could use in order. We can use that because the app, the service in these areas are not great. So those are my things.

Shawn:

I feel like our tips and tricks that you know should help you at just at SakuraCon. But also plan ahead. If you know you're going to see a panel, get there at least 20 minutes or half an hour earlier. Same thing with the lines, because with SakuraCon or anime conventions, because the autographs are are free, people are going to get in line earlier and you want to be the first one in. You want to, you want to get in and get out as quickly as possible so you can enjoy the con. You don't want to be waiting in line for too long, because I know my experience is that if you don't plan ahead and you're waiting in line the majority of the con, you'll spend most of your time waiting in those lines and don't have the opportunity to experience the convention as you should. So plan ahead, please plan ahead. I did also mention earlier about what to bring, what you need to be comfortable with, but for me those are the tips and tricks for attending not just this con but any convention going forward.

Shawn:

So my overall verdict I know this is running a little bit long is that going, being able to go back to sakura con after so long and experiencing maybe two and a half days at the convention, I feel like it's very worth it to attend anime conventions. These are non-profit. You do pay for a membership and I feel like it is worth it. If you're looking to go through, to go to in your area and the combo conventions are a little bit too pricey, I feel with anime conventions are a bang for your buck because you can get your ticket at a cheaper price or membership earlier on. It does get pricier as it gets closer to the convention and I feel like it does offer more of a charcuterie selection of what you want to experience as like a trial run before you go to any other conventions which are like more corporate heavy, more sponsored, more industry panels for guests and movies alike. So I feel like anime conventions are essentially like the like the black sheep, and when I used to go to them back in 2010, they weren't as popular, and now, over the course of the years, I've noticed more conventions adjacent to SakuraCon that have been popping up and it makes me more happy to see this more selection of conventions across my state, my hometown, so it makes me very happy. So, again, if you have the opportunity to TIFF, you're in Washington or you want to go to your first anime convention, I do recommend going to SakuraCon. You won't be disappointed. It is very relaxed and laid back and not big, not heavy on those crowds that you would normally see as like something like San Diego Comic-Con.

Shawn:

I want to get a huge shout out to current and new listeners Thanks for tuning into this episode of Second Immolation. If you enjoyed the show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share it with your friends. You can also follow us on our social media for convention coverage and pop culture updates. Let me know what your thoughts of SakuraCon. I love to hear them. And then the next convention that I'll be going to would be Rose City Comic Con, which is going to be in Oregon in September. I haven't decided about PAX, those are so close to each other. September I haven't decided about packs, those are so close to each other. But it is the instant that I'll be going to Rose City Comic Con and then, from there, actually looking at this slate of conventions coming up to see if we can mix it up a bit. All right, that does it for me and I'll catch you guys in the next one. All right, bye.

Piper:

Okay, wow, that was so much fun. Your host totally nailed it right. Like, how amazing was that. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, because, honestly, why would you? And if you loved it, leave a review or like tell your friends, it's like the nicest thing ever. Thanks for listening and remember stay fabulous, stay emulated and I'll see you next time. Bye.