Easter weekend hosted a variety of conventions across the country. One in particular was Sakura-con located in Seattle, Washington. Averaging around 20,000 attendees, Sakura-con is one of the largest anime conventions on the west coast. Sakura-con also utilized a new feature by providing their convention schedule through The Conventionist and with a mobile website. The Conventionist was an application that iphone and android users could access with up-to-date information on where panels and guests were scheduled to be.
People from all over the west coast, east coast, and Canada flocked to Sakura-con. Sakura-con was held at the photogenic Washington State Convention and Trade Center which provided cosplayers with a multitude of locations for taking pictures, including a large waterfall style fountain, lines of Sakura trees, and many more scenic areas inside the convention center itself. The convention center was also conveniently located next to many food choices, including a pizza shop, taco place, and The Cheesecake Factory. Waits at the Cheesecake Factory were upwards to three hours long at times however so many congoers opted for the Subway and other food sources within the center itself.
Some of the events held at this years Sakura-con included a Durarara!! gathering at the Aniplex booth inside the dealer's room. Hosted by cosplay website, American Cosplay Paradise, as well as Aniplex to celebrate the release of Durarara!! in AMerican, contests were held for cosplayers from the series as well as those that came sporting yellow scarves. Trivia and games were also held at the booth as contenstants battled for patches, pins or wallscrolls. Several Durarara!! panels were also held throughout the weekend.
A Masquerade ball was held on Friday evening. Formal attire and masks were required for entry into the event which featured a variety of music. A rotation of swing music, jazz and even modern pop music was played throughout the course of the event. It was filled with convention attendees dressed in their finest formal wear or original versions of anime characters, with outfits modified to fit in with the formal atmosphere.
Anime was shown 24 hours a day throughout the weekend with various panels going late into the night. An industry hall was host to many industry booths, artist booths, and booths with general anime and comic book merchandise. A game room was open all weekend and you could travel through the middle of it to get from one end of the convention to the other. A variety of games were available including Dance Dance Revolution, Initial D, and Guitar Hero. There was also a room just for getting Autographs from the voice actors and other guests that visited the convention. Some of the guests include Kotono Mitsuichi, voice actress of Usagi from "Sailor Moon", and Daisuke Moriyama the author of the manga "Chrono Crusade".
For more information on Sakura-con, visit their website at:http://www.sakuracon.org/
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