Con Report: Zenkaikon 2012
Or How I Learned to Forsake My Watch and Love the Con
05.22.12
David Estrella is Ani-Gamers' premier moé apologist. David waded through the worst parts of anime culture and gaming fandom for years to hone his insight into the quantifiable quality of all things, and he picked up many questionable interests along the way as well. For poorly punctuated off-hand remarks about Japanimation, niche video games, and food, follow @QX_20XX on the Twitter.
A videogame, anime and manga enthusiast since he was a little'un, Elliot Page plays, watches and reads far too many things for his limited time and budget. Now, in an attempt to try and help others find the diamonds lying among so much mud (and also just to sound off) Elliot has turned to broadcasting his views on his beloved media to anyone who will listen. Elliot also co-hosts a weekly madcap videogame, technology and bear defense podcast at www.lukeandelliot.com, and is also trying to get his hands into the UK anime convention circuit!
A steady childhood diet of Toonami anime, Shonen Jump manga, and Nintendo games led Evan to start up Ani-Gamers in 2004. Since then he's led the site into the age of blogging and podcasting, while critiquing any anime, manga, or video game that comes his way. Over the years, this longtime fan has developed a peculiar taste for crazy '80s/90s OAVs, Osamu Tezuka manga, western RPGs, Satoshi Kon films, sappy anime romantic dramas, Zelda games, and all manner of seinen manga. You can read his ravings about anime, manga, games, politics, music, and more on his Twitter feed.
While you are playing the latest major titles, Evan Krell is more likely to be positioning his worm light to see the screen on his Pikachu Edition Game Boy Color. From playing the latest Japanese doujin releases to poorly translated localized shmups, Evan's taste has been referred to as "gloriously niche". In order to minimize confusion with the site's other "Evan", he is often called "Evan #2", "the less cool Evan", or simply by his twitter name, "BakaTanuki". He also spends too much time watching Japanese cartoons and has been known to "squeeee" equally for '80s and '90s mecha animation quality and those scary moé shows. Dashing and sophisticated, he is adored by fujoshi the world over.
Ink's love for anime was first implanted when he watched it as part of the Saturday-morning network TV line-up at around 5:30 am back in 1984 or so. He abandoned it until relatively recently, when [adult swim] started running series such as Cowboy Bebop, FMA, and Samurai Champloo. While far from an anime expert (and not at all enthralled to [adult swim] anymore), Ink has a deep appreciation for the visuals and writing that comprise his favourite anime series. His Netflix queue is filled to the brim with all sorts of anime, and he loves sharing his enthusiasm for the series he loves with all to promote the genre. For more literature-related reviews, check out Affairs of Ink.
Chris Colalella (aka "Kit" or, in the case of Con Staff, "Goggles") is an Otaku of the Highest Caliber, in that he'll watch, read, or play anything that comes his way. He's watched everything from Gundam to Lucky Star and his watched series list is always growing. When he's not reviewing anime or video games, you can either finding him surfing the web, watching his favorite hometown sport teams, hosting his own UStream radio show, attending local anime cons, or playing some old school tabletop RPGs or CCGs.
Watching anime and knowing of manga would be an appropriate title to Phillip's early life as a fan of Japan's pop culture industry. Watching the then new Manga Entertainment broadcast their latest wares on Britain’s Channel 4 back in the day had a warping effect on his TV and video viewing; he just ate all of it up. But soon, Manga’s fortunes changed and the supply of new trash, er—classy material, dried up. Phillip did read some manga in the early 2000s but he was restricted to Gundam and a few volumes of Card Captor Sakura. But going in one day to his local comic shop, Phillip found Newtype USA and read its article on something called “podcasts”. After that, his life was never really the same since. It’s taken him across the Atlantic, helped him to connect with people all over the world while expand his viewing and reading habits.
When he's not reading or watching this sick Japenese filth, Phillip can be found lurking on Twitter or writing for Otaku News and Manga Bookshelf.
When he's not reading or watching this sick Japenese filth, Phillip can be found lurking on Twitter or writing for Otaku News and Manga Bookshelf.
Sean Kim has had a video game controller in his hands for as long as he can remember, and his passion for video games is only rivaled by his fascination with anime. His interests lie anywhere between Super Metriod and Team Fortress 2. When he’s not slaving away at an MMO or deteriorating his mind with some random anime, Sean learns to program and make video games, surfs the Internet, and listens to a varied selection of music.