21 replies to this topic

[gogal]

This is the simple starting post of the feed back thread.

Yeah!!!!

[crazypackersfan]

Pretty much everyone knows what I think, but here's a summary:

The good:
The game room (especially PlayChoice) and Jeff Ryan

The bad:
The smell

The ugly:
The atmosphere and the other guest

[newtypezaku]

The smell was partly the hotel's fault; at closing ceremonies it was mentioned that one of the janitors had turned off the central air on Thursday night.  As a result, only the small wall units were working upstairs until that was discovered late Saturday or early Sunday.

I agree and disagree with McKeever on various points; I guess if I had a complaint it's that having him at Tekko and then immediately at Sangawa was a bit meh.  I enjoy listening to him talk, but his panels don't change much from con to con, and he always finds a way to bring up the same set of talking points.  There's only so many times I can listen to the same story before it gets boring.

Programming was on target as with the previous two Sangawas.  What it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality.  I'll go to shows 10-20 times the size, Tekko included, where there are multi-hour blocks of "There's nothing I wanna do."  I think that speaks volumes about how on-target Sangawa tends to be (and also about where I fit within a "regular con's" demographic).

Not much really interested me in the dealers room.  I would've liked to see someone hawking older shows on DVD (early to mid 90s OVAs, for instance), although I can understand why that's not really feasible.

[gogal]

I think the "flow" on the panels was a little off this year.  The programming was very good, but the flow was just a little off.  I think the changes with when the sake tasting and cosplay cleanup were broke the flow a bit on Saturday.
The heat, even though I found out they accidentally turned the AC off (I do believe it was an innocent mistake), was really bad.

I love having the show on a private floor it means the dress code could be more lax if we wanted it to be.

Dealers' room was hit or miss with me.  I liked the Toku dealer   Although, I didn't buy anything.

I liked the layout of main, just wish the noise were better controlled.  I wonder if a set of back facing monitors would work at the end of seating.

Game room needed more pachinko and pachislot machines.  I also think Sangawa could use a few more arcade cabinets.  That of course takes money.    Once the Play Choice 10 was fixed (the B button on the player 1 side snapped) it got a lot of use.  We could use a few more cabinets with a wide variety of games in it.

[newtypezaku]

gogal, on 17 July 2012 - 07:20 PM, said:

I think the "flow" on the panels was a little off this year.  The programming was very good, but the flow was just a little off.  I think the changes with when the sake tasting and cosplay cleanup were broke the flow a bit on Saturday.

Hmm... I think cleanup was fine where it was, but sake testing was definitely too late.

[crazypackersfan]

newtypezaku, on 17 July 2012 - 07:00 PM, said:

I'll go to shows 10-20 times the size, Tekko included, where there are multi-hour blocks of "There's nothing I wanna do."  I think that speaks volumes about how on-target Sangawa tends to be (and also about where I fit within a "regular con's" demographic).

Funny, that's how I felt about this con, that there was nothing to do. There were only 3 panels I went to because I wanted to see them, the others I just went to waste time. Although, there were a couple I couldn't stay for. And having a good game room made up for the lack of panels I was interested in.

[gogal]

newtypezaku, on 17 July 2012 - 08:42 PM, said:

Hmm... I think cleanup was fine where it was, but sake testing was definitely too late.

Last year the sake tasting was earlier, 8 pm to be exact.  Cosplay cleanup was at 9 PM

They were in different rooms. I'd like to see it shifted a little in the future.

[Wombat]

Good
+Food on site
+Still love the hotel
+Dealer's room was a good mix of stuff
+Easy atmosphere to just chitchat
+Never felt crowded or oppressive
+Not staff responsible, but I felt that my Wild Arms and Madoka panels went well and despite some hiccups my Atelier one wasn't too horrible (though I feel it was the weakest of my three in terms of my own performance)

Bad
-No staff on the floor when I had my 9 AM panel on Saturday.  I got into the room for it because a nice gentleman from hotel staff let me in.  It was not until almost time for my panel that Dressbarn stuck his head in.
-I think my opinion on the $25 reg for Tekko only being available at Sangawa and completely unavialable to anyone under 18 is already known.  But in case you don't know, I don't like it.
-Despite the good mix of dealer types and artists, there ended up being nothing I wanted to buy.  Instead I spent my money that was meant for con shopping at Phantom of the Attic (gaming one in Oakland) and Gamestop.
-Sangawa was my first time at one of Mr. McKever's panels (which happened by accident), while I did really enjoy that the man is constantly at Tekko related events and was just at Tekko.  While I didn't get to go to last year's Sangawa I know about the guest.  Sangawa fell flat in terms of equalling/surpassing the previous year in terms of guests.  Mr. McKever and Mr. Ryan seem like wonderful people, but imho were lackluster as guests.

[Prager]

Wombat, on 17 July 2012 - 11:18 PM, said:

Good
+Food on site
+Still love the hotel
+Dealer's room was a good mix of stuff
+Easy atmosphere to just chitchat
+Never felt crowded or oppressive
+Not staff responsible, but I felt that my Wild Arms and Madoka panels went well and despite some hiccups my Atelier one wasn't too horrible (though I feel it was the weakest of my three in terms of my own performance)

Bad
-No staff on the floor when I had my 9 AM panel on Saturday.  I got into the room for it because a nice gentleman from hotel staff let me in.  It was not until almost time for my panel that Dressbarn stuck his head in.
-I think my opinion on the $25 reg for Tekko only being available at Sangawa and completely unavialable to anyone under 18 is already known.  But in case you don't know, I don't like it.
-Despite the good mix of dealer types and artists, there ended up being nothing I wanted to buy.  Instead I spent my money that was meant for con shopping at Phantom of the Attic (gaming one in Oakland) and Gamestop.
-Sangawa was my first time at one of Mr. McKever's panels (which happened by accident), while I did really enjoy that the man is constantly at Tekko related events and was just at Tekko.  While I didn't get to go to last year's Sangawa I know about the guest.  Sangawa fell flat in terms of equalling/surpassing the previous year in terms of guests.  Mr. McKever and Mr. Ryan seem like wonderful people, but imho were lackluster as guests.

Remember, on guests we were competing with San Diego Comic Con...

[apm239]

Overall, I think the whole event was a wonderful success, but as far as specifics go, here's what I consider to be the good and the bad:

The Good:
-- Very solid panels that were all informative or, at the very least, fun. The panel I wish to speak most highly of was "Judeo-Christian Religiosity in Anime and Manga" simply because it was run by someone who I would consider to be an expert. This is not to say that fan run panels are bad (the "He's Watching You: Slenderman" and "Digimon Vs Pokémon: My Childhood Was Better Than Yours" panels were also quite excellent, just to name a few). However, I think it adds something to a panel when the person running it has spent their life working with the subject in question and can add another layer of insight that a casual fan might miss. Therefore, if there's anything the staff can do to encourage such panels, I would highly suggest it. Overall though, every panel I attended was enjoyable -- which is something I'm rarely able to say about an anime convention.

-- I personally enjoyed both of the guests. I'll acknowledge that some of Kevin's material was repetitive between panels (especially if you went to all three) and that he sometimes seemed to misunderstand questions that were being asked, but, after all, nobody's perfect and I enjoyed the time I spent listening to him. Although I did not get to go to Jeff's panel, I did talk with him a bit at his table and he was very interesting and nothing but polite to me. If the price is right, I would definitely suggest bringing him back in the future.

-- The dealer's room was a huge improvement compared to last year as far as number of dealers was concerned. On top of that, all of the dealers were friendly, especially the guys from JMR Imports Exports (I believe that's their name) who talked to us for almost a half hour straight.

-- The game room was great, as usual, and I would highly suggest trying to bring the guys from Custom Pachinko back as long as you can. Playing the new Evangelion pacchi slot machine they always seem to bring is one of the highlights of my summer.

-- Location was great. For the size of this event, the hotel we're at always feels to be the perfect size -- not too small, but not so big that it feels empty.

-- In the end, Sangawa 3 was a really memorable experience and I'm glad that this event exists. I met some great people (you know who you are), learned a bit, and had fun while doing it which, really, is what going to this sort of thing is all about. On top of that, I think the staff did a great job in creating a sizeable amount of hype for Tekkoshocon X-2.


The Needs Improved:

-- I understand that print costs need to be reduced for an event this small, but PLEASE put panel descriptions in the guidebooks (both digital and physical copies). Too often I found myself thinking "Well, I guess I'll go to that. I don't really know what it is..." which really shouldn't be happening. After all, some con-goers value their time a bit more than I do and probably wouldn't chance it on a panel they weren't sure of -- which may lead to empty panels and kill the event's atmosphere.

-- While I approve of having a sort of "chill room," I don't think the best place for it is in the back of main events. Let me start by saying that I think having tables where people can just eat, hang out, and meet other people is a fantastic idea -- especially for something like Sangawa. However, with all that was going on at the tables, it was sometimes a bit hard to hear the panel that was going on up front. This was expecially true for "Hypothetical Help" where my friends and I eventually stepped out towards the end because we had to decide between staying and trying to hear every other word being said or going to a panel we might enjoy less, but would actually be able to hear.

-- Bring back the judges for Cosplay Cleanup! While Cosplay Cleanup was still highly enjoyable this year, I feel that adding the judges and their awards gives cosplayers who make very elaborate costumes and get into character, but may lack certain trivia answering or duck holding skills, a chance to be recognized for their hard work. The prizes or recognition don't even have to be that elaborate. I just feel bad whenever I see someone who clearly put a painstaking number of hours into their cosplay or is excellent at getting into character get eliminated only a few minutes in. On the note of prizes, I know everyone was excited to announce Tekkoshocon X-2, but from what I saw there was never any formal confering of prizes which was a shame because, in my opinion, it's always fun to see what the contestants win.

-- If possible, try not to have all of the drinking based events right next to closing time. While I'm not a particularly heavy drinker, it would be nice to spend some time at either the 21+ social or sake tasting without having to worry about the drive home (since my friends and I commuted to Sangawa). I'm not saying that you have to move all of the 21+ events up, but having at least one earlier option would be nice.

The Uncontrollable:
-- Hot hotel was hot thanks to no AC. I think we all know that. However, I will say that it's not good when I have to be constantly drinking water so I'm not a disgusting sweaty mess. It was obviously out of the staff's control, I just felt like it should be mentioned.

[Southpaw]

apm239, on 18 July 2012 - 01:31 AM, said:

-- I understand that print costs need to be reduced for an event this small, but PLEASE put panel descriptions in the guidebooks (both digital and physical copies). Too often I found myself thinking "Well, I guess I'll go to that. I don't really know what it is..." which really shouldn't be happening. After all, some con-goers value their time a bit more than I do and probably wouldn't chance it on a panel they weren't sure of -- which may lead to empty panels and kill the event's atmosphere.

Having been the person who worked on the Guidebook, I just want to make sure you know that I included every summary that was made available to me. I know that there are improvements that need to be made as far as descriptions of stuff for the video room, but I can't help it when all I get for guest panels is their titles. At least nothing had to be moved around, as there's always issues when that happens

[apm239]

Southpaw, on 18 July 2012 - 03:29 AM, said:

Having been the person who worked on the Guidebook, I just want to make sure you know that I included every summary that was made available to me. I know that there are improvements that need to be made as far as descriptions of stuff for the video room, but I can't help it when all I get for guest panels is their titles. At least nothing had to be moved around, as there's always issues when that happens

Glad to hear it made it in somewhere! Unfortunately I didn't have access to the app itself and instead had to work with the web only version. I don't know if that made a difference or if I'm just bad with technology...

[whitemage]

Greetings,
Gotta say I enjoyed this year's project. I give kudos to the staff and panels for running it.   That said here's my feedback on the event:
>Props to the programming this year particularly to the Patlabor panel,  Judeo-Christian Religiosity, Cutey Honey Panel and Cel Framing.
>Video game room was pretty good
>AMV competition as well as the video room in general were nicely run.

Some improvements....
<need a dvd vendor in the dealers room, this is a minor thing but something that was mention a lot.
<The AMV Contest should have been held in the main room, schedule wise this conflicted with a panel by one of the guests so it probably couldn't be helped.  It was a bit packed in there to say the least though...
<For the CCG room would recommend better signage for it.  Though it was bigger this year it was better hidden and for the most part dead.  Would also propose if there would be a way to have a table or two in the videogame room to save from going clear to the first floor to game.
Appreciate it.

[newtypezaku]

apm239, on 18 July 2012 - 01:31 AM, said:

-- Bring back the judges for Cosplay Cleanup! While Cosplay Cleanup was still highly enjoyable this year, I feel that adding the judges and their awards gives cosplayers who make very elaborate costumes and get into character, but may lack certain trivia answering or duck holding skills, a chance to be recognized for their hard work. The prizes or recognition don't even have to be that elaborate. I just feel bad whenever I see someone who clearly put a painstaking number of hours into their cosplay or is excellent at getting into character get eliminated only a few minutes in.

Absolutely.  Like, the Pikachu cosplayer was great, even though being in character guaranteed she would be eliminated basically immediately.

[tedturtle]

This was my first Sangawa and I had a fun weekend despite my friends that were supposed to come with me didn't show up due to work and other responsibilities. As a Sangawa virgin I can't compare to the first two Sangawa Projects. But here my good, bad, and ugly post of the con list that I normally do for Tekko

The Good

The Panels
I love the way the panels were set up this year! I had few "I'm bored" moments at Sangawa as there seemed to be something to do all the time while I was there. Some of my favorite panels were Cartoons & Anime in Space: Fact or Fiction because the guy who did the panel seemed to know what he was talking about but it was also funny how cartoons and anime get science wrong lol.

I also like the Conan etc. panel. It was nice to learn more of the story arcs, the character relationships, and some of the shows references to Sherlock Holmes, mystery authors, etc. It wasn't like some panels I seen at Tekko that where the panelist goes into fanboy/fangirling and goes omg Kid is so awesome or Conan is so smart and leave at that. The panelist is a true fan to the series.  Plus Detective Conan/Case Closed is one of my favorite anime series so that helps too.

Judeo-Christian Religiosity in Anime and Manga was good panel as well. I can tell this guy did his homework on the subject. Not only did he mention the history of Japan's Christian faith he also put into context with various anime and explained how most Japanese view religious figures like nuns and priests. Now if he can find a rabbi in anime/mange and/or explain Japan's Jewish faith in a timelime form for next year I will be really impressed.

The Bad
The Sangawa Mixer- It was too vague and plus it didn't help that the guidebook/schedule didn't have a description in it. I was confused to what the Sangawa Mixer was at first. Was it a game, friend maker, or drink maker? There was no panelist to be seen at least as far as I know and when I finally figured out what it was it, it felt sociablily awkward to start a conversation. The last part might be due to my natural shyness though.

The Ugly
I don't think it really had it's time to shine yet but I figured it wouldn't hurt to post about the guidebook program. I think when the guidebook program is fine tuned it will be a good addition to the schedule for the three cons. I just think it could be more than it is but it has potential. One of the pluses I seen on the program was the map and info sections. The map was pretty easy to read and the info part was like reading the schedule infomation (possible copy and paste job). The schedule part was kind of meh. It would have helped to have descriptions of all the panels but I doubt that was any single person's fault. Maybe it next year the panelist can put there own summary in the guidebook program or have someone ask for a summary from the panelist. It might help to also give guests an idea of the local food options in the guidebook. I heard a bunch of people complaining about not knowing where to get food at and helped a few of them myself by telling them where the local eateries are. Plus it wouldn't hurt to add stuff like website pages and/or bio info for guests of honors, bands that play and dealers.

I might add more later on. Thanks for an awesome weekend Sangawa staff!

[JoeMello]

gogal, on 17 July 2012 - 07:20 PM, said:

Dealers' room was hit or miss with me.  I liked the Toku dealer   Although, I didn't buy anything.

My Face When

The issues I had were the HVAC even when it was turned on and the CCG room that I thought didn't exist.  Also possibly a lack of counterprogramming during booze, but that's likely more a nitpick than anything else.

[tedturtle]

JoeMello, on 19 July 2012 - 04:41 PM, said:

My Face When

The issues I had were the HVAC even when it was turned on and the CCG room that I thought didn't exist.  Also possibly a lack of counterprogramming during booze, but that's likely more a nitpick than anything else.

Lol there should have been a booze free event option for the non drinkers out there. Also I agree with Gogal with the dealers room being hit or miss. I only bought Pokemon and DeathNote capsule toys but I would have been happy with a better selection of plushies(plushie selection was meh and you had look hard to see it lol) and anime dvds(It's a Japanese Culture/Anime con what were some of the dealers thinking by not having many dvds available).

[gogal]

tedturtle, on 19 July 2012 - 08:55 PM, said:

Lol there should have been a booze free event option for the non drinkers out there. Also I agree with Gogal with the dealers room being hit or miss. I only bought Pokemon and DeathNote capsule toys but I would have been happy with a better selection of plushies(plushie selection was meh and you had look hard to see it lol) and anime dvds(It's a Japanese Culture/Anime con what were some of the dealers thinking by not having many dvds available).

DVD is dead. People for the most part don't buy them anymore which is why dealers no longer stock or bring them.
I think if the event can break 300 people it willbe affordable to move to a venue that will allow a more diverse selection of night time entertainment.
Dealers come and bring what they want. We had a live steel dealer this time. Go fig.
Next year who knows what will happen. I'd like to know for sure ASAP for next year so we can work off of the synergy between the events.

[GloryQuestor]

gogal, on 19 July 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:

DVD is dead. People for the most part don't buy them anymore which is why dealers no longer stock or bring them.

DVD is not dead.  I still see tons of DVD sales at the larger conventions, and BluRay players can still play them.  Also, there's so many on DVD you just can't get any way else right now, especially with every title from multi-hit anime producers Pioneer/Geneon and BANDAI completely out-of-print in Region 1 with little chance of any future (or BluRay) releasing.  Dealers at this point know that hardcore fans looking for those out-of-print DVDs will still want them.  Until the entire world goes to BluRay (and I for one am not a part of the BluRay generation yet) and every anime license is picked up and HDized in Region 1, then DVD will still be alive and kicking.

[gogal]

GloryQuestor, on 20 July 2012 - 02:56 PM, said:

DVD is not dead.  I still see tons of DVD sales at the larger conventions, and BluRay players can still play them.  Also, there's so many on DVD you just can't get any way else right now, especially with every title from multi-hit anime producers Pioneer/Geneon and BANDAI completely out-of-print in Region 1 with little chance of any future (or BluRay) releasing.  Dealers at this point know that hardcore fans looking for those out-of-print DVDs will still want them.  Until the entire world goes to BluRay (and I for one am not a part of the BluRay generation yet) and every anime license is picked up and HDized in Region 1, then DVD will still be alive and kicking.

I am basing my comment on overall declining sales of DVDs the minimal growth of Blurays and the ever growing deman and utilization of streaming services.  Considering that dwindiling sales caused Bandai to bow out of the market.  The majority of your big box retailers have a shrinking DVD/Bluray section.  If you look at the grand picture DVD/Bluray are dead/dieing formats.
Plus, if you look at the larger picture of fandom, Sangawa is probably the best place to sell DVDs, BUT how many dealers still do that with Amazon being significantly cheaper than they can sell their inventory at?
Just throwing that out there.  There is coming a time when the physical media will go away just like various formats of media: Video Disc, Betamax, VHS, LaserDisc, HDDVD,Divix (the DVD rental alternative), GBA Video Carts, UMD disc, VHSC, Super8, 35mm, 16mm, etc...
How many DVD dealers are actually left?