London Anime Convention 2012

Written by Ross Locksley on 21 Jun 2012

London Anime Con hits on June 30th – July 1st – how many events have you hosted now, and what’s changed from when you started? 

Other events aside, this would be our fifth London Anime Con since we started doing them in the summer of 2010. Over this time the events have become bigger, better organised and the quality has massively improved. If you check our provisional timetable you'll see this year's is full of performers and guests.

 
What inspired the first event and what do you think it is that sets you apart from other anime conventions such as MCM Expo?

We wanted to create an anime event in London where the focus was on meeting new people, making friends and having some fun. To this reason we pitched it at a slightly more mature audience (18+) and encouraged the partying and live-music/performance aspects. A lot of the harder-core conventions in the anime scene are like this, but none of them were in London. So we decided to change this and make the event as accessable as possible by allowing on-the-door payments which a lot of the harder-core cons (including our own such as Alcon) do not do. Basically that type of event at an Expo-level price and availability. We feel this makes the event unique in London and to the UK.

How receptive do you find the distributors of anime and games when it comes to supporting these events?

We really would like to thank Manga Entertainment, MVM and Beez who have always been willing to provide the licenses and screeners for the event. It shouldn't be understated how much these companies help out the UK-events scene as a whole, very often providing prize-support and screenings to pretty much all anime conventions in the UK from their first events onward. They've played a massive role in helping to build and grow the community.

Gaming distributors have been harder to bring on board, but we're finding that they are slowly taking an interest. A lot of gaming companies are not willing to have official presences, but are often very happy to provide prize-support for gaming tournaments. We've found Namco-Bandai, Pqube and Arc-Systems in particular to be very involved in the gaming-scene and lovely to work with!  

How about you personally, what’s your favourite aspect of running these events?

It has been and will always be watching the attendees make new friendships, helping to build them in to a community and giving them a sense of belonging. Do remember that we run a lot of London meetups and events such as the Cosplay Picnics which lead up to LAC. Quite a few of first-timers to any of our events are often pretty shy without a great deal of friends. Seeing that change for them and how happy they often are because of it is always my favourite aspect for me. In your own small way you're helping to change someone's life for the better which can be a very rewarding experience. 

What’s been your biggest challenge to date?

Ensuring the event runs correctly, with everything happening as it should when it should. Thankfully we have a fantastic team nowadays and a very talented and hard-working crew which I can not thank enough! Getting everything tightly organised was our biggest challenge and one of our biggest achievements! 

To wrap up, if people should come to LAC for just one reason, what would that be?

This will be a unique experience for you. You're going to a community-event where the focus is on meeting new people, making friends and having a laugh. Yes, we have the events, the guests, parties, live-bands, performers and a lot more, but at it's heart it is the atmosphere and community that makes London Anime Con and is why you need to make sure to come along and check it out!

London Anime Con hits on June 30th – July 1st. Tickets available at
http://www.londonanimecon.com