Fanime 2012 Day the Second, pt. 2

There was a chance to see a Japanese thriller movie called “Re:Play-Girls”. It’s kind of a lot like “Battle Royale”, but instead of being one high/middle school class it’s a group of girls who have decided they want to kill themselves. They sign up to a group suicide website (which is a common theme in modern Japanese cinema). A statement of note: Japan has the highest teenage suicide in the world. Culturally speaking, this makes a lot of sense. Many teenagers feel a lot of not only societal pressure but also peer pressure… back to the movie.

So, a group of girls sign up on a group suicide website for various reasons from familial abuse to no real reason what so ever. Once they finally the group suicide begins, they find themselves in for more than they bargained for.

It is definitely an intriguing movie… and an interesting story. It’s a Japanese indie film, so it certainly gains in plot what it lacks in visual effects. I definitely recommend this movie, but it’s most certainly not everybody’s cup of tea. It is violent and at other times a bit jarring.

While I was taking a break in between the Viz Media Panel and the “Re:Play-Girls” premiere and Q&A I wound up engaged in an interesting conversation about photography at cons and movies with a local photographer. I find it generally interesting to have conversations, but what I love more than anything is a good conversation. It was (at least I would like to think it is) an interesting conversation. It gave me a different perspective on photographers at cons.

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed is that there is a lot more people at the con during the day, but once we get to the post-dinner hour the numbers decrease a bit. Granted, this could be indicative of a more local and underage attendance… which is fine. It means that the con could actually have some longevity. That would be nice as I would like to see Fanime continue. It’s one of the few fan run conventions… hence its name.

For all the bad cosplays there are out there… there are some truly stellar cosplay. And even if the costumes aren’t the greatest, there are also some pretty witty ones. Some of the good cosplay I saw today included the Red Queen, Mad Hatter and White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, Sazh from Final Fantasy XIII, A Zaku from Mobile Suit Gundam, a guy who went around with the organ grinder from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (complete with Song of Storms) and a guy dressed in a modest adventurers costume holding a sign that said: “I was saving princesses before saving princesses were cool.” I almost want to refer to him as hipster adventurer… all that was missing was the thick-rimmed glasses.

Zaku from Mobile Suit Gundam

I also got to finally make a turn through the Dealers’ Room. It’s generally interesting to go through there… there’s almost always a good variety of things from manga and anime to Japanese snacks; from Asian live-action movies to h.naoto fashion and other clothing. What I noticed even more was the prevalence of Yaoi. Yaoi is… well, similar to gay porn, but animated. It was so prevalent that there was a large red banner proclaiming Yaoi. That’s certainly more than the normal Yaoi-Con both (which is generally the only bastion for Shonen-Ai and Yaoi). There were also 2 corset vendors… which is interesting. It’s kinda neat to see 2 places to buy corsets from… It appears that along with popularity comes a larger variety of things that are considered “geeky”.

The big Yaoi banner

Of course, a long day at a con can take its toll, between general exhaustion from wandering around all day and how much wearing 10 lbs platforms can make one tired… I felt like the day needed to end a little early. After all, Sunday is going to be a much longer day.