The game room was a lot of fun, but yes, the tournaments were somewhat disorganized. The panels also needed much bigger venues. Many of the panels were crammed into tiny rooms where most of the interested people could not get in. Yet at times, that huge panel/concert area was completely empty or had some odd event with only a handful of people attending. I thought the panel schedule could have been managed much better.

Overall, I had an awesome time, and I will definitely go back next year. I’m going to MangaNEXT too. However, that’s partially because I like just minutes away. I don’t have to travel or stay in a hotel. It’s ultra-convenient for me, just like Otakon is ultra-convenient for you guys.

AnimeNext was more unorganized than College-level conventions I’ve been to and hearing that this is its 9th year in operation, that was very disappointing to me. Everything from line direction and management for big events, number of allowed people in panels (Mike, you know what I’m talking about, there’s NO reason they should have to wait until a room is 2x or 3x capacity to say, “Oh, my fault, half of you have to leave…”, why isn’t that being monitored at the door?), abusive security, lack of trusted information from the “employees”, lack of ”training” from the employees, the way the video game room and tournaments were handled… I mean I’ve gone to house parties with more organized and moderated tourneys….

And as far as the vendors room goes…well… again, i’m being partial but it was easily 1/3 or less the size of Otakon… and it struck Kenny and I as odd that 90% of what we saw in there was stuff you could EASILY find online for cheaper, and not too many “rare’ things… BUT the thing is, after reading forums [From lurking the AnimeNext forum, I learned a # of people had less than awesome experiences] and talking to people who were there, I heard that this year the vendors room WAS smaller than usual, it WAS more unorganized than usual, and all around this AnimeNext was ‘meh’ in comparison to the ones of the past.. .. ..

Overall, despite all of that, I DID have a good time, don’t get me wrong! Truly!! I absolutely loved the art room, and the one good panel we actually made it into. I grabbed a few shirts from the Dealer’s Room. It was good times… but as far as making that 3.5 hour trip back up the road come next June… I’m not sure if I’m pressed to return. It was a good experience but, for my first time, not sure. Chances are, depending on how classes next summer goes and money, we’ll find a way to get back up there… but as of now, I’m not really sure. lol, AnimeNext just left me extremely thirsty for Otakon and MAGfest so… we’ll see.