Providence Anime Conference wrap-up
So Bonnie and I spent the weekend at the Providence Anime Conference. It's the first 21+ anime convention, and it's put on by the New England Anime Society, which also puts on the huge Anime Boston show every year.
PAC was a much smaller show than Anime Boston, and it was, according to the show managers, not as big a success as they had hoped -- they had capped registration at 2,000, but barely broke 300.
By a financial measure, I'm sure that means that PAC wasn't successful for NEAS -- there were a few long faces from the NEAS staff folks who showed up for the conference feedback session toward the end of the day on Sunday. PAC was, by their own admission, totally underpromoted.
But you wouldn't know any issue from the attendees or the panelists. Because everyone had an awesome time. The absence of teens and tweens made the overall atmosphere of the event a lot more laid back, and the quality of the actual sessions themselves was fantastic -- there were good questions from the audience, the panelists were engaged, and everyone had a great time.
I'm hoping that NEAS figures out a way to do this again next year, even if it means a change of venue or a slightly different direction, because older anime enthusiasts need an event to call their own, free of distractions like glomping, underage drinking and general teenage idiocy.