Cosplay Competition at Sakura Con 2014

The Cosplay Competition at Sakura Con was divided into two main categories: Skits and Walk-Offs.

As their names denote, first we had all the people that either danced, sang or prepared a small act while showing-off their costumes. During the walk-off part of the competition, the participants just walked on a runway like in a fashion show.

We got late to the skit part of the competition (sorry, we were in the autographs line) so we only recorded the last fourteen skits, but we got the entire walk-off event (all 30 of them!) and the awards ceremonies as well. 

You can see the Cosplay Competition here.

Sakura Con Photo Gallery

Sakura Con offered plenty of photo opportunities not only to take pictures of cosplayers walking around the convention center, but the Opening\Closing Ceremonies, the different panels with the Guests of Honor and of course the Cosplay Competition kept our trigger finger happy and our memory cards full.

You can see all the pictures we took at Sakura Con is here.

WIT Studio Panel

WIT Studio is a very young animation studio, founded as a subsidiary of Production I.G no more that 3 years ago, it has gain a gigantic respect in the animation industry for the quality and speed they create amazing animation.

In this panel, Tetsuya Nakatake (Animation Producer\Co-Founder of WIT Studio) and Kyoji Asano (Art Director and Designer) talk about the origins of this studio and their ongoing success with their anime adaptation of the Attack on Titan manga series.

Watch the panel here.

From Fan To Pro

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

"Someone will pay me to watch Anime, read Manga and go to Conventions; where do I sign." - Beto Jubei.

In this panel, L. B. Bryat will talk about his personal journey from his humble origins as a Anime\DVD reviewer to a journalist covering people and events with deadlines, editorial responsibilities and several bosses. Watch the panel here.

Mecha History and Cultural Impact

Giant Robots and Japanese animation go side-by-side like raw fish and rice.

But have you ever wonder what was the original giant robot, is there a limit to their size and capabilities? are there any guidelines each giant robot has to follow?

For everything you wanted to know about giant robots but were afraid to ask, watch this very educational panel here. 

Range Murata Panel

Range Murata is an artist and design not only of characters but also the world they live in.

His unique style can be easily recognized on the series he has worked such as Last Exile, Blue Submarine No.6, and Solty Rei just to mention a few of them.

He also has published several art books with his original works and continues to release his doujin works under the label Pasta Estab.

Watch his full panel here.

Sakura Con 2014

After moving to Seattle last year we have attended several conventions in this area; we went to Tacoma for its Jet City Comic Show, then we went south to Portland for Portland Comic Con, and then we attended Emerald City Comic Con just a couple of blocks away from our apartment.

But Sakura Con was the one true Anime convention we were waiting for.

After the first couple of hours at the convention we realized the quality and quantity of the costumes was several degrees above what we have seen at other conventions like Anime Expo or Comic Con.

Between 65% to 70% of the people in this convention were wearing some kind of costume and the majority of them were just amazing.

The exhibition hall had plenty of vendors and the artist alley was full of independent artist and handmade crafts.

We were glad to see a full schedule of panels staring both fans and industry people alike.

I will be posting photos and videos of several panels and event in the coming days. In the mean time you can watch the opening ceremonies here.