Last week, we attended Persacon 2004 in Madison, AL. This was the first anime convention that we have covered at ekajsmash. The con chair was a 17 yearold girl. Plus, this was only their second convention ever. And did I mention it was in Alabama? So how do all of these combine? Amazingly. Honestly, if you were to attend this convention, you would think that they had been around for about 5 years. There was really never a dull moment. There were panels, dances, a DDR tournament, a Prince of Tennis tournament, Cosplay dodgeball, an AMV competition, a Cosplay contest, a decent dealers' room and, of course, a viewing room. The guests were great too. Even though going into the con I had never really heard of any of them, they were all very nice and informative at their panels. Michael Coleman was especially cool. He voices Stan in Hamtaro, among other animes. To hear a sample of his work, click here.

The only real complaint that we can think of is that the staff was just a tad anal. "Go here!" "No, not there! Here!" If we never hear "Fill up the BACK row FIRST!" again, it will be too soon. It was all part of the experience, though. Even though this was a small con (around 200 to 250 people), you would be hard pressed to find one that's more fun or has more heart. So, if you like anime and your schedule is free next year, be sure to check this con out. You'll be glad you did. You can check out the pictures here. Now, on to the official scorecard!

Attendance - 6.8
There were around 200 to 250 people at Persacon. This is a good number for a smaller con, but as more people find out about it, the con will continue to grow.

Anime Room - 9.4
By far, the best anime room at any convention we've attended. There was no host trying to explain things to you. Schedules were clearly posted. There were free hours when we could pick what we wanted to watch even.

Role Playing - 9.0
OK, this is the section usually reserved for D&D. But since there wasn't any at this con, we'll use this part for Cosplay! It seemed there were more cosplayers than non-cosplayers at this con. It makes me wish I had've brought a costume. There were several Vashes, a cool Inuyasha group and even a few guys from Japan. Very entertaining.

LARP - N/A
There was supposedly a Survivor Vampire something-or-other LARP-type thing going on. But we didn't see it or hear anything about it, so we can't judge.

ConSuite - 0.0
There was no consuite. :(

Video Game Room - 8.4
There were 10 different stations in the Video Game Room. Every time we went there, there were people enjoying them too.

Dance - 7.4
There was a rave on the first night that everyone enjoyed and a regular dance on the second night. Not many people really got into the second night's dance.

Guests - 8.8
The guests were all really cool. I would go back if they had the same guest list next year.

Rocky Horror - 8.6
OK, so there wasn't any Rocky Horror. Instead, there was Shaolin Soccer and Battle Royale. Nuff said.

Costumes - 8.9
Almost everyone was in costume. They were all friendly and didn't mind us taking pictures either.

Overall Score - 7.5

To put this score into perspective, if they would've had a consuite, the score would've been more like a 8.4 or 8.5. Plus, as always, we do grade very strictly when it comes to conventions.


staff out...

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