NEMACON: An unconventional convention
Its a glorious day of summer sun. The fountain blasts forth between the art gallery and a reveling crowd sat beside the town hall. You’d hardly know this was Middlesborough. The North East’s latest annual event is gathering steam as I enter the basement club room of Blu and am immediately confronted by lolitas and a perky princess peach. Saturday 10th of April saw the first glimpse of , the North East Manga and Anime convention, in its Precon Recon event. The dark comfortable room was a hive of activity with an art wall and gaming consoles attracting a lot of attention while DJs and VJs worked side by side streaming anime and eastern ephemera onto a screen along with a unique mix of alternative, 8-bit, internet meme ridden music scattered here and there with Asian music and familiar anime themes. The all day event was quite a spectacle, bringing to the matinee the atmosphere of the best nightclub, before migrating to the venues third upstairs bar for a number of hilarious competitions played out to a score of Powerpuff speed-core and the most intense and suspenseful rick-roll I’ve ever encountered.
This was an intensely enjoyable event and set the scene of what to expect at the convention proper. Nemacon itself, which is is set to take place on the weekend of June 19th/20th, will be a fully featured convention with a gaming room, screenings, panels and traders through out with a variety of unique events planned across its weekend.
The pre-con was a welcome change of pace for a Saturday afternoon, with delightfully geeky madness going on in the shape of J-pop dance offs and Mudkips… well… MUDKIPS…
The precon itself was a useful little event to test the water too, for fans to attend and see just what to expect and have a good time geeking out for want of a better word. Following the success of the event a series of further meet – ups have been arranged including a Newcastlebased event on May 16th and an under 18′s event at Middlesbrough library April 28th.
The under 18s event will include a speed drawing and cosplay competition alongside an anime themed quiz.
Tickets to the event are limited to 60 and are priced at £1 each
Tickets are also currently available for main Nemacon event, priced at £15 for the weekend and can be purchased through the Middlesbrough Town Hall box office.
