From September 17-20, I attended YaoiCon in San Francisco, CA, for the first time. This was also my first time in California. I didn’t get the time to sight-see like I’d wanted.
I posted all my pictures to my instagram, so be sure to check them if you haven’t already. Now onwards to what I attended at YaoiCon.
Day 0
I started my morning early with my first flight at 0700 from my regional airport to DFW. My connecting flight in Dallas was on time at boarding time, but then got delayed after boarding was completed. The first delay was 2 hours, but then changed to 40 minutes much to my chagrin. Both flights were freezing cold and literally zapped my energy due to trying to stay warm, so by the time I got to my hotel I was exhausted and didn’t want to do anything but drink water/tea and sleep.
Day 1
Woke up multiple times between 0130 and 0500 before deciding to get up since I couldn’t sleep anymore. Around 0630, I went down for breakfast and ordered oatmeal at the cafe. Boy was it a large serving of oatmeal. I only ate 2/3 of it and ate the rest for lunch. Did keep me full for most of the day. Now as for panels and events I attended:
- VIP Royal Tea Event
At the entrance, I checked-in and was then ushered to a table by one of the YaoiCon Bishounen. Mini sandwiches and hot tea were served via buffet area. All the tables were decorated with colored foam crowns and craft material to decorate the crowns. It was fun decorating crowns and chatting with my table-mates. We even had the opportunity to chat and get a photo taken with the Guests of Honor: Makoto Tateno and Martha Asahi. - YaoiCon Anthology Process
Melina Dargis is the PR Assistant and Associate Editor for YaoiCon. She explained the anthology submission guidelines, selection process, and final editing correspondence. Melina’s a writer herself, but this was her first venture as an editor and she described it as an eye-opener.
I had planned on attending more events, but I passed out at 1945. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
I made it to the Dealer Room after lunch and bought a lot. From Akadot I bought Kizuna Deluxe Edition vol 5, Kizuna vol 6, and The Tyrant Falls in Love vol 8. Then at Sublime Manga’s table I purchased Hide and Seek vol 1-3, Love Stage!! vol 3, and Sleeping Moon vol 1-2. Last, I bought The Hourglass (Itoshi & Aldaria) and Lost in the Snow (Velvet Toucher) vol 1-2 from Yaoi-Revolution. Velvet Toucher was at the table and she signed both copies of Lost in the Snow. Day 1 was full of fun and now onwards to Day 2.
Day 2
There was a lot more to do on Day 2. After breakfast, I stopped at the Artist Alley. I stopped by Chromatic Press’s and mmmaoh’s tables. Bought the Knights-Errant key-chains from Chromatic Press. From mmmaoh, I picked up my pre-ordered copy of her Evangelion 3.0 Kaworu x Shinji Fanbook and bought five prints. It was nice to meet Lillian (Sparkler Monthly comics editor) and mmmaoh. Now for the panels/events:
- Basic Posing Knowledge with Martha Asahi
This was highly entertaining and fun. The panel was 1.5 hours, so the last 45 minutes of the panel was an Ask Me Anything Q & A. She was very honest and forthcoming, which made asking any type of question fairly easy. - Makoto Tateno Q & A Panel
Tateno-sensei’s Q & A panel was also a Ask Me Anything. She was very forthcoming and honest with her answers. We found out that her current favorite series is Attack on Titan and that she adores Levi. She was disappointed that she hadn’t seen a Levi cosplayer at YaoiCon and one of the attendees stated that she was Levi on Day 1. Said attendee stated that she would come to the autograph session as Levi just for sensei. Sensei was overjoyed to hear that. It was nice to see how honest Tateno-sensei was for us. - Juné Industry Panel
24 new title licenses were announced and all digital only, so they’ll be part of Digital Manga Guild. They will start releasing in October. They also announced the updated print release schedule, so we’ll finally see No Touching At All‘s sequel. - Sublime Manga Industry Panel
This was fun. New license announcements were kept for toward the end of the panel and to our chagrin it was WELL worth it. The raffle was done as a mock Let’s Make a Deal, which was really fun. The main licenses I was really excited for were Midnight Stranger (Naono Bohra) and Ten Count (Rihito Takarai). - Makoto Tateno Autograph Session
I had my German copy of Hate to Love You, which I believe still hasn’t been licensed in English. Tateno-sensei was surprised I brought a German manga to have autograph and had asked me why I own a German copy. I explained I’m bilingual, that I have family in Germany, and that I enjoy reading in both my languages. - Juné Kickstarter VIP Event
The was basically an in-person version of the Kickstarter live-streams, which was really fun! There was an informal Q & A session at the start of the event, kickstarter Q & A, and ended with 10 question yaoi trivia contest. The swag bag was really cute. - Bishounen Auction
I went in with an open-ended and pleasantly enjoyed myself. The auction kinda reminded me of strip tease show with a bit of a yaoi twist. I definitely screamed a lot and who wouldn’t for all the bishies.
Day 3
Definitely woke up hoarse from 3 hours of screaming/cheering during the Bishounen Auction, but on the bright side it was well worth it. Sadly, I had to catch an early flight back, so didn’t attend any of the Day 3 events.
All in all, YaoiCon 2015 was really fun. I’ll definitely come again. I connected with new fujoshi and finally met some I’d be chatting with on social media. Next time, I’m definitely going to stay an extra day so I can attend all the panels/events I had wanted to.
[…] YaoiCon 2015 […]