Feedback Here

[Proz]

Before, During, After. You know we want to hear all of it.

Just a big reminder because I have a feeling this will be a big issue:

We are not going to be at the Marriott anymore. We are picking up nearly double the space at the Convention Center & Grand Hyatt.

We were aware after SJ:3 that we've outgrown the Marriott and already did something about it.

[Patches]

So is calling the SJ4 staff awesome feedback or a comment?

[Proz]

So is calling the SJ4 staff awesome feedback or a comment?

Comments are appreciated too

[Darth Sebastian]

Then let me say that the registration staff were especially nice and helpful last night.

[RadElectropow]

RegStaff and Volunteers did do a great job last night.

Thank you for putting the snacks vendor in the Dealer Room and not the gaming room this year. Also have an Enter and Exit door is awesome.

[Nagasama]

Ok. Friday night concerts running late.

I do not know what the issue was as im just a guest, but this throws my entire convention experience off.

One of the main reasons for coming this year was to see Kai n concert, but I could not stay too late, due to transportation issues.

The, delay with the performers made it so that me seeing the performance I came for was impossible.

Basically its like you buy a ticket to see something, and a performer arrives late, and screws everyone.

I mean what gives, was a band late, was staff late in setting up?

[Totakeke]

Sorry for the delays. Truly sorry. We did our best to hurry and get everything ready. I litterally carried a heavy ass amp with all my might and energy from the basement around to the elevator and back around to the main events room to get things ready. I know its a bummer, but we did our best to get it done and I hope our efforts pleased a few at least.

Again, I'm sorry I couldn't have helped more to get it ready on time, but the team as a whole did their best to get it ready. Trust me when I say it isn't easy to set up the sound for live bands.

[Nagasama]

Just a suggestion, but, wouldn't it be a good idea to try and find some volunteers on the muscle side of things to help out, or, maybe setup in advance?

The main ballroom/stage is huge, i can't imagine that what was used there prior to the first act could have precluded some of the first act's stuff being setup beforehand.

[Cantu]

This was my first convention (celebrated as a late birthday). I cannot be happier how Friday morning went. The staff and volunteers handled all questions politely and the attendees were surprisingly respectful. I will go again next year, but within a group. I wonder if she'll be there...

[randomizer9]

As far as the concerts running late; the sound was not set up on time which pushed everything back. We weren't able to even start sound check until well after the time we were supposed to start our performance. I have been hearing about various sound problems throughout the other performances, though, which is unfortunate, if its true.

Overall, I would have to say things are going well, but y'all are definitely going to need bigger panel rooms next year, the current rooms filled up way too quickly which made for lots of sad pandas that couldn't get in.

I am manning a table in Con Alley this year, and so I have a few observations about that area:

Between the usual crowd and the long lines for certain events, things get pretty packed here, which is expected, but it doesn't help when we have tables with DJ Hero setups and people doing card tricks which attract crowds and clog up the walkways even more. I'm all for finding creative ways to draw attention to one's table, but there should probably be some limits in the interest of keeping traffic flowing.
Also, there are zero to no security/volunteers keeping an eye on this area, so Con Alley became the place for people to goof around before the rave. It's 1130 as I type this, and earlier we had people running around, sleeping under tables and doing other stuff I believe is frowned upon at this con. It wasn't until people started lining up for the rave that folks started behaving themselves.

Then there's the 'street artist' guy doing caricatures which has me slightly irked.

Those quibbles aside, San Japan 4TW has been an awesomeburger covered in awesomesauce, as usual, and I will be a sad panda when its all over.

[Sai-co]

Okay, We definitely need Egoraptor back next year. Also, his Egoraptor Live! panel should be one of the very last panels so that it can run as long as people are interested. We filled the room and everyone was sad to have to clear out for H-Fest. So yea, Please do that?

Also, HAWP may live in Texas. You should look into getting them to come. Anthony Burch works at Gearbox and their HQ is in Texas so, yea, they hopefully live in state.

[Eli LoonSong]

I'll get one big, glaring thing out of the way: whoever provides the "yuri" obviously doesn't know what yuri means. A good number of people left the panel Friday night because the DVDs we'd been given were just straight-up hentai.

On to good things:

Almost all of the staff was very kind and helpful Friday/Saturday; there was a little grumpiness from the volunteers working late at night, but nothing that ruined the night for me. The volunteers working during the autograph signing today were insanely patient despite having to stand there for hours!

I'm VERY happy there was a snack table set up. I didn't feel like I had to walk all the way out of the con just to munch on something.

One thing I must ask: was it made very clear in the hotel/mall that there was a convention going on? I almost felt bad for the "normal" folk because they seemed so damn confused about what was going on...

[Darth Sebastian]

I gotta say, this con ran as smooth as a baby's bottom. The staff were super-nice, even really with their strict warnings. Did they receive an enormous crapload of pressure from the fire marshals?

I've sworn off anime conventions from here on out, but I gotta say, you guys did a great job.

[Fynn]

I have to say that I am very excited to see how San Japan will be next year at the convention center! I am hoping to see more dealers, artists, panels, everything with all that space we'll have!

My only real feedback is about the dealers! I don't know if they read this, but hopefully they will. While I am not entirely disappointed with the dealer room, I want to see a better variety next year! My first con I went to, the first table by the entrance was FILLED with JRock/JPop CDs/Anime/Game Soundtracks. I would love to see dealers selling a good selection of CDs! Hopefully next year with more dealers will mean a better variety of things. A lot of the tables had the same stuff, so I felt there wasn't really much to pick from. Also would mind seeing merch from older anime like Wolf's Rain, Sailor Moon, .hack, etc (anime we watched when we first got into anime, basically). A lot of the merch this year catered to Hetalia fan base, which is disappointing. I know it sells, but I would like to see other stuff as well since I'm not in Hetalia. Would love to see more Sgt. Frog merch as well.


Also, I just remembered something. Hetalia fans with flag poles. STOP SWINGING YOUR FLAG POLES AROUND! I almost got hit several times in the face by some Italy because she couldn't keep her flag still while waiting in line (and continued to play fight with a Growlithe gijinka). Next time I will be more vocal about it.

[minimoni96]

i really loved it. it was my first san japan, and all the people were extremely friendly.

however, there was only one thing that bothered me, and it was the elevators. me and my mom were checking out of the hotel, and we were waiting 15-20 minutes just to get an elevator that wasn't crowded. finally, we had enough and we ended up getting into the service elevators that the maids and room service people use.

but other than that one problem we had to face, i had fun and i'd love to come again next year. ^^

[kyon5]

I loved the convention this year. I had fun and was glad on the variety of stuff we got to do upon getting there and that people were making sure the lines were set up properly.
Though despite having fun and what not I do have a few complaints. For one(This isn't anyone's fault... but a suggestion for next year) I think that there should be more Touhou related merchandise and Light novels in the dealer room. My friend was looking for certain Touhou characters, but upon going through the merchandise he wasn't able to find what he was looking for. He was looking for a Sakuya Plushie, but found no plushies of Touhou characters. He was only able to find the figurines, but that was anywhere from $80-150 and he didn't have the money to buy stuff for his friends from that. Also they should add Light novels to where their selling manga since both are commonly sought after.
Another problem I saw was not enough room to fit everyone in for the cosplay show. One of the biggest events at the convention and what most people had wanted to see. Also it wasn't good how easily everything became a fire hazard, but luckly the staff was able to assist with that and keep everything in line.
I hope San Japan 5 is great next year and anyone who finished reading this... Thank you for giving me your time(Also sorry if I have a lot of grammar mistakes.)

Ps: Also would be nice to see Shinichi Watanabe Return again next year.

[GazeAddict]

This was my 4th time to San Japan! And traveled another 4 hours! Overall, Saturday was FUN!!! It was the only day I could go to...

Fridaywas pretty troublesome...first of all my family and I had to wait nearly an Hour for our room which was reserved 6 months in advance...Not sure if it was because of the population of the con or if it was just the Hotel workers...And also the parking lot was COMPLETLY full for the Marriot Hotel...and we had to park across the street...Was it also from the HUGE amount of visitors this year? But despite these issues...I saw some really awesome cosplayers walking around while I was waiting! So I was able to get some great photos!

Saturday Started off really great! The Staff and Volunteers were very nice and helpful in the Registration Room! The Dealers Room was full, as always, and had some really cute and interesting things...but the only thing I would love to see more of is J-Rock/J-Pop CD's! My sister and I did run into a few problems though...we lined up for the Autograph session but weren't able to attend the session because the line was so long and so was the Kingdom Hearts Fan Panel! And I really wanted to meet some of the Actors and attend the Kingdom Hearts Fan Panel... I really hope there will be enough room at the next con...

But I was able to get over 100 pictures of cosplayers and some videos!!! By having these I will always remember this con as an adventure!

[Ceeney]

I definitely wanted to point out that the volunteers and staff at San Japan are some of the nicest and most helpful i've ever seen. At a few other cons i've been to (noticably A-Kon for some reason) some of the staff have been downright rude or sarcastic with me for no reason, but one of the things i've really noticed about San Japan is that everyone seems to keep their temper down and act very professionally despite the stress. Being strict and being rude can be two entirely different things, and everyone at San Japan seemed to keep everything in line without being disrespectful, and I really, really appreciate it!

[amara]

This is a personal preference, but there were few panels for me to visit that I hadn't experience in the previous two years at the con (specifically cosplay related). However, the hotel was nice, and the con was as good as always. There were a few growing pains, but what con doesn't have those?

[Totakeke]

Aww thanks, as a volunteer, I know they will all be greatful to read the nice compliments.

I think the issues with room capacity should be better with next year at the new venue.

The dealers sell what they sell. I would love to see a larger selection of j-rock cds, video games and Gundam merch. Hopefully they can read this and know what to stock up on.

I must add, I am very happy to have worked with many fine volunteers and the staff were very nice to me and everyone pulled together and worked hard. I actually was told to go find things to do because people were doing their jobs and had a good bit of everything taken care. There weren't many slackers, even though I did feel as if I could have done more, everyone did their fair share.