Anime Weekend Atlanta 7
September 21-23, 2001 - Atlanta, Georgia



Anime Weekend Atlanta, one of the biggest Japanese Animation Convention in the South, hosted another year of fantastic-fun, no holds bar, anime extravaganza. Okay, that might be a little over the top, but at least you can tell I had a good time there. Though there was a few bumps of annoyances, overall the convention went on without a hitch. . . and if it did, they covered it up well enough. . . so what if the AWA staff was plastered most of the time.


This year, the convention moved back down to the south-end of Atlanta, near the airport; at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel and Georgia Int'l Convention Center. This is the biggest facility AWA has used so far; it's just a damn shame that they are going to bulldoze the place in 2003 so that the Airport can expand. Oh well, at least the convention will be there again in 2002; which means you may bring your axe, mace, mallet, or your Mobile Suit Gundam to help smash and destroy the place. I mean, why not make AWA8 end with a bang!!! ;) But I'm getting ahead of myself, lets go ahead and talk about this years convention.

Anime Weekend Atlanta

First off, Anime Weekend Atlanta is known as the party con. People who attend this convention go for more of a good time than to see special guests from Japan. Well, they did have one though, Mari Iijima, but she canceled due to recent events. But that's okay, we still had the gang from ADV, Cartoon Network, and Studio Ironkat that were there to keep the party going. Not to mention the fun AWA staff, which continued to live off anarchy and chaos to get things done. Especially after the events that happen on September 11, 2001; this convention was a great way for people to relieve stress finally.

So what was the best things at the convention you may ask. Well, for starters, the music videos had mostly a room to themselves most of the time during the convention. For some people, several panels and showings of Yoai got them going (not me, I avoided it like the black death). Several panels were also interesting like Toonami, Anime Websites, and the Amateur Film Festival. And of course, everybody's favorite, Japanese Animation Hell had another huge crowd of victims (Monkey vs. Robot, need I say more).

Section 7.1
Section 7.1

Section 7.2
Section 7.2

Section 7.3
Section 7.3

So what didn't go well this year? We first look at the dealer's room, it was the biggest yet, no doubt about that; but it was lacking something. . . Anime Music CDs! I chatted with a lot of angry con-goers who were just pissed that there was almost no Anime Music CDs in the Dealer's room; my only hope that they will rectify this grave mistake for next year. Another downer for this year's convention was the fact none of the events/video rooms were 24 hours; this caused many restless people to get bored, which led to another big problem. That's right, the Hotel Security Staff, who felt that there civic duty was to prevent people from having a good time. Though I was not at any of the party rooms that were shut-down by them, I was using some of the guest services (like the pool) and was forced to leave. Don't get me wrong, the overall service at the Sheraton was excellent, it's just that the Security Staff were major ass-wiped monkey phesis.

Despite those set-backs, I still had a great time. Mainly because I got to hang with friends I haven't seen in a good while and people who are bigger freaks than me. Not to mention all the cool costumes people wore at the convention, which I took a lot of pictures of for you guys to see. I'll probably go again next year, I have been going to almost every AWA convention so far (didn't go to the first one), so why stop now?

I would like to thank Kevin from a Fan's View, who inspired me to make this page and several others like it. Thanks for Mighty Joe and his scanner of power. Thanks to the WCU Japanese Animation Society who flattered me with there praises while I was present. Thanks to Rubeus for showing me why evil is cool. Special thanks to #WASHU# & Tenchi Muyo! Mailing Lists for no reason whatsoever. And, of course, thanks should be given to the AWA Staff, the Hotel/Convention Staff (except for the Security Staff), the people I harassed throughout the convention, and everyone who I got there picture of and didn't runaway in fear instead!

To checkout the pictures from AWA7, just click on either Section 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3. Best Costume went to Lulu, from Final Fantasy X. Most common costume themes this year were:  Dragon Ball Z, DiGi Charat, Ranma ½, Sailor Moon and Utena.

Little Washu's Convention Report and Pictures from Anime Weekend Atlanta were done by Mark Clifton, Senior Graduate Assistant to Little Washu and Webmaster of Little Washu's "Cute" Homepage.



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