Michigan’s most popular anime convention came back to Detroit.
I have been attending Youmacon since 2014. Between my love of video games and anime, this was the perfect convention for me. It was also an escape for me. It was a place for me to go and be myself again. A place for me to feel young and carefree for a weekend. A place where I didn’t have to worry about work, family, bills and all the other fun adult stuff. Just me, some friends, the game room, the rave and all the cool people I meet.
But this year was different for me. Not only was it the first convention I’ve attended post pandemic. But this was the first year the con became something different for me. This was the first year I brought someone who loves anime and video games just as much, if not more than me. This is the first year I brought my daughter. She loved it so much and everyone made her feel so welcome. Everyone complimented her on her cosplay. One person even knew what anime it was from. My daughter is a huge fan of older anime. She decided to cosplay Doremi from Ojamajo Doremi. Now instead of the convention being an escape for me, it became a place for me and my daughter to bond. Now the convention is even more special to me.
I was very grateful that we had a convention this year. I also know it must have been very difficult for the people that put on the convention this year. There were a lot of pros and cons this year. I decided that I would list them here.
Pros:
- I was able to get my badge and covid verification in less than an hour. That’s a first ever!
- The fact that there was about a quarter of the attendance, I feel made it less overwhelming for my daughter’s first con experience.
- The elevator lines! They were non-existent except for Saturday night.
- Being able to stay on the low rise floors. Normally I only stay Friday and Saturday nights. Because of that I am always on the high rise floors. Why is that a big deal? Because on Sunday instead of waiting for an elevator, I was able to walk down the easy 15 flights of stairs. Something I am never able to do.
Cons:
- One entrance into the renaissance center. This was annoying if I needed to go to my car and come back in the building.
- Limited choices of food at the convention. I love pizza and I survived off having it for lunch and dinner every day. But as a vegetarian, it would have been nice to have more options.
- It didn’t bother me because I had it, but you needed covid verification for a lot more then the main events. I am sure for someone who didn’t get the vaccine or have a negative test this was probably more of an issue.
- Last but not least, my biggest complaint about the convention….THE GAME ROOM! I was very annoyed that the game room was only consoles. I mentioned this, someone came back and said it was posted on the Youmacon Gaming Facebook page. I didn’t know this page existed and only about 1000 people like this page. I felt very deceived on this one. I understand that this was difficult to put together this year. But I feel this could have been posted on the main Facebook page or on the website. I feel that if they would have posted it, they would have had half as many attend. Which is why I suspect they weren’t too vocal about it.
All in all, I don’t regret going this year. I feel that I paid full price for half a convention. But I also understand that covid has made everything in life more difficult. I am hoping next year will be a more positive experience. I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments.