Hyper Japan Summer 2016

I quick review of Hyper Japan 2016:

In short I really enjoyed it - but I thought I'd note a few things compared to the previous year's.

Personally, it felt like a bit of a downgrade to me, being at the Olympia vs. the O2 - while I appreciated everything being closer together and the layout being better (as well as making everything feel busier and livelier in general), I think it did to a certain degree 'cheapen' the feel of the show a bit. When Hyper Japan was at the O2 it felt like a real statement of intent,ie. 'we're this big now!', which sort of brings me to the main point of contention...

Last year was significantly better in terms of music acts - I mean, Eir Aoi last year was incredible, and having the separate stage in a distinct, separate sub-building really helped. While I don't expect Hyper Japan to be all about the music and pulling in top drawer musical guests, it certainly helps flesh out an area of the con scene that has long lagged behind (especially as MCM doesn't really cater to the Japanese music side so much).
 
I went to Japan Expo instead of Hyper Japan, which is a bit sad as I like HJ but feel it's quite hit or miss. Sometimes it's great and there's a lot of variety in the stalls, while other times it feels dominated by cosplay and food with very little cultural stuff of interest to me.

The deplorable audio quality of a few recent outings has really turned me off being attracted by the musical guests which is a huge problem; how hard can it be to test the sound system (MCM, take note of this too)? The wonky audio setup completely ruined my experience seeing Nagi Yanagi live a year or so ago even though she was trying her best :(

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Weirdly it felt like there was very little cosplay this year - but I think I'm swayed by being used to just how much there is on display at MCM in comparison.

One thing I would say was really one form at this year's HJ is that all the manga and anime stalls were together in one concentrated space, made it very easy to find everything.
 
Lutga said:
Personally, it felt like a bit of a downgrade to me, being at the Olympia vs. the O2 - while I appreciated everything being closer together and the layout being better (as well as making everything feel busier and livelier in general), I think it did to a certain degree 'cheapen' the feel of the show a bit. When Hyper Japan was at the O2 it felt like a real statement of intent,ie. 'we're this big now!', which sort of brings me to the main point of contention...
The fact that the stage was in the main hall amidst everything else dulled the effect of the performances somewhat—there was a perennial bleeding of noise. Previous events had the benefit of separated areas in which more intimate acoustics could be achieved.
 
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