Missions Unknown » Our Lady of the Lake University

Anime Fans: Mizuumi-Con Hits ‘The Lake’ Tomorrow

Mission Control — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:04:31 +0000

Assembling Mizuumi-Con Welcome Packets

Get ready Anime fans, Mizuumi-Con 4 rolls in to Our Lady of the Lake University Saturday March 26, 2011. Yes, that’s tomorrow! This family-friendly event is packed with great activities and last year mre than 1,500 enthusiastic Otaku were on hand to enjoy the fun. Naturally OLLU’s Mizuumi Anime Club is preparing for even more this year. Head out to The Lake any time between 10:00 AM and Midnight to enjoy this celebration of anime, manga, cosplay and other aspects of Japanese culture.

Inspired by the recent natural disasters in Japan, the con organizers donated some of last year’s proceeds to the Red Cross and are collecting funds at the event for additional support for the Japanese people who have been displaced from their homes.

If you don’t already have tickets, you can get them at the University Wellness and Activites Center (UWAC) for just $15 for the full day of exciting and varied activities. Children under 7 are free.

There will be Ramen

Mizuumi-Con 4 features a wide variety of guests including voice and screen actors Cristina Vee (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Rozen Maiden, The Familiar of Zero and Aika R-16), Jessie Flower (Toph Bei Fong in the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender, Finding Nemo, Spider Man 2, Son of the Mask, Kronk’s New Groove and The Emperor’s New School), Jack De Sena (Sokka in the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender, All That, Dorm Life), Mark Allen, Jr. (Pendant Audio’s Genesis Avalon and Seminar, Mac Ha’s Endless Blue, and CJ Workshop’s Obscurity) and Samantha Inoue-Harte (Blade of the Phantom Master, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Pumpkin Scissors, Samurai X, Grindhouse, Sin City, Idiocracy, A Scanner Darkly, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has A Glitch and lots more). The fire dancing troupe Nocturnal Sol will also be on hand.

Activities include Anime Dating Game, Artist Alley Annex & Vendor Room, Avatar Q & A, Calligraphy panel, Chigiri E, Contra Dancing, Cosplay competitions, Cosplay Chess, Cosplay and Costuming Panel, Glow Panel, Karaoke, The Online Otaku Panel, Radioplays & Audiodramas panel, Story Development Panel, SuperFunTime! with Jack and Jessie, Voice Acting Q & A and a Washi Egg Panel.

This looks to be a fun-filled event so don an anime-inspired costume (or not) and head down to Our Lady of the Lake University for a suge good time.

Made in S.A.: Mizuumi-Con’s Patrick Lloyd

Sanford Allen — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:18:18 +0000

Patrick Lloyd, second from right, shows off the Mizuumi-Con 4 logo. Also in the picture (left to right): club sponsor Darrell Hoberer and club members Chris Pagonis and Victoria Wixon.

The Mizuumi-Con 4 convention takes place Saturday, March 26, at Our Lady of the Lake University, bringing San Antonio a dose of anime fandom, cosplay and Japanese culture.

OLLU’s Mizuumi Anime Club sponsors the annual, family friendly event, which attracts hundreds of fans from as far away as El Paso and Dallas. With four well-attended cons under its belt, we figured it was time to catch up with club president Patrick Lloyd and get the inside scoop on San Antonio’s burgeoning anime scene.

If you’re interested in attending Mizuumi-Con 4, pre-registration ticket prices are only $12, and online pre-registration runs until March 23. Tickets also are available at the event.

What is the name of OLLU’s anime club, and how long has it been around? How long have you been doing Mizuumi-Con?

We are the Mizuumi Anime Club, a recognized student organization at Our Lady of the Lake University since 2003, and with this Convention, the club will have sponsored four Mizuumi-Cons. Personally, this is my second Mizuumi-Con as staff, but I’ve been a student for three years at the Lake.

How has the anime/cosplay scene in Texas and San Antonio evolved over the years? How does it stack up against clubs and cons in other parts of the country?

With A-Kon in North Texas, where I actually hail from, and San Japan, here in San Antonio, and other Anime Clubs throughout the state, the anime scene has improved immensely over the last decade. As for the rest of the nation, I believe the southwestern United States is catching up to the bigger conventions in size and quality. Soon, all of us will be on the same level.

What kind of attendance are you expecting at this year’s convention? From how far away do visitors travel?

Last year, we had 1,500 people on campus, and we’re always aiming for more. I personally want to see 2,000 attendees! As for travel, I know people travel from El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley to attend, and I’m guessing that others travel from at least Austin and Dallas. If any non-Texans pop up, come find me! I’d like to say, “Hi!”

What new features at this year’s Mizuumi-Con are worth noting?

We have a few new panels, alongside new guests. This year, our headliners are Jessie Flower and Jack De Sena, the voice actors for Toph and Sokka, respectively, from “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” We also have Cristina Vee and Mark Allen Jr. coming in to present panels on their various areas of expertise.

Why do you think anime and cosplay continue to gain fans in the U.S?

There is no one reason, but we keep going because it is fun and lets us all geek out with other geeks.

Obviously, the disaster in Japan is weighing heavily on most of us right now. Are members of the anime/cosplay community taking it especially hard?

I think everyone is taking the events that took place pretty hard, and like the rest of the nation the anime community is trying to find out how we can help, the Mizuumi Anime Club has already put a donation towards the Red Cross’ relief efforts, and we’re working to see if we can help beyond that.

Where do you see the anime/cosplay scene community going in the future?

Up. We’re still growing and still going. We’re on Mizuumi-Con 4, and with any luck there will be a Mizuumi-Con 40!

Mizuumi-Con 3: In Words & Pictures

Paul Vaughn — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:58:45 +0000

Clockwise from top left: Japanese eggs, Andy Anderson's Fighting Generica Art, just one of many cosplayers, steampunk optical gear, origami demonstration (photographs by Soren Vaughn)

This past weekend I took the family out to Our Lady of the Lake University on the shore of Lake Elmendorf in San Antonio’s near west side to enjoy the sites, sounds and people of Mizuumi-Con 3. Put on by OLLU’s Mizuumi Anime Club, the con drew a large active crowd of anime, manga and video game fans. The turnout was great, with a registration line well out of the building and a steady stream of new attendees throughout the day. Many, many people were decked out in costume which lent a fun, frivolous air to the event.

The opening ceremonies, while sincere, were underwhelming. The best part was the the introduction of the guests, mainly the utterly charming artist Valerie Lynn Aguilar, winner of the badge art contest. Aguilar, a student at St. Phillip’s College, explained how this was the first time she had won something like this, that she loved seeing her art on all the badges and that she was floored that people could “buy my chibis on a thong!”

We enjoyed screenings of several anime features including new favorite S.O.S. Brigade. Carey Martell‘s documentary Cosplayers: The Movie was an interesting look at the cosplay subculture, capturing some of the energy of the people involved. I felt that the film lost some focus at the end, degenerating into more of an explanation of the woes of the anime industry, but overall it was a good, insightful piece. Otaku Hell with Spike and Maria was a rollicking fun time hosted by a candy-throwing naughty nurse and video-playing ninja. The show alternated between choice web and anime video clips and goofy contests. The dealers room was well stocked with artists, toys, manga and anime. Plenty of things to look at and buy. I even ran into my old friend Grego Hernandez, proprietor of Bean Pot Toiz.

Other festivities included a Japanese flute recital, Japanese egg making demonstrations, origami lessons, a Twitter-based scavenger hunt, karaoke and a steady stream of J-POP videos with only a mild Rickroll interruption. You can catch some video reports of the con from guests, including Kyle Hebert on the impressive Mizuumi Con line and Random on Contra Dancing.

Even through we did not stick around for the later events including cosplay skits and musical performances, this was a fun con and the Mizuumi Anime Club did a great job pulling it off. This was the third year of the con and organizer Darrell Hoberer noted that they combined the best of what worked in the previous two years for this event. I look forward to seeing what they distill from this one next year’s con.

Mizuumi-Con 3: Anime & Video Games at OLLU

Paul Vaughn — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:01:14 +0000

Mizuumi-Con 3: Art by contest winner Valerie Lynn Aguilar

The Mizuumi Anime Club presents Mizuumi-Con 3 Saturday, February 27th 2010 at Our Lady of the Lake University. Guests include anime voice actor Kyle Hebert (Street Fighter IV, Naruto, Bleach, Dragonball Z), anime actor/producer/director Samantha Inoue-Harte (Final Fantasy Unlimited, New Fist of the Northstar, The Princess Blade) and teacher/rapper/hero Random (aka Mega Ran, Big Ran or Random Beats).

Ticket prices are only $12 at the door and registration opens at 10:00 AM Saturday. There will vendor and artist tables aplenty. Head on out to enjoy cosplay, anime, video games and much more. Festivities are all day, from 10:00 AM to Midnight.

Mizuumi Anime Club at Our Lady of the Lake University is a Recognized Student Organization now in its 6th year of existence. The club’s mission statement is “to promote a better understanding of the Japanese culture through various styles of media, art, and technology”. The club meets most Friday evenings at 5:30pm, and guests are welcome to attend.