London based anime convention for summer 2008?

Date: 2007 January 11 17:20

Posted by Joe

We've received an e-mail from an "anonymous tip". As such we can't say how true this is, it could be a hoax, it could be a genuine anonymous tip, or on the other hand someone could be trying to do a spot of astroturfing for their anime convention, we don't really know.

It's about an anime convention called Kanacon. The e-mail mentions the MCM Expo and JapanEX, so which may imply that they are running it, on the other hand they may not be. It then states that London "has yet to have a full blown Anime & Manga convention", which is wrong, as London has had Shin nen kai before.

The release concludes suggesting that it might be intended to get some hype going. Is this hoax, or real? Who knows, I guess we'll have to find out in 2008, one thing for sure, running an UK anime convention anywhere is tricky and a logistical nightmare, with venue bookings to worry about, insurance, events, support from fandom and millions of other factors, choosing London to run a convention is a bold move because of cost implications. So lets wait and see. We've already spoken to representatives from two major anime companies who have not heard about this convention, we're wondering who in the industry has been contacted.

We hope the people who tried to launch the disastrous KyuuCON are not involved.

Full Story

Details as follows:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MARK AS ANONYMOUS TIP.

POTENTIAL FULL LONDON CONVENTION?

Rumours of a London based Anime/Manga convention surface amongst the community.

LONDON, UK - January 11, 2007. - Recently, rumours of a convention set to take place in London have surfaced amongst various areas of the UK Anime and Manga community. Not much information is currently known, and what little we have, is very unclear. The name "Kanacon" comes up regularly, and one constant is that the location for this supposed event is London. Whilst London has the very popular MCM Expo events, it has yet to have a full blown Anime & Manga convention. JapanEX springs to mind, however - that is an exhibition.

One thing that can be confirmed, is that various industry members have been contacted in regards to an event by the name of Kanacon - yet they were unwilling to divulge any information in regards to it. Whether they would be attending the event, were backing it, or had even heard of it.

So, I guess all we can do is wait for an official announcement of the event - supposedly set to run in the summer of 2008. Could these rumours have been intentional leaks by the commitee of Kanacon itself, intending to generate the necessary hype to get their event off of the ground?