Before you bring a weapon with your cosplay, make sure to take a look at the FanimeCon 2010 Weapons Policy.

The FanimeCon 2010 Schedule is now available for PDF download. To download please click here.

The theme for FanimeCon 2010 is “Fantasy RPG”, and FanimeCon has several fantasy wishes this year: wishes that people can recover quickly from earthquakes, wishes that child abuse and domestic violence will never happen, and wishes that parents will understand their children’s interests. FanimeCon 2010 hopes to play a role in bringing those fantasies to reality.

To play a role in achieving the first wish, FanimeCon is bringing the American Red Cross to the 2010 convention. The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that helps millions of people each year prevent, prepare for, and cope with emergencies. Due to the events in Haiti, Chile, and China, the organization’s theme this year is earthquake awareness. With an estimated 94% of FanimeCon’s membership living in earthquake-prone California, the majority of convention attendees can benefit from earthquake preparedness. Youth Preparedness volunteers from the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Red Cross will promote their organization and earthquake awareness at the FanimeCon Charity Auction tables in Exhibit Hall 2 of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 29, 2010. In addition, FanimeCon will donate all money collected by the 2010 Charity Auction to the American Red Cross, Silicon Valley Chapter.

For the second wish, the FanimeCon Board is also donating to APA Family Support Services. APA Family Support Services is a hospital-based agency offering in-home family support services. APA prevents child abuse and domestic violence by helping at-risk families cope with the challenges of raising young children. They work with San Francisco General Hospital to provide weekly Infant Care workshops and weekly Well Baby Clinics. APA also provides bilingual and bicultural home visits to help new parents understand child development. All money collected by the 2010 Charity Auction will earn a matching donation for APA from the FanimeCon Board.

Finally, FanimeCon is opening Gilles Poitras’s “Anime for Parents” panel to the public. Author and librarian Gilles Poitras wrote Anime Essentials, the book on “Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know” about Japanese popular culture. His influential panels have introduced anime to people at Pixar, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and the Smithsonian. The free panel, “Anime for Parents”, will take place Friday, May 28, 7PM – 8PM in the Salon III room of the San Jose Marriott, and it addresses questions and concerns parents have about what their children may be watching.

Do more than dream of helping Haiti, Chile, China, and eventually people right here in California. Do more than dream of helping children and families in the San Francisco Bay Area. Do more than dream of bridging the generation gap and understanding the hobbies of today’s youth. Wouldn’t you like to join the party, play a role, and share in FanimeCon’s fantasies too?

Even with video screenings, cosplay, music, games, panels, dances, artists, and dealers, FanimeCon is still exploring more ways to entertain adventurous fans. This year, people can participate in Speed Dating by reading the rules and signing up by May 23. Also, the pirates are up to their old games at the Rum* Party. Finally, FanimeCon turns 16, and you can be invited to the Sweet 16 party. Check out the descriptions for these Events under Connecting.

(* The rum is a lie! Alcoholic beverages are not allowed in the convention center during FanimeCon.)

Hello everybody, online registration for FanimeCon 2010 is officially closed. If you didn’t get the opportunity to register for the Con, don’t fret! You will still be able to register at the convention! As previously mentioned, below are the hours of Registration as well as the price of memberships for the Con.

FanimeCon 2010 Registration Hours at the Convention:

Friday, May 28, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 29, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 30, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Monday, May 31, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM

(Note: Registration will also be open Thursday, May 27, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM for online (both pre and early) registration pickup, but membership purchases must wait until Friday.)

FanimeCon 2010 Membership Prices:
(Single-day memberships are available only at the convention.)

Full Weekend Membership for Friday to Monday, May 28-31: $60
Single-day membership for only Friday, May 28: $30
Single-day membership for only Saturday, May 29: $35
Single-day membership for only Sunday, May 30: $35
Single-day membership for only Monday, May 31: $25

If you have any questions regarding your registration, please feel free to contact registration@fanime.com

The Registration department is testing new procedures this year and will be allowing both Pre and Early Registered members to pick up badges on Thursday, May 27th, between 5PM and 8PM. Early Registration closes 11:59PM on Wednesday, May 19th, so register here now!

FanimeCon 2010 attendee registration e-postcards are now available for download through your registration account! Please print it out and bring them with you along with a valid government issued photo ID for badge pick up. For group registrations please remember that only the group leader can pick up a group’s badges and must have a postcard and photo ID. See you at the Con!

If you have any questions please email us at registration@fanime.com

As you may know, Halko Momoi is coming back for FanimeCon 2010, and she wants to join her fans in a new adventure, a game, a Quest! Momoi will give several performances throughout the convention, and your mission will be to attend them all. The first Quest performance is at 3pm on Friday, May 28, right after Opening Ceremonies. At each of Momoi’s inspiring Quest performances, alert adventurers can find information about the next one.

As a bonus dimension to the Quest, there is also a mini-game: a quest for Runes (more popularly known as a stamp rally). Your Bag of Registration will contain a Runecard. You can use it to collect Runes (stamps) from each Quest performance to track how many of Momoi’s performances you attend. People with completed Runecards can enter a drawing for the chance to win a small prize.

To those who already signed up for FanimeCon 2010, good luck, have fun, happy questing, and enjoy Momoi’s performances! To everybody else, wouldn’t you like to join the party too?

FanimeCon gives an energetic welcome to Japanese rock sensation, FLOW. The “five-piece” band will make a splash in the San Jose Civic Auditorium on Friday, May 28th, as part of FanimeCon’s 2010 MusicFest. (Please see schedule for performance start time.) In addition, band members will answer the blazing questions of focused fans during a Q&A panel and will sign items at their autograph session.

FLOW is a five-piece rock band made up of vocalists KOHSHI and KEIGO, guitarist TAKE, bassist GOT’S, and drummer IWASAKI. After their major-label debut in 2003 with the song “Blaster”, this chart-topping group released many theme songs for popular anime such as Naruto, Code Geass, Psalms of Planets, Eureka Seven, and Persona. Their 2006 Best album has sold over 250 thousand copies, and their 2008 tour rocked every single prefecture in Japan. This journey culminated in Tokyo at the Budokan. FLOW’s recent single “Calling” is featured as the ending theme of HEROMAN, an anime from Japanese studio Bones and Stan Lee of Marvel Comics, and was released on May 12th.

If you have free days during Memorial Day Weekend, then join the party and have a fun time with FLOW at FanimeCon 2010. To see more of FLOW, please visit their official website at http://www.flow.mu

Interested in joining the FanimeCon 2010 Masquerade? Registration closes May 16th. Looking to register? Make sure to read through the rules before signing up.