In this case the answer was an unqualified "yes," but it wasn't a quiet time. It was a busy weekend for the author, dashing between interesting panels held at the same time in neighboring rooms, then rushing to the laptop to piece together the web page updates. There was a lot going on, and anyone going to Animazement would have had a hard time getting bored.

Animazement took great strides forward in its second year. There were sixteen anime and science fiction conventions around the U.S. on the March 19-21 weekend. One of those conventions was in High Point, N.C., a short drive from Raleigh.

With all of that competition, Animazement still grew. Over 1,200 people attended the second edition of the anime convention, nearly double from the first edition. 

Where did all of those people come from? It looks as if most of them traveled in from "The Triangle," the growing region spurred by the development of high-tech business in Raleigh and Durham.

North Carolina, a state that proudly displays a World War II battleship, is changing...or maybe it isn't. There was story in the News and Observer over the convention weekend about a raid on the state's biggest moonshine operation in 40 years; a 475-gallon still was broken up, according to the paper.

Beyond stills, the convention showed staying power. Nearly all of the first-year Animazement guests returned for the second year. (One of the first-year guests, actor Amanda Winn Lee, spent much of the weekend encouraging fans to buy Pocky from the Anime Online Network.) And those who want to attend the third Animazement have a date and location: March 10-12, 2000 at the same North Raleigh Hilton.

Animazement's determination to please its fans showed in the way they handed their main disappointment. When anime director Yasuhiro Imagawa couldn't make a return trip to the U.S., the convention faced a couple of holes in their panel schedule. The solution wasn't cheap, but it was effective. Animazement arranged for Imagawa to call North Carolina and conduct both of his panels by phone.

And even when something big went wrong, the convention was lucky. Animazement had as convenient a blackout as a convention can have. The power went out in the Raleigh North Hilton, apparently because of a lightning strike from a storm. However, the blackout happened at 7:30 in the morning, and it lasted for only an hour. 

Maybe this is a sign that things went well for Animazement: only five people showed up for the Sunday afternoon gripe session.