The news was announced on the Ayacon website, the first time they updated it since August 2005. At the moment registrations have not started but according to the website they will start allowing members to register for the event in a few weeks.

Like last time, for those of you who attended Ayacon 2005 the convention will again be taking place at the University of Warwick Arts Centre. The University does feature many facilities to accommodate the convention and members, they are not so much different to the University of Leicester. On site accommodation has been made available for the event and most likely will be on a first come first served basis just like the membership registration.

The events schedule for Ayacon 2009 has not been confirmed as of yet but more information will be made available over the coming months but expect to see Anime Music Video Exhibitions, Artists Alley, Cosplay Masquerade, Dealers' Room, Games Room and Karaoke. There is no confirmation on special guests either but more information can be found on their website including the FAQ section.

The Ayacon website doesn't give a clear indication of how many members would be allowed to attend but membership signup will allow you to pay on your card by Google Checkout to get a guaranteed place.

This will be the first time we plan to attend Ayacon after spending the past few years at Amecon. We have been looking forward to this announcement since August and we are especially excited at going to the event next summer.

The countdown has started and we hope to see you all next year for Ayacon 2009.

If Ayacon goes ahead in 2009 this will be its first time it has made it's return since 2005. Ayacon should of taken place in 2007 but for unknown reasons the Ayacon committee decided not to schedule its return and instead Amecon ran in it's place. Aycon's committee has not confirmed the date of the event or venue for Ayacon 2009.

So what is the possibility of this happening again...?

Well nothing really is certain as everyone thought that Ayacon would run in 2007 as it normally runs in odd years against Amecon's even numbered years. Obviously the Amecon committee didn't want to leave us without a convention for next summer, so if Ayacon happens not to run then would Amecon run in it's place? It has done so before so we can not rule that out but the impression from the Amecon committee was their keen desire to take a break for the first time since 2006 and they do thoroughly deserve it!!

If you happen to of seen the current Ayacon Website you will notice it has not been updated since the 2005 convention ended which makes the website look like a frozen piece of history still advising members not to miss out on Amecon 2006...yeah I know what you are thinking how come they have not done anything with their website which is mainly their sole means of communication with it's members. Of course if Ayacon is definitely confirmed then the first place to find out will be their website.

The Amecon Forums have been closed since the end of August so the possibility of finding out any information about Ayacon 2009 will come from other forums or blogs that are dedicated to Anime and Manga conventions. Most likely any word from Ayacon is going to be made near the end of the year or early 2009 as registrations can take several months to complete the full allocation of members.

Hopefully Ayacon will definitely be running next year as this will be the first time we would be attending the Ayacon convention so we are looking forward to it ourselves and will be keeping you up to date on developments of Ayacon 2009.

Cosplay Winner's notice taken from the Amecon website...

Amecon 2008 Cosplay Winners

1st Place

2nd Place

3rd Place

Congratulations to the Cosplay Winners, also to everyone who took part in Cosplay there was a lot of thought, time and effort that was very well spent!

We have finally completed adding all the pictures from this years Amecon which can be found here Amecon 2008 Pictures and Images

Most certainly this year’s Amecon was the best we have so far experianced. Wearing our S.T.A.R.S Cosplay gave the weekend that extra edge over the past Amecon conventions.

Cosplay of S.T.A.R.S Members Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker at Amecon 2008

Appearing in Cosplay at Amecon was awesome as a lot of other members made remarkable comments including they were glad to see the S.T.A.R.S Team there and they also showed their appreciation towards our Cosplay efforts.

Also a massive announcement was made at the closing ceremony during the final day of Amecon. The committee informed all who attended that next year, Amecon will take a break and return in 2010 but rather than leaving us all alone next summer without a convention, Ayacon will make its return in 2009 after its absence in 2007. This was announced by one of the Ayacon committee members.

No doubt we will enjoy next years convention that most likely will be Ayacon but further information has not been given by the Ayacon committee since the closing day of Amecon, this includes the date and where the convention will run. Do not worry once more information comes available we will let you know

I guarantee our next Anime Convention would be another excellent weekend as we have now made our Cosplay debuts this means we have to attend in our S.T.A.R.S costumes again. This will also be along with our new Cosplay outfits that we will create over the next year but at this stage we unfortunately have to tell you who we will be Cosplaying as at a later date.

Here is a list of events we think or definitely know will be running

• Cosplay Masquerade - Good idea by the committee to hold last year's Cosplay Masquerade on the Saturday so everyone could take part.
• Cosplay Ball - Just like last year it runs on the final day but has a certain dress code to take part in the ball, sensible Cosplay outfits welcome though.
• Dealers Room
• Games Room - Could the same guys who played on the Gundam console game and hardly let anyone else have a go not do the same this year!
• Pub Quiz
• Art Fair
• Bring and Buy
• Karaoke - We hope this runs on the Friday like in 2006 rather than the final day Sunday as this was the case last year. It was more fun when it took place on the Friday as it ran nearly all night and had loads more people take up the Karaoke mic.

What ever happens this year we are all looking forward to it and expect to have fun just taking part in Cosplay (that will be us) or coming along for the day is surely worth the wait.

With only a short wait left, we are having high expectations for a brilliant convention and hope you will enjoy it just as much. The next news post will be after the convention so keep an eye out for the images and pictures of Amecon 2008, hopefully they will be ready and available for you to view the day after the weekend. As every year we will include a review of the weekend just for all you unlucky people who did not attend. To know when the review and pictures of Amecon 2008 will be available add or subscribe to our News - RSS Feed

Hope to see you all this weekend!!

The convention has confirmed that special guests Kari Walgren, Akemi Solloway and the band Gothika will also be attending but unfortunately Monica Rial will not be joining us this year due to her work schedule. The expected number of members to attend has increased from 1300 to 1500 to make it one the biggest Anime Conventions in the UK.

As promised we will be attending and in our Cosplay gear for the first time. We have chosen to go as members from the classic horror survival, Resident Evil. Each of us has chosen a character from the S.T.A.R.S team.

Our little group will be made up of S.T.A.R.S members Chris Redfield (me) and Albert Wesker (Paul). As we are newbie’s at Cosplay please be gentle and understand we have been making, finding, designing, researching and buying our clothing and accessories for the past few months.

We must admit we are looking forward to this years Amecon more than the previous conventions mostly because we are going in Cosplay which makes you feel more part of the event.

For several months we have been working hard to improve this website dedicated to Anime, Manga, Japanese culture and the Amecon Convention. We have made massive improvements on the functionality including the design with its new look and added content.

Are plans for this site won't stop at this point as we plan to build on what we have created with the introduction of a member facility to use in our upcoming forum that will be created and implemented at a later date.