Last 30th June 2012, Bangladesh’s 1st Anime Community MazeCity hosted a party for the summer of 2012, aptly named the ‘Summer Party’. So just what did the ‘Summer Party’ contain? As I said, it was a lot of fun, so it had extremely enjoyable events that could make any Anime fans jump in joy. I shall try my best to review the events that took place in the Summer Party, obviously in my own pace so I advise the readers to bear patience with me as I trudge along the lane of memories.

First and foremost, Summer Party was like Mazecon in many ways. Of course, the real reason for running the Summer Party was to conduct an experiment upon the success of Mazecon, but looking past that fact, I was quite disappointed to find out that a lot of people were running late (a small reminder of Mazecon), despite being strictly warned beforehand of the consequences of tardiness. So, the entry itself consumed a lot of time from the schedule. Originally intended to begin at 11.30 am, the true gem of the Summer Party, the Live MazeArt Competition, was commenced half-an-hour late. Nevertheless, we looked past the minor setback and after a small introduction of MazeCity staff members by our respected admin Shontrix, the Summer Party was officially set about. As the Live MazeArt Competition progressed, the attendants watched in awe as the 10 participants for the fanart competition danced with their pencils on the white canvas to create astoundingly amazing masterpieces. I myself draw anime characters as a hobby but being the one on the constant lookout during the ongoing competition, I was time and time again stunned at the skills the artists possessed and how little my drawing abilities compares to theirs. They were to draw any number of characters from the movies created by the renowned director and mangaka Hayao Miyazaki, in a summer-based environment. The theme itself opens doors to a variety of ideas, even unexplored ones, and truth to be told, the mixture of thoughts the artists came up with was more than I expected. Though Totoro from the movie ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ was a common character being found in almost all the drawings, he was drawn differently in each one, along with other Studio Ghibli characters, making the marks given by both the members and the admins of MazeCity quite a combination of individual perspectives. In the end though, one artwork stood in the limelight, outshining all others, and that being Evaleen Ahmed’s Gibly Party. Being awarded quite a hefty sum of marks from both the members and the admins, and even heftier even after averaged, it was no wonder that the superb sketch of about 6 to 7 Studio Ghibli characters all enjoying summer in their own way won the first prize, which was the exclusive One Piece Manga Volume 1, which happens to be the very first, sorry second, copy of One Piece Manga to be available in Bangladesh. I can’t help but gloat here, but I myself bought the very first copy, he-he. Ignoring my unnecessary self-triumph, I would like to say that even though Evaleen Ahmed was quite the artist herself, her victory wasn’t too far behind to be snatched away by Ken Knightwalker and Imtiaz, both of whom possess as amazing as talent in artwork as the first prize winner. For those of you who want to know, the 2nd prize was an action figure of the Akatsuki leader Pein and the 3rd prize was a key-ring of Cardcaptor Sakura. In the end though, all the fanart participants, even though some of them didn’t win anything, they were more than successful in wowing us with their skills, even under the time limit of an hour, making them the true winners in the books of history. If these people aren’t deserved to be called ‘artists’, then truly, no one else is.

As the artworks were gathered, the quiz pages were dealt out to the participants. The theme of the quiz was the theme of the Live MazeArt Competition and the whole party itself, the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Containing 20 questions, 2 questions from one movie, the quiz was easy for the ones who watched the movies and hard for the ones who didn’t watch them. Sadly, a huge majority hadn’t even watched more than 4 Studio Ghibli movies (myself included) so the average score was very low. Only one person happened to get the highest mark of 16, Alvi Ahmed, who was awarded with a stunning poster of Byakuya Kuchiki *insert fangirls squeeing here*.

After the fervent fervor of the fiery Live MazeArt Competition and the feisty quiz was over, it was time to sit down and eat. After all, no one can have fun in a hungry stomach. As everyone gulped down the Chinese rice and curry down their necks, MazeCity admin Shinobi and MazeCity staff member Tanvir started distributing the Summer Party t-shirts to the attendants, which contained a picture of Totoro, the very same image found at the start of every Studio Ghibli movies. So why did we serve Chinese food at an event in which we were promoting Japanese shows? Cause MazeCity is just that big of a multicultural badass!

As everyone burped with satisfaction from the food they ate, MazeCity staff member Lightrain took the stage to begin the coveted Karaoke party. Containing a Karaoke Party similar to the one in Mazecon, the Stage was more than a perfect location for the Summer Party to take place in. Unlike the one in Mazecon though, this was not a competition so no one would be granted a prize for the best performance, but that didn’t stop the participants to sing (and dance at times) their hearts out when they got to stand on stage. From a variety of anime opening and ending themes to A LOT of One Piece songs (courtesy of Miss Lightrain) to ‘some specific people’ shaking their bodies in unimaginable ways, the Karaoke Party contained more than everything one can expect in an event such as that. Describing each individual performance would be a little too much to write so I will stop talking about the Karaoke Party saying, it was… Amusing, to say the very least.

After the end of the very exciting Karaoke Party, we had a very special event left. The birthday of a very dedicated and loved member of MazeCity, Ahelee, was coming up, so MazeCity planned to have her birthday party on the Summer Party. And what’s a birthday party without a cake? MazeCity gave her the best cake (!) anyone could ever want, complete with a picture of the popular meme characters ‘pedobear’ and ‘Oh God why’. Needless to say, Miss Ahelee was over the moon and her smile shone like the stars. As everyone slowly took a piece of cake and signed on the Summer Party signature page, the prize-giving ceremony was begun, wasting no time on intervals. I have already talked about who won which prizes, but one prize I didn’t mention was Ahelee winning an action figure of Monkey D. Luffy and Tony Tony Chopper, being the one to obtain 2nd place in the Online MazeArt Competition.
At around 4pm, the Summer Party was officially over and the participants, wearing the Summer Party t-shirts, were told to gather downstairs for a group picture, a common ending to all MazeCity hosted events. As we walked down, we realized that it was raining. After summer comes monsoon, so the rain marked the best possible ending a Summer Party could have. In the end, we had out group picture taken and steadily, people started leaving the venue to their homes, slowly diminishing the population of about 50 who attended the certainly memorable Summer Party of 2012.


My own opinions on the Summer Party (as if this review wasn’t full of my own opinions anyway):

The Summer Party, though having a little shaky start, was conducted all the way to the end with expertise. For that, we all have the admins and staff members of MazeCity to thank for, all of whom did their assigned jobs extremely well and combined work with fun in a way I never knew of.

Speaking of the event itself, it cannot be compared to the grandness of Mazecon 2011, but Summer Party had its own perks. In my opinion, the Karaoke Party was a lot more fun and interactive than the one in Mazecon, because in this one, every now and then people would come up on stage, regardless of being an original participant, and either sing or dance or do whatever the heck they pleased, all to the crowd’s amusement. Even though I did see a few people too composed from actually taking part in the event, all in all, everyone certainly had their share of fun, and I assure you, everyone can say with pride in their hearts, “I attended the Summer Party 2012 hosted by MazeCity and I had a lot of fun in it!”

And with that, both my summer vacation and the review draw to a close. Goodnight, sleep tight and don’t let your regret bite.