The fun began on Friday after school. I sort of decided to skip Math class (ssshhh, don't tell anyone!) so that I could go straight to the convention center with my friend Shirley after our Japanese Culture class was over. We spent most of our time on Friday exploring the exhibitors/dealers room (whatever you want to call it). There was everything and anything an otaku could ever ask for--manga, DVDs, toys, costumes, games, swords, and more. I had my eye out for DragonBall merchandise, of course, but as expected there was relatively little. However, there was a hell of a lot of yaoi--and yaoi fans! I saw tons of people carrying around those infamous yaoi paddles or otherwise carrying some form of expression of their love for yaoi.
I didn't actually end up buying anything on Friday, because I just wanted to scope everything out first, if you know what I mean. Anyways, that evening we also went to a great panel called "Know Your Creators" featuring two guys named Rym and Scott who spoke about important creators/directors in the anime world. It was quite educational and I've got some new anime creators and films to look into! How am I ever going to see all I need to see? Rym and Scott were a couple of very smart and very fun guys to listen to. Apparently they're regulars at anime conventions across the east coast and they host their own podcast--check out their website.
Saturday was the convention's biggest day. The place was absolutely packed to the brim. And how about all those cosplayers! There were many really great costumes, and some not so great. But good or bad, it's so fun to see otakus express their creativity with their home-made costumes of their favorite characters. I should tell you that I took relatively few photos at the con because as usual, my camera wouldn't cooperate. I could hardly get a clear picture. Plus, I was frankly having more fun just looking at all the cosplayers than taking pictures of them. Furthermore, I seriously had no idea who most of the characters were. I know very little about the more popular anime series like Naruto or Bleach. There were just a few DragonBall cosplayers that I saw, including two Gokus, two Trunks, and Android #17. I also saw just a handful of Avatar: The Last Airbender cosplayers, and that made me happy whenever I saw them.
Another fun part of the convention was the "Artists Alley," where anime fan artists were selling prints and such of their original artwork. I'm telling you, there were some truly spectacular artists there, and I could not resist buying a few pieces. I bought a cool Naruto poster by an artist named Kevin Yan--and I barely know anything about Naruto at all! But this piece is just so incredible. When I saw it, I was so struck by it that I just had to get it. I also bought a print of a painting of the twins from Ouran High School Host Club, and a small print of an Avatar piece. Back on the exhibitors floor, I got three prints from a poster vendor: a beautiful Japanese Castle in the Sky poster (which I was really excited about because I saw a pic of it on the internet and thought it was so beautiful), a Japanese Princess Mononoke poster, and a poster with a picture of the Avatar gang. While we're on the topic of the shopping I did at the con, on Saturday I got a couple of awesome DBGT figures (SS4 Goku and Vegeta by Banpresto). On Sunday I got a couple nifty mini DBZ figures at the Funimation booth... oh, and another little art print.
Okay, I'm not keeping my thoughts organized here, but I figure it's not worth it to treat every blog entry like an essay. Let's move on to other activities I did besides shopping for awesome anime stuffage. So, back to Saturday. After shopping, I went to see if I could join Shirley and Shovana at a Q & A Panel with none other than the creator of the anime phenomenon Gundam Yoshiyuki Tomino! Alas, I got there too late and the room was packed so they wouldn't let me in. Well, at least it's not like I'm really into Gundam, so it wasn't an enormous letdown. Later, I peeked in a screening of Galaxy Express 999 but left after a little bit to join my friends at a nearby McDonald's for a meal break. I swore I would never set foot in a McDonald's ever again, but that's where they were going and I didn't want to be left out. I got some unappetizing chicken nuggets. Remind me not to cave in again.
Anyways, after that we checked out an event called "Iron Cosplay" where the audience watched as two teams were given random raw materials to make a character costume within a 30-minute time limit. It was a slightly dissappointing show, but fun enough. Later, we got in line for the Cosplay Masquerade thingy, but I didn't want to just sit there in line, so I went off browsing/shopping again. However, I didn't make it back in line with the others in time so I got split up from them. I was shuffled into the overflow section where people could watch the show on a screen. I wasn't sure what the show was supposed to be, even after it actually began. I guess it was supposed to be cosplayers doing little skits and stuff, but I have to be honest it was just painful and embarrassing to watch and I don't get what the big deal was. I left shortly to go see a panel, featuring the same guys from the night before--Rym and Scott--this time presenting "Anime Every Fan Should See." It was another very enjoyable discussion on anime essentials.
On Sunday, upon returning to the convention center around noon, I struggled within myself as to whether I should buy more stuff. As I mentioned before, I did indeed buy more stuff. Oops. Later, my friends and I went to a panel featuring Japanese singer/voice actress Yui Makino (who was one of the guests of honor at the con) and a few American voice actors, all talking about their experience in the anime voice acting business and a few other related topics. So that was pretty neat. After that was over, we tried to get into "Funimation Sneak Peaks" (I'm a big supporter of Funimation and a fan of the wonderful anime properties they bring to America), but it was too full to get in. Damn it. Well, we pretty much just went over to the Artists Alley again to gawk at all the gorgeous anime art, so it's all good. There was always more to look at. I also went around to take a few more photos as the convention was sadly winding down. And in a flash, the fun was over.
As I mentioned, I took relatively few photos (I did, however, take a bunch of short videos which turned out to be a better way to capture my experience in snippets), but here I present to you the best of my photos in a slideshow. Click on "View All Images" below to see descriptions for each photo so you know what it's all about!
