The best picture from all of AX, from left to right: @icystorm , @2DTeleidoscope, @Inushinde, me, @ToastCrust, @Shinmaru, @R1CK_D0M

In the afternoon of Day 2, I made the decision to skip out on the FictionJunction/Kajiura Yuki concert to answer Toastcrust’s call to have a big anime blogger meetup. It was epic. We met up with 2DT and taught everyone to play Tanto Coure. After a few hours of intense maid-on-maid action, we went to grab food and probably had the loudest, nerdiest, most obnoxious anime conversation in the state of California. It was the most beautiful fun I have had in a long, long while. Meeting important anime staffers, blowing money in the dealers’ hall, and going to panels are one thing, but this is the reason I go to Anime Expo — to hang out with my bros and snap pictures like these. That’s how the night of Day 2 ended, so here’s how it began… (more…)

My experience last year at Anime Expo was nothing short of eye-opening, so this year I couldn’t turn down a chance to attend. While I was like a lost lamb in way over his head upon arriving at the LA Convention Center a year ago, this year I was like a grizzled space marine returning to base. As I rode the train from LAX (quicker than the airport shuttle!), it was as familiar as a bird migration. Then, of course, I accidentally get off at the wrong train station and waste 20 minutes standing around.

This year Anime Expo shared the area around the LACC with the X Games, which means the usually straightforward process of getting from the hotel to the convention becomes a labyrinthine trek through skateboarding fans, panhandlers, and booths giving away free energy drinks (I didn’t really mind the third one). I went as press for my sidegig, the Nihon Review, so I actually did some work rather than just dick around. This was my first time arriving Day 0, so I made the 9-block-trek to the Westin to meet up with Kylaran, whom I guess is my boss at NHRV. (more…)

I have announced about a month ago that I plan to attend this year’s Anime Expo in Los Angeles. I’ve since passed the point of no return: all systems are go for my trip to LA this year! I had an absolute blast at my first Anime Expo last year, so I’m really looking forward to returning as a “veteran”. I will be attending as press thanks to the Nihon Review. I look forward to meeting my fellow anibloggers as well as my lovely readers! I am staying at the Luxe with eternal, Kylaran, Shinmaru, and a whole boatload of other people. I will also be at the Day 0 dinner hosted by Zzeroparticle. If anyone wants to meet up or share contact info, please shoot me a message on Twitter. Hope to see you all there!

After talking with several anime enthusiasts, I decided to attend Boston Anime Expo 2012. Having followed anime for about a year now, I feel that conventions are something that every fan should experience in their life. I have heard many interesting stories about these events (both good and bad), so I’m hoping this will be an enriching experience. In addition, a social gathering of this scale intrigues me. Since this will be my first convention, I will be taking many photos and writing about my experiences.

In addition, this post is an open invitation to meet any other anime fans. These events are all about the community, and I want to be a part of it. Considering how infrequent these events are, I want to take full advantage of this. As of now, I have no set plans and my schedule is completely open. In addition, I live in Boston and I know some great places to hang out. So if you have no plans during the weekend, feel free to hit me up on Twitter or leave a comment below.

In the past, I’ve mentioned my poor experience with conventions. The loathing, the embarrassment, the lack of real passion. I was doing it wrong, I wasn’t going to conventions in the right mindset: to have fun, to meet people, to experience new things. So I gambled it all and made one huge trip this year to Anime Expo. This con, I told myself, I will do it right. If I can’t have fun here, I can’t have fun at any convention. So I budgeted $1000 and rolled the dice.

I had the time of my life. There’s no other way to say it, Anime Expo 2011 was by far one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. From meeting up with canon outside of LAX and traveling to the convention, to the cosplay, to the panels, to the people, to the bro-room, the experience was incredible. I don’t even know how to describe it. Actually, yes I do: one category at a time.

The Convention

Amazing scale. The Los Angeles Convention Center is so big. Even then, all the people were packed inside shoulder to shoulder. That’s a ton of people! The panels and viewing rooms were big but still sometimes people had to stand. Sure, panels ran later than Minneapolis buses and I had to randomly wait 2 hours for Kalafina press tickets (a 5 minute process), but considering the scale of the event, AX was very well run.

Alex Leavitt gave a great panel on anime opening and ending themes that I went to. I’m really inspired by his poised and relaxed demeanor while presenting. I wanted to go to some more of his panels, but I had some schedule conflicts.

The Kalafina concert was lots of fun. Club Nokia was just big enough for the event. They sang all my favorite songs, from “Kyrie” to “Oblivious” to “Magia” to “Sprinter”. They announced their last song and preformed “I have a dream” (a track I absolutely adore), and I was starting to get disappointed that they left out “Hikari no Senritsu”. Then of course, they announced they had “one more” and performed “Hikari no Senritsu”. Trololol. (more…)