Attack on Titan
George Wada, the producer for the anime adaptation of Attack on Titan, was one of the headlining guests for Anime Expo. The Attack on Titan anime that debuted back in spring of this year has had growing momentum. I was first introduced to this series back at New York Comic Con 2013 and I could never imagine that the fandom would take off like this. It has and it is not stopping anytime soon. We took our seats. Episode 13.5, the clip episode, begun to play. While it was a clip show, it had the entire audience in PEtree Hall relive the take on Trost. We cheered for the survey corps and booed the military police. At the time, the episode had not aired, it was a special treat to watch the highlights from the Trost arc.

Everyone applauded when George Wada took the stage. Danny Choo provided translating and moderating. What I liked about Danny Choo is he deflected questions that were off topic. Wada showed character designs and sketches. He had a collection of images that was used for Titan design. While Wada was much more involved in the production role, it was nice to see some examples from anime production sketches. Questions that were posed to Wada included Hanjin’s gender, if there would be an upcoming feature presentation, extra scenes added into the anime that were not in the manga, etc. Overall, it was nice to hear the behind the scenes stories from 2013’s biggest hit.

Entertainment Hall – Gaming Side
One of the best ways to connect with people and make new friends at a convention is the gaming area. This year it was held in a large hall that also featured the art auction, and table top gaming. The room had several rows of TVs set up with systems for people to play, but the big attraction were the two large screens set up for the contests and for audience entertainment. This made the console gaming area lively and energized. There were plenty of seats set up for people to sit and watch and it was a nice hideaway from the usual convention crowd.

The other attraction of the gaming area was the arcade section. This section featured a number of different games from shooters like Time Crisis 3 and House of the Dead II to rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution. In addition to that several classics were in the area including the TMNT arcade game. This section also had a few other non-arcade machines like air hockey. There was an abundance of machines so the lines were not very long and you could get your turn pretty quick. People were always looking for co-op partners or new DDR rivals making this a great place to make new friends.

If using your imagination is more your taste then there was always the table top area. There was a multitude of tables set up some with games ready to play and others open for those who want to run a pickup game. The only problem with this area is that it was tucked behind all the video gaming so it could be hard to find which cut down on the amount of players. Also, there were several other random tables just set up near the video game area that seemed to be hosting more games than the actual table-top area. Still, it was a nice forum for those of us who like to play BESM or Magic. The isolation allows players to play in peace without interruption form the usual con hype.

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