This was my 15th year attending Anime Expo. For five years in a row, I tell myself it will be the last Anime Expo. Not for spite, but more for moving on with my life. Now that I have a stable full time career in the city I have always dreamed of living in, a steady flow of income brought me back…and the help of my contributions with Inside Anime Expo, the news site that the SPJA runs. Regardless of my final thoughts, I am thankful that Anime Expo has given me this position. It has allowed me to grow and develop as a writer. The staff perks also help too, but I think this can be the start of something new.

That aside, let’s talk about Anime Expo 2013. In the spring of 2013, I was blunt about what seemed to be decline of California conventions. As other cons were announcing A-list guests, west coast cons were on a steady decline. In the editorial, I also mentioned that I was still willing to give Anime Expo a benefit of a doubt. Most of my criticisms came from people who don’t do the guest of honor thing. Guests of Honor at Anime Expo, at least for as long as I have been attending, is the hype leading up to the event. Look at Otakon – everyone is excited for TM Revolution and Yoko Kanno. Comparison aside, Anime Expo did manage to have a few guests that I did enjoy, even if they were industry guests. Talent from the anime industry is still talent. After the editorial was posted, industry folks involved with Attack on Titan and Pretty Cure were announced. Toshio Maeda’s announcement made my east coast crew jealous, but I reminded them that he’s a regular at New York Comic Con and no one really stops to talk to him. (Yet, if he’s there, we’ll have a long talk about his influences on Monsters University...tentacle-y speaking)

It is safe to say that Anime Expo 2013 was enjoyable. I kept an open mind and ventured into panels and concerts that I wouldn’t normally venture into. I was going to leave after Aya Ikeda’s performance, but I stayed for Carat. What I found was a musical discovery! I normally don’t venture into Lounge 21 alone, but I had a rockin’ fourth of July weekend with Lolita Dark. This was a good year for concerts and musical discoveries.

The Shinjuku Ball, or the Flashback Friday Dance, also made a return. I used to volunteer / staff (my position was never clearly stated) the ballroom dance when it was still active. It was nice to see the return, but I felt it could have been promoted better. Also, they need to ditch my music donations from my college days. I was younger back then and I really had no idea about associative rhythms and dance types. I would love to recommend Brain Age Guy and Nate Hall to man the ballroom dance for 2014. They both know music styles better than my San Francisco State University self and Craig is the master of the dance. Great comeback, but let’s get this to 2014 standards! Yet, you could keep Rick Astley on the playlist.

I did not peruse the dealers hall. It was way too crowded for me. I really feel that Artist Alley should make Hall G it’s new home. It was so crowded trying to get around. I could not even find the PMX booth. There was so much traffic that it was unfair to the artists; the lack of room to walk made it impossible to check out everything. Larger events have more breathing and walkway space in their Artist Alley.

However, I did spend more time in the Entertainment Hall. I liked that there were backdrops for cosplay photography. While lighting was not all it could be, this was a really fun set up. People were generally courteous to use their time wisely on the sets. This is a huge contrast from Katsucon were people were territorial about certain locations; even photographers were nasty and acted like cosplayers were their property. People here were generally friendly and understood the need to get nice cosplay photos. The LA Convention Center does not have a ton of picturesque backdrops; the photography area was a nice addition that I totally welcome!

Everyone was asking me what my thoughts were on masquerade. I did enjoy performing at masquerade. I thought the staff was very friendly and accommodating. They did what they could while working under pressure. While people are complaining about the issue regarding the prize situation, there’s another thing that was not discussed as much. As much as I love performing in masquerade, taking care of cosplayers – the people who provide the entertainment for masquerade – is just as mandatory. We ran out of water really fast. We were practically starving backstage. We were not allowed in and out from backstage. While I did bring sandwiches from Starbucks, it was not enough to get through until 11PM. Performers were asked to stay backstage until the audience clears. I’m fine if AX has Dixie cups and has the den servants run to a fountain to grab cups of water. I’m fine with AX having a stash of granola bars. I’m not asking for a buffet, but just something to take care of the performers backstage. Additionally, I thought it was rude of the halftime performers to bite into masquerade tech rehearsals. I get that halftime needs to rehearse, but they should not be scheduled during the same time as rehearsals for the actual competitors. We were lucky to be able to still go up and get a feel for the stage, but I felt bad for people who weren’t able to get a chance and rehearse. One group practiced for months and had large set pieces and had to fight their way to get a rehearsal time.

I felt very mixed about programming. While I did create quite a stir on rejected panels, I think it’s time for Anime Expo programming to have a fan panels track. Though the forum says the panels are “fan submitted” I did not see many fan panels. I’m fine with Anime Expo offering industry panels to the industry. Announcements are important. Yet, there were still questionable panels that had little to do with Japanese anime – My Little Pony, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. Fans are not complaining that their panel was rejected, but this was a chance for fans to meet other fans of their fandom. A few that I knew were rejected could have been interesting additions to a Fandom Track - iDolm@ster, Webcast 101, Super Sentai and Tokusatsu, Mythological Creatures in Anime, etc. If no one will man up to do a fan panels programming track, I’d be more than happy to give you a name who is very passionate about this idea.

I did like the academic lecture series, but I feel that they could be re-branded. “Lecture” sounds really dry and I have known attendees that were turned off by this series by the title alone. Maybe branding it to “Otaku University” or “Otaku U” and have the mascots dress in university attire with backpacks to make it more enticing for attendees to check it out. While there were large turnouts, California does not have many academic types of panels at anime cons.

Anime Expo had a really interesting vibe. I did love meeting a handful of Pretty Cure fans. I did photoshoots with some amazing photographers; Los Angeles’ finest. Thankfully, I did not run into any creepers, but I did run into a group of dWeebs who were making fun of cosplayers from old school series. While I wish not to go into detail, this happened on Day Zero. While I know Anime Expo’s procedure to report creeps, Con Ops was not open at that point. Just sometimes, you have to gracefully walk away from a situation. But really, when did younger kids think they were entitled to think that older generation otaku have no place at AX? This is why we need more old school programming and events. I also noticed a dissonance of masquerade with younger generation cosplayers; it’s unfortunate that they believe cosplay photoshoots are bigger deals than masquerade. Masquerade has historically been one of the biggest events; however, knowing I knew people who really wanted to see the show, it’s good to know that it’s still highly regarded on the west coast.

I can tolerate the Los Angeles Convention Center, yet I don’t like the fact that finding for a quick grab and go dinner close to the convention center is next to impossible. I love the food trucks, but the wait is longer; some shut down before dark. I would really love to see more food trucks and even more open during the dinner time hours. Imagine how much business they would make after a major concert let out!

I did enjoy Anime Expo. Thursday and Friday were my favorite days. It was just non-stop fun. Shoutouts to Team Misaki, Zeke Cho, Omar Fremen, Plastic Joint, Angel Hearts, ACP, Bandai Namco, EX Studio, Kris Zoleta, Partners in Crime, California Conventions Blog, and more. In spite of my reluctance early on when everything seemed to fall apart, I did enjoy Anime Expo. With that said, if this means more exhibitors and getting more Japanese anime companies to come over, then I’m all for it. Because seriously Toei, we know you have better titles than One Piece merchindise. Case in point - Kamen Rider wins at masquerade! Until then, we shall see each other at Otakon.

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