Jared and I agreed that Fanime Con 2010 was an adventure. Fanime Con had its ups and downs. There was certainly never a dull moment. Fanime always delivers something interesting. This is my eigth time at the famed Bay Area convention, and despite the ups and downs, the positive moments always outshine the negative.

From the attendees I spoke with, all of them agree that Fanime keeps getting better every year. Fanime always had a reputation for being one of the cons that was always disorganized, but from my experience, Fanime no longer has that notion. I'm very happy that Fanime continues their time honored tradition of delivering a variety of programming from Stage Zero entertainment to musical concerts to dances and to cosplay gatherings. You name it! However, I did find there was a lack of interesting panels to attend. There were maybe two or three panels that I would have loved to attend, but they were at a time when I was running a panel or I forgot it was going on. I would have loved to have visisted the Fanime Sweet 16 party.

As mentioned on the Saturday evening section, I loved the Black and White Ball. This event is definately a keeper in the long run. Everything about it this year was almost pitch perfect. The room was large enough to have everyone who wanted to dance. Everyone took the idea of having a formal dance seriously. However, the only suggestion I have to the Black and White Ball is to clarify that one does not need to wear black or white attire to attend the ball. Otherwise, this is an event that is worth the price of admission.

Cosplay gatherings felt chaotic this year. The main plaza was rather crowded compared to previous years, and I wish some of the gathering organizers would be much more senisitive to cosplayers facing the sun. I understand this is a lighting issue, but if our eyes are in the direction of sunlight, you are going to have to expect a ton of squinting in the picture. It would work for a gathering of Brocks (Pokemon), but not for fighting game characters.

I really liked the dealer's room this year. I really appreciated the fact that we had two awesome cosplay wig stores at Fanime; Epic Cosplay and Arda Wigs. Heat resistant fiber wigs are in style! What I found interesting is that there were not many dvd dealers this year. How am I supposed to support the anime industry if I cannot find the dvds I am looking for? In addition to shopping, I also loved the artist alley. I had two anime style portraits of myself done up and I am very happy to support very talented people. My only regret was not doing the purikura booth since I have yet to visit one.

The overzealous Christian demonstrators does not look like it will be an issue that will go away anytime soon. From what I have gathered, the demonstrators pull the same stunt at every event that occurs in the general South Bay area that draws a good number of people. They are simply doing this for the sake of attention, not because they out right despite anime. It was funny the first time, but the routine is getting stale. The actions of these demonstrators do not reflect the attitudes and beliefs of true blue Christians. It would be best advised to fans to not feed the trolls.

I have to thank Rob Miles for inviting me to be a part of the Stage Zero Fireside Chat. It was an honor to be up there with many of the movers and shakes of anime fandom. I would gladly love to talk at a simillar panel like this again.

I was disappointed with my turnout for my Hobbies, College, and Career panel. Although it was a last minute addition, it still would have been nice to have been added earlier so I could get a description and listing in the program guide. I really think this topic is important to discuss with young anime fans, especially of the high school age (parents included!) to talk about how they can start thinking about utilizing hobbies inspired by the anime fandom (art, Japanese culture, cosplay, video games) and turn those hobbies into a career. It was succesful at Asahi Con and Anime Los Angeles earlier this year, but it would have been nicer to be added onto the program earlier. However, Many thanks to the panel programming ops for the free food and for accomodating us with our desired panel rooms.

Many thanks to Milton Le and his staff for setting us up with our interview with Reuben Langdon. We really appreciate having that timselot to interview him! We look forward doing more interviews with Fanime guests in the future!

I think I will try to get a room at the Hilton next year. I loved the service of the Marriott, but the elevators became the deal breaker for me. Overcrowding is not funny, especially when someone in your party is clinically claustrophohic.

Drama happens. However, depending how you handle the drama can either have a positive or negative impact on your weekend experience. This was my lesson to learn during Fanime. Things beyond your control can bring you down, but you need to remember why you are at Fanime (or any con for that matter) in the first place. You are there to have fun and to get away from the typical daily doldrums. This is not to say to ignore pain or to take crap from others, but it could also mean turning the other cheek and let drama queens be drama queens, in other words, just walking away and becoming the stronger person. Depending how you treat the drama, it will have impact on your weekend. Just remember, anime conventions should be fun vacation time, not an extension of high school. I am beyond the bullying of others. Anime fans and nerds already have a tough time fitting in with the mainstream, why should our fandom condemn others because of petty indifferences and elitist notions? Fandom is all about the love, and we need to remember why we attend anime conventions in the first place.

Many thanks to my friends for being there for me. It was great hanging out with all of you this weekend. I was very happy to get to know the dudes from California Conventions Blog and to know that there are other people doing convention reports. Many thanks to the friends that took my photo and many thanks to the friends who helped take photos of myself with my camera. I had a great weekend and I would love to attend Fanime yet again. Until then, here's to 2011.

Let's hope my next Bay Area visit will be sooner rather than later. The air is nicer up there.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody . If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Ear Wig Factory. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.