LED Lighting for Cosplay by Jared the Greek
This panel was hosted by a group of veteran coplayers who discussed the process of adding LED lights to costumes and props. They went over the reasons to do it and the tradeoff of adding that extra flair. While they did their best of explain the basics after a certain point it just started going over my head. It was a well done panel, but it can get a little technical. This is a great panel for cosplayers looking to up their game for competition. It’s nice to see panels that help educate people on some of the more complex forms of costume making.
Jojo’s Bizarre Fan Panel by Eri Kagami
The Jojo’s Bizarre Fan Panel was held in the afternoon by fans who have worked on early translations of the manga. These long time fans of the popular manga discussed what the fandom was like ten years ago when finding proper translation was hard to come by. Only poor, garbled English translations were available. The panelists talked about translating Jojo for Western readers as well as differences between the fan and official translations of the manga.This was a very insightful case study in localizing manga in the United States from both the fan community and when an official company releases the graphic novels for mass consumption. The panel was followed by a posing contest. The audience got to pick the winner.
90s Video Game Commercials by Jared the Greek
This panel was a fun trip down memory lane. The panel incorporated both print and TV advertising and went over some of the more memorable campaigns like “Sega does what Nintendon’t”, “Play it Loud”, and “You are not Ready”. Beyond that they also showed some European and Japanese ads just to show that the US wasn’t the only place to do bizarre ads for video games. As the panel began to wrap up they opened it up to requests and they played the ads if they had them. The only problem with the whole panel was some minor technical issues early on. Overall, this was a great panel and one of the fun ways to spend some time at Fanime.
Old School Anime Gathering by Eri Kagami
The Old School Anime gathering took place in the newer part of the San Jose Convention Center. There were a series of stairs where people can be staggered and costumes fully seen. This gathering of otaku consisted of anime from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. This was a total throwback! Of course, the majority of fans were from the 90s. It was pleasant to see Ranma, Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, etc cosplayers all gathered in the same space. This was also an amazing opportunity to meet people who grew up with anime in the 90s be it tape trading hell or turning in on Toonami. Many thanks to the gathering organizers for having a meet up for us seasoned and veteran attendees of Fanime.
Vintage Clothes Shopping at Fanime by Eri Kagami
To tie in with the Black and White Ball, Fanime had a consignment store at the Marriott. For otaku who cannot afford a gown for the ball, or if you’re like me and you want to build your vintage wardrobe, they had a small shop where you can purchase dresses, fancy vests, jewelry, etc. This was primarily set up for the Black and White ball. It wasn’t too crowded – you can spend a good hour in there looking at all of the donated vintage clothes. Clothes were from the 1950s to the 1990s. 
History of Awful and Weird JRPGs
This panel was a broad look at different JRPGs going back to the 8-bit era and moving toward the modern age. While some of the games were broken and mostly unplayable there were several classics that were also brought up. Even with some technical issues the host was still able to play some short clips of various games and discuss some of the concepts that can make a weird game fun. The panel also went into some Pokemon clones and the strange directions they took as well. It was a fun panel and everyone liked seeing some strange games that they will likely never play.
