Video Gaming Room by Jared
Like many conventions AAC had their own video game room, but unlike most events they had two rooms one for regular gaming and one for rhythm gaming. The options went from popular games like Rock Band and Smash Brothers to older titles like Super Mario 3 and DDR. While there were two rooms, both rooms were not very big. Despite the size there never felt like the rooms were crowded nor was there much wait for playing. The rooms work well as a nice diversion while waiting for a panel or event especially since you can go to the room that fits your preferred play style.

Masquerade by Scarlet
Every year, the masquerade always fits into the con theme. Because 2013 was paranormal high school, the hosts dressed up as Kuwabara and Yusuke from Yuyu Hakoushou. While smaller cons give the impression of catering to younger anime fans, people in the audience knew who these characters were. It was cool to see the hosts interact with each other in character and introduce each act. There were a lot of impressive masquerade acts this year: the Wii fit instructor beating up all the Smash Brothers cast, Merchant going through dealers room paraphernalia he supposedly bought, Greyfox calling out Big Boss on who’s the Queen of Cosplay, Ash writing letters to his father, Pokemon 90s kids, and what had everyone wanting for more, the Attack on Titan trio where the cast members did an acapella version of both opening themes.

In between sets, we were also able to see acts from non-anime sources. We had Teen Titans, Oz: The Great and Powerful, among others. Winners of Project Cosplay, the DIY costume contest, were announced. Once masquerade concluded, we were entertained by this year’s anime music video winners. I was quite impressed by the quality – most of the time, small cons get very run of the mill fledgling music videos, but the technicalities and visuals were very impressive – almost worthy of a major con!

Tales of the Con by Scarlet
Considering that Scarlet Rhapsody has run panels along the lines of talking about horror stories at cons, Another Anime Convention also had a similiar event, Tales of the Con. Hosted by a man with microphone in the parlor room, it was essentially open forum for everyone in the room to talk about hotel room horror, con creepers, and more. The host likened the forum to group therapy - it was healthy to share these con moments. I think the craziest story went to a couple at Otakon who had to find a way to un-superglue themselves after intimacy. Jared shared the PMX stories he can't tell on the west coast - particularly the time when he ran into a BBW from Glamour Con (there was a year that PMX shared space with an adult entertainment event). I told the story about how I scared "The Yaoi Guy" - the merchant that typically hocks boy on boy action to anything with ovaries that pass him by.

Tales of the Yokai by Jared
Being one of the major aspects of several popular anime and video game series the Yokai have been taken from old myths and legends into the modern era. The panel covered popular creatures from the legends and then tied them into popular franchises such as Pokemon and Shin Megami Tensei. There is so much in the world of Japanese myth that this panel could have easily run for two or more hours. Hopefully this panel will come back next year with new stories and fascinating pop culture connections.

Attack on Titan by Scarlet
Because Attack on Titan has inspired many memes and series injokes, I was nervous going into this panel. I was worried this might be tween fangirls showing various parody videos and macros of naked titans. However, much like the Waffle Off, this was totally different than I was expecting. The panel had a very good turnout. Audience participation is a must. Megablocks were set aside on who can rebuild Wall Maria the fastest. Paper plates and markers were given out to draw your Titan face. Winners on who had the best Titan face were picked by the audience. Each person was given a different card to find out if they were part of the survey corps, royal guard, or actually titans. Instead of being a panel were people are locked behind a table and microphone, this got people off their seats – it’s almost like Double Dare, but Attack on Titan themed.

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Electronic Music Dance by Li Li
Saturday night was a great time to dance the night away... the Electronic Music Dance was lots of fun. Great (and loud) dance music, flashing colored lights, glow sticks, crazy images and video clips projected onto two screens near the DJ... And there were people both in and out of cosplay dancing together. There were spontaneous congo lines, dance-offs, and other random happenings. The vibe was very casual, friendly, and fun. Even though people danced in couples or in groups, I noticed that new people were quickly welcomed into various groups on the dance floor. What impressed me most about this dance was the water supply: throughout the night, the con staff were great with refilling the water supply and cup supply. There was never a moment of dehydration! For me, water is very important (especially when I'm dancing).

HMV Iron Editor by Staff
One of the traditions of AAC is the crazy sexy fun of hentai night. The night consists of two editors making a hentai music video while the audience watches other hentai music videos on the big screen. In addition, various games are played to get the audience into the weird fun that can only happen when you put messed up footage to silly songs. Games included short rounds of cards against humanity, improvised drawing, and sing-a-longs. If you are over 18 and not very easily disturbed or offended then you may enjoy this late night event of crazy debauchery.

Homestuck Dating Game by Li Li
This was a really fun and stress-free con event! It is the first time I have ever been to an official Homestuck event at a convention, and I am pretty sure this was the first time a Homestuck event made its way into AAC. The way this Dating Game was set up resembled other con Dating Games: there was one bachelor or bachelorette seeking a special someone per round, and there were three candidates to choose from for each round. However, the candidates were not hidden from the bachelor or bachelorette doing the process. In many ways, this made the event lots of fun! The cosplayers played off from each other (since they knew who all the characters were), and there were lots of laughs and silly moments (and also cute "awww"-inducing moments). And of course, since it's Homestuck, there were complicated Quadrant moments (can anyone say Blackrom?). The host of the Homestuck Dating Game was not familiar with Homestuck, but did a fantastic job hosting the event! In the last round, a non-Homestuck character made it into the Dating Game: Captain Hammer from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog! Now that I think about it, what's really funny is that I can see non-Homestuckers mistaking Captain Hammer for a Homestuck character... After all, he wears a t-shirt with a symbol on it.

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