Dissapointed that the fighting game gathering was a failure, I went back to the room to change into Gijinka Persian (Pokemon). The Pokemon gathering was happening at the tree patch outside the Hyatt. Like most gatherings at Anime Central, the gathering started right before its designated start time. I arrived as soon as they were asking for Gijinka group photos. I could only stay around for a bit because of my conference with Vic Mignogna, but it was really cool having people recognize and applaud my original design for Gijinka Persian. It was also cool posing with rocket grunts and Giovanni's.

I wandered around the general area taking photos of various cosplay gatherings. Not many panels were going on in the 6PM to 7PM hour. Shortly, I went back to the room to have a light dinner.

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After dinner, a friend helped me take photos of my Gijinka Persian around the Hyatt lobby. During the shoot, I ran into a Pikachu cosplayer and we exchanged a conversation in our native pokemon's tounge.

By 8PM, people started flocking to the Hyatt to gather for the Soap Bubble. The Soap Bubble is Anime Central's late night dance party in which otaku dress in raver attire. Unfortunately, there was no masquerade ball this year. It made me sad because Anime Central's ballroom dance was one of the best run formal dances at any anime convention. Here's hoping that Anime Central will bring back the ballroom dance.

I also checked out the Spoony Bards concert. Unfortunately, they did not allow video or photography, but it was great Stephen and company perform again. Following the Spoony Bards was Aural Vampire. I did not stick around for Aural Vampire, but I thought it would have been a better opportunity to showcase Anime Central's surprise Saturday guest.

One of the highlights of the night was being trapped in the elevator. Our elevator was holding too many people that it would not go up. We were locked in for several minutes.

However, Friday night was also the Anime Music Video contest. The contest took place at the Double Tree hotel. Jared (Not Spector Productions) entered several of his amvs into the contest. However, Jared's videos did not make it into the contest. The room reserved for amv play was tiny, about the size of a medium sized panel room. The music videos were projected on a screen, akin to a high school screen. Audiences walked in and walked out. From what Jared reported in his experience submitting amvs, Anime Central's AMV contest always had a great reptuation and had high standards. There were only a handful of videos I liked: "Party in the USA," "Your Attention," and "Out to Save the World." However, I felt it was a slap to the face for trailer amv creators to have a literal trailer to be featured in the trailer category; especially if one had worked on an actual theatrical trailer parody. My other beef with the AMV contest was that there was no audience voting. It was sad to see the room half full after sitting there for 90 minutes when at most AMV contests, the room is full for the entirety of the show. Because of Anime Central's reputation in the past, I would have expected more out of this contest.

I went back to the room to grab another light dinner before heading to the Shoujo-Ai, H, and Yuri panels. The panels were held at the Embassy Suites. I did not want to stay up too late considering that the Yuri panel ended at 2:30AM. All three panels were hosted by a set of ladies who happen to be Red Wings fan. It was very interesting hearing ladies talk about adult themed anime and manga when those genres are typically associated with a male audience. While most of the panel's audiences were males, there were a handfull of females who showed up. For the most part, the panels were poking fun at ridiculously dubbed scenes. It was a great opportunity for an audience to laugh together and poke fun at the absurbity of Japanese adult entertainment.

I returned to my hotel room around 2:30AM. However, on the way back, a few Rosemont police officers were chasing after an Anime Central attendee. The good news was that cops were on the premises during the wee hours of the day. At 3AM, I decided to call it a night.

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 Andes. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.