Anime Los Angeles' Masquerade - you get four different guys, you get four different stories. If you get the Stan version, you'll get the "OMG! Chargers rock!" version. To get the Tom version, read here and see his Saturday night photos here. Luckily, Stan, Deb, and I were on the same hotel floor. We ran into each other on the way to the elevator. I greeted Deb and Stan with a line from "Oh What a Night!"

Tom was already waiting for us when we arrived. We checked into the fabulous green room at 6PM. Stan and Deb got their final signatures in.

The story behind our Ouran High School Host Club sketch started in November 2007. Tom and I saw Jersey Boys in Costa Mesa for the second time. Tom loved how simple the choreography was so we thought about doing an Ouran High School Host Club skit to Jersey Boys. In January 2008, right after the UCLA gathering, Stan and Deb thought about doing a Jersey Boys sketch as well. We combined ideas and vowed to compete at Anime Los Angeles 2009. Ironically, I had a dream that we performed "Big Man in Town" a month prior to the convention. Tom wrote the dialogue based off the musical and ripped choreography files for Stan and Deb while I produced the cast recording.

Waiting the the green room was fine and dandy. Hotel catering provided snacks like California rolls, strawberries, and cheese and crackers as well as fresh orange juice. It is good to know that masquerade staff cares about the physical well being of their show's talent.

Of course the best part about participating in masquerade is talking to your fellow cosplayers while exchanging ideas and general chit chatting. It really eases the tension before going on stage.

I was happy to work with a great group of people. Stan was our Mori. He can tell you about crazy. He's no saint; you sell a hundred million records and see you how handle it. Sometimes Stan and I will meet up in Atlantic City. I'd bring him up on stage, we'd do a song or two. Yet, when there's four guys and he's Ringo...maybe he'll start his own band.

We had Deb as our Honey. She's not drawn to the old neighborhood. Her life never revolved around the old neighborhood. She does not give a fudge cake about the old neighborhood. She's never been comfortable with the spotlight. She may be the one Italian out of a hundred who's not into the drama.

And we had Tom as our Kyoya. Normally, he cosplays as Mori, but for the sake of the sketch, he reassigned himself to Kyoya. Joe Pesci recounts, "I gotta be honest. He was a total prick. No one would put up with his shit except we all needed something." But here are the facts. He brought me up on stage for the first time, he put Deb in, and held it all together until we hit. And where it counts - the old neighborhood - he's still a hero. They even named Tom "Belleville, New Jersey Man of the Year 2002." And if you're ever in Vegas, say "Tom Ton-that!" in any casino, my hand to Megatron, you'll be out of there in 12 seconds.

And of course, there's me as Haruhi Fujioka. When I was a kid and we going through hard times, my mother would say, "A da passa a nuttata." "This too shall pass." What I come to realize was, it cuts both ways. The bad passes, but also the good.

We had great times with the group in the green room, despite masquerade being delayed. Yet, it's an anime convention. What event starts on time? Many thanks to Richard from Imagecraft for the photos.

Being on the masquerade stage was something. We were the second act up and the first competing act. We did our routine to "Walk Like a Man." We got the audience into it. That was the best part. The fact that we can get the audience pumped from the get go. It was worth more than any award. I forgot how much I loved being on stage. Though I was cosplaying as Haruhi from Host Club, I felt as if I was channeling John Lloyd Young and Frankie Valli. Not to mention, I had my fellow performers to share this wonderful moment with. The adrenaline rush of being in the spotlight was worth more than any award. In the end, we received great applause. We won the audience and that was all that mattered.

Wanna see our sketch? Check out Anime Cosplay Paradise's video! Link.

We stuck around to watch the other sketches because the show was broadcast into the green room. We supported our friends in Hanabee and We're Not Twins. Both groups had amazing performances. After the show, the four of us decided to grab an appetizer to share to reward ourselves for a job well done.

And Deb took initiative to beat up a Tsukihime poster, while Tom glomped a Transformers 2 poster.

We ran into our favorite terrorist friends - Dave and Nikki. Looks like the Bison crew endorses Burger King.

Traveling Valentine did not win anything for Jersey Host Club. It's all right. We had a great time on stage. We tried looking for late night things to do. I changed into Kim from Miss Saigon. Stan, Tom, and Deb decided to chill in the room playing Smash Brothers Brawl. I was chit chatting with Shane and Carolyn for the most part.

I found Tom at karaoke. The set up was nowhere near ideal. It was only open at night and had a long delay setting up. The karaoke room was not like Pacific Media Expo's where it was open 24 hours. While the room had a nice selection of music, the microphones were very hit and miss. Tom and I attempted "Oh What a Night!," but the microphone I was on wasn't working, so I had to belt it out.

Disappointed with with the karaoke room, Theo and I went to a room party hosted by our friend Adrian (Chocolate Thunder). I told Theo I was thinking about getting a cosmopolitan at the bar, but I was able to get one for free at this party. The Sex and the City drink made me sleepy, so I went back to my room.

Pictures are copyright by Traveling Valentine. 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 Dance Club. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.