We arrived on early Friday morning just in time to pick up our badges at registration. Because Anime Los Angeles does not have official press or industry badges, we went to the regular respiration line. It went by in less than five minutes. We got our press ribbons and proceeded to check out what Anime LA had to offer.

Opening Ceremonies

What makes Anime LA unique is that is has regular guests and the higher tiered guests of honor. Guests are from the industry given that the Los Angeles area has plenty of voice actors close by. Guests of Honor are limited to a few. This year, Anime LA had Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Chris Cason (Dragonball), and David Merrill (Anime Weekend Atlanta). Anime LA is one of the few cons that has a (former) convention chair has a guest of honor. To close off opening ceremonies, Tadao Tomomatsu sent forth the otaku to enjoy the event.

Panel: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic
As a child of the 80s, I was quite happy that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic truly took off in 2011. While My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has no real connection to anime, other than a few of the voice actors having worked on dubbed anime prior, many Bronies and Pegasisters were dressed up as humanoid forms of their favorite characters. The panel was a Q&A with fans impersonating Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Nightmare Moon, Photo Finish, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna.

The second part of the panel was a trivia contest. The panelists asked the audience questions based on the G4 series. The lower end prizes were candy and the higher end prizes were toys from Hasbro. I ended up taking home a calendar from answering, “When the ponies were awarded after defeating Discord, what movie were they paying homage to?”

Friendship is Magic: The Gathering

The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic gathering was starting up at 4PM in the main pool deck. Deb (Plastic Joint) was dressed as Rainbow Dash and I was dressed up as Rarity. I was originally going to help out the gathering, but I was caught in registration gridlock for masquerade sign ups. Much like Rainbow Dash in Sonic Rainboom, Deb saved me by the neck and we dashed to the gathering.

The gathering went fairly well. I did not know how violent Rarity cosplayers could be over a rock. (The pearls on my shoes were stepped on and broken, but it’s an easy fix) We had an extremely great turn out of Bronies and Pegasisters alike at the gathering. The highlight of the gathering was a Discord cosplayer who was also acting in character. Many thanks to Black Star for running the gathering.

Anime and Video Games in a Post-Cold War Era
One of the more entertaining panels from Pacific Media Expo made a return at Anime Los Angeles. Japanese Media During the Cold War took a look a different video games and movies that contained anti-Russian or anti-communist propaganda. Not only is the panel informative it is also fun with a good amount of laughs coming from some of the sillier games that are present in the panel. There was a large audience and people shouted comments and cheered for nostalgic games and movies. The panel ended early and we were able to send some post-panel time with Austin Wright, host of the panel, to talk about our upcoming Con War Stories panel.

Voice Actors Round Table Discussion

One of the biggest things I enjoy at conventions is going to voice acting panels to listen to actors talk about their work. At Anime Los Angeles this allows for me to reunite with friends who are in the business who I don't get to see very often and are now on panels like this. The group for this panel consisted of actors: Jon Allen, Julie Rei Goldstein, Lauren Landa, Kaiji Tang, Steve Weese and newcomers Mark Allen Jr., Danielle McRae and Sarah Williams. At the last minute they were joined by panel ninja and voice actor Taliesin Jaffe who was filling in for and constantly mistaken as Christopher Smith. Naturally the panel started off with the panelists introducing themselves, talking about their current and upcoming work (which for some couldn't be revealed due to non disclosure agreements) and from there it went to Q&A. Some questions asked were about the recent news about Bandai Entertainment restructuring and others had a big emphasis on experiences in the recording booth and then there were the questions from fans asking to hear they favorite character lines. Overall it was a pretty solid group and made for a humorous panel, then again Voice Actors happen to be some of the funniest people on the planet.

Video Games
Taking a break from panels and cosplay the video game room offered a decent setup this year. Tables were set around the walls with a large screen TV set in the center of the room featuring Super Smash Brothers. In the back of the room two Kinect games were available with plenty of room for players and spectators. One of the things that set the room apart is the pachinko games off to the side that constantly had players trying to win those little metal balls. Overall, the room had a good vibe to it with a nice mix of games despite the room not being too big.

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