The Anime Convention Journalist
The team woke up bright and early for the convention-reporting panel that we usually do every year. The convention-reporting panel is meant for fans who want to get into doing press for anime events or for current press members to refine their abilities for professional development. We were given the 10AM timeslot and people were not filtering in until 10:20AM. We had a handful of interested attendees at this panel, including Darius Washington from Anime Weekend Atlanta.

Voice Acting Tricks of the Trade
This was another round table Q&A Discussion but with a different group for the most part including the likes of Guest of Honor Chris Cason, Kyle Hebert, Cristina Vee, Jessica Straus, Kaiji Tang, Jon Allen, the real Christopher Smith and Derek Stephen Prince. Overall it maintained the same structure as the panel from the day before but with different actors you get some different stories which are great for a few laughs and then you have the line requests from fans who want to hear their favorite characters live. While I do enjoy the free-flow structure of these panels the title can be a bit misleading especially for people like myself who want to do voice acting as a profession so for a panel with that kind of name you would expect actors actually teaching you tricks of the trade. Still a fun panel was had but for next year I'd rather they just title it Anime Voice Actors Round Table II since the title could be perceived as very misleading.

Black Butler: Shingamis Are Magic the Gathering

Feeling a bit worn out from a migraine did not stop Jared from exploring the pool deck on Saturday morning. He arrived in time to check out the Metal Gear gathering. It was cool to see all the Snakes gather together for photos. It was very crowded and as it approached the noon hour more and more people arrived on the pool deck. There was a large group of people for the Black Butler gathering and it lasted for over half an hour. The noise was a bit too much for Jared, but he stayed for as long as he could. After the gathering Jared made his way back into the hotel to attend more panels.

Anime and Technology

One of the most intriguing panels at Anime Los Angeles was How Technology is changing Anime. This panel featured professionals talking about the changes that have occurred in anime production and fandom due to technological developments. Discussion ranged from early video trading in the 70s and 80s to the adjustment to digital in the modern age. It was confirmed that more and more jobs have been lost because of how much easier it is to produce and release anime. It was also brought up how creativity has decreased with these developments. The main theme of the panel fell to a simple fact the anime industry is in decline due to many different problems that have no real solution.

Costume Repair Station
The cosplay repair station was a very helpful resource for the many cosplayers at Anime LA. The repair station had hot glue, sewing machines, a make up artist, a wig stylist, and various odds and ends to make a quick fix. While I was there to attach the string on my seashell necklace, I wanted to try the make up booth for a few touch ups. The make up artist was very friendly and she certainly knew what she was doing. The cosplay repair station was very much equipped with a cosplayer’s needs for a quick fix.

Con Suite

One of the unique things Anime LA has to offer is the con suite. People on forums often proclaim how Anime LA is the free food con. The con suite offered helpings of peanut butter jelly sandwiches, slim jims, chips, fruit, and soda. There was not much of a line after the lunch rush. This was a pretty decent set up if one is on a budget or do not have the time to walk to the nearest Carl’s Jr. or In and Out Burger.

Artist Alley

One of the more controversial pre-convention moments was the selection of artist alley vendors. Most event choose vendors in a first come, first served basis. This year Anime LA decided to make it a lottery. This upset many people who put the effort out to get their application in on time. With this in mind, Jared went to the artist alley and surpirisingly it did not seem different from any other year. There was a mix of artists, knickknack vendors, and the odd booth that did not seem to be selling anything recognizable. The location was the biggest problem as the room could get very crowded and hard to navigate at times.

Disney Gathering
It may seem odd that there is a Disney gathering at an anime convention, but this is not the first time an anime convention has had a Disney gathering. While some may criticize the prescence of Western animation at an anime event, most people do not seem to mind the mermaids, princesses, heroes, and villains from the Disney repitoire. The gathering was organized on cosplay.com. This year, we had a variety of Disney animated features represented: Peter Pan, Kim Possible, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, The Princess and the Frog, Sleeping Beauty, and Alice in Wonderland. The turnout was fairly decent, yet we were pushed to the bridge area of the puol deck in favor of the Tohou gathering. However, it did not stop the photographers from taking photos of the gathering.

Broken Spirits

I came during the last half of this panel but there was still plenty of great content to be seen from this movie. Unfortunately Richard Epcar had to drop out at the last minute due to illness and Cristina Vee had to leave the convention due to a prior commitment but both were filled in by actors Jason Wishnov and Spike Spencer. What makes Broken Spirits interesting is that the bulk of the cast is Voice Actors which is a nice change of pace from your average movie and the premise looks rather interesting. We were also treated with a visit from the director who brought with him some rough cut footage with some early special effects and a tempt track which was shown to praise. The film looks promising with each passing panel and I’ll be looking forward to checking it out when it hits the film festival circuit.

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