Anime Night took place on June 19, 2010 at the Kelly's Coffee and Fudge in Garden Grove, CA. The event was advertised on Facebook and Cosplay.com. I thought about attending the event just to try something different and I had already finished up my finals. The event also had the Kelly's Coffee and Fudge baristas dressed up as maids as an homage to Akihabara style maid cafes. Anime Night also advertised karaoke, anime music videos, and a cosplay contest.

Deb was at the event at the start time, 10AM. The event was fairly small with only 20 or so cosplayers. Jared and I arrived at 3PM. Jared did not cosplay, but Deb and I did. Deb was dressed up as Phillip from Kamen Rider W. Phillip is one of Deb's first costumes that she constructed by herself. I cosplayed as Misato from Evangelion because it was the first thing I found in the closet that I felt like wearing. However, I had no idea that Orange County was going to be hit with a heatwave. For the most part, because it was hot, we just sat around the cafe with our dolls.

There were plenty of activities to do outside. There were lots of copic markers and Sailor Moon needlework projects to partake in. The Kelly's maids were also asking cosplayers to participate in their cosplay contest.For people who ordered drinks, you could also get a free drawing of yourself done.I ordered a raspberry smoothie. The Princess Mononoke was taking commissions, so she drew a picture of me as Misato.

There was a Filipino restaurant next door that had their own event. Suffice to say, unlike most cosplay related events, we did not get any weird stares from them. Our events merged by the end of the day. We were not quite sure what was the occasion at the Filipino restaurant, but we were treated to a martial arts demonstration that involved stick fighting and sword play (Kali and Eskrima).

The main highlight of Anime Night was the karaoke. Everyone was eager to grab the microphone and sing their lungs out. Even the neighboring Filipinos decided to sing a few Filipino pop songs. We were Rickrolled twice during karaoke. The first time, Jared and I just started showing off our west coast swing moves. Ryan (California Conventions Blog) sang "Drive" by Incubus. Deb sang "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson. Karaoke had a huge selection of Filipino and American music. Though anime songs were not part of the mix, everyone managed to have a good time. The best part of karaoke was when Ryan got everyone to sing "Don't Stop Believing."

The Anime Music video contest was cancelled due to no entries, thankfully karaoke was a crowd pleaser and kept the attendees entertained for most of the day. Jared decided to get some dinner at the Filipino restaurant where he tried some new food.The nice thing about the restaurant is that they were giving away Luzon style pansit (Filipino equivalent of chow mein) for free.

And then we did a series of "Jared Tries Filipino Food." This was partially inspired by "Brad Tries Weird Stuff" (The Cinema Snob). You can also hear the karaoke in the background.

The cosplay contest took place at 8PM. By this time, Ryan, Jared, and I decided to see Toy Story 3. The winner of the masquerade would receive a new blue ray player. Stan (Plastic Joint) showed up later in the day in his Sasori cosplay. Suffice to say, he won the cosplay contest. However, everyone who entered was given random swag.

Even when we exited the movie, people were still singing karaoke at 10:30PM at night. We arrived just in time for "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Anime Night was fun. Though it was a small event, it is nice to have something fun to do in the area every now and then. I really appreciated the drinks being half off. It was nice to have an Oreo freeze for $2. I hope Anime Night at Kelly's Coffee and Fudge continues on and let's hope for bigger and better things to come!

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