We are happy to report that Anime Expo 2008 made for a good weekend. The Los Angeles Convention Center turned out to be a decent venue for a growing con like Anime Expo. 2007 had 41,000 attendees, 2008 had 43,000 attendees. Many of us were suspect that attendance would drop due to the new location. At first, the LACC was not very popular with a vast majority of regulars. Petitions and cries of boycott flooded the Internet. People fear change ("Despite many fearing change, many still plan to vote for Obama" -Tom).

But Anime Expo still had its same numbers. People still went on the Fourth of July weekend. Despite all things, Anime Expo was still a success.

Or was it?

There have been plenty of complaints of the lack of prominent Guests of Honor. 2006 saw CLAMP, 2007 saw an all star musical line up. The most talked about Guest of Honor was David Hayter, most known for being the voice of Snake from the Metal Gear Solid series. It would be great if Anime Expo could get Guests of Honor that can wow us again. However, Tom and I had the most fun meeting the Ouran High School Host Club English dub cast. While they were not headliners, it was still an experience to see industry folks mingling with fans.

I felt Anime Expo was much more fan friendly than previous years. I never got so much free swag. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone when I looked at registration. No lines. Even on the busiest day, you could pick up your attendee badge within minutes as opposed to hours! I'm immensely impressed that Anime Expo finally has created an efficient registration system. The Bang Zoom Workshop was very educational, but it would be great if Anime Expo had a voice acting set up where you can work with voice acting coaches as you're dubbing a scene from an anime. It worked in 2001 and 2002! Let's bring that back.

The Exhibit Hall felt like it was missing something. I missed seeing regulars like Viz Media, Tokyo Pop, Del Rey, and others. I know Geneon died and ADV is on life support. The most prominent anime industry booths were Bandai and Funimation. It's a huge surprise to me because I remember when Funimation was a simple booth raffling off DVDs and taking audience surveys. I saw quite a few Elegant and Gothic Lolita booths ranging from local American sellers to imports straight from Japan. Another prominent note about the Exhibit Hall was that there was so much manga on sale and so many DVDs at unbelievably low prices. I remember when the Utena movie was $30, now it's $8. $5 a manga? No sweat! It did not feel like a trade show at all, it felt like a mall for all fangirls and fanboys - something for everyone at the right price.

My only complaint about the Los Angeles Convention Center are the food courts. Pricing is not an issue, but service and quality control. There's something in the dairy products that wanted to put Tom and I out of commission. Tom had the cheeseburger on Friday and the results were not so good. Tom and I had the smoothies, and as refreshing as they were, food poisoning is not fun at all. Luckily, we ended up bringing food from home. Also, we're glad that we discovered the Holiday Inn's restaurant and La Bella Cucina. We look forward to the new restaurants opening up in LA Live in 2009. ESPN Zone? Pass me the chili cheese fries!

It was a new and different Anime Expo. It did not have the magic of the Anaheim years, but it seems like Anime Expo is trying to reboot itself from previous years. I felt this year was much more fan friendly and someone up there is doing something to improve this convention. As Tom said, if Anime Expo 2007's disaster was Batman and Robin, Anime Expo 2008 is Batman Begins. Please keep up the great work, Anime Expo. I'm very sure we can make this convention magical again. We can't go back to the Anaheim days, we can only look forward into the future.

Major props go to Traveling Valentine: SVU (Stan and Deb). Thanks for helping us cover Anime Expo 2008. It was great seeing familiar faces again, even though there were faces we missed. Overall, Tom and I enjoyed Anime Expo 2008 for what it was. Of course, many thanks to Miko for setting up the ballroom dance again. We really want to see this event improve for future years. Please bring back the previous dance instructor. She was very fan friendly and we miss her very much!

Many thanks to the many people we met. You guys are awesome for making it out to downtown Los Angeles. Of course, many thanks to Tom for the past five years. This is only the beginning.

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