I have gone to Anime Expo ever since it was first in Long Beach. However, even I was surprised that the convention was twenty years old. One would expect Anime Expo to go above and beyond for this important occasion. Sadly, the anniversary seemed to not be much of a deal at the convention. Despite the lack of festivities Anime Expo 2011 was one of the best years Anime Expo has had in a long time.

Being at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) once again, which made navigating the convention easy as I am very familiar with the location. Everything was set up very similar to last year. There were plenty of rooms for panels, videos, and workshops. The LACC also provides plenty of space for the massive amount of attendees to cosplay and wander the halls. Overall, it was easy to get around to where we needed to go and the lines for panels and events never blocked up walk routes.

There were plenty of events during the four days of Anime Expo. Everyone was satisfied with the concerts even the Maon Kurosaki concert held in the convention center was great. The Nokia Theater is a great location for the Masquerade and the show was made up of the usual couple of great skits and a mass of forgettable skits. What hurt the Masquerade the most was the long half time period. The “entertainment” provided did not nearly cover the needed time. While watching a live dubbing session is fun, everyone expected something bigger and better, such as a concert or a 20 year retrospective video. The hosts did a good job trying to keep people entertained while waiting for the awards, but Masquerade staff should have had something more for the half-time period.

There were plenty of panels to keep interest during the convention. I had no problem getting into any panel and there were enough seats for everyone. In addition signs were set up to help people find the correct room. The only panel I would like to point out is the Anime Expo 20th Anniversary panel, which was only one hour and did not really feel like a celebration. It was nice to have an anniversary panel, but I would have hoped for more than what they did. Hopefully they will do something big for the 25th anniversary. As a panel participant I was very pleased with the way panels were handled. We were able to get the laptop hooked up quickly and we had no audio or visual issues at all. In addition we had a larger room than we usually get which easily accommodated all the Sailor Moon fans that showed up to the panel.

One of the biggest improvements this year was how the dealer hall was handled. The addition of aisle carpets made the walk around the hall much easier on the feet. It also made sure that there was equal space between booths. The shift of the artist alley to the back of the dealer hall had good and bad parts. On the good side it helps keep the entire dealer hall organized. On the downside it was a pain to navigate through the entire dealer hall to get to the artist alley.

The guest line up was pretty good, but not what I would expect of a 20 year anniversary. Last year we were told to send in guest requests for the anniversary so that the guest line up would be better than any other year. None of the suggestions that anyone I knew or even the suggestions I sent in were chosen for this year. In fact most of the choices seem like the usual random selection of guests who come every year. Due to this it did not feel like there was any guest that made this year any different than the previous years. However, it was nice to meet up with the various industry guests as I do every year at Anime Expo.

This year Anime Expo had a great vibe and everyone seemed to be there to have fun. Throw in some great industry guests and well run events and you have one of the best Anime Expo conventions in years. This year really felt like the early 2000s with a great vibe, a lack of dumb memes, and a long list of panels to attend. This year I had so much to do and had fun racing around the LACC. I can only hope that next year is just as good or even better. Special thanks go out to the Scarlet Rhapsody staff, the Scarlet Rhapsody intern team, Jeff, Psychotaku, Psychoneko, Freddie, Kyle Hebert, Tony Oliver, the Lupin gang, and the Anime Expo staff.

If you have questions or complaints by all means do not e-mail me (Jared –at- Scarlet Rhapsody DOT com). Until next time I leave you with my list and remind everyone to give my love to the prinnies.

The List
1. Feels like old times
2. Old friends and new friends
3. Rin and Sakura? Win!
4. I missed out on the hat
5. Next Cosplay: Twilight Sparkle
6. RE: 5 – Wait, what?!
7. I have to take pictures?
8. LACC, can find my way around easy
9. Do you want a cookie?
10. Aca-fans unite!
11. Figmas cost how much?
12. Desks – nice!
13. So many unanswered questions…
14. Note to self: Don’t stop
15. I want to play Sweet Home again
16. So that’s why you give the second button
17. Good swag this year
18. Added some obscure games to my queue
19. This is how Expo should be!

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