We ended up leaving the South Bay at a fairly early time. Deb and Stan ended up packing sandwiches to avoid the cost of convention center food. Jared and I ended up packing a Chinese chicken salad so we could stay healthy and to our budget during con. We arrived at the Los Angeles Convention Center finding ourselved parked in the same lot where Comikaze 2011 was held.
Saved by the Cosplay Repair Station by Victoria
Taking a page for Anime Los Angeles, Anime Expo had their very own cosplay repair station in West Hall. They had the essentials - safety pins, bobby pins, hot glue guns, and other basics to get your costume back in shape. The cosplay repair station also had a changing room in case cosplayers had to change up costumes. I had a few issues with Cure Marine: my wig was slipping, the ribbon needed adjusting, and my boot covers kept slipping. The people at the cosplay repair station were very helpful in providing the little odds and ends that can save costume mishaps and accidents.
Gundam Twilight Sparkle by Jared
The film room was showing off the most recent episode of the popular new Gundam OVA series Gundam Unicorn. In addition to premiering the new OVA the US production staff were also present to answer questions and talk about their experiences with the series. You could tell that the staff was having a great time working on this project and the fans had plenty of Gundam related questions for the staff. If you have the chance give this OVA a watch as it has some great action.
AX Fashion Show by Victoria
Anime and J-fashion share plenty of common ground. Several anime titles have partnered with Japanese fashion designers to create clever fashion tie-ins. Most notably, Gosick has collaborated with Innocent World to design outfits for the show's Victoriana art design. Anime Expo celebrates the fashionable side of otakudom. This year, Anime Expo had two fashion guests; Misako Aoki (Angelic Pretty) and Dolldelight.
Dolldelight was the main course for the Anime Expo Fashion Show. The show took place at Petree Hall. While Petree Hall did not have a runaway, everyone had a good view of the models thanks to the large HD screens. Danny Choo and Misako Aoki hosted the show. Local J-Idol, Kyoka, was the opening act. The genki 14 year old sang two original pop tunes that had the audience going. Dolldelight immediately followed the opening act. There were about 20 different fashions displayed by models. Dolldelight has an eclectic mix of punk, goth lolita, and mori girl. The style is very different from traditional lolita brands.
Kyoka's opening act.
The fashion show.
Once the fashion show ended, Misako and Danny bantered about what fashions the liked the best. Danny also joked about wanting to wear lolita fashion.
Para Para Paradise Workshop by Jared
One of the most popular dances styles is para para and this year there was a workshop helping those who want to learn how to do this popular dance. The workshop had the participants learn the step piece by piece. There were a good atmosphere to the panel and everyone seemed to be having a good time learning this fun dance style. It was a little wild seeing a mass of people pull of the moves together to classic fast beat para para music.
NiS Dude by Jared
Nippon Ichi Software came in with a panel featuring some of their new games. This year there was no Disgaea news, but there were plenty of new interesting projects. Mugen Souls brings out a new twist on the tactical game by having the lead character conquers different planets and subjects the people to be soldiers in later battles. The game features turn-based combat and great artwork. Legasista takes a different direction from the other NIS titles by being a dungeon crawler featuring creatable team members and will be downloadable as part of PSN. The other game that really caught the attention of the audience is an iOS game that will help teach Japanese characters by eating different characters. The audience was very happy with the upcoming titles and there was room for a little Q and A at the end of the panel. When the panel ended everyone was told to check their seat to see if they have a prize card, sadly I did not.
The Right Stuf by Jared
One of the few remaining anime companies that had announcements at Anime Expo was Right Stuf/Nozomi Entertainment. While there were not many announcements this year (Hyakko, Sweet Blue Flowers, Ristorante Paradiso) it was nice to see that Right Stuf was not being held back by the weakening industry. Right Stuf also showed off a couple anime episodes and gave prizes away at the end of the panel. It was a fun panel to watch and it was good to know that some new fans got to see episodes of some older series.
Anime Girls of That Guy With the Glasses by Victoria
Stan and Deb ended up attending the Anime Girls of TGWTG panel. The panel consisted of the famed Internet reviewers JesuOtaku, Marzgurl, and Psykoneko. The panel consisted of Q & A. Granted, TWGTG is a popular website, there was a huge turnout for this 8PM Sunday evening panel.
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