The last day of Anime Expo. As people were checking out of their hotel, we were slowly getting up from our slumber. The whole team went in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures cosplay. Jared as Johtaro, Deb as Caesar, Eri as Lisa Lisa, and Stan as Joseph. We were ready to get our poses down for photos. Additionally, we had a box of JoeJoe's cookies from Trader Joe’s – works well with any Jojo cosplay.

Artist Alley by Eri Kagami
Every year at Anime Expo, Artist Alley tends to have the same problem. Artist Alley is far in the back of the dealers hall. You had to cross through the myriad of booths to get to Artist Alley. It didn’t stop people from going, but even when you did discover Artist Alley, good luck navigating through the narrow aisles. I’ve been to anime cons of all sizes – large and small and everything in between. Anime Expo’s Artist Alley has a very poor layout. While it was nice that Artist Alley was still pulling in foot traffic, sometimes it made it hard to see what each table had to offer. I admit loosing my patience after going down one aisle because I could not take the crowds. I was still able to buy a Sailor Moon and Love Live print for the apartment, but I really feel that Artist Alley could do better in a larger venue that allowed people to see everyone’s works.

AX Charity Auction by Jared
This year the charity auction drew in a large crowd looking to pick up hard to find collectable items and give to the Nepal relief fund at the same time. The items up for bid ranged from autographed CDs and games to shirts and posters. There was a good variety of low and high ticket items and in some cases they had multiple of some of the smaller items. While nothing really caught my eye, it was great to see the sheer mix of items, including paintings that were more sci-fi based that looked amazing. While, the offerings might not appeal to everyone, but the variety of goods mixed with the variety of genres means there will likely be something you wish you could pick up for a good cause.

Ryukishi07 Panel by Jared
With the recent release of an official English version of Higarashi it is no surprise to see a resurgence of interest in the ‘When they Cry’ games. This panel was a brief discussion and later Q&A session with the series creator. Everything was very light hearted despite questions about magical murders and the dark mysticism of the games. The answers to the questions were often times silly like how he was the killer the whole time in Umineko because of a Halloween party. As the panel came to a close he talked about his new joint project with other artists and writers to make a new game. However, he was vague about whether it will be a new ‘when they cry’ game. It was an unexpectedly fun panel that I highly recommend to anyone who likes to learn about the behind the scenes workings on a game, but told with a funny twist.

Another Anime Expo came to a close. Next year would be their 25th anniversary. People were wrapping up their photoshoots outside. Even when the dealers hall closed, everyone flocked to either South Hall or the entertainment hall to hang out. South Hall was pretty hectic in the afternoon as people were making their exodus. People were getting last minute photos of cosplayers. Additionally, people were flocking to west hall to grab photos in the cosplay diorama’s and last minute autographs from Vampy, Bite Me. Otherwise, our team decided to drive back down to South Bay to have our traditional post-AX dinner at Curry House.

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