I remember picking out fabric last year for our Yume no Tobira cosplays - a satin happy blue that Bob Ross would envy and an iridescent purple to blue chiffon no Taobao order could match. I was very happy with my selection. My sister and I had got into Love Live; a show about a group of teen schoolgirls who want to save the school from shutting down by being idols. Sounds like your typical “save the youth center” plot. I don’t get to see my sister often; I started on the costumes in June of last year and finish date of December. Anime Expo was one of the few times during the year I could see my family; we decided to go as our favorite girls; Nico and Honoka. As we were lining up for our turn in the AX entertainment hall’s Japanese shrine diorama, we were really happy to finally be getting pictures of our dream cosplays. That is until we were pulled by AX staff telling us that The Try Guys were next. We patiently waited in line like everyone else. Before we could take a few photos, some cosplay group who thought they were Zul’s gift to cosplay thinks they can take over a fan photoshoot. My brother, who was taking our photos retorted, “I don’t know who those people are, so I’m going to keep taking photos,” he said. I’ve never met or had heard of the Try Guys (must be a GenY thing), but even I would not let them ruin my Anime Expo. The con is what you make of it – make it a good one.

Anime Expo 2015 was Scarlet Rhapsody’s return after a one year hiatus. The hiatus wasn’t intentional; it had to do more with getting the time off and financial planning. Since this was my 16th bout at North America’s largest anime event. At the time of this writing, I have already attended Otakon and I have founded myself making apt comparisons between these two giants. I have defended Anime Expo as an industry con; the con scene needs an industry con. I like getting inside information from companies. I like meeting the people involved in the things I love. I like seeing booths in the exhibit hall that showcase my fandoms. I like to support my fandoms by buying all things (within the confines of my budget).

In spite of Anime Expo’s price increases, people will still attend the con. VIP passes sold out. Over 90,000 people attended the four day anime festival in downtown LA. It shows that despite price and location, people will still attend the con. Downtown Los Angeles was very much promoted in the Anime Expo video bumpers calling it home to the show. While I may have issues as a commuter with downtown Los Angeles, I don’t really mind the Los Angeles Convention Center. I like the layout much better than the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. I can either buy food from the food trucks for a quick grab and go or head over to Tom’s Urban Spoon for a decent sit down meal. I learned through the years of AX being in downtown LA to adapt to what we are given and plan accordingly.

However, I wasn’t quite ready for Anime Expo loosing parking space. From a commuter’s perspective, you had to get there pretty early to get a decent space in South or West Hall. Parking can run $20 per day; typical for downtown prices. However, if you missed the boat, good luck paying up to $40 for parking at LA Live. Sacrificing Kentia Hall for tabletop space was pretty 50/50. While I do like more space used for AX in downtown LA, I also like to be able to grab a parking spot.

I did like the variety of guests at Anime Expo, but there is such thing as too much of a good thing. I’m still in the old school mindset of knowing who are the guests months in advance as opposed to the week before. I would have preferred quality over quantity. I wanted to see more panels by Ryukishi07 and Naokatsu Tsuda through the weekend. I’m still getting used to the concept behind “cosplay senpai,” but I would prefer to see live demonstrations of cosplay craft in the entertainment hall or community organizations helping people understand how to get started in cosplay. I always love seeing the cosplay dioramas at the entertainment hall. I just wish that AX staff didn’t have to cut off people from using the dioramas because some famous cosplayer had to use them. I was waiting for a while to use the shrine set and after five shots in, AX Staff told us we had to leave to make way for the Try Guys. This should have been done when the exhibits were closed to the public or we should have been given warning.

I did enjoy Anime Expo for what it was and what I could do without access to premium events. It seems like the new normal wherein main events are ticketed and are not included in the badge. I still feel very much against this notion. A badge should cover all events as advertised. I can understand charging a VIP experience package for a j-pop group, but I feel I should be able to pop in a main event like masquerade or series themed panel with what I pay. For this alone, I would recommend registering for Anime Expo as early as possible. The price is around $60 for the weekend, compare that at $75 for a one day badge price.

Anime Expo does have issues to work out, but to me, it’s still worth checking out. I like spending a day in the dealers hall to shop around and learn about some video games I might be interested in. I like taking photos of some of the best cosplayers in the country, but I also miss watching masquerade. I like the cosplay dioramas, but they should be accessible to all cosplayers, and if a cosplay personality wanted a private shoot, they can do it during after hours, not when it’s open to attendees. I liked seeing the video games gallery, it was a nice touch to the entertainment hall. I still like attending industry panels and academic discussions, but I would love to see more fan run panels. For a con the size of Anime Expo, it doesn’t have many panel rooms; I wouldn’t mind seeing more programming expanded into the JW Marriott.

I do want to keep supporting Anime Expo, but there’s still much to improve and fix up. I really did enjoy staffing the marketing department a few years ago with Inside AX. I do applaud my department for being awesome at what they do. I haven’t ran into any problems with staff at AX. However, there were a ton of inconsistencies as to what events press were let into. We weren’t even allowed to sit down in the AMV room to watching some parody trailers despite the fact there were seats available. We were told to line up outside for the next AMV showing. While the staff people were courteous on this whole thing, it’s more of the miscommunication I’m more appalled at. Access Control was just doing their job redirecting people.

Overall, if you haven’t been to Anime Expo and just want to try it at least once, definitely buy your tickets in advance. If you are local, I would also recommend getting tickets in advance. While the con does not sell out fast, paying the at the door price isn’t worth it for just panels, the entertainment hall, and shopping (even though much of that shopping can score you some awesome deals and exclusive merch). Typically I would say, “If there’s a guest that love and adore that’s going to AX, go!” However, when guests are getting one or two panels during a four day con, it makes one question the worth of seeing them. I wouldn’t recommend Anime Expo for people who hate crowds; the dealers hall and south hall can get pretty tight.

We usually have a robust write up of Anime Expo, but not having access to premium events (maid café, masquerade, concerts, panels, etc) made it hard to cover staples of Anime Expo. For me, it was a dealers hall excursion and a few scattered panels here and there. I don’t get to visit the west coast often, but seeing my friends made it worth it. We can all agree this is not the Anime Expo we remember in Anaheim, and even if it did move to Anaheim, it still would not have the same vibe as the early days because the con had received mainstream popularity and attracted new audiences. I don’t regret attending Anime Expo. To me, I made the best of adverse situations. Not even the Try Guys can take that away from us.

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