This year brought up an interesting question that I had to deal with ‘what do you do at Anime Expo when you can’t do anything’. All main events were ticketed and press received no tickets unless granted by the convention staff. The majority of lines turned away press and premium pass holders instead of granting the privileges that come with their status. Thus, like the majority of attendees we were stuck trying to find something to do at a convention that seemed to actively not want us to do anything other than hang out in the hallways, which of course you cannot do because security will get on your case about blocking the hall.

The LA Convention Center is not located in a great area. There are not that many restaurants, not many hotels, and way too much traffic. Getting there isn’t easy and being able to park and get food is even worse. Thankfully, AX took up one of the parking areas for their game hall. Thus, at an event with a stated 90k attendance record there was less parking than usual. Nothing makes an annoying trip to downtown LA worse like not having a place to park. No one is happy with this location and while moving the convention would be nice, it isn’t likely. There is no real way of making this area work, unless you are lucky enough to get a hotel room and bring a stockpile of food.

There was a good amount of events at the convention. However, you needed to get tickets unless you were invited by the convention staff. A good amount of the events either sold out or held no interest for me. Thus, I was mostly focused on the regular programming, as were many other attendees. Due to this shift in focus I quickly learned that not every door guard was aware of the policies. Press and Premium holders were turned away at several doors, but were given early access at other doors. It almost seemed random as to what was pre-line and what was general, even things like the AMV room did not recognize press/premiere status. Despite those problems, programming was pretty good, but good luck getting a seat at some panels.

When not attending a panel most people will find themselves in one of the other halls. The dealer hall was large and crowded, which is about average for Anime Expo. I found several great deals and wish I had more time to explore and pick up some more hard to find merch. Then there is the artist alley, which is stuck way in the back of the dealer hall, making it difficult to reach and almost not worth the trip. They really need to give artist alley a better location so that it can be visited by more people and not forgotten about in the rear. The entertainment hall is easily the strongest of the halls, with plenty of space for the arcade, the game museum, cosplay back drops, cosplay repair, and the waste that is the cosplay sempai section. The cosplay sempai section needs to stop or be moved. It creates lines of bad smelling people that disrupt the way to the repair station and make it difficult to reach the photo booth and some of the backdrops. Worse yet, this section is giving status to those who have no real accolades or skills. Did they forget that sempai means ‘senior’ and refers to someone who is older and wiser? Probably.

The one thing that Anime Expo has gotten right for many years is their dedication to making this event an industry heavy convention. This is a place where anime companies can talk about their upcoming releases and make big announcements alongside important guests. While Aksys and NIS can give announcements at E3, but they are over shadowed by the major companies, however, at Expo they are considered major announcements due to the sheer amount of fandom for the titles they bring over to the US. While some may not like the idea of an industry convention, but I think it isn’t only necessary, but very important. In many ways Anime Expo is an important part of the US anime industry, it’s just too bad that it is highly mismanaged and apathetic to the attendees

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The vibe of Anime Expo is mixed, but leaning toward the negative. The staff is a mix of helpful and apathetic, it just comes down to who you end up speaking with. The convention center gets crowded and that seems to create a sense of anger amongst those trying to get from place to place. No one tryng to get around the convention center is happy with their situation. There is just an overall negative feeling around the halls of the convention. Yet, the majority of people I spoke with were good people. There was no attitude like at Katsucon, but you are still going to have to deal with the occasional jerk pushing his/her way through the halls. This isn’t a happy convention, but if you have a few friends with you, then you can make it through with a smile on your face.

Putting together my thoughts on Anime Expo is difficult. Overall, the event wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t all that good either. The staff is either really helpful or a complete waste of space, the people are either friendly or push you out of the way to get to the other side of the hall, and the location is a pain to get to and has few food options. There are reasons to go to Anime Expo like the guests, the events, and hearing all the newest anime news first hand. However, if you want to go you should be warned about the problem there are at this convention. In 2014, I skipped this convention and I was planning to skip it in 2015 as well. I am happy that I did go this year, but part of me wishes I was at a different event that weekend as I did have other choices. The bottom line is if you have a good reason to go then go, but otherwise there are plenty of better events that you can hit in July.

There is time before I make a decision about going to AX 2016, but right now I’d rather not return unless the convention is offering something that I really want to see or meet. Until that time there are people who do deserve some thanks for helping me enjoy Expo as much as I could. Thanks go out to the Scarlet Rhapsody team, the AX press staff, Stan, Deb, the random Jojo peeps, Alicia, the Tecmo guy, the Aksys guy, the few helpful door guards, and the Sun for not being too hot. Until next time I leave you with my list and remind you that if you have any comment or questions I can be reached via e-mail (jared –at- Scarlet-Rhapsody.com). As I write this in the heat of summer I have one last request: give my love to the snow, oh how I miss the snow.

THE LIST
1. Not too hot
2. Guilty Gear
3. Foxy the Fox Network Fox
4. Musou!
5. Cookies!
6. In N Out Burger
7. RE: 6 – Best reason to visit SoCal
8. You call that a dub?
9. Traffic
10. Let’s enjoy some frivolity
11. Next Cosplay: Something-Something SPACE!!
12. Red Ash is sounding kinda cool
13. Too many people
14. Did I mention traffic?
15. Bleach gets some love
16. Figures!
17. Nap time?
18. TAKE A SHOWER!!
19. Pika, Pika!!
20. Note to self: Food trucks don’t work when the line is super long
21. Ditched
22. No panels, an odd change
23. Who do you trust?
24. No escape
25. RE: 24 - Or should it be Zero Escape?
26. Sea Kitties!
27. Not really street passing
28. Skipped a day, no loss
29. Can’t pack everything
30. Panel hopping plan fails
31. Walk away like you just don’t care
32. Some people are jerks
33. Give me one reason to stay here, and I’ll turn right back around

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