It's always been an Anime Expo tradition to fall on the Fourth of July weekend. In past years, attendees can see the fireworks from the Long Beach pier and the Disneyland fireworks in Anaheim. Fourth of July on a day four was fairly light. Much like Monday, Day 3, it was much easier to get around. Panels weren't as full. It was also a good day to do some last minute shopping.

Goals and Challenges of Anime Fans' Transformative Practices by Jared the Greek
This was part of the academic track of panels that seems to draw in a bigger audience every year. This presentation was on how using fan faction and art helped people discover who they are by playing with the characters and their roles in their work. It was interesting to hear about people using their artistic endeavors to ignite self-discovery, but while the concept was good the research methods were questionable at best. This was so obvious and glaring that even the staff running the event had plenty of questions about the project and about the reliability of the research. One of the key aspects of research is that it is not only repeatable, but when using qualitative methods you need to be able to verify those who provided their answers for the project. When you use Twitter and Tumblr as your sources you are creating unreliable results and it was good that the presenter got called out for doing that. While this presentation was flawed it is good to see this track taking chances with different types of research projects. The growth in the audience of these panels shows that there are still anime fans out there that care about learning in an age where the erudite seem to be a dying breed.

Dealers Hall by Eri Kagami
Anime Expo's dealers hall has the anime industry's best and current. Industry booths towered at the entrance. Aniplex had a preview stage where attendees can lounge and see extended trailers of upcoming anime. Pony Canyon had a ballroom where Bay Area cosplay legend, Brain Age Guy, taught dance lessons. Atlus was all about promoting Persona 5 merch. Japanese Love Live Sunshine official and exclusive merch was being sold. NIS and Aksys had booths where attendees can sample and demo upcoming games. Toei Animation had a booth that showcased their more mainstream work. Anime Expo is the only con where you can see this much of an industry presence. Even on the last day, Aniplex was hosting a Fate Grand Order trivia contest. Viz Media had a Sailor Moon contest where you have to find the sailor guardians. If you did, you would get an exclusive scarf.

There was much lot to see and shop at the dealers hall. Not only there were booths promoting official merch, but there were also booths selling anime goods from figures, dvd's, cells, plushies, posters, and more. Hang onto your wallets! In addition to anime merch, you can find Lolita fashion accessories in various booths. You can find corset fittings and steampunk accessories. For fans of idols, you can get your light pens, or glow sticks, to rep your favorite idol.

Artist Alley by Eri Kagami
Artist Alley was once again in Kentia Hall. Though there was a huge sign in South Hall pinpointing the location, people were still confused on how to get there. It reminded me of the artist alley and dealers hall in the Baltimore Convention Center - somewhere in a basement of the convention center. Kentia Hall is usually a parking structure, but has been used for exhibiting space in the Los Angeles Convention Center - the first Comikaze was held here. Artist Alley had many rows and dealers selling fanart from various fandoms. The most popular ones were Osomatsu-san, Steven Universe, Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, Yuri on Ice, and Sailor Moon. Artist alley mostly focused on prints. I did see a booth sell earrings and others selling necklaces with fandom injokes ("weeb trash").

Anime Expo's hall immediately cleared out before 4PM. The dealers hall and artist alley closed shop at 3PM to clear out and move out. Even the entertainment hall, usually open until closing ceremonies, ended up clearing out around 3PM. Sets were given their last call at about 3:30. Booths were slowly packing up. Cosplay senpais were taking their last selfies with attendees. Even getting from West Hall to the South Hall garage was a mess - the South Hall back entrance from West Hall was already closed. LACC staff wasn't messing around; we were being cleared out of the convention center before 4PM. While people did stick around the lobbies of South Hall and West Hall, it was another Anime Expo for the books.

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