The full Traveling Valentine team got in the Ouran High School Host Club gear, Jersey style. After taking a nap in Stan's room, whilst playing a few rounds of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, we prepared ourselves for masquerade. Stan, Deb, and Julia went to Togo's to grab a bite to eat. Tom and I went to see what was going on at the con prior to masquerade.

Artist Alley was still open. Fan artists kept doodling the night away. Because the Artist Alley was very spacious, there was a sword wielding workshop.

Tom and I made our way to the San Jose Civic Auditorium. We missed 2007's location, the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Because Disney's Beauty and the Beast was playing that weekend, Fanime had to settle with the old location. The seating area was nearly full. Tom and I found a two-seater without any problems, though we arrived in right as Darryl Hwang introduced Anything Goes School of Masquerade Arts' Okami exhibition.

So, did Cosplay Spectacular suck that bad?!

Opinions are subjective. When you have 6 "Hare Hare Yukai" dances, 3 Rick Rolls, and 3 Lucky Star dances, I don't blame the audience for wanting new blood. The best way to get honest audience commentary was to hop on Pictochat. A majority of Pictochatters expressed their disgust for lack of originality. The auditorium was less than half full three-quarters into the cosplay show.

In my honest opinion? This year's Cosplay Spectacular was better than last year. 2008 had many stand out performances. Audiences cheered on Maximum Pwwnage (Marvel vs. Capcom) and Baccano. Other stand out performances included Ouran High School Host Club in Wonderland, a summary of the Alice in Wonderland episode from the series. The Austin Powers / Trigun crossover was executed flawlessly and had me rolling in the aisles. Best of Show winners, Slayers Mayhem, really got us old school anime fans cheering for more. Overall, there were many great performances at this year's Spectacular, even more than last year! Audiences keep forgetting about the epic greatness, but in this day in age of the Webbernets, it is unfortunate we only focus on "teh fail."

The costume show ran smoothly. I was surprised we were out of there before midnight. We want to extend our thanks to Marissa for pulling this off. We know you work hard on the Spectacular. Let us know if you ever want us to make another introduction video again!

One colleague, not knowing anything about Baccano!, said the group needed better costumes to win Best of Show. I digress. It's no lie that Baccano! outfits can be found item cosplay, but the group really captured the characters very well. I loved the character voices because it's exactly how I picture Miria and Splott's voices to sound like in English! Great job!

There was still a night life after the cosplay show. Many convention attendees expressed their disgust for the cosplay show. Eurobeat King and Tom wanted to pull a Persona 3.

Tom, Deb, and I decided to go grab dinner. We did not know what was still open at 10PM in the evening. We ran into Sana and Richii. Did you know her Giselle dress has Pikmin Link living under the yards and yards of tulle? Tom and Stan wanted to visit her. I've heard of fan boys getting up skirt shots, but this takes the cake.

Speaking of cake...er...lies, there were some Ouran High School Host Club cosplayers still wandering around in the late night hour. None of the concession stands were open.

However, the cafe at the Marriott was still open. Cosplay Spectacular winners came back rejoicing their victory. Tom, Deb, and I had our dinner in the lobby. A few girls thought we were just being Ouran-ish, so we posed pictures with a few as if we were having a salad dinner all together.