I woke up early to get ready to wear human Luna from Sailor Moon S: Hearts in Ice. Tohru Furuya, a Japanese voice actor, had his Q & A session in the morning. Tohru played many male leads in anime in the 80s and 90s. He has been best known for playing Ray Amuro in Gundam and Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon. Furuya talked about his earlier career. He also took requests to do voices from his previous voice over work in anime.

One of the highlights of the panel was Tohru Furuya and a few Sailor Moon fans playing some improve. He asked a Sailor Moon cosplayer to fill in for the title role and a random audience member to be a villain. The set up was done so that Tohru Furuya can do his Tuexedo Mask motivational speech so that Sailor Moon can finish off the monster of the day.

Though this was one of the more popular guests of honor, the audience was hardly full. Claudine (Lady Saiyan) suggested that it was because of the early 10AM timeslot, the Q&A was only half full. However, Tohru Furuya also advertised he was going to have a fan meet and greet later in the afternoon.

One of the main staples of Fanime Con is the maid café. The maid café has been going on for five years. We were able to attend the café right before the noon rush. We had a very shy, yet sweet maid by the name of Michi. The food was actually pretty good. We ordered tea, sandwiches, and chocolate cake. The maid café has a very soothing environment, though it was funny hearing a cover of Neil Patrick Harris singing “Dream On.” I then started to sing along to “Defying Gravity” while it was playing. The maid café always has the maids interact with the patrons by playing board games. I always liked how Fanime Con ran their Akihabara style café. I have been to several maid cafes around the country, but Fanime Con’s maid café ranks number 1.

After we were done with our time with Michi, we posed with the Fanime Con maids. My only regret was not purchasing a special maid button to which sales would go to relief effort for Japan. By the time we left the café, the lunch rush was already circling around the convention center.

Around 1PM, we went to Tohru Furuya’s fan meet and greet. This was a very unique experience. Granted it was Tohru Furuya’s first anime convention, it was very nice of him to invite 50 of his fans to spend some time with him. This special event was available to people who had purchased his clearfile so that he can sign it. Clearfiles of his headshot were sold for $10 and proceeds would go to charity. At the fan meet and greet, Tohru Furuya posed for photos and autographed the clearfile. In addition, Tohru Furuya expressed that he would love to come back to Fanime Con and attend more anime conventions. He did a few more lines of dialogue from Gundam and Sailor Moon.

After the Tohru Furuya panel, then came the Sailor Moon cosplay gathering. Though Fanime Con cosplay gatherings tend to be hectic and crowded, this gathering ran really smooth without any chaos (no pun intended). There was a huge turnout of Sailor Moon cosplayers – mostly senshi. I was dressed up as Luna in her human form and I was happy to see two other Luna cosplayers.

And when you see it…(or can’t unsee it)

More photos (and cosplayers from various media) can be seen in the Fanime Con 2011 gallery. Otherwise, it was a nice gathering and it was nice meeting Sailor Moon fans.

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