Monday morning started bright and early. Scarlet Rhapsody checked out of the Fairmont and headed straight towards the San Jose Convention Center. Monday was our panels day. We left our luggage at the Marriott lobby and then proceeded to the panel rooms to check out what else was going on.

We decided to hit the Halko Momoi panel. Like Furuya Tohru’s panel, Halko Momoi’s Q&A session, had a very small turnout. However, if you asked Momoi a question, she would give you candy. Most of her fanboys thanked her for coming to Fanime Con again. Halko Momoi is a regular at Fanime Con and she has been appearing for the past couple of years. My question for Momoi is what was her favorite memory when she was traveling to the United States for anime conventions. She mentioned both Fanime and Anime Vegas.

We proceeded to the dealer’s hall to spot the last minute sales. I picked up a few Lolita accessories from Pegasus Maiden. Jared picked up a few figures. He was able to get seven figures and free Pretty Cure plush at about the price of $50. While I did not find any last minute deals, it was still nice to peruse through the dealer’s room. There seemed to be a growing number of cosplay and fashion related booths. While I thought it was nice to have wigs, make up, accessories, etc, I would love to see more DVD dealers.

We also ran into our buddy, G. He was wearing a cosplay that I had made for him: Ciel from Tsukihime. Unfortunately, due to unexpected time restraints, we were unable to take as many photos as we wanted. We went straight to panels area to do our usual professional development panel, Reporting Anime Conventions.

After presenting our usual professional development, it was time to do Moon Prism Poptarts. This marks the third event that Moon Prism Poptarts on the convention tour. Essentially, this panel is about Sailor Moon’s North American localization. The panel is to look back and laugh at all of the changes that DiC made to Sailor Moon. This was a last minute addition to Fanime Con’s programming schedule. However, we were still able to get a decent turnout. We were part of the last block of panels offered at the convention. In the future, we hope to show clips from Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon S.

Closing ceremonies was right around the corner. Though closing ceremonies took place in one of the main programming rooms, Stage Zero was doing their own version of closing ceremonies. They were giving away video games for Fanime trivia. If you knew the answers to “Who are the five Stage Zero hosts?,” “When did Fanime first take place in the San Jose Convention Center?,” or “How old is the maid café?” you would be able to win a prize.

Claudine recommended I try out the Flying Hands massage area. In all eight years of attending Fanime Con, I never tried out Fanime Con’s in-house massage parlor. Granted that we only had a limited time left at Fanime, I decided to go with a 10-minute massage. It was well worth every penny and it was just what I needed before leaving for Orange County.

As per tradition, everyone hugged their goodbye-for-now’s at Stage Zero. It was really nice being with my Bay Area college friends again. In addition, this was one of the best Fanime Con’s we have attended. We did run into some trouble getting on our flight back to Orange County. The time was changed at the last minute to an hour earlier. Typically, I never had a problem flying in and out of San Jose, but because of the new layout, it took a while to check in and go through security. We did not have much time to grab a bite to eat at the terminal, so we decided to just wait until we got home, to which there was a barbeque waiting for us.

Can you spot the San Jose Convention Center? We can!

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