Maid Cafe Again by Jared
It is always nice to start the day with a cup of tea and the Fanimaid Café has tea and entertainment for a low price. We were quickly seated by our maid, Ayumi, alongsidewith a few other people and took in the morning slowly as we enjoyed our tea. There was some nice conversation going around the table. Eventually we started playing the guessing game with nearly everyone at the table taking a card and asking questions until they guessed what the card pictured. I could not participate as I was trying to help my throat recover before my panel later that day. As always we ended our time with the maids by getting a quick picture.

Sailor Moon Gathering by Victoria

In addition to running the Sailor Moon panel, I also participated in Miss Panda's annual Sailor Moon cosplay gathering. While I am not a huge fan of large gatherings, the Sailor Moon gathering gives Moonies an opportunity to mingle and reminisce about the days of setting up the VCR timer before school to catch the many adventures of Sailor Moon. The gathering had a pretty big turnout; mostly classic Sailor Senshi. I was cosplaying as one of the two Sailor Plutos at the gathering. I have to say, it was very well organized. Compared to the Super Who Lock (seriously, people?), it was not as chaotic or wild.

The Sailor Moon gathering is one of the largest gatherings and is always full or surprises. There was a transformation style Sailor Moon running around with gymnastic streamers and a "in the shadows" Professor Tomoe. The gathering also welcomed Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon cosplayers and we saw a Jedite from that adaptation of the franchise.
The gathering lasted for about half an hour. We felt that it could have been longer because of how huge it was, but we had to make way for the Naruto gathering. One of the disadvantages of the construction is that there was not much room to accommodate multiple gatherings in front of the convention center.

Old Anime For New Fans by Jared

One of the new panels I got to show off at Fanime was "Old Anime For New Fans" a panel that looked at 80s and 90s anime that neophyte otaku could get into in order to expand their knowledge of the medium we all love. There were some minor technical problems in the beginning, but the audience was entertained by some anime music playing off my mp3 player.

For this panel I invited Stan to join as my co-host. We did our best to describe several different anime, but we got tied up in the mecha genre as we are both big fans and had way too much to say on the subject. By the end we had to rush through several genres, but we filled people in with answers when the panel ended. As this was a first run of this panel there were some hiccups, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

That Guy with the Glasses by Jared

Following up from last year Jew Wario, Psychotaku, and Psychoneko returned to Fanime for another panel about Japanese culture, import gaming, and anime. However, this year the team was assisted by Bennett the Sage whom brought his own caustic views on anime reviewing. The panel consisted of the usual Q and A, with a range of questions and the team giving suggestions for how to get started in online reviewing. You could get a sense that several people in the audience were more interested in being a "recognized reviewer" than the they were in the panelists. However, the majority of the people there really seemed to be genuine fans. The team was very open and friendly during the panel and even showed off some new videos before the panel came to an end.

After the panel the team stuck around in the convention center for pictures, more questions and random hi-jinks. It was refreshing to see guests who would take the time to hang out with fans after a panel. Granted, the reviewers from That Guy With The Glasses were not official guests you would not have been able to tell the difference from how the fans felt about seeing some of their favorite online reviewers.

Artist Alley by Victoria

Artist Alley was a mixed bag this year. While I do admire seeing several booths that sold ball joint doll clothes, I am not into dolls as much as I used to be. Artist Alley had your regulars that usually show up every year. My Little Pony, Homestuck, Madoka, and Doctor Who seemed to be popular requests among Fanime Con attendees. I did not pick up anything from Artist Alley this year. While I always admire the variety of artists and the large space so that it is easy to navigate around, nothing really caught my attention right away.

Cel Style Anime Games by Jared

One of the more surprising panels that we stumbled upon this year was the Cel-Style Anime Games panel that took a look at independently produced anime themed tabletop games. They also featured some of their original visual novels as well. The main focus of the panel was on their newest project Bliss Stage, a game focusing upon the aftermath of an alien invasion. Their visual novel concepts seem to have some depth with different paths based on how you approach things emotionally. It was great to see a hard working team of independent game developers making new modules for tabletop games that anime fans can enjoy.

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