This was my tenth consecutive year attending Fanime Con. I have been attending Fanime Con since 2003 when it was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I have seen Fanime Con's ups and downs. I have seen Fanime Con mature and get into the occasional teenage shenanigans. Fanime Con ranks as one of the best cons on the west coast. Despite a few hiccups, Fanime Con delivers to the fans consistently through the years.

I am glad that the pocket guide has returned. This was very helpful to have handy. Though Fanime Con has expirimented with having smart phone access to the schedule, even with my iPhone 3, it would take a while to load and I rather grab something fast. However, I wish the schedule was available weeks in advance to plot out events I wanted to attend. I also wished that cosplay events and cosplay programming was added to the pocket program guide. I had no idea that Cosplay Fabric Swap and Cosplay Chop House was on the schedule; I found out word of mouth.

While I registered as press, it puzzled me that registration had issues this year. It is ridiculous to wait in line for more than a few hours for a badge. It eats most of your day and there are better things to do than standing in line. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed up by 2013. Fanime Con has always had a reputation of fast and quick registration.

I enjoyed the events I attended this year. First, the cosplay events that occured in the Hilton was a lot of fun. I attended Cosplay Chop House, which is a light hearted version of Iron Chef (but with cosplay!), was really fun to watch. We were very much entertained by the judges, the costumers, and Rob Miles. I would love to be a part of this event for future Fanime's and I am honored to be considered as a guest judge for the next one.

I enjoyed doing the panels that I was a part of. My only critique for the panels team is that to move check in at least ten minutes before the panel or if there is a way we can check in via phone or text, it would be easier. We felt very rushed to check out at the Fairmont before the History of Lupin III panel. However, we did appreciate the services by the panels lounge. Thanks for the bottled water.

The Black and White Ball was a huge improvement. The ball was moved to Parkside Hall, a bigger and better venue. That meant no lines and in and out privillages. However, I felt that the demos and exhibitions took too long. I attend ballroom dances to dance. Save the demos for Stage Zero and masquerade halftime or masquerade pre-show. I also did not like the snowball dance, where couples had to switch off partners every 90 seconds. I felt that this was disruptive while Jared and I were doing a lindy hop with each other and the music abruptly stops. I thought the music selection was better, but I can do without couple swapping and exhibitionists. Because the Black and White ball has been huge, I would love to see another night of Black and White ball on Saturday night. People have complained that Black and White Ball has always conflicted with Cosplay Spectacular. Many of the cosplayers competiting in the show have expressed wanting to attend the ball. Why not have it on two consecutive nights? Twice the romance, twice the fun!

I also enjoyed Stage Zero. Openings ceremonies was a blast. I felt that Stage Zero kept the theme (Sports) true to the con. The Stage Zero staff wore sports jerseys themed to Fanime Con. The Fanime maid crew served as the cheerleaders. Stage Zero is very unique to Fanime, an idea conjured up by Jason Ebner, and the fun never stops. There is always something interesting going on at Stage Zero. My favorite events at Stage Zero included the game show, Rob Miles' fireside chat (in which Miles talks about the state of the anime industry), and the Angel Hearts performance.

The maid cafe continues to deliver the best of the best. I have been to other cons' maid cafes and Fanime Con's maid cafe does it right. The food was nicely priced and the maids were generally friendly. The music seemed kinda funky at times. Not that it was a bad thing, but it was funny hearing music from Splash Mountain as our maids were playing games with other people in the table. The maid cafe is always a nice addition to the Fanime Con experience. The only thing we wish they would have is a log ride to go with "Zip a Dee Do Dah."

The dealers hall and the artist alley had nice things to look at, but nothing that really enticed me. I picked up a wig at Cosplay Wig for Lolita purposes. They also threw in a pink wig for free. I was quite surprised that llamas and necomimi were the in thing this year. I predict that every other person will be wearing necomimi at Anime Expo.

Otherwise, Fanime Con was a very good year. I really enjoyed my time at the convention. Many thanks to Stan and Deb for helping out at our panels and helping out transporting some of stuff on the 5 freeway. Thanks to Vincent for giving us a ride back to the airport and his hospitality. Thanks to Rena for setting up our panels and including us in the programming. Thanks to the Oh Hi Mark! crew for rest and relaxation, otaku style. Thanks to Marissa for hosting another awesome masquerade. Thanks to Cosplay Spectacular staff for putting on a good show. Thanks to my fellow cosplayers for being awesome and inspiring; it's you guys that inspire me to do better at my craft. Thanks to Stage Zero for being the heart and soul of Fanime; without Stage Zero, the concourse would just be a place to get from Point A to Point B. Thanks to everyone for making Fanime Con what it is.

This will be our last Fanime Con for a while. We will miss all of you! Here's to 2013 and we'll see you at the con!

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