Saturday morning we woke up a little late. It was pretty cold outside and it looked like rain. We had a “go with what feels right” mentality about cosplaying and that led to us going the old school route with Karino and Ayaka from Phantom Quest Corps. Victoria quickly found out that this may not have been the best choice while waiting for the shuttle due to the cold weather. Thankfully, my trenchcoat helped keep her warm.

The shuttle eventually arrived and we got on. We were a bit annoyed at how long it took, but compared to walking the day before it was an acceptable alternative. Upon arrival, we saw that the crowd had already arrived. From the outside we could tell that the convention center was gong to be crowded today. We began the day by taking photos while making our way through the dealer's hall.

One of the things that caught our eyes as we wandered the dealer's hall was the loud music and flashy swordplay of a lightsaber vender. They had a roped off area where several guys showed off some moves with their replica blades while music pumped in the background.

We had planned to hit the Voice Acting 201 panel, but we got the wrong time and when we arrived at the panel room we showed up just in time for the beginning of the International Cosplay Panel. Although we came by accident it ended up being one of our favorite panels of the convention. The panel consisted of two cosplayers from France, two from Mexico, and the host. It was interesting to hear how cosplay is viewed in different countries and how events like masquerade are very different in other countries.

A fun surprise was running into Kokusyoku Sumire in the middle of the dealer's hall. Meeting the musical guests of honor as they handed out promo CDs and took pictures with attendees was a nice change from the usual long lines for autographs at meet and greet events. Both members of Kokusyoku Sumire are very sweet and we had a fun time meeting them.

We got a call from our friend and team member Julia who recently moved to New York for school. She had just arrived and we went to meet her. Meeting up with Julia helped make an already enjoyable day that much better. We talked for a bit about her time in New York as we went shopping for wallscrolls, plushies, and smut. After our shopping trip we grabbed some lunch and enjoyed a show by the maids on the Apple Kissa Stage in the middle of the hall. They did a few dances which was very fun to watch while eating our lunch. The maids were great and are some of the sweetest and most friendly maids we have met this year.. They have a very fun and light hearted demeanor akin to that of the Ichigo Maids (Anime Vegas). Also we got a kick out of some of the names of the maid events such as: “Wow, that’s a lot of Maids”, “Still Like Maids? Here’s Some More” and “No More Maids (After This)”. We had a great time watching the maids throughout the weekend and the Scarlet Rhapsody team hopes this remains part of New York Anime Fest.

After the maid show we continued our lunch while watching member of the Byakokan Dojo give a sword demonstration. It was pretty cool seeing people show the art of Japanese swordsmanship in a live setting. There was a display of both stances and combat maneuvers. It was a very exciting way to end our lunch.

After the sword demonstrations we decided to take another look around the hall so Julia could pick up a few final things. Lastly we hit the Artist Alley on our way to the panel room for Voice Acting 201.

The three of us (Julia, Victoria, and Jared) made our way into the panel room and sat down ready for our next lesson in voice acting.

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