Where do I begin? This is the part where I get sentimental and reflect on the good times during Easter Weekend 2009 in the Emerald City. This was my first convention without my usual partner, Tom. However, I still had a great press team to work with - Sarah and Jared. As mentioned on the report, I owe a huge thank you to Hector for introducing me to Sakura Con in the first place. A thank you to Claudine for persuading me to go to an out of the box out of state con. A thank you to Stan, Traveling Valentine press assistant, for convincing me to choose Sakura Con over AniZona because it would be a great chance to see Bay Area people I do not get to see often. On the day Stan convinced me, I officially met Jared. It was not until a month later, Jared mentioned that Sakura Con is where the cool Los Angeles cosplayers go. With all that said, I was very happy that I made the decision to finally go to Sakura Con. I had originally intended to go back in 2007, but Tales of Anime conflicted on the same weekend.

If I could reccomend any constructive advice to Sakura Con, it would be to have the masquerade, or "cosplay contest" at a better timeslot. I do not think it is fair that cosplayers who want to compete have to be up in the wee hours of the morning for call time. While I understand the Sakura Con focuses more on concerts, having the event in the later part of the afternoon (say...4PM or 5PM?) would make more sense if Sakura Con wanted to leave concerts as the main Saturday night event.

I am rather impressed that Sakura Con had a wonderful guest of honor line up. We had two prominent Japanese popular music acts - Girugamesh and Hangry & Angry performing. Not to mention, we had Smile.dk of Dance Dance Revolution fame performance as well. I have looked at the Guest of Honor line up for upcoming California conventions and I am not impressed. I was rather happy to attend a voice actors press conference with Sarah. Though I do regret missing out on the Saturday voice actors press conference due to a sickness in my hotel party.

What makes Sakura Con a breath of fresh air? Well, stopping around and smelling the roses helps! I have seen a variety of costumes from different anime and manga series through the course of one short weekend. California tends to focus on what is popular on the stateside and across the Pacific. It made me very happy to see a Nadia group on day one. This is also one of the few conventions I have attended where there were interesting panels that I would have loved to have been a part of. I have heard good things about Anime That Scarred Me For Life and I still can't help but keep my curiousity with Adult Voice Acting (featuring Kappei Yamaguchi, Japanese veteran voice actor for Ranma, Inuyasha, and L to name a few).

I enjoyed the hall dedicated to the AMV events. The event's location was very fitting to the title of the con. Cherry blossom trees were plentyful in the Emerald City. The garden outside had trees in full bloom. Even driving around town, we saw many cherry blossom trees. Sakura Con is one of the few conventions that live up to their name. Anime Los Angeles just recently found it's home in Los Angeles after years of being in Van Nuys and one year in Burbank. What happened to the magic in AniMagic?

Claudine said it best, "We Californians have to go out of state to really enjoy ourselves." I liked Sakura Con's relaxed enviroment. The people were very friendly. It was almost a culture shock to me that hotel staff and restaurant staff offered great customer service to cosplayers and otaku. This is a foreign concept to most Californian conventions where cosplayers at Denny's or Mel's are looked down upon. In general, I felt that the cosplay scene was much more creative. It was nice to see Gijinka Pokemon still going strong when it was just a passing fad in California.

Of course, I have to thank my friends for creating lasting memories. It was nice seeing a few of my local Seattle friends and a few of my Bay Area friends. Thanks to Claudine for oraganizing the doll gatherings. Thanks to the Baccano! crew for organizing the cosplay gathering (and thanks for the free swag). It was great talking to many of you at the convention. Most of all, I would like to continue to thank my press team for all their hard work.

If you would like to keep in contact, feel free to add me on Facebook , follow my sweet tweets, or shoot me an email (v @ scarlet-rhapsody.com). Otherwise, I will be attending Fanime, Anime Expo, and possibly Otakon this year.

If every anime convention had the brain, the heart, and the courage of Sakura Con, fandom would be a magical place.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody (formerly Traveling Valentine). If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Wicked Queen. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.