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I first heard about Anime Expo about 3 or 4 years ago but I was never able to attend, mostly because I never had anyone to drive me there(Anaheim is about an hour and a half drive from where I live, and my mom could never take me because she hates going on freeways and, being from New York, she doesn't know her way around California very well.) But luckily, my friend Jennifer, whom I had met during my third year of high school, convinced her parents to take her there this year, and she wanted me to come along ^_^ The 2005 AX was from July 1st to the 4th, but we were only going to go for one day, Sunday the 3rd. But hey, it's better than nothing! Jennifer signed up to do volunteer work at AX, which allowed her to get in for free. I decided to just pay the $25 for the one-day pass. After we registered online and decided on what time we should get together and leave, we eagerly waited for the big day to arrive! ^.^
I had decided to meet Jennifer at her house at about 6:15am so we could get to AX about 8am. That meant I had to get up bright and early at 5am! ^^,,, But I was really excited anyway, so it didn't matter(Jennifer only lives a few minutes away from my house.) Unfortunately, we didn't have any costumes, so I just decided to wear one of my Inuyasha T-shirts(I let Jennifer borrow one of my other ones.) And so, after we got all our things together, we hit the road! After we arrived in Anaheim, I was surprised by how close the convention center was to Disneyland(they're literally just a few blocks away.) The convention center was enormous! It had three huge, wide floors with big stairways and escalators, and it was very clean and nicely carpeted. Yeah, pretty much everything about it was clean and big, even the bathrooms ^^,,, Outside the convention center there were two fancy hotels, the Hilton and the Marriot, one on each side(I think the two hotels were there to accomadate both the people at the convention center and at Disneyland.) I know the location may not seem that special, but for someone like me who has hardley ever left the San Fernando Valley where I live, something like this is very impressive ^^,,, Anyway, after Jennifer got set up for her volunteer work at the registration room in the Marriot, her parents said they would pick us up there at 8pm. Jennifer's volunteer work was to be 4 hours, with a break after the first 2 hours. While she waited for her volunteer assignement, I decided to go to the convention center to pick up my badge. By now it was still pretty early, just a little bit after 8, and there was hardly anyone around. I had to go to Hall E(another large, wide room) to pick up my badge. Luckily, since it was early, the line wasn't too long. At first they couldn't find me in the computer, which freaked me out, but they eventually found me. I thought I was gonna get off to a bad start ^^,,,
After I got my badge, I headed back to the Marriot. Inside, a lot more volunteers had arrived and were waiting for their assignments while watching the Studio Ghibli movie The Cat Returns, which was playing in the registration room at the time. I told Jennifer that I was going to go to some of the events and that I would check back with her later. After I looked at the schedule of events for the day, I decided to go to the Viz Media Anime Panel, which started at 10am. By now, it was barely 9 o' clock and, since pretty much no other event started until 10, I decided to just hang around the convention center for a while. More people were arriving now, some with great costumes. I took a few photos, walked around on the 3rd floor terrace, sat on one of the lounges and read through the AX magazines, and just killed time until 10.
Finally, the doors to the panel room opened and I took a seat towards the front. There weren't too many people there, but I did find a group of great cosplayers and got some good shots of them ^_^ The only reason I decided to go to the Viz panel was because I like a lot of the anime that Viz produces in America(and I might want to work for them one day? ~_^) Anyway, the panel was pretty much made up of a couple of people(with video screens as visual aids) talking about Viz's plans for some upcoming anime releases. I was pleased with a lot of the releases, like the Saikano OVA, one of Rumiko Takahashi's older series' Maison Ikkoku, the live-action Japanese movie Kamikaze Girls, Zatch Bell on DVD(not uncut yet, but the uncut DVDs might eventually be released depending on how well sales of the edited version turn out), and not just the 3rd Inuyasha movie, but the rights to all of the Inuyasha music CDs as well! ^_^ They explained that since Viz had recently merged with the Japanese company ShoPro, their connections with the Japanese market and products is much greater. But probably the most interesting bit of news was that, along with their release of the 3rd Inuyasha movie in September, they're going to have a sort of Inuyasha tour bus that will travel to 15 different Wal-Marts across the country and allow people to watch the movie in a theater room on the bus. Wow, that's pretty new huh? ^^,,, After the presentation, people took turns asking them questions. And just as I thought, someone asked them about their release of Naruto on Toonami. They explained that they will have to do edits for scenes of blood, etc., but nothing that should affect the actual storyline. They're also going to air it late on Toonami, so that it will sort of be borderline between Toonami and Adult Swim. Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
The Viz Media Manga Panel was going to start right after the Anime one, but I decided to skip it. I went back to the Marriot to check on Jennifer but she wasn't there, so I figured they had an assignment for her and she was working somewhere at the Expo. Since she didn't have a cell phone, there was no way I could get in contact with her. So I decided to just keep checking the volunteer room in case she came back, or I might find her at the convention somewhere. Afterwards I went to the Manga Library inside the Marriot, but they didn't have as much as I thought(and I was a bit too excited at the time to just sit quietly and read manga ^^,,,) so I didn't stay very long. By now I was getting a bit hungry so I picked up a donut and a bag of chips(not the healthiest snack in the world) from a food cart in the convention center. After I was finished eating, I checked the schedule of events again to figure out where I wanted to go next. The famous Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto was going to perform a live concert at the convention center later in the day. But unlike most other events, you needed a special ticket in order to attend the concert and the line to get the tickets was incredibly long! And not only that, even if you were able to get a ticket, if you wanted to get a good seat you had to arrive about an hour and a half earlier and just wait there, since you weren't allowed to save seats. Even though I would've liked to see the concert, I wasn't dying for it, and I decided that I'd rather spend those hours checking out other anime events. I really wanted to find anime stores where I could shop. I found out that the Exhibit Hall was the place for that. At first, I thought it was just going to be a small area that had two or three booths that sold your average anime products, like DVDs and manga. But as soon as I walked into Hall B, where the Exhibit Hall was being held, I couldn't have been more wrong!
I have never seen anything like the Anime Expo Exhibit Hall. It was like an anime fan's dream come true! Imagine an enormous room about the size of an entire Wal-Mart filled with over 30 different booths that were selling nothing but all kinds of anime and manga products. That basically sums up the Exhibit Hall! ^.^ Pretty much every single company that sells and produces anime in America had their own booth there: Geneon, Funimation, Viz, Bandai, Suncoast, Tokyo Pop, ADV...they were all there! Not only were the companies selling their anime and manga products, but they were also showing many of their anime on large movie screens at their booths, holding contests to win prizes, letting people sample the latest anime video games(like the first One Piece and Zatch Bell games and the newest Inuyasha and Gundam Seed games that are coming to the US soon), and there were tables set up where people could play anime trading card games. And also, some of the voice actors from a few of the companies were giving out autographs. I was lucky enough to meet Moneca Stori(the voice of Kagome from Inuyasha) and get an autographed Inuyasha poster from her ^^ The rest of the booths were of anime retail stores, like Anime Castle and Cartoon Passion, most of which specialized in hard-to-get imported anime products. And a few of the other booths featured art galleries, special computers where people could draw their own anime right on the screen, cosplay outfits for sale, information for learning Japanese, and so much other stuff!
Probably what was most impressive about the Exhibit Hall was the sheer amount and variety of anime and manga products being sold at the different booths. Everything from your basic anime DVDs and manga graphic novels, to key chains, shirts, cosplay outfits and accessories, pencil boards, all kinds of plushies, pins, posters, art books, clocks, action figures, calendars, folders, notepads, mugs, animation cels, wall scrolls, bags, and every other kind of product you could ever want! And not only was there so much stuff, but pretty much everything was relatively cheap. Very few of the booths charged tax and some imported products(like a 22" Inuyasha plushie that I bought, which would normally cost between $35 and $40), were much cheaper(it only cost $25! ^^) And some of the booths charged different prices for the same product, so it helped to go to all the booths first before deciding on what to buy. Truth to say, with so many different anime products at such great prices, I went a little crazy ^^,,, By the time I finished exploring every booth, I had a whole bag full of stuff that was almost too heavy for me to carry! I mostly bought imported products, like pencil boards, key chains, and plushies, that I knew I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. But considering that I wanted pretty much everything I saw there, deciding on what and what not to buy was tough! I could have easily spent every dollar I owned there, but I had to control myself ^^,,,
After finally getting my fill of the Exhibit Hall, I took my Santa Clause-size bag of stuff and headed back to the Marriot to rest for a bit and check up on Jennifer. She still wasn't there but I was pretty sure she was done with her volunteer work by now. I waited there for a little while before going back to the convention center to look for her. After a while I thought that she might have gone to the Exhibit Hall too, so I headed back there to look(and to buy more stuff ^^,,,) After browsing through all the booths again(I just couldn't get enough of that place XD) I started realizing how tired I was getting(it wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have that huge bag of stuff to carry ^^,,,) so I went back to the convention center to sit for a while. Finally, Jennifer managed to contact me by calling my cell phone from a phone in the hotel and she told me she was at the Hilton. I headed over there and found her in the lobby(she had met up with a couple of her other friends there.) We went to the lounge area for a while to rest and catch up on what we had each been doing. She had finished her volunteer work early so she had gone to the Kimono Demonstration event(where they teach you about kimonos, how to fold them, etc.) and to the Exhibit Hall for a little while. But she had only bought a couple of things there, and after I showed her all the stuff I bought, she wanted to go back and buy more ^^,,,
And so I headed back to the Exhibit Hall(for the third time now!) and I showed Jennifer where the best booths were(I was getting to know the place pretty well by now =P) And after once again browsing through all the different booths, she bought some more stuff(and sadly enough, so did I ^^,,,) On our way out, we stopped by the photo booth and printed some pictures, but just as we were about to leave, Jennifer spotted a Howl's Moving Castle poster that she really wanted. But there was only one way to get it; first, you had to stand inside a small phone booth-like enclosure that had a bunch of strips of paper on the floor. Then the guy would press a button and air would blow up from under the booth and cause all the papers to fly around the booth. What you had to do was grab as many of the red strips of paper as you could in 15 seconds, but it was hard since the air was scattering the paper all over the place. Surprisingly, Jennifer did better than most of the people ahead of her and she was able to get the poster ^_^(as well as a Hamtaro poster and a watch, LOL.) After that, we decided to call it a day and we headed back to the Hilton to have dinner.
After stuffing ourselves at a nice little restaurant inside the Hilton, we were both getting pretty tired so we decided to spend the rest of our evening at AX watching some of the anime that was being shown in the four different video rooms at the Marriot. We decided to go to Video Room 4 where Ranma 1/2 was supposed to be shown about 7pm. There was hardly anyone in the room when we got there, but for some reason another anime was playing instead of Ranma. Also, the movie's sound was painfully loud, so we decided to go to Video Room 3 and watch the Fushigi Yugi: Eikoden OVA instead. Unlike Room 4, Room 3 was almost all filled but we managed to find a couple of good seats. I had already seen this Fushigi Yugi OVA before, but watching it in a large dark room on a big screen was great! ^_^ It ended a few minutes before 8, which gave us time to get back to the lobby of the Marriot, meet up with Jennifer's parents, and start heading home after a most rewarding and exciting day! =)
Even though this was my first anime convention and it only lasted for 12 hours, it was definitely one of the most fun and worthwhile days I've had in quite some time. Not only did I discover more anime products, information, and events than I could ever imagine, but the sheer number of dedicated fans of all ages that were there was amazing. As I expected, there were mostly people around my age(ages 15 to 25), but there were also plenty of older people as well(and some children too of course.) But I think what's most gratifying about something like Anime Expo is the great feeling of unspoken intimacy that's felt between everyone there. Even though anime is somewhat popular, it is not generally well-known, accepted, or even fully understood in American society. So what's most difficult for a lot of fans is being able to express their love for anime and to talk about it without feeling alienated from the average public. So attending something like Anime Expo, and being surrounded by thousands of people that you know share the same interest you do, is a great(and rare) opportunity. It's a hard feeling to explain, but knowing what all the people around you are most passionate about without even talking to them, and being able to relate to that passion and discuss it with them without feeling awkward, is definitely something that all anime fans should experience at least once ^_^ Anime Expo(and any other anime convention for that matter) is like going to a whole new private society outside mainstream American society, where the people, though they are all different and are passionate about anime in different ways, can all feel connected and relate to each other, without having to feel embarassed to express their interest to its full extent. It's a very special experience that doesn't come around very often, so I encourage every dedicated fan to attend at least one anime convention in their life. I will definitely never forget by brief but rewarding time at Anime Expo 2005, and I'm looking forward to a much longer(and maybe even better) time in 2006! ^__^V