Into the world of anime
A journal of Anime Expo, the nation's largest anime convention
By Alvina Yeh, staff writer
July 31, 2007
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Photo by Alvina Yeh Cosplay, or costume play, is popular at Anime Expo. Here, a man dresses like Spike from "Cowboy Bebop."

Saturday, June 30
Lucky Day! The initial excitement of hemorrhaging money for anime collectibles subsided enough for us to walk into the exhibit hall without waiting in line. The massive hall sold anything an anime-loving heart could desire: art books, figurines, life-size sword replicas, rare soundtracks and, of course, hentai – Japanese animated pornography. I should’ve taken our Sacramento friends’ advice for some fun – walking by the hentai booths yelling out, “For shame! I saw you looking at 'Sibling Secrets Part 3!'” – but I didn’t have the guts.

After walking through less than a quarter of the booths, I decided to leave to check out “The Art of Glowsticking” – a workshop where surely I could learn some fantastic dance moves. When we got there, it was reminiscent of the prior night’s “dance” so we decided to leave for Artist’s Alley – where dozens of artists showcased and sold their prints, bookmarks, stickers and other goodies.

We left that area with our wallets a little thinner to get into yet another line – this time for the SOS Brigade concert. It was another two hours of waiting to watch the voice actresses of the popular “Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi” series talk about and performs songs from the show’s soundtrack. In theory it sounded like a fun event, but unless you were a hardcore fan, it was definitely boring. Believe it or not, the line was more fun – dozens of people in line had their Nintendo DSs out sending each other games and chatting over the built-in wireless connection.

For dinner our local friends took us to the Long Beach pier where we had our first and only decent meal during the entire convention – the rest of the time we ate Beefaroni, cup noodles and PB&J sandwiches that we bought in bulk from the grocery store.

After stuffing ourselves with fresh fish, shrimp and crab we decided to check out the game room again. It is amazing how much more body odor can build up in just one day. While the previous night had no traces of BO at all, this night smelled like walking by a men’s locker room. Are these nerds so consumed with being undefeated in “Capcom Vs. SNK” that they forget to shower? Apparently so. >> continue