I had such a blast! First time ever at Anime Expo! I never thought I would be able to make it to a big convention like this, but when Need Input was accepted for presentation, I was so excited to finally be given the chance to to go to Anime Expo! I would have to say my major highlights were:
!) Sailor Moon Meet and Greet and premiere of the new English dub Sailor Moon Crystal R! I met so many gorgeous cosplays, the room was full of Sailor Scouts! Because it’s comfy and was really warm in LA, I wore Sailor Neptune for almost the whole day! Here’s some pics from the meet up and from strolling around the convention!
2) Inafune Surprise! – I found out very late on Friday morning that a bunch of my hotel mates were going to wake up early on Saturday morning to go in wait for autographs for Keiji Inafune – THE MEGA MAN GUY. Turns out my boyfriend is a huge Mega Man fan and what else was I gonna do on Saturday morning? So I got up at 4:30 am and went and waited in line to get tickets for his autograph. After managing to wait in line until 9:00am, I managed to get a ticket! I spent some more time and I found a kickass wall scroll that I had Inafune sign. Even though it wasn’t for me, it’s still an emotional moment when you’re inches away from a living video game legend.
3) MY PANEL OMG – I got to run Need Input! at Anime Expo! Still can’t believe how far I’ve come with this little panel! My turn out was minimal, but there were still a lot of very heartfelt moments and I got some amazing responses from people. I tried out a lot of new questions for the first time and even some interactive experiments to really get people to talk to each other as opposed to just talking at me. I also go to debut my new gijinka Ampharos!
All in all, it was a wonderful experience to have and a great event to be a part of. I’m not sure if I’ll make the time and effort to go back again any time soon, but at least I can now say I have ran a panel at Anime Expo!!!
-KLR
Red Leaf Cosplay 