FanimeCon 2011 Report: Part 2 - Friday (Day One)

Much like Thursday after we checked into the hotel, we had a lot of free time before Opening Ceremonies at 2pm. Most of the staff members wanted to sleep in since nothing was happening, but I got up to take some early morning photos.

I also took some photographs of the gatherings we would be attending this weekend.

By the time we ate lunch, we couldn't wait for Opening Ceremonies to start.

We were first treated to some Cirque du Soleil-type performance, which was really cool.

Then it was time to get down to Opening Ceremonies business.

Unfortunately, me and Ryan had to bail on Opening Ceremonies for the Ouran High School Host Club Gathering, so we don't have any photos of Guest of Honor introduced after Tohru Furuya like GASHICON or Halko Momoi.

After the "failure" of last year, we moved back into the 2009 location and we brought less apple cider for the champagne shot. Compared to last year, this year was much better although most of us agreed that this might of been the last time that we run this gathering given how much the fandom has shrunk.

After Ouran is done, we go back upstairs and while I change into Kyohei Kadota Dotachin from Durarara!!, Ryan changes into Ryu from the Street Fighter franchise. Both of us are debuting new cosplay here at FanimeCon 2011, something we were both looking forward to.

Right after we both change, we head downstairs to the Fighting Games Gathering.

We have some time between this gathering and the Karaoke Contest, so this allows me to go over to Artists Alley to get my chibi badge for this year's Fanime. I changed into Dotachin just for this purpose.

We wanted to check out Tom Gifford's performance at this year's Karaoke Contest, and we were lucky to have him go early so that we didn't have to miss out on the rest of the evening's festivities.

Tom sang pretty well, but didn't crack the Top 10 and a spot in the Finals. I heard though that was borderline Top 10 material, which gives him that more motivation to perform next year.

With Dealers Hall about to close in a couple of hours, me and Ryan decide to check out what was this year's offerings.

Yesterday, we looked hard to find FLOW's new album, Anime Best. This dealer had them selling for $25, and since I really wanted that CD I bought it before they eventually sold out during the weekend. I also should of picked up a Yuya Matsushita CD while I was there, but by the time I really wanted one they were sold out too.

Outside, the masses were gathering for a late-night gathering involves lots and lots of food.

Ryan and I had the opportunity to meet Ackson Lee, also known as acksonl on YouTube. Once he puts up all his videos from FanimeCon, I'll put them up in a separate post.

Now it was time for us to march on over to Jack in the Box for the moment.

After chowing down at the Taco Party, it was time to wind down Day One. We had a lot to do tomorrow bright and early, so we tried not to stay up too late.

-Friday (Day One) End-