Nate's Report: Anime Expo 2013 Review

Alright so I have pretty much told you all of the things that happened over at Anime Expo this year. Now it's time to take it into a serious note and review this con entirely. So lets get to it!

Well being that it is my first time going to Anime Expo, I have to say I am pretty impressed on most of the things around the Expo. But there are some things that I must address.

First off is the staff or the people who are wearing those red shirts giving order to the people roaming AX. I've really had a hard time knowing where to stand or to see a panel because these guys have confused me on things around AX. For example, going into the Exhibit Hall on day 1. One guy would deny my permission even if I was holding a press badge. But another guy would tell me that I have to go to this line that was for "Premier" fans only. For your information, people with Premier, Press, and other special admissions are able to get into Exhibit Hall an hour earlier before the scheduled open time. So in this case, why didn't this line go in yet? It looks like this whole entire line thing is a fiasco. Either no one told these guys about press going in early or something, I was just confused and it wasn't until I expressed my concern that other members of the blog was already in to gain permission into Exhibit Hall. Not only that, there was one red shirt who was threatening to confiscate one of my blog mates megaphone that he would use in a gathering he hosted later in the day. Really guys? He isn't using it inside the expo! And your already treating him like some sort of terrorist? Chill down. There are more things that you guys should be concerned about. Although the biggest concern for me to these guys is assuming that a room will be full. It happened during The Garden of Words premiere where I was told that I could not get in. I even told them I was in press and I was still denied! Not only that but they didn't tell me there was another line I could have went into in order to get in. Red shirts, here's a tip for you! Do not assume the whole room will be full. Just tell us where to fall in line and we'll just see if we can get in. I just hate the fact they would just say "you can't get in" even if I asked many times about ways to get in. It assumes that you are being rude and is not very impressive to me that you would act like that to not only me, but maybe other attendees who are also wanting to get in. But yes these people are the main concern in this Expo. If there was like a meeting of all staff explaining thoroughly everyone's roles prior to the Expo doors opening, maybe we would not have these kind of problems.

I'm also want to place my concern about the peace bonding rules. My guns were denied by the table when I was cosplaying Death the Kid. They said that it is an airsoft gun and since it is able to lock and shoot, it isn't a weapon that can be peace bonded according to AX. I find it to be unfair that my gun surely shown to be an BB gun (orange tip) would be denied. I even told them that it is for my character who has dual wield guns yet they still don't care. I guess they have more strict rules to peace bonding than Fanime has. Still though, I am a nice guy and I wouldn't go all out and bring BBs and shoot attendees. They should probably re look at those rules again.

Other than that, the other parts of AX looks good. Registration looks to go by very fast, at least 30 minutes according to my friends. It isn't as bad as Fanime where they had to wait 6 hours to get their badge! The Exhibit hall is huge and it is because everything is in there: The industry booths, dealer's hall, autographs, and artist alley. It does tend to get overcrowded, but that's because there's just so many attendees going into the hall. Maybe they should think about a way to get more room into that hall. But it's not that big of a problem. I still had a good time in that hall and that's what counts. Every panel I went to was very entertaining. The scheduling was good as I was able to attend most of the panels I planned to go to. The Entertainment hall is very huge to have an arcade, video gaming, table top gaming, and the cosplays sets. There is possibilities to add more things in this hall considering the massive room they have in here. Cosplay gatherings were timed in a proper way that I was able to go my gatherings without any conflict. All the cosplays were amazing. I didn't have time to check out the video rooms or karaoke rooms so I can't give my review of that there.

Overall, I knew this con was going to be amazing. Anime Expo is definitely what it is, the biggest convention in North America. And to me, the best convention on the west coast. So many fun things to do there and it's what motivates me to have an awesome time at AX. There is never a dull time in this expo. There is always something to do at AX, there's never a boring moment.  I was able to meet up with my good friends from Nor-Cal as well as meet some new So-Cal friends as well. Without them, my AX wouldn't have been great. So yes, AX definitely lived up to being one of the top cons to visit in my books. And I have decided to come back again next year! It was that awesome.

Well that ends my reporting for Anime Expo 2013. It has been a grand time over at Los Angeles and it's gonna be along year until I get back. But until then, stay classy LA.