It was a few days ago now, but I will try to recall the events of Fanime. Where to begin? I’ll start with Saturday, since I didn’t go on Friday.
Saturday May 24
I took the train to San Jose that day. From the train station we (me and wiggy1770) walked to the convention center. When we got there, we were really glad that we had pre-registered, because the registration line was huge!
Anyway, once we had gotten inside, I was in a bit of a state of shock. I’d never been to a con before, so it was pretty overwhelming. At first, we just wandered around. There was nothing we wanted to watch that day, so we looked at the exhibition rooms. First we went to the artist’s alley. I don’t have much to say about that, since I didn’t really spend that much time in there. After that, we went to the game room, where we marveled at the skill of the DDR players. Then, I think we went out to lunch, which is hard to do in San Jose, where there are relatively few restaurants.
Anyway, we went back to the con center after lunch, and went to the dealer’s room. We wandered around a lot, and eventually got around to buying a large amount of manga. Large for us anyway. I’m sure some people buy in bulk all the time. Anyway, what we bought was volumes 8-12 of Cromartie High School (which is hard to find (in bookstores, at least), and not well-heard of, but awesome) and three volumes of Rising Stars of Manga (which is also hard to find in bookstores), because there was an eight for $60 sale, and I like anthologies like that.
Sunday May 25
On the next day, I had the courage to cosplay! I guess a big part of anime conventions is taking pictures of cosplayers. I had my picture taken three times, got hugged by fangirls, and got a high-five. Anyway, we arrived relatively early that day so that we could watch some of the CLANNAD marathon (which started at 5:30AM.) There still a few episodes I missed, though, since I had only seen the first four episodes, and had arrived too late to see episodes 5-14. But it’ll almost certainly be licensed, so I’m not worried about missing out. Overall, CLANNAD is a really good series, but I think the last episode felt kind of tacked on. It was called the “extra” episode, but I still think they should have included the after story arc instead, or something. Maybe they wanted to end the series on a happy note. Wiggy was surprised that no one had died by the end of it.
After that, we had an hour and a half before Zoku Sayonara Sensei would be on, so we got lunch at Lollicup, a vendor in the con center. The spring rolls were good, but my milk tea was really, really sweet. After that, we wandered around the dealer’s room a bit more. I think all we bought that day was volume one of Kanon, because our local Best Buy only has 2-4, and we’re too lazy to shop online or something.
Anyway, when we did get to see ZSZS, it was awesome. Especially Kafka’s messed-up Traumerei lyrics.
Monday May 26
The last day of the con, and everything was winding down. we had just gone to see the CLANNAD movie, but the Naruto movie was running late, so we watched the last 30 minutes of that first. It was a bit cheesy, but nevertheless caused a lot of screaming from fangirls, especially when Kakashi and Shikamaru appeared onscreen. Not so for Rock Lee. There is no justice. Also, the last bit after the credits was kind of cheesy… Naruto missed the point completely when Shion said she wanted him to help her pass down her miko powers.
Anyway, as for the actual CLANNAD movie, I think I like the series better overall, but I prefer the ending of the movie. Some of the scenes in the movie were kind of corny, usually induced by cheesy music. Still, I think the ending was more climactic, even if it was more depressing. I hear the original game is even sadder, though.
And that was my con experience in a nutshell. I’ll make sure to come back next year.
Also, for pictures of cosplayers, go to this website: http://www.oscarc.net/photo/fanime08/album.html
The picture of me hasn’t been uploaded yet. If you know me, you’ll know which one it is.
Cool! I can tell that it’s a really well made costume, but sadly I haven’t been watching enough anime lately to be able to tell who it is. I wish they’d put captions underneath the photos.
It’s Misha from Pita Ten. Wiggy spent many laborious hours slaving over it, piecing it together from many patterns and improvising where necessary (even though she is by no means a skilled seamstress), and in the process learned how to make gigot sleeves (a royal pain in the keister!) She is particularly proud of the cute bunnies on the hat.
Oh… No resturaunts????? You must have not gone to Santana Row. That is where all the resturaunts are. There is even a big borders there. It is the better part of san jose. Also I have a quick question. Do you like Fraice (which is apparently pronounced FRESH lol) or do you like Red Mango?
I haven’t been to Red Mango yet, but so far I like Fraice a lot. Also, that previous comment was written by Wiggy, not me.
Sounds like so much fun~! They showed some ZSZS, huh? Interesting choice ^__^ Also, which Naruto movie did they show? (inb4 ‘WHICH ONE? LOL’)
They showed the Naruto Shippuden movie. I know ZSZS isn’t the most mainstream series, but I’m glad they showed it.