I remembered spending days at a time watching epic animes like Monster or Naruto, although it has pretty much gave way to a career, and well, a life. Paying 8 dollars for the basic entry to day 3 of the event, my expectations were high for a “regional” event such as this. But alas, celebrating anime never seemed so unexciting, as I walked around the booths or lack thereof.
Cosplayers getting interviewed live.
Nico Nico Douga, a popular video sharing website in Japan, had one of the more interesting booths that had a host doing interviews which were streamed live online. Comments from netizens can be seen in real-time. Another more useful one was the AKB48 booth, selling official merchandises, as well as tickets to an autograph session with the members. There was also a seemingly popular butler and maid cafe, each with a snaking queue. A quick look inside revealed a tamer version of what you could expect in Japan. I did not bother joining the queue. Shopping was out of the question as well, as none of the merchandise, consisting mainly of character figurines and anime memorabilia, appealed to me.
I did, however, enjoy taking pictures of the throngs of cosplayers, in permanent character pose. The costumes weren’t bad. One or two stood out, the rest tried their best.
Victorique from Gosick. I wonder how many cupcakes she had that day.
Sugar, spice and everything nice indeed.
Too hot.
See all pictures here.
