Convention: Fanime 2012 @ San Jose

The beginning of the Cosplay Spectacular (Masquerade)

Time: Friday, May 25 to Monday, May 28, 2012 (although there were some pre-con events on Thursday)

Place: San Jose Convention Center, Marriott, and Hilton in San Jose, California

Event Website: http://www.fanime.com/

Just a little heads-up: This post is rather long. If your computer is prone to crashing when you view very long pages, be careful. D:

Finally got to attend the event I’ve been waiting for nearly all year… I went on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I went dressed as Death the Kid from Soul Eater and was accompanied by three of my friends, one of whom cosplayed as Aradia Megido from Homestuck. On Sunday, I was Hong Kong from Axis Powers: Hetalia and went with one friend (the two others stayed home due to studying for finals and to classes they had to attend ): ). Fanime is a really big convention with a ton of different events, so there’s a lot of panels, video showings, and cosplay meet-ups that I haven’t covered here, but I’ll try to give as much as I can. (I did get to see most of the Masquerade, for those of you who didn’t attend it…If you went to the  black & white ball instead, please do tell me about it.)

I was a big wuss so I missed the opportunity to ask many gorgeous cosplayers if I could photograph them…Really, there were tons and tons of cosplayers. Many of them are very skilled and I was really impressed *o* Some of them were in this little corner right outside the convention center, getting photographed by some pro photographers (or so I assume, since the photographers actually bothered to bring huge flashes and such). I saw various little groups of cosplayers dancing as well. Here are two videos by some cosplayers at Fanime – I did catch a glimpse of the three of them but unfortunately was standing in line so I didn’t have the chance to ask them for a photo ):

Here’s some pictures from various cosplay gatherings. I’m still sad that I didn’t see any Kuroko no Basket cosplays…but then again, since Kuroko is so invisible, I probably missed him if he did show up. xD This is just a sampling of the photos; I took many of them but I don’t want to overload this post, so I’ll be submitting the rest to my DeviantArt (: All photos in this post were taken by me unless otherwise stated.

I was very lucky on Saturday because I stumbled upon the Soul Eater gathering. I also took a ton of photos at the Fullmetal Alchemist gathering – how could I resist? It’s still my all-time favorite anime. <3

Do you see the mini Black Star and Tsubaki there? ;D

There were tons of Pokemon cosplayers at Fanime… o_o;;

Sorry for the sucky angle here D:

And another shot of the Persona gathering.

Legend of Zelda ~

LOZ again

Dynasty Warriors…I think?

Tiger & Bunny

Young magical girl is not pleased…Probably because she met Kyubee D:

Assassins everywhere, run for your lives

Hetalia ~

However, as it turns out, cosplaying as Death the Kid can be pretty hazardous. I got trolled so many times… :\ Hong Kong didn’t get any flack from anyone, though.

• While I was walking outside, a FFXIII cosplayer (I think it was a Lightning cosplayer but I don’t remember which of the group had been talking to me) called out, “Not so symmetrical now, are you?” …which was true, considering that I had two bags that did not match, but… ;_; Lightning is actually one of my favorite characters! (My friends tried to console me, though, and assured me that I still had beautiful symmetry)
• A guy dressed as Spike from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic came over to me. The conversation went as follows. Spike: “My sister is 7 years old.” Me: “…” Spike: “And my father is 53 years old.” Me: “…!” Spike: “U mad?” *trollface* (If you didn’t get it, it’s because 8 is a symmetrical number; 7 and 53 are both close to 8, but not quite 8. So of course it’s frustrating to Death the Kid, who worships symmetry.)
•  Another guy, who was waiting in line to register for the convention, asked me if Liz and Patty had dumped me. I just told him that they weren’t symmetrical enough for me :p (Actually, I only saw 1 Liz and 1 Patty during the two days that I was at the con, so there’s not enough of them to go around for all of the Death the Kids…)

There was one kind soul, however: a Korra cosplayer who walked up to me and showed me her very symmetrical stuffed animal. (Someone needs to remind me to start watching the Legend of Korra, by the way.) She told me that if I was ever in a battle and getting freaked out by all the asymmetry, I could just think of her animal (:

And of course I paid a visit to Dealer’s Hall and Artists’ Alley. I had a great time in there, but I can’t say the same for my wallet. xD I actually didn’t buy anything at Dealer’s Hall because back at AODSF, I paid a ton for posters and later realized that it was kind of a waste of money. Same thing goes for the wall scrolls (although I must admit they look glorious on my walls, even if I’m running out of space to put up more of them). I’d actually been considering getting a dakimakura, but there weren’t all that many choices. I suppose I could’ve gotten one of Sebastian Michaelis or of Edward Elric but I didn’t like the picture of Ed that they’d put on the dakimakura. D: And there were some other dakimakura (I think there was at least one of a Togainu no Chi character? Perhaps it was Akira) but I felt it’d be rather embarrassing to be carrying around a picture of a partially-undressed guy… Besides, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to take it into the auditorium for the Masquerade because you’re not supposed to bring big things in unless you’re performing D: I did consider getting some t-shirts instead (such as a Durarara one) but eventually decided against it in order to preserve my funds. I also wanted to get a pillow that had Akemi Homura on it. The guy selling it said, “I was going to sell this for $40 but I’ll give it to you for $35″ but I just said “No thanks” and left, because I suck at haggling and I’m sure I would’ve gotten ripped off. (I would’ve felt really bad if I’d argued with him over the price and then still walked away without buying anything. I already always feel a little guilty every time I browse at a store for a long time but then leave without buying D: )

As for Artists’ Alley, I bought a ton of stuff there! Pretty much all art prints and posters, except for one pencil box. I saw a ton of artists that I recognize from DeviantArt such as yuumei, cartoongirl7, hakuku, rondeau, blix-it, fayrenpickpocket, zetallis, korilin, caramellon, twitchhhhh, phr34kish, itachoko, KataChan, awaicu, chikinnugets, Ununununium, jaysanzo,  JokerKillJoy, Futomakki, Orangetavi, seenday, and many others whose usernames I can’t remember right now :\ Several of the artists were people I’d seen at AODSF earlier this year. (: My friends I bought several posters from yuumei since we’re pretty much all Knite fans…On Saturday, we had to wait for quite a while in the line/crowd at her stand, but it seemed to have cleared up on Sunday. That’s probably because several of the prints had already sold out, though. o: One of my friends had also wanted to get an Avengers print from a different artist but that was sold out too ): (And I seriously need to watch the Avengers. I’ll probably see it right after school lets out this year D: )

The only panel that I attended this time was one about studying abroad in Japan, which is something I’d like to try someday (except I seriously need to learn a lot more Japanese first :\ ). I’d also considered attending one about Miku (but I guess that’s a given seeing how many posts on Vocaloid songs I’ve done xD), a Hetalia panel, and the cosplay makeup and photography panels, but I ended up missing them. Oh well, maybe another time. D:

I also paid a visit to the karaoke room. I’d expected there to be several karaoke machines set up, but as it turned out, there are a ton of chairs set up for the audience and then people go up to the stage and sing. Way too scary for me. ;_; But I guess if I’d had a big group of friends we could’ve gone up and sang together. There was one lady who did a really good job – not sure exactly what song but it sounded like it might’ve come from Ali Project. And there was also a duo that Cendrillon (:

I was a little annoyed when I later found out that I’d missed some interesting events: the flash mob and the Kirby fight. There was a flash mob about 1 pm in the lobby of the convention center where a ton of people danced in tandem to Happy Synthesizer. You can watch a video of it here and also here at about 2:23 in the video. As for the Kirby fight, well, two Kirby cosplayers had been leaping at each other. xD I dunno if anyone’s uploaded any videos of it, but my friend’s friend did record some on her camera.

Here are some shots of places I walked to:

Artists’ Alley

Artists’ Alley

Dealer’s Hall

Near “Stage Zero”

The aforementioned area with trees where photographers were working

Another view from the area with trees

Wonder what was going on over there?

A guy protesting against Fanime D:

All the walking around we’d done was really hurting my feet after a while. And of course we also needed to get something to eat during our time at the convention in order to keep up our energy. On Saturday we ate at Johnny Rockets, which is pretty close to the convention center, just a couple minutes of walking. We split chili fries amongst the four of us and I ate half of a burger. On Sunday, I went to Smile Sushi with my friend (also not that far from the convention, but it was certainly further than Johnny Rockets). I planned to get some taiyaki from the convention in the afternoon, but unfortunately right when I went to the stand, they were already out of ingredients and couldn’t make any more taiyaki ):

Sunday evening was something I was really anticipating, though, because that’s when the Cosplay Spectacular (a.k.a. Masquerade) takes place. They were supposed to start letting people into the Civic Auditorium at 6 pm and the show was supposed to start at 6:30, but both ending up being late. The line was really long! It went all the way down the street and wrapped around the side and  back of the Tech Museum…I was really worried that we weren’t going to be able to get a seat. I hope no one was turned away at the door after waiting in that atrocious line D:

Unfortunately, filming is not allowed at the Masquerade and I was too far away (and too short! x_x ) to get any good shots of it. I didn’t get to see the entire Masquerade because I had to leave early :\

The show started off with some introductions of the convention and Masquerade organizers and of our host, Tadao Tomomatsu (he sure shakes hands for a long time… xD). The first performance was actually by a kung fu group, San Jose Wing Chun.

Then the walk-ons began.

• Sheryl Nome – Macross Frontier I’m sorry, I didn’t get any good shots of it, but it was a lovely cosplay <3
• Princess Peach – Mario It was really cute when she blew a kiss to the crowd. Now if only she had the parasol and a mini Toad o:

• Birdy Cephon Altera – Birdy the Mighty Never watched this anime, but seems interesting.

• Agitha – Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess I haven’t played enough of the game to have seen this character, but I’m going to keep an eye out for her.

• Soah, Habaek, etc. – Bride of the Water God Sorry, there were 2 other cosplayers but I’m not completely sure who they were even though I read this manhwa ;_;

• Black/Touya/Male Trainer – Pokemon Black & White I just wish there was a White/Touko/Female Trainer and N to go along with him. But it was a good cosplay nevertheless.

• Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity (Usagi/Serena Tsukino), and Sailor Chibi Moon (Chibiusa) – Sailor Moon Chibiusa is so pretty <3 And I like the name of this group. They call themselves The Desert Chickens ;D

• ??? It’s a very pretty costume, but I don’t remember what series this was from.

• ??? Again, not sure what series, sorry D:

After the walk-ons came the skits. (These aren’t the official names of the skits)

• Kuroshitsuji Noah’s Ark Circus Seems to be a pretty popular cosplay to do as a group, because I saw two performances of it o:

And now the 2nd performance of Noah’s Ark Circus

• Sailor Moon This was a really nice group, I loved their cosplays. Haha they took a jab at Pluto because she isn’t a planet anymore :p

• Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica I was really trying not to cry while I watched this one. And I want to kill Kyubee. Badly.

And there goes her head ):

• Sion (No.6) vs. Allen Walker (D. Gray-man) I really enjoyed the rap battle between Sion and Allen Walker (really, No.6 and D. Gray-man does make a good cross-over, doesn’t it? o: ) I really need to read or watch D. Gray-man sometime. Is the manga or anime better?

Awwww Nezumi and Sion (:

Kanda and Allen ~

• Megaman and a Power Ranger Shirtless guys in helmets dancing to “I’m Sexy and I Know It”, while having elephant trunk things attached to their pelvic areas…I think I’m scarred for life after seeing this.

• Kallen’s Boob Geass Kallen told Lelouch that she can use Geass too – “boob geass” – and unlike his, it works on the same person more than once xD She ordered a prisoner to do pushups, and he obeyed. Lelouch then commands Kallen to go get him a pizza (ooh, is that for CC?) and battle plans, and at first Kallen laughs at him because he’s already used his Geass on her before, but then it turns out he’d actually used his Geass on the prisoner. So she ends up being made to obey him after all :p

• Summer Wars One group did a performance of Summer Wars, which sent me into full on fangirl mode. KING KAZMA <3333333

YU GI OH ~

• Professor Layton and Kuroshitsuji So here we’ve got Professor Hershel Layton and Luke Triton. Layton gave Luke some tips on how to be a gentleman, but only Sebastian’s really got it down pat :p

• ??? This was pretty cool, especially the whole “different reflection” thing going on there, but I’m not sure what series it is. ):

• Dynasty Warriors They said that the world’s fate rested on the dude’s babysitting skills… o_o;;

• Fist of the North Star The lady (Yuria, I believe?) kept rejecting the guy trying to court her (Shin), and she gave her handkerchief thing to someone – her servant? – but Shin took the handkerchief and ripped it up. Yuria saw it and got really upset…Good performance but left me feeling depressed.

• Mobile Suit Gundam I haven’t watched Gundam so I can’t say anything more specific. D: But it did say “Zeon” on his suit.

• ??? The dragon was a nice touch. I’m not sure what series it’s from, though.

• Panty & Stocking without Garterbelt (at least, I didn’t see him there) The part that I found to be really funny was when Panty suggested that the two of them sing a certain song. Stocking objected because it was a song that is supposed to be sung by 6 guys, but Panty said they could just lip sync it…And so for a few seconds we heard “Doki doki de kowaresou 1000% love!” ahahahaha Uta no Prince-sama is everywhere xD

• Legend of Zelda, Luka Megurine, and Sora I’m not sure of the exact LOZ characters here (well, I know one is Link, I dunno the other one D: ). And there’s of course Luka in her Just Be Friends outfit, as well as Sora from Kingdom Hearts. The poor guy was traumatized when his keyblade was taken away xD

• Pokemon Which professor is this? (Doesn’t look like Oak due to that brown hair but I don’t remember what the other Professors look like. xD)  Anyhow, the Pokemon here all have problems. Pikachu’s upset because Ash keeps losing battles and now they can’t afford food; the one between Pikachu and Machoke (sorry, don’t remember what Pokemon she was x_x ) nearly gets into a fight with Pikachu; Machoke apparently didn’t get buff enough or something; and Jigglypuff thinks people are rude because they always fall asleep when she talks…

• Sandplay Singing of the Dragon So here we have the Vocaloids Miku and Luka. Actually, even though I’ve seen tons of cosplays of the sandplay outfits, I’m not that familiar with the song. (should’ve set a slower shutter speed on my camera, whoopsy daisy)

• Soul Calibur The guy was depressed because he’d lost his weapon or something, so the two girls start singing “Hakuna Matata” to cheer him up. I think he gets his staff back, too. Made me want to play Soul Calibur again, it’s been too long since I played it ): Talim was my favorite to play as.

• American Idolmaster Pretty much trying to pick a song that’ll make a girl become a hit here in the USA. They played several songs, such as “Born This Way” (which made me start spazzing because Lady Gaga is one of the few very popular singers that I really like) but then they said, “Oh no, looks like we’re banned in North Carolina, gotta get a different song” (on account of the state Constitution saying marriage is between a man and a woman D: ).

• ??? Girls in green and yellow outfits. They look like they’re from Idolmaster but I’m not sure… ^-^;;

• ??? Dunno what series he’s from even though he looks familiar. D: What a troll…

• Rosario + Vampire …I hope I didn’t misidentify the series here D:

• The Importance of Being Earnest At least, I think that’s what it was from? o_o;;

• Last Will Apparently some guy had died and so the group here is reading his will. The dead guy left them all a ton of boots to the head (literally! the girl holding the box tosses boots at their heads) I liked the Samus suit, it glowed in the dark.

• Karaoke Contest Winners The winners of the Fanime karaoke contest also performed!  They sang a song from Pandora Hearts and one from Scrapped Princess <3 They were really good. I wish I could’ve recorded the singing too but we’re not supposed to film the Masquerade.

Maybe it’s just me, but I thought all the Homestuck cosplayers that I’ve seen are quite good-looking… I particularly liked the Daves and Johns (but that’s probably because I like glasses and sunglasses xD).

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that our host said people in Japan didn’t really believe he was here at Fanime, so he’d brought photographers to take pictures as proof :p

SAY CHEESE ~

Anyhow, that all the skits I got to see. If you got to see the entire Masquerade, please fill me in on what I missed D:

I shall be uploading more photos of Fanime to my DeviantArt gallery, so stay tuned for them (: