July is here, and once again I have attended Anime Expo. It was a good show, but I'll have to admit I wasn't as excited about attending this year as I have been in the past.
One of the first things that I noticed upon arrival at the LACC on Day 0 was the uncharacteristic lack of crowds. I think that this was due in part to AX going back to having badges mailed out in advance like in days of yore, and also due to the 4ᵗʰ of July holiday landing in the middle of the week. Of course by the weekend, the crowds were back to typical AX levels, and temperatures were in triple digits.
One of the changes that has been made to AX include the implementation of a new badge swipe system to get in and out of the venue which seems to have resulted in improved flow of traffic. They have also finally started stationing a person with a sign to indicate the end of a queue, which really helps to organize lines. A more annoying change is that they now close the South Lobby off after 10 p.m. They don't even allow people to pass through to get into the parking structure, and force you to walk all the way around the building to get to your car. だせえ!
One strange thing that happened on preview night was that premier badge holders got to use the escalator down to the South Lobby, while the hoi polloi were told to use the stairs. I'm not sure if the premier people got to go through to look at the exhibit hall or something, but I thought it was kind of funny.
The top guests for me this year were the legendary
Go Nagai, and
Yui Horie.
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| Go Nagai |
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| Cutie Honey(s) |
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Yui Horie was promoting the appearance of
Miss Monochrome in SHOWMAKER,
but no photography was allowed during the panel. |
I was able to attend more panels during this AX than others in the recent past, so that was nice. I particularly liked the panels held in the JW Marriott because you could wait indoors with air conditioning, as opposed to being outside in the heat. The line for Workshop 1 was particularly bad for anything during the morning or noon because there were no canopies set up like at other waiting areas.
I'll close out the post as usual with cosplay pictures from AX.
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| Yours truly |
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| Konpaku Youmu |
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| Houraisan Kaguya |
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| Hakurei Reimu |
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| Chennnnnn!!!!!!♡ |
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| Evil Scarecrow Pikachu |
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| D.Va |
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| Kuusou Waitress Rin |
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| Lilith |
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| Red Saber (Mordred) and Archer (?) |
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| Saber Lily and Red Archer (Atalanta) |
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| Grand Order Swimsuit Saber |
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| Gilgamesh |
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| Jeanne d'Arc and Saber Alter |
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| Ram and Rem |
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| Otona Temari and Hinata |
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| The Loli Police |
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| 2B |
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| Hisoka |
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| Pop Team Epic |
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| 002 |
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| Plugsuit 002 |
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| Spike and Faye |
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| NicoMaki |
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| Ruby |
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| Nico Nico Nii! |
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| Diamond |
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| Kanna かわいい♡ |
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| Hideri and Maika |
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| Tony Stark |
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| Junko Enoshima |
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| Himiko |
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| Wild, Wild Pussycats Midoriya and Pixie-Bob |
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| Denki and Tsuyu |
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| Fubuki Class Destroyer |
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| Shimakaze Class Destroyer |
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| Mononoke Hime Gijinka |
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| Sinon |
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| Yoko |
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| Ryuko and Satsuki |
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| Loli Mercury |
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| Rebuild of Evangelion Girls |
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| Roy and Hawkeye |
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| Super Sonico |
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| Frank |
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| Rem and Ram |
