Photography and more for the Cosplayer
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With a lot of help from my friends I was able to attend Anime LA January 27 - 29, 2006 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys, California. By the attendance numbers it seems a lot more people had help to make it to AnimeLA's second year. AnimeLA doubled it's attendance from last year and offered more rooms for it's convention attendees. There are distinct benefits to this con over other cons. The first is that you aren't really a "con attendee" but a member of AnimeLA. Your badge in not just admission to the convention but is treated more like a membership to something unique. They even had a special badge for parents who were there with their child called a "Parent in Tow" badge. What a great name and it helps the child feel special not just "chaperoned." Secondly, and an awesome thing, they offer a "costume repair station" that had some really nice ladies in there that would talk and sew. The room had all sorts of stuff from patterns and fabric to glue or tape. They were knowledgeable with sewing, quick repairs and very friendly. I wouldn't doubt that they would probably even help stitch something back together, if it wasn't to far out of their expertise. Just an outstanding group of ladies. Thirdly, there was a room stocked with out-going volunteers that had places to sit and offered fruit, nuts, vegetables, sodas, water, and soooo much more *yummies. They thought about the members, knowing that most eat ramen, jerky, Pocky, and soda for most cons, and offered foods and beverages that would round out their meals a little better. Last, but not least, they had ribbons with various sayings that you could attach to your badge. You could get a ribbon in a variety of ways: you could buy some, receive them randomly through out the con for your costume, win one, and best of all the staff each had different ones that related to what they offered and would give you one when you met them. For instance, I met the toastmaster, Tadao Tomomasu, and what a funny and out going individual. I had a blast talking to him and he gave me a "Shake Hands Fan" ribbon. Unique is just one of the words I would use to describe this convention. Not only was it pretty well organized, but the rooms were clearly marked, the con staff were helpful and knowledgeable about where things were, the program was attractive, easy to understand, and a benefit to a convention attendee. Now you may think, "Yeah, but I go to cons all the time and I gave up using the program because I could never find anything or it was incorrect, incomplete or just to hard to understand!" I can relate to feeling that way, but the program impressed me, so much so, that I could easily reference the program to help others find stuff and they could follow it very well. To me that is not so common.
I will tell you more Anime Los Angeles as I post the pics, but for now know that I will DEFINITELY be going in 2007 and......... I would give this con I give the Airtel Plaza Hotel I highly recommend AnimeLA as a "MUST ATTEND" con. Come back and read the rest of the report and see some of the photos. I still have to tell you about gaming, the pirate party, the dances, AMV's, video programming, workshops and more... You'll want to know... so till then... Anime Corrupted Wishes & Deviant Cosplay Dreams!! ^^) ... BSaphire |
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I planned on starting off 2006
with a bang, or ending the 05-06 con year with a bang. Either way you look at it
Anime Los Angeles was the beginning or the end. What ended up being was being
unsure if I could attend. Fortunately for me, lady luck was yet again on my side
^^). 
