Saturday is going to be the most busy day. We woke up feeling refreshed and hungry. For a cheap start, we went to McDonald’s for breakfast, but it filled us up. Afterward, we made a stop at Walgreens to pick up some supplies. On the way there, Joe finally called and told us he was at the convention center. As far as we know, her was getting is badge. When we finished at Walgreens, we took the scenic route back on Market Street.

When we got back to the convention center, Joe was already waiting for us at the front of the fountains. He was already doing his job...taking cosplay pictures. That’s why we voted him as the club photographer. We stuck around the front for a little bit and we decided to go to the dealers hall. There was nothing new, except a lot more people. There was still actually a line to get in since it was still the morning hours. I browsed around for a bit then Joe and I went to the back area to sit down to chill. I took a little break while Joe got back up and went around shopping. Lawrence and Richard were also shopping, but I think Lawrence was looking around for more deals. We regrouped shortly after.

We were on our way to the Cosplay Posing panel in the Hilton. I thought that the panel was at the Marriott end of the convention center only to realize I was wrong. So we made a B-line to the HIlton. The Cosplay panel was a quarter done. For the remaining 45 minutes, we stayed and listened. The rest of the panel was very interesting. They were talking about how to do poses, correct the poses and gave a lot of tips for would-be photographers.

The next panel we went to was the Broccoli Entertainment panel. It was okay and somewhat interesting. We learned about the new products that will coming out. The next major release is Cosmode USA. Cosmode USA a parallel magazine to the Japanese version featuring cosplayers. Jon Kung, the marketing directior, also said the 20% of the magazine will feature American cosplayers. It will be out by late July, but a small shipment will be made in time Anime Expo in Los Angeles this July. “sola” from the “sola Project” will also premier as a manga of the anime this coming late July. I missed what was premiering next, but after that a manga, “Honoka, Level Up” will premier in August. After the announcements, Jon was taking questions and answers from the crowd and asking what licenses they might get.



After the panels, we made the B-line to the Loli-Goth Fashion Show at Stage Zero. We took the express route, underneath the concourse, to get the the stage that sooner. We stuck around for a little bit until the crowd got to much. This wasn’t for us. Next was Artist Alley. We just walked around browsing at all the artwork. I do admit that a lot of the art was art gallery quality even though they were amateurs.



When we finished Artist Alley, we went back outside to meet Alex and Tami to have a late lunch/early dinner. We were an hour early, but we made up for it by taking a lot more pictures. While we were taking pictures, some religious radicals showed up in front of the convention center. They were trying to convince con-goers of their evils. Soon after, a cosplayer who came as Jesus came out of the convention center to meet the radicals. It became a big mess. All the con-goers were chanting “Jesus, Jesus” over and over again. Cosplay Jesus stepped on a pedestal and the crowd became more animate. A Wolfwood cosplayer, from Cowboy Beebop, also showed up to preach his version of “the way.” It was just plain hilarious what happened...I guess to some people. Even some parents of some con-goers that were sitting nearby gawked at the those religious radicals. The event that turned in favor to the radicals are when some congoers who cosplayed Spartans (300) showed up and started poking cosplay Jesus. It was just bad taste for them to show up. I didn’t know the whole story of what happend, but that event was just... Eventually the local law enforcement came by to break up the crowd. It’s a good thing that everyone dispersed quickly. We all know how hardheaded “otaku” could be!

Alex and Tami met up with us after they spotted Joe and Richard. Since there was more of us, we couldn’t stick to our original plan. Instead, we walked down Market Street to find a restaurant to eat in. While we were walking, we found Gordon Biersch. Instead of eating inside the restaurant in which we had to wait 20 or more minutes, we ate outside in the patio instead. The seasonal beer they offered was excellent. It went down real smooth. The restaurant prices were average for food of that caliber.



When we finished, we saw the long, long masquerade line across Market Street. We got in line across the street. Alex and Tami went back to their hotel for a little bit and came back in line. Richard went back to the hotel while Lawrence and Joe went to take pictures down the line. I was holding the spot while I write this blog. I was getting real cold. Richard was supposed to get my jacket, but the line started to move so he stayed in.



Luckily we got to go to the balcony section of the masquerade. I set the video camera and recorded the entire masquerade, from the pre-show, the fashion show and all 46 skits. Damn it was long. But it was okay, it wasn’t too great. There was a combination of good, okay, and some excellent skits. I do believe that two of the skits were non-anime. They were doing skits on Avatar. WTF!!!! This isn’t a Nickolodeon con. It’s an anime con and Avatar IS NOT ANIME. IT IS ANIME-LIKE!!!! Get through your heads you clueless newbies!!!! We stuck around until they asked us to move out. They were announcing the award to the skits. We left the auditorium and went back to the convention center. Richard came down from the room to give me my jacket. We went inside the convention center to see what’s going on, but Alex and Tami left soon after when we sent into the gaming hall. Afterward, we wandered aimlessly and went back to the room. That’s the end of day 2. We only went to the room once today therefore no timely blog. Richard and Joe went to watch videos and hentai. Lawrence and I went to go watch JPOP/JROCK videos.

7:08 AM
And so begin our trip to Fanime 2008 in San Jose, California. Richard and I got up about 4:00 AM and picked up Lawrence soon afterward. I realized that after we got to Lawrence’s, I forgot our itinerary and our badge registration reciepts. Damn it! Oh well. It was pretty much an uneventful drive to Ontario International. When we got there, the check-in lines were really long. But not worries, the personnel were so efficient that we went through quickly, even though we forgot our papers. Getting through security was also rather quick. Being a veteran traveller, we know all the in’s and out’s. Unlike the fiasco back in February, I learned my lesson not to bring any liquids through security. After a short wait in the terminal, we finally got on board our flight. After take-off, because of the weather, it was a really bumpy ride. Right now, we’re at cruising level and everything is going pretty smooth. Also, most of the seats onboard were empty so we spread out and rows to ourselves

1:45 PM
The descent into San Jose was pretty smooth. Much better than the take-off. Once on the ground, we proceeded to baggage claim and got our stuff. We took the shuttle to the Light Rail station. It was like bang, bang, bang. We waited no more than 5 minutes for our rides. We even came close to missing the train because Lawrence was having trouble with a dollar bill. We got the “all day” pass.

When we got to the convention center, we took our bags to the Marriott and had them held there. It was still too early to check in. We arrived at 8:30 AM at the hotel. Around the convention center, there were already cosplayers walking around, though still scarce. After the early check-in, we went to the convention center to get our badges. For a pre-registration line, it went fairly quick. We waited no more than 30 minutes. So after we got our badges, we went back on the Light Rail and went to the Great Mall. I forgot my belt at home. Also it was so cold heres in San Jose, that I needed a jacket. We were practically freezing after we left the airport. When we got to the mall, we were worn out from the trip. We were all up by 4:00 AM and we did not get enough sleep. We had a snack and coffee at Starbucks. There was also a Jollybee there. After the snack, we went to buy my belt, Lawrence got a haircut and I found a jacket. Cool!



After the mall, it was almost noon. We decided to go to Japantown to eat lunch. We ate at the same Korean restaurant that we ate at when we came here three years ago at the last Fanime. Nothing changed. After we ate, we headed back to the Marriott and got our rooms. The convention center is already filled with conventioneers. So now, we’re inside the room...resting, and then we’ll head for the Opening Ceremonies in a little bit.

4:20
Well, we went down to the main concourse to the Opening Ceremonies. We wound up watching a couple music videos, took some pictures and went to the dealers hall. The dealers hall is pretty huge. When we in line to enter the dealers hall, there was a staffer who said that we had to have our badges around our neck. Wow! That’s the first time I experienced something like that. I assumed that was never an issue. Not even in Anime Expo did that happen. So now I’m beginning to wonder, “Is the more laid back Fanime going to be as strict as Expo? Or had Fanime grown so large that it had to put its foot down on rules?” We’re going to be here for another three days, so we’ll see what happens. There was a lot to see, but the usual convention stuff was around; cosplayers, people of all ages, food vendors, etc. At the back end of the dealers hall, there is a large sitting area for people to chill out. We three walked around to look at the merchandise. Lawrence was shopping for some stuff. Richard and I were just looking around and scoping out cosplayers. Yeah sure! I was looking for a souvenir for a co-worker and bought some trading figures. After the dealer’s hall, we went to see the end of the opening ceremonies. We caught the last dancing act and went back to the room to drop off what we bought.



10:30 PM
After dropping our stuff off, we went back downstairs to chill out and take some more pictures. As we walked around, there was a long line leading out from the convention center. We thought it was the “At-Con” registration line. It was the line for tickets to Antic Cafe’s concert for Sunday evening. We got in line and waited and waited. While we waited, Alex and Tami showed up. Cool they made it. Alex was supposed to call, but I guess he spotted me because I was tall. Well, we waited some more and we finally got our tickets.

We were already hungry, but it was getting cold. We did contemplate whether to go to the Music Fest or feed our hunger. Hunger won. We went back to our room to get jackets because of the cooler weather. The next stop, hmmm, somewhere. We tried the one restaurant and it looked too expensive. We went to cheaper looking one and it looked like they didn’t have anything much to offer. It’s been decided...to eat at Original Joe’s, an Italian restaurant that we ate at the last time we were here. It was packed and we waited about 20 minutes to be seated. It was stuffy inside so we waited outside. While we waited for our turn, I met this guy who was also waiting to be seated. He was waiting for his friend to show up. We talking and he turned out to be pretty interesting. A little strange, but interesting. We talked about this and that. He was a local. That’s the whole purpose of traveling, to meet people and learn new things.

Eventually we were seated and got served our meals. Damn, the food was good! I vaguely remembered how good it was last time, but yeah, the food was good. The servings were huge. I had the roast beef. So at the end of dinner, we were stuffed. It didn’t help that we were tired also, but we tired to stay awake. This is when we decided to go last part of the Music Fest. When we walked in, it just finished and everyone was walking outside. Argh! Alex and Tami was there also and they spotted us while we were hanging around wondering what to do next. We weren’t sure what to do so we decided to go back to the hotel and maybe come back down after we rested. We parted ways and made plans to join up the next day for dinner.

As we walked back to the hotel, we made an unexpected turn to the convention center concourse. I guess there was a lot more stuff still going on, on assumption because we didn’t have a schedule with us. So while walking around, we peeked into the gaming hall and wondered why there were people lining up against the side walls. We went in to investigate. To our surprise, there was a swap meet going on and those people on the sides were people looking at merchandise. It wasn’t really a swap meet. Sure there were some people selling their old stuff, but a lot of the merchandise were more recent. I found an old “Iria: Zeiram” art book for cheap. Cool. We finished so we went back to out room. But on the way back, as with any convention hotel, the damn elevators were packed. Screw it! We took the “bat cave” way back to our room (the stairwell). And so ends out first day.