Anime Expo is a large convention, in fact one of the largest in North America (If not the

largest by now) gathering thousands of people into one city to celebrate what we all love

Anime. (Why else are you here?)
This being my second year at the convention, I felt a little less lost and was really able

to take a lot more of it in. (It's overwhelming your first time! So much is going on!)

General Impressions

If there's one thing I do look forward to it's Anime Expo, not only because I do get to

see my friends, meet new people that can always make you laugh but also because of the

great experience it usually is.
This year however was not as ... entertaining. The con started off with record numbers as

the con seems to continue to grow at a rapid rate however the growth of the con and the

unfortunate circumstance that Anime Expo was not held in Anaheim this year but rather Long

Beach brought some confusion and quite a bit of disappointment from some of the Anime fans

there.

Organization of the con, with the layout and the area of Long Beach, seemed to be lacking

any real structure. Everything was all over the place and no one knew where anything was

though they weren't hesitant to send you in random directions to find something even if it

wasn't there or they weren't sure. New Rules were popping up constantly and it became

increasingly difficult for everyone to keep up.

With one of Anime Forum's staff running the game room as he usually does it was a place

for us all to meet and unfortunately had a slow start due to Long Beach Convention staff

changing things up constantly. However, they made due and the attendance in the room

continued to pick up filling up more and more every day.

There were some disappointments including a loss of the AMVs causing the show to be

postponed and some stalls on the technical and staffpro side of things.

Frustrations ran high but in the end all the staff at Anime Expo seemed to hold it all

together to pull of an entertaining Masquerade and a wonderful AX Idol. Though I must say

the part that I enjoyed the most was the Whose Line is it Anime.

The people of the Whose Line is it Anime were also staff from the game room so we had gone

to show our support, the show was entertaining in fact in a packed room it was downright

entertaining.

Cosplay this year was right up there, with some of the most amazing cosplayers I have ever

seen. Months maybe even years had to have gone into some of these outfits as they drew

crowds for pictures.

Anime

What was really entertaining from the industries this year was to see the rather

magnificent Geneon Entertainment booth, Hellsing. Complete with a cosplayer a massive

throne and even some eerie lighting they really drew a crowd over there.
We were sure to grab a couple pictures on the throne of course.
Tokyopop was sure to throw in some of it's own advertising with the upcoming (and maybe

even released - we recall seeing some of them a while back but the screens called them

new!) new animes "Halloween" and ""
The exhibitor hall also housed some fun activities like the Haruhi dance and catching the

golden ticket for a trip to Tokyo! Lots of great buys to look at including some autographs

from the author of the rather popular book "The Last Unicorn."

Organization

The organization this year unfortunately was lacking. There was a lot of confusion that

left fans unsure of where they needed to be and took two-three days (Yes I realize the con

is only four days) for most to understand the convention centers layout.
With once again record numbers the staff was working in overtime to try and keep things

moving despite the lack of support from the convention center's "Staff Pro"

Conclusion

The con itself this year, like the year before was a really great time to go out and see

what animes were coming, what was hot and what wasn't. There were some great shows

presented and despite the initial confusion and some hectic days there was as always a lot

to see and do at the convention.
If you haven't been to an Anime Expo yet I would recommend going, it's a massive con and a

great way to get a full experience of what a Large convention can be like. And they get

some really great guests out there!
Here's looking forward to 2008.