Anime Expo 2006 on DCM: August26th, 2006

Report by TakagiNaoSama

We made it to the west coast!! Anime Expo seems like just a dream to most eastern convention-goers who are use to Otakon and Anime Central, but everything fell into place this year and DeathCom and I were able to attend the country's biggest anime convention.

Being so large and obviously industry-run, we had serious doubts whether or not we'd get accepted as press for such a massive event. Much to our surprise and delight, we were greeted with open arms (and a whole bunch of goodies!) AX definitely gets the prize for best press accommodations.

Taking photos in the bright California sun was both a blessing and a curse. The abundance of light was much appreciated by our lenses, except when it was too bright. Finding a happy balance as well as adjusting for outdoor and indoor conditions was challenging at times. The heat was also a factor, wearing us down pretty quickly. I have no clue how cosplayers wore black leather trenchcoats and bodysuits in that heat.

I'll admit I was not expecting a very good masquerade from Anime Expo, seeing as the scarce footage there is from past AXs does not impress me in the slightest. I was proven extremely wrong, however, as this was one of the best cosplay events I've seen so far! Everyone brought their A-game this year and it definitely falls into one of the best overall cosplay events ever! I'm very happy that DCM can finally give this event the coverage it deserves!

Additional notes by DeathCom

Anime Expo is indeed massive, so much that while we tried, we simply couldn't get nearly everyone we wanted photos of. Additionally, because we are relatively new to the west coast convention scene, our pre requested photoshoots were few. But as TakagiNaoSama said, the masquerade was jam packed with quality skits.

The single downside to Anime Expo was totally unexpected, the game room. In short, conventions roughly a tenth the size have done better jobs here. We are a gaming focused site, so I must elaborate more on this. While they had an "arcade" game room with a good variety of content in the convention center, the games were not set on free play (boo). But what truly pains me to report is the console game room. Those of you who have been to Otakon have seen the literal cavern that is their game room. 42" plasmas everywhere, other state of the art flat panels, and when not, at least a flat tube display. Hundreds of setups playing every multiplayer game imaginable. AX's console room had less than 20 screens, most were sub 27" (bubblescreen), and while in the hotel, it was not even open 24/7. This alone really holds AX back from being otherwise, a perfect convention.

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