AnimeUSA 2007.

Being a part of 8 guys, with their arms slung around each others shoulders, swaying back and forth, singing ‘We Are Men’ at the top of our lungs at 2:00AM in the game room only to ruin someone’s game of Rock Band because we were so loud. I’ve never felt so manly in my whole life.

My very first con was Anime USA in November 2007, about two weeks after I started watching Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, not long after the anime was released. I was completely hyped up on new-fandom spirits, and spent all of Friday searching for SZS cosplayers. Alas, I found none. The next day, there was a showing of SZS in one of the video rooms, so I sat there outside the door waiting for it to start… when suddenly a group of five or six SZS cosplayers walked right past me and into the room. I followed them in and sat behind them as they took the first row. I tried to bring up the nerve to talk to them as they chatted among themselves, waiting for the show to start; then, the “leader” of the group (who was dressed as Nozomu) noticed me sitting behind her.

“Are you cosplaying from Phoenix Wright?” she asked me. I nodded, as I was cosplaying Ema Skye.

“I made it my goal to hug every Phoenix Wright cosplayer at this convention,” she said and stood up, and so did I, and we hugged tightly.

From then on we talked and got along great, and my friends and I kept running into them for the rest of the con! Unfortunately, we lost contact afterwards, but I will always treasure this con memory.

I can’t remember the year or anything. All I remember was being 12.

I met Chris Sabat and Laura Bailey and they signed a Dragon Ball Z poster for me and I took my picture with them! c:

Chris Sabat almost wrote something inappropriate on my poster. But then he stopped and was all “Wait, how old are you?” “12. ovo” “… *CHANGES WORDING*” He was pretty nice when I met him, and I was completely taken over by DBZ back then, so it just made my love for the show even greater.

At the last con I attended, I was sitting at my friends’ table just because it was the second day and I’d seen all I’d wanted to see, bought all the merch I wanted to buy, etc., so it was time to rest my feet.

Anyway, I was doodling some Kuroshitsuji chibis while chatting, nothing spectacular, when two people passing by stopped and commented on how good they were and if I was taking commissions.  I’m not an artist - I draw for fun and I mean, I’ve got a lot of room to improve - so I was extremely flattered and at the same time, really really surprised.

I told them no, that I was just doodling for fun but really appreciated it, and they told me, “If you set up a table with these, you’d get a LOT of customers!  We would buy these right now!”

I couldn’t believe the niceness of strangers who just happened to look down at my sketches I didn’t think were all that good.

I’ve met some of the nicest people at cons - I really love going to them, and they’re definitely a great experience even if you have one or two crazy people.  But how many times will you get that many people together and not have some strange stories?

I’m not a big anime fan; I watch a few and enjoy it, but that’s pretty much it. Never cosplayed or been to a con, I’m more of a television serious kinda girl, but anime still changed my life, and for the absolute best. I’ve met so many great people from the few anime fandom I joined, people I’m proud to call friends… I’ll have to share stories about them too. But what I wanted to say tonight was…  because of anime, I found the love of my life. If he hadn’t been into anime and manga, I know he wouldn’t have taken that Japanese class, and I’d never have met him. He’s the most amazing person and he saved my life. He makes me so happy, and I’m so, so grateful and so lucky to have him in my life, now. <3

At my first con people started dropping money from the floor above us. 

I was a dollar richer before the con-police came and put a stop to it.

We got them ! They are simply in the queue so you should see them soon :D We just don’t want to make big spam then nothing, then another spam, so the queue is spacing the posts for us. 

I was so happy to see so much submissions and followers in such a short time. Thank you for taking part in this. 

Let’s continue to spread the good stories ~ :D 

I’ve met some great friends at conventions and always had a great time!! Not to mention I have been invited to a con by people offline simply because they wanted to see me, because of my comics/art. It was a really good feeling!! 

I’ve also had a total stranger help pay for my meal at my first con!! 

We want your stories ! I decided to suggest some topic for you to answer in case you just couldn’t find a particular moment you wanted to share :D 

You can answer it in the ask box or simply submit it too.

I’ve made so many friends by going to Fanime for two years. I was honestly surprised to see the same faces cosplaying as Hetalia this year, especially the America from 2010 that I shared a panel with. And this year, while waiting on the floor for a panel to start, I struck up a conversation with three Hetalia cosplayers (Hungary, Prussia and France), and we had so much fun talking and bonding that we met up again the next day after the photoshoot, and we exchanged phone numbers and Tumblrs and Facebooks and Skype info. Then I got to hang out with them in their swanky room in the Sainte Claire and watch anime. It was a blast, and I’m so glad I got to meet them. Next year at Fanime!

So, just this weekend I was at Anime Expo. I had decided to cosplay the female version of Russia from Hetalia, without realizing just quite how heavy her nice long pink fur-trimmed coat would be when on and just how hot it’d be that weekend. Needless to say, I had some problems.

But everyone I talked to asked me if I was hot and then worried/fretted over me. One girl held my place in the ticket line while I got ice cream. Four different people, on two occasions, fanned me with folders/books/whatever they had - and not a quick joking fanning, but hardcore WE WILL COOL YOU DOWN fanning. The gathering organizers brought water to it and basically forced me to take a bottle. One girl who was in a similarly hot costume offered to move to let me into the shade.

It was still bad being outside, for sure, but it could’ve been so much worse without so many people worrying about me. I felt really cared for. It’s a symbol of how fandom brings together strangers, I think.

(And similarly, last year when I was in a similarly hot outfit, another cosplayer actually gave me some money for ice cream when I had no cash.)