Bleed in Blue

( Zenkaikon 2015 )

~Lyn

Last AnimeNEXT I had attended was back in 2008, before the location change. Honestly I hadn't really had a big desire to go to the con anymore due to hearing that the new location wasn't as great and noticing a decrease in the amount of people I know who attend that con. That and the people I went to that con to see, I see at most of the cons closer to me anyways. But during the DC Sakura Matsuri this year, Sarah asked if I'd be willing to work for her at the con this year since she'd be too busy with con work to be able to sell her stuff. And then Chrissy and Chris decided out of the blue that they were going to go to the con and considering they live in the next neighborhood over, I was able to get a ride with them pretty easily. XD But yeah, this con wasn't originally planned so I didn't really have any plans for it and it was quite different for me from my normal con experience as I was in the Dealer's Room for about 75% of it.

( AnimeNEXT 2013 Report )

~Lyn

Anime USA was in a new location this year. In DC, near the Omni which was Katsucon's hotel for several years. And I actually REALLY liked the new hotel. It had a bit of a confusing layout but it was rather pretty. And definitely A LOT better for photos than the Hyatt. Also being in DC made it very easy to find cheap food with a large range of options, just across the street. I also found the atmosphere and staff to be better than the Omni. And yeah, I'm sure the Omni had the prettiest outside area but I just got so turned off that hotel due to past experiences there. And AUSA is a bit too small to be able to afford that hotel, I'd think. So really I thought this hotel was a good choice for it.

The only real major issues I found with the hotel were the parking and the size of the event rooms. Like they had an alright sized room for the main events room. Nowhere as large as many other cons, but AUSA isn't too big so I thought it worked well. Granted I only was in there for the concert, so not sure how well it worked for the Masq and events with actual chairs. But this seemed to be the ONLY large room the con had. All the panel rooms were really small. Like ok, they'd be fine for small panels but this was also the rooms used for events such as guest panels and the Cosplay Burlesque. And so there wasn't nearly enough seating and many people had to be turned away. Also the viewing rooms were itty bitty. But this seems to be more of an issue of the hotel itself. There was another event going on so I don't know if maybe next year the con may get some of those bigger rooms or if this is all we're allowed to have. Either way...its going to make some events really hard to do at this con if they still decide to use such small rooms.

Anyways, onto what I actually did at the con...

( AUSA '12 Report )

~Lyn

Anime USA has become one of my favorite cons but sadly this year was a pretty big disappointment. I had a great time but it was because I was hanging out with my friends and having fun taking photos. But the con itself was incredibly dull and attendance was really low and it was just a very odd con this year in general. Supposedly they are moving to DC near the Omni next year so maybe that will improve things some and the dates are going to be earlier in Nov so that might make it easier for a lot of us to attend who work retail and such (though it might overlap with Neko). But yeah the con was unusually empty this year. The areas that are normally crowded with people...weren't. As a result this con report isn't as long as my usual reports and I didn't really take many photos because there was barely anything of interest to take photos of and the hotel always sucks for photos anyways.

( Anime USA 2011 )

Rest of my con photos are here: http://lyn.houjun.com/ausa11.html though I really didn't take many this con.

~Lyn

So I read the last few scanlations of Ludwig Kakumei today. I've had the last volume for a while but the scanlations took a while to come out...

But omg! I loved the ending so much! *_* So happy! And man, KY really tricked me on something. XP Concerning a certain character...but glad I was wrong! Especially since I was confused as I didn't get that from looking at the manga itself so I was all shocked when the scanlations came out. But it's all good. ^^ (trying to be vague so not to spoil anything, lol)

But oh maaaan! I really want a cosplay group. ;_; Anyone? Anyone at all...? So many amazing characters though most of them are female. I wanna be Ludwig. *nodnod*

~Lyn