Anime Los Angeles 2012 was held this weekend over at the Hotel Marriott, near LAX. This was my second anime convention, and it was similar to my experience at Anime Expo 2011, except this one was a smaller venue with less people. There was still a wide variety of cosplayers at the event, some interesting panels, and exhibits selling art and collectibles. I don’t know as much about anime as some of the people I’ve met here on GiantBomb, but I’m still fascinated by the atmosphere these events have.

Unlike Anime Expo, there seems to be a bigger emphasis on cosplay at this event. The information packet I received included a schedule of when and where to expect gatherings of a certain series or franchise. I went to the Persona gathering, and I was hoping someone would compliment my Whiskey Media shirt, but no luck there. Even if you don’t watch anime, you’ll still see superhero and video game outfits, and even some more random stuff like people trying to embody internet memes. I don’t think I’d ever cosplay, but the amount of dedication and creativity put into these outfits is admirable. I’m not sure how I’d react to having strangers approach me for a picture frequently, but I imagine I’d be uncomfortable with the spotlight.

What about the panels? They were much smaller, and usually less crowded than the ones I went to see at Anime Expo. The Guest of Honor was Stan Sakai, the creator of Usagi Yojimbo. I briefly attended his panel, but soon headed out to make my way to “Voice Acting Tricks of the Trade”, featuring Chris Cason, Kyle Hebert, Jessica Straus, Cristina Vee, Kaiji Tang, Jon Allen, and Derek Stephen Prince. I didn’t recognize most of the panelists by name, but thankfully the information packet and website had info on their major works. These voice actors discussed their works in anime and video games, how they got started, and funny moments they remember. There was the usual Q&A session, in which one attendant asked the panelists if there was a role they wished they could go back and redo, or if there was one they were not proud of, to which Derek Stephen Prince said that he worked on a hentai. Prince said he blocked out of his memory what the title of project was when asked, but now that I have access to his IMDB page, it was called Sins of the Flesh. I suppose it’s funny to see that next to his other works, which include a lot of Digimon and Kingdom Hearts.

The hotel itself was nice, although it took me a bit to get used to finding my way around. There was a nice swimming pool area outside, where most of the cosplay gatherings took place, and there were some complimentary snacks for the attendants. It got a little chilly there during the afternoon, and I was pretty exhausted at that time from. The last panel I went to was Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 “Assist Me” Panel, which got a little into the history of these guys’ YouTube series, and what they plan for the future. This was by far the most crowded of the panels I saw.

That about does it for Anime Los Angeles. I was pretty tired by the last panel, so I didn’t stick around for much longer than that. I’m planning on going to Anime Expo 2012, and hopefully I’ll be able to endure standing and walking around for more than one day. You can see random footage at the event at the bottom of this post!

Gallery

Miscellaneous thoughts:

- I overheard a Mike Haggar cosplayer saying that he brought a metal pipe as a prop but they wouldn’t let him bring it in.

- I should probably buy a better camera if I’m going to keep going to these things. And get better at editing this videos.

- I didn’t realize the limitations to street pass, so I only received ten tags for the entire event. I’m told I need to let some more in manually via that Mii channel in-between passes.

- It’s a good thing I brought cash for parking.

- @ESREVER made me talk to Cristina Vee (voice actress for Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue) and record this: