Last month, I attended my very first Anime Los Angeles! It is a 4-day fan-run anime convention held January 25-28 at the Ontario Convention Center (about 40 miles from LA despite the name). Even though I only went for one day I had such a great time cosplaying, hanging out with my friends, meeting other fans, eating yummy food truck food, and checking out all the cool merchandise and panels! Read on for my full experience and recap!
Friends Are the Best
I had originally intended to attend 3 out of the 4 days of the con. However, the week of the con, my health took a nosedive from the great progress I’ve made. I have chronic pain, nausea, and migraines but this week it was amplified leaving me feeling especially weak and exhausted. My doctor and family thought it was not a good idea to push myself to do 3 days at a con (which can be tough on the body as you’re walking all day and often not eating or resting much). I was super bummed as I was really looking forward to going and even had made arrangements to stay at a hotel with some girls I met online.
I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to go at all but my incredible friends had my back! My friends, Jake and Nova, are both fellow anime fans and two of the kindest, generous, open, and big-hearted people you’ll ever meet. Truly beautiful inside and out. While we all haven’t been friends for really that long, their friendship has been a complete God send as it’s always been a bit difficult for me not having any friends that share my passion. To have both of them super psyched to go with me, even if their schedules only allowed a day, made me so happy I wanted to cry. What really excited me was the fact that neither had ever been to an anime convention! I couldn’t wait to introduce them to the wonderful world of cons and cosplay! I knew with them with me, I wouldn’t have to worry too much about my health and that I’d have an amazing time!
My Voltron Cosplay
I had planned out multiple cosplays to wear over the 3 days of the con but since I was just going for Saturday, I had to choose just one. I decided to go with Fem!Shiro from the Netflix series Voltron as it’s pretty lowkey and comfortable. I also love that it allows me to meet lots of amazing Voltron fans!
Arrival
We arrived at the con a little after 1pm. Parking was a short walk and the cost not too bad compared to most cons. There was a small wait to purchase our badges at the door. I thought it was neat how they gave you the option to print an alias on your badge instead of just your name. For example, if you’re known online by your Twitter or Youtube handle or in my case, by my blog – I could put The Geeky Fashionista on there – which is what I did.
The first thing we did once we got our badges was get some food. I missed breakfast getting ready that morning and definitely didn’t want to risk feeling faint from not eating. Lucky for us, there were a bunch of food trucks in front of the convention center to choose from. Since I have some dietary restrictions, I was happy to see they had a sushi truck! Nova was especially happy to see they had “sushi burritos.” I didn’t get one myself but I got a taste both hers and Jake’s and they were delicious!
Artist’s Alley
After we ate, we went back inside the con to explore the Artist’s Alley. There were so many amazing artists selling merchandise in there. I knew I was going to be parting with a good bit of money before the end of the day. I did my best to hold off larger purchases till the end of the night so I wouldn’t have to carry around so much stuff all day but a few nearly sold out items caused me to cave.
I was a bit overwhelmed with all the incredible Voltron/Shiro art for sale. I’m not used to liking something so popular! I know Attack On Titan is pretty mainstream but it’s so rare to find Jean (my favorite character) stuff! Here, almost every other table had something of Shiro which I knew would be dangerous for my wallet. At one of the booths, I met a fellow Fem!Shiro cosplayer! We immediately bonded over our love for the character.
Photo Fun
We then wandered into a room for cosplay photoshoots which was something really cool and unique! I’ve seen cons have different backdrops for cosplayers and photographers to use, but this room had whole little “sets” as well as solid backdrops! Nova and I had some fun pretending we were in Japan while Jake got to try his hand at being behind the camera.
I also met some really sweet Voltron fans in the room! One of my favorite things about cosplaying is when strangers who are also a fan of whatever you’re dressed up as run over to you or call out to you as if you’re a friend. This Pidge cosplayer was so warm and friendly, my friends were convinced we knew each other!
Me probably getting emotional talking about Shiro.
Dealer’s Hall
Next, it was time for the Dealer’s Hall. I didn’t end up buying anything in here but Jake got an awesome Kingdom Hearts keyblade! There was a table promoting Idea Factory’s upcoming Hakuoki Festival in Anaheim next month. As a big otome fan, I’m super excited to check it out! They were giving away ribbons to people who posted a photo with their standout of Hijikata on social media. Of course, I couldn’t resist.
Ribbons
Speaking of these ribbons – this was entirely a new concept for me at a con. Apparently, anyone could make their own ribbons – it could be specific to a show or character or basically whatever you want. People could then do a special task to earn the ribbon and then stick them on their badge. There were ribbon stations and swapping taking place all over. Many of the artists would even exchange their merch for them! The Hakuoki Festival was my first ribbon of the con but I eventually got some Voltron ones too! This sweet cosplayer ran up to give me a Shiro ribbon for simply cosplaying him and a Lance ribbon for giving my best Lance pickup line (I blanked, but luckily Jake helped me out)!
Food Trucks
With an hour before the Artist Alley closed, we returned there so I could make my purchases. Then we made a trip back to the car to drop off our purchases then made a round with the food trucks to recharge. We got some “Fluff Ice” which had the most unique texture – it reminded me of shaved ice but more creamy like ice cream but also fluffy like cotton candy. It’s really something difficult to imagine until you try it! I realize I should have taken a photo of it but I was in such a hurry to eat it all I forgot!
After our dessert, we got dinner a Okamoto Kitchen which specialized in Japanese cuisine. I got the yummy Japanese Fried Chicken plate and it really filled me up! If I wasn’t trying to moderate my gluten intake though I totally would’ve gotten the Katsu Curry sandwich Jake got – I took a bite and it was amazing!
Late Night
It was after 9pm at this point, so it was just the 18+ panels that were still going. There was a burlesque show happening later in the night – it was for sure going to be a full room so we arrived early and got some great seats. The show was great with performers doing some singing, hula hooping, pole dancing, and more themed to various anime including Death Note and Cowboy Bebop as well as non-anime shows like Agent Carter and Riverdale. There was a fun intermission where they had audience members show off their best burlesque moves.
We managed to make the tail end of a Bad Fanfiction Reading panel before checking out the cosplay contest at the Cosmic Dare after party. By this time, we were all pretty tired so we decided to call it a day.
Nova and I with two of the ladies from the Brazen Booties
Thoughts
Not too bad for just one day! I’m used to having a really tight schedule, jumping from one panel to the next and rushing to fit cosplay meetups in between. If I’m lucky, I’ll eat something really quick while waiting for a panel to start. I usually relegate all my con purchases on the very last day of the con when there’s nothing else for me to do. It was really refreshing to change it up this time and take it easy with friends. Seeing them enjoy themselves and want to come to more cons made me beyond happy. I really didn’t care what we did, just hanging out with them was so much fun.
I can’t wait for the next anime con we attend together! This will most likely be the mother of all anime conventions in North America, Anime Expo, which will be quite a jump but I think Anime Los Angeles made for a good starter con. Also, something I’m super excited about – they’re totally down to do a group cosplay which is something I’ve always wanted to do! We don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing yet but luckily we do have a few months to plan!
Overall, I really enjoyed my time at Anime Los Angeles (if you couldn’t tell). Besides having great company, it was also just a really fun con. I would definitely go back next year in a heartbeat!
Check out my other convention recaps!
