Anime Expo 2006
I went to the Anime Expo 2006 on July 2nd. This was the fifteenth anniversary of the event but my first visit. The only comparisons for this event that I had were the great San Diego Comic-Con and one Star Trek convention, not a full range of comparisons.
One of my first reactions was that parking was a mess. You couldn’t enter the main parking area entrance for some reason. I had to drive around the Anaheim Convention Center until I finally came to the parking structure entrance, I arrived around 11:00 AM and the structure was crowded. I ended up on the fourth floor of a five story structure. I later learned that it opened at 8:00 AM which explained why it was crowded.
I was walking in from the parking structure behind a mother and three young women [early teenagers]. One of them turned around and asked me what floor of the structure we were on. She recognized me from the structure elevator. Of course she would, she pushed me aside, even though I had been waiting longer and I was clearly older, to get in the elevator. She was wearing some small horns on her head and had a fox tail coming out of the top of her jeans. She had blond hair.
I told her third floor.
Our cars were on the fourth floor; learn to respect your elders for we may be useful to you some day grasshopper.
As Bluto from ANIMAL HOUSE once said, “Don’t get mad; get even.” I think that was from his famous “When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor” soliloquy.
Another one of my impressions was that this seemed to be equally gender balanced in terms of attendance. Comic-Con is a predominately male attendee. I don’t remember that much about the Star Trek convention.
This was an Asian American crowd overall. I guess this is a reflection of the tastes for anime and manga that are not as great with the rest of us in Southern California. That, plus it was the 4th of July long weekend and the surf was great and the sand was hot. If I were really young, I would have probably gone to Huntington Beach for the surf, sand, and bikinis
Anime Expo 2006 is not as large as Comic-Con although it may become as significant but it will take some time to reach that level. The aisles were wider at Anime Expo so that made wandering around better.
The French maid is on the left side of the photo.
I did not seem too many booth bimbos and those that I did see were not on a par with Comic-Con.
Of course, it was possible that I wandered through the game and manga section during their breaks and missed the interesting ones.
People dressed as characters at the Star Trek convention and Comic-Con. The character dressing was more pronounced here. I have watched a lot of Star Trek so I could recognize who the people were trying to be when I was at the Star Trek event and I have read my fair share of comic books. That was easy.
At Anime 2006, I could only guess at what some of the people were since I am not much of a graphic novel fan or up on most of the anime cartoons. I did see one man dressed up as a Transformer, Optimus Prime. I could recognize him because Doug had Transformers when he was young but then every boy did.
I could also recognize the Asian American girls who were dressed up as Japanese high school students with their short plaid skirts, white shirts with ties, and knee socks. This was easy. For a while, it looked like class photo day at school.
Then, I came to the characters from either the manga or from cartoons or possibly both. I had no clue. I saw one young woman, well I think she was a young woman, who was wearing a kimono, had a long greenish hair wig with little horns, and her skin was blue. She was very pleased when I asked if I could take her photo. I guess being asked for your photo while you are in costume is a sign that your costume is good.
Of course, for every attractive costume, there is the reason why I sometimes have nightmares. I would not want to meet her in broad daylight unless I was being backed up by the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment.
Be well and stay happy and a big shout out to Team Member Douglas for helping his Dad with the posting.
One of my first reactions was that parking was a mess. You couldn’t enter the main parking area entrance for some reason. I had to drive around the Anaheim Convention Center until I finally came to the parking structure entrance, I arrived around 11:00 AM and the structure was crowded. I ended up on the fourth floor of a five story structure. I later learned that it opened at 8:00 AM which explained why it was crowded.
I was walking in from the parking structure behind a mother and three young women [early teenagers]. One of them turned around and asked me what floor of the structure we were on. She recognized me from the structure elevator. Of course she would, she pushed me aside, even though I had been waiting longer and I was clearly older, to get in the elevator. She was wearing some small horns on her head and had a fox tail coming out of the top of her jeans. She had blond hair.
I told her third floor.
Our cars were on the fourth floor; learn to respect your elders for we may be useful to you some day grasshopper.
As Bluto from ANIMAL HOUSE once said, “Don’t get mad; get even.” I think that was from his famous “When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor” soliloquy.
Another one of my impressions was that this seemed to be equally gender balanced in terms of attendance. Comic-Con is a predominately male attendee. I don’t remember that much about the Star Trek convention.
This was an Asian American crowd overall. I guess this is a reflection of the tastes for anime and manga that are not as great with the rest of us in Southern California. That, plus it was the 4th of July long weekend and the surf was great and the sand was hot. If I were really young, I would have probably gone to Huntington Beach for the surf, sand, and bikinis
Anime Expo 2006 is not as large as Comic-Con although it may become as significant but it will take some time to reach that level. The aisles were wider at Anime Expo so that made wandering around better.
The French maid is on the left side of the photo.
I did not seem too many booth bimbos and those that I did see were not on a par with Comic-Con.
Of course, it was possible that I wandered through the game and manga section during their breaks and missed the interesting ones.
People dressed as characters at the Star Trek convention and Comic-Con. The character dressing was more pronounced here. I have watched a lot of Star Trek so I could recognize who the people were trying to be when I was at the Star Trek event and I have read my fair share of comic books. That was easy.
At Anime 2006, I could only guess at what some of the people were since I am not much of a graphic novel fan or up on most of the anime cartoons. I did see one man dressed up as a Transformer, Optimus Prime. I could recognize him because Doug had Transformers when he was young but then every boy did.
I could also recognize the Asian American girls who were dressed up as Japanese high school students with their short plaid skirts, white shirts with ties, and knee socks. This was easy. For a while, it looked like class photo day at school.
Then, I came to the characters from either the manga or from cartoons or possibly both. I had no clue. I saw one young woman, well I think she was a young woman, who was wearing a kimono, had a long greenish hair wig with little horns, and her skin was blue. She was very pleased when I asked if I could take her photo. I guess being asked for your photo while you are in costume is a sign that your costume is good.
Of course, for every attractive costume, there is the reason why I sometimes have nightmares. I would not want to meet her in broad daylight unless I was being backed up by the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Regiment.
Be well and stay happy and a big shout out to Team Member Douglas for helping his Dad with the posting.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 4:08 PM
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