W4's Fanime 2002 Report: Sunday

The last day of a convention is always the saddest. Even the fact that I wouldn't have to wear the full costume until July couldn't counter that.

The last time I wore the costume was for the morning's "Cosplay Mode" DDR tournament. I'll be blunt; I bombed it. Even though I chose ".59," a song that I can get damn near perfect on Double Maniac, my feet hit nothing but metal. I guess two days of con-walking and two DDR tournaments took their toll. Oh, well. Better luck next year.

Having shed the costume save for a dress shirt, tie and dress slacks, I was able to make some last-minute acquisitions. I added Ayumi Hamasaki's Ayu-Mix to my CD collection and picked up a few prints.

Okay. I will admit it. I am a complete ass. I didn't catch the name of the artist who drew this, and I can't read the signature. Please email me if you know who drew it.


Young drew this one. Isn't Miss Readman a cutie?


Another fine work by Jen Wong. I hope she and her art partner aren't getting tired of me. ^_^;;;


This soon-to-be-added-to-the-RECBT-omake pencil sketch is courtesty of our pals at Studio PMBQ.


Another Young Wang masterpiece.

I made my final purchases. Young closed down his art booth. He, Louis, Christine and I headed back to his apartment. Young, who was running on practically no sleep, took a nap. Louis, Christine and I watched the first two episodes of "Mahoro Matic" and ate hamburgers, sausages and steak generously supplied by Young's and Louis's parents. After three days of "con food," the meal was, hands-down, the best thing I ate in San Jose. Mr. Wang drove me to the airport, where I met the officers of Cal Animage Beta. They invited me to their weekly anime meetings and provided to be lively company on the flight back.

To make a short story long, Fanime kicked ass. I dare say that this was my most favorite anime convention to date. The combination of being surrounded by friendly, funny people and the mostly-postive attention I received through cosplay made it a memorable experience.

It also provided me with a to-do list to prepare for Anime Expo:

• Bring LOTS AND LOTS of water and Gatorade to Anime Expo. This shouldn't be a problem; I couldn't take my car to San Jose, but I WILL be able to take it to Long Beach. Time to make the most of the trunk.
• Pace myself. After three days of con-walking and three DDR tourneys (to say nothing of the games I played prepping for said tourneys), I was worn down to the nub, even with three meals a day, six hours of sleep and two showers daily.
• More DDR training! I learned the hard way that I am still not tournament-level, but I may be able to hold my own on the more awkward tournaments like "Mediocre Attack" and "Miss Attack." I'll see if James "Calculus" Renken wouldn't mind helping me come up with some suitable exercises.
• More pictures. I think this was roughly half of what I took for either of the last two conventions. ^_^

So in conclusion...

FANIME 2002 ROCKS!

Thank you, and good night.

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