Anime Expo 2010 Report [Day 4, Final Thoughts & Loot]

Oh how the 4 (5) days went by like nothing.

Day 4 - July 4
The final day was dedicated to the exhibitor's hall. Eh, in retrospect, it was way too much free time. I should've lined up for more autographs at the open autograph session; it would've been a better use of my time. I basically walked the exhibitor's hall about 3 times to scope out the competition and prices and only one store had some I had interest in. At the end of the hour, the store didn't even drop any prices so it was a waste of time to camp for it. There were some pretty insane price drops though... nothing I really, really wanted to get unfortunately. I was even bored enough to line up for the Hi-Chew raffle for free candy but only managed to get a magnet which I gave to Tofu. I got one final autograph from Kuuchuu Yousai who signed the back of my mousepad info sheet to finish things up.

When the hall closed, we all met up outside and hung around, figuring out what to do next. We spotted Nakajima Megumi trying to camouflage in with the crowd, but we let her have her fun. We finally decided that we needed food before our flight back so we drove all around town (and the surrounding towns) to see what was open on July 4th. We finalized on The Islands for some good ol' burgers and fries.


So. Overall it was an insane AX year, compared to the other years so far. I'm proud (and a bit sad) to not purchase any figurines this time around, however my final autograph count made up for it as I basically got all the autographs I aimed to get, and then some.

• Horie Yui (seiyuu)
• Konishi Katsuyuki (seiyuu)
• Kitamuri Eri (seiyuu) x2
• Nakajima Megumi (seiyuu)
• Morita Masakazu (seiyuu)
• Minami Kuribayashi (musical artist/seiyuu)
• CooRie (musical artist)
• UR@N (musical artist)
• May'n (musical artist)
• MELL (musical artist)
• Kuuchuu Yousai (illustator)
• Katakura Shinji (mangaka, illustrator)
• Yamanaka Takahiro (director)
• REDALiCE (musical artist, DJ)
• DJ CHUCKY (musical artist, DJ)
• NO+CHIN (musical artist, DJ)
• m1dy (musical artist, DJ)
• GUHROOVY (musical artist, DJ)

AX needs to stop this insanity, or I'll be forced to go every damn year.

Hm, final thoughts:

• The lanyards were so cheap this year. Mine even still have the MADE IN CHINA sticker still on it.
• They're making us pay for our concerts now! D:
• They almost made us pay for shuttles! D:
• There could've been more frequent or just more shuttles.  The shuttle buses got full way too quickly and we'd either have to walk in the heat or travel to another hotel to get first dibs.
• Outside events were unpleasant with the gawddamn heat.
• If I didn't have past AX experience, my autograph getting would've been shit (I guess that wasn't bad for me).  They should've used the number system again like last year.
• They needed bigger signs for the autograph lines.
• Konishi was put in too small of a room.  They underestimated him!
• I wish I played the FUNimation scavenger hunt... I wanted Higashi no Eden stuff :(
• I was sad there wasn't a vendor that sold manga (Japanese) and some other figures I'm still looking forever for.
• Almost every event was delayed at least 30 mins.
• Those vuvuzelas were annoying.
• That distance between the West Hall Lobby and the Exhibit Hall still sucks.
• They should've put the autograph area in the unused West Hall.  Forcing us to run through people in the exhibitor's hall was an ass move.
• Needed more late night events later than 2am karaoke.
• Badge pickup on Day 0 was shit.
• I have come to love and appreciate shikishis.

I need to thank Tofu and Rift for allowing me to experience such insanity this year. Can my graduation get any better? Nah, I think that was the final sign for me to get my ass into gear.