There’s something about a convention providing a much-needed break from real life, and for me, this year’s Fanime was exactly that. Yeah, this recap is about a month late, but let’s just say life has been a little challenging lately…the details aren’t important.
After taking last year off, I returned to Fanime with a full schedule…who am I kidding? Much like most conventions these days, my plan was to wing it and see what looked fun. My main goal was to spend time with friends I don’t get to see often and maybe enjoy a few adult beverages (narrator: many adult beverages were consumed).
This year was also a bit of a test run. I debuted three brand-new costumes and wanted to see how comfortable they would be over the course of a full convention day before deciding which ones would make the trip to Dragon Con in September.
My convention technically started earlier than it probably needed to thanks to booking an early morning flight that got me to the hotel hours before check-in. Not my brightest decision, but not exactly the end of the world either.
The first evening was pretty low-key. I wandered through the swap meet a few times but didn’t find anything I couldn’t live without (gotta save that money for Japan merch), then spent the rest of the night catching up with friends over a few beers.
Day one marked the debut of my Suzume cosplay from the Makoto Shinkai film of the same name. I was a little concerned because the longer ponytail wig was outside my comfort zone, but it ended up being surprisingly easy to manage even after nearly 14 hours of wear. The costume was comfortable all day, although I will eventually need to replace the wig because I’m pretty sure Suzume’s hair is actually brown.
The rest of the day was spent wandering through Exhibit Hall, where I stopped by the ALA booth to catch up with fellow staff members. Despite telling myself I wasn’t going to buy anything, I somehow left with a few vinyl decals for my car. That wasn’t the end of it either, as I also picked up some Love Live and Frieren-themed glassware.
Between browsing the exhibit hall, checking out a couple of panels, relaxing in the manga lounge, and spending some time at Stage Zero, the day flew by. The night ended back at the DoubleTree for some late-night programming followed, naturally, by more beer and hanging out with friends.
Day two was all about catching up with friends who had recently moved to Northern California, but first came the debut of my Agnes Tachyon cosplay. That immediately hit a snag when I couldn’t figure out how to attach the tail, so I solved the problem the elegant way by simply…not wearing the tail. I’ll eventually figure that out, along with fixing the stockings that refused to stay up, but overall it was another successful costume debut. In fact, the ears were so comfortable I honestly forgot I was even wearing them.
Most of the day was spent walking through Exhibit Hall and Artist Alley with friends before grabbing lunch together. After we parted ways, I decided to check out the MusicFest concert featuring this year’s guest, ALI. I went in with no expectations and ended up having an absolute blast. The energy in the room was incredible, and they put on a fantastic show. It turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend before grabbing some pizza and, once again, ending the night with friends and adult beverages.
Since I had an early flight home Monday morning, Sunday was essentially my last full day of the convention. It was also the debut of an upgraded You Watanabe cosplay that was much more stage accurate than my previous version and definitely a worthwhile addition to my cosplay lineup.
True to form, I didn’t have much of a schedule beyond doing whatever seemed interesting. I spent more time in the manga lounge, took part in the Love Live cosplay gathering, and attended a Japan travel panel, which felt especially relevant considering I’m still deep in planning my trip later this year.
After meeting up with another friend I rarely get to see for dinner, I wrapped up the convention by attending an 18+ RPG-themed panel called Roll for Seduction. I’ll let your imagination fill in the rest.
And just like that, Fanime was over.
After dealing with months of work stress and personal stress, it was exactly the reset I needed. I didn’t pack my schedule full of events or panels, but honestly, I never felt like I had to. Sometimes the best convention memories come from wandering around, discovering things you weren’t planning to do, and spending time with people you don’t get to see very often.
Looking back, this ended up being one of my favorite Fanimes in the five years I’ve attended. More than anything else, it reminded me that the people are what make the convention special, and that’s exactly why I’m already looking forward to doing it all again next year.