The best thing about being a nerd is discovering new stuff.

Honestly. I live for books and movies and tv shows and almost anything that’s science fiction-y or supernatural. I’m constantly looking for my new obsession.

Now my younger brother (one of my brothers, I have like 30 of them) is fairly obsessed with anime and has been going to anime conventions and cosplaying as Tsuna from Hitman Reborn for awhile now. I was supposed to go with him to the big Anime Expo last year, but funds just kept me from going. This year however, he bugged me until I bought my badge, months in advance.

To be completely truthful, I’m not the biggest anime fan. It’s not that I don’t like it; I definitely do. I just don’t know a lot of it. I watched Inuyasha, Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho when they were on TV and I’m absolutely obsessed with early Pokemon. I read my share of mangas,mostly Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2. I also absolutely ADORE any and all Studio Ghibli films. So I was feeling apprehensive about going to the expo; I wasn’t sure if I was going to fit in or have fun.

I was so wrong! And I love being wrong when it comes to things like this!

Anime Expo was so much FUN! And there were so MANY reasons for that.

The people were awesome. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, no matter what you were. I dressed in my Ravenclaw gear and even though that is completely not anime, people were awesome and didn’t judge at all.

It was crowded, but in a good way. Having ditched Comic Con after only a couple years of going because of the insane amount of people that go nowadays, this con was perfect. It had a ton of people to let you know that it was going to be a good time but it wasn’t so crowded that you couldn’t move.

The lines. And by lines, I mean the basically nonexistent ones. I mean, sure there were lines and they were long. The line to get your badge was long, the lines to get into panels were long, the lines to meet people were long. BUT they didn’t take forever! You could show up ten minutes before a panel, and be the last person in line and make it in and have a decent seat. Beautiful.

The cosplays. There were some seriously awesome cosplays. There were a lot that I didn’t get, seeing as I’m not the biggest anime fan in the world. But that didn’t even matter. They were just done so well, that I was incredibly impressed.

Sophie and Howl From one of my favorite movies, definitely my favorite Studio Ghibli films.

But cosplays ranged anywhere from impressive, to cute, with this little Baby Cloud, from Final Fantasy

to awesomely OLD SCHOOL! (you know, for a 90s kid like me)…That’s Lola Bunny from Space Jam, if you didn’t know

to just downright sexy, like half naked HOT pokemon…

But my favorite part about the Anime Expo was discovering something new, or new to me, at least. One of my brother’s favorite anime shows is Madoka Magica. They had a panel for the show with all the English voice actors and then an autograph signing with those voice actors. Of course, we had to go. Between the panel and the autograph signing, I was hooked.

What caught me was that there was a cute little cat-like creature named Kyubey who encouraged these young girls to become Magical Girls (who hunted witches) in exchange for one wish, any wish. They get super awesome magical powers, get to be powerful and fight witches and have bad ass costumes. Sounds pretty great right? Only apparently Kyubey is not what he seems and you definitely DO NOT want to enter a contract with him.

Now I’m only a few episodes in, but its been fantastically awesome. The show is funny and dramatic and full of action. And the actresses who play some of the main characters: Madoka, Kyoko, Homura, Sayaka, Mami and Kyubey were fun to meet; funny, laidback and genuinely excited to meet their fans.

  

Lauren Landa, voice actress of the character Kyoko, posing with the Madoka Magica manga book she signed for me!

So, in a nutshell, I had a great time and I encourage all nerds to go, if only to discover fun and awesome new things. You’ll definitely have a good time and who knows, you could go home part of a new fandom.

And I know definitely I will be going again next year, and who knows? You may just see me in a Sayaka or Madoka outfit next year…

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