Friday: Unfortunately I find myself unable to tell you much about Friday at Anime Central as we left a record 9 hours behind schedule. We arrived around 9 pm local time, after registration had closed for the evening, and spent most of our time trying to straiten things out with the hotel. Things did however look much better come the morning.

Saturday: The big day of the con was here at last. Registration was quick, if a little confusing, and into the con we went. The Dealers room was as large as ever, taking up almost the full convention center, the disadvantage being that it was separated from the rest of the convention by a very long walk through multiple skywalks (dubbed the "3 mile walk" by con-goers). After viewing the dealers room we went to the second best place to be parted from your money, Artists Alley.

This year Artists Alley was tucked away under the hotels pool area, much to the distaste of the artists. When staffers were asked about its location, the hotel was blamed.

Many hours of anime (and bad karaoke in the Consuite) later, we come to the event of the evening, the Cosplay.
This convention was blessed with a plethora of good cosplayers this year, so choosing a best and worst proved difficult, but as always I prevailed in doing so. The two best Cosplays are the two that literally had the audience cheering and rolling in the aisles.

Nothing makes an audience cheer quite like a bunch of Pocky boxes dancing to 'Yatta!' and then beating down a box of Fran.

And this group of characters from 'Star Ocean EX' with their rendition of 'If I were Gay' had them rolling in the aisles.

However for every good there is a bad, and while most of the skits were good (despite the lame 4 foot prop and 6 inches from the body rules), there were those that were bad.

This skit wasn't bad so much as it wasn't a skit, it was a walk on labeled as a skit, and somehow, it got a presentation award?!? Her costume is great, but there was no presentation, no skit to go with it. So rather than label her the worst cosplayer, I'll just label this the worst Skit.

And the winner of the first ever "I can dress myself" award is this skit from Slayers. No amount of flashy lights or music can save bad costumes, and poor lip-syncing.

After the cosplay and a short video shoot for the next Survivor series, setup for the dance and the many room parties begin. Once the parties start the rest of the night is spent in a drunken haze that only ends on,

Sunday: The final day of the con is much like Saturday, with many hours of good anime, and bad Karaoke. As the dealers room closes, and Artists Alley packs up, we find our way back home with many new memories.
This convention falls into the category of 'Must see'. Despite the many problems with the hotel (who were also blamed for the bizarre cosplay rules), I foresee as many more good years for this con as they've had in the past.

B.P.