Friday: As day breaks we find our selves well on our way to Anime U.S.A. and even as far as we are, we are still in Ohio... Man is that State wide. By the time Noon rolls around we've almost reached our destination, and an hour later we've arrived at Anime U.S.A. just outside of our nations' capitol. Upon entering the hotel it is fairly obvious where to go, the check in is well organised and after only a minute of confusion about my name, I have my pass and am in. After checking in I goto the formost room of any convention, the dealers room, and look around. There were a number of great dealers here including V.M.E. Productions and Studio Ironcat.

I eventually made my way to Other locations at the con, including Con Ops, by way of the 'creepy voiced elevator'(tm). The con seemed to be running smoothly, but for all my wandering, and the map I had, I was still having trouble finding places. The way the hotel was laid out was slightly confusing, and made getting from room to room dificult and time consuming, even after I figured out where everything was, as it stands I didn't figure that out until...

Saterday:The main day of any convention started out with me finally finding the Green Room, and with it some decent food. The Con suite, or 'Hospitality' as it was marked, seemed to never actually have anything to eat, and rarly have drinks, I can't say if this was due to large numbers or hungry Otaku, or if it was ill preperation. However the Green room was well stocked, and dispite it's dificulty to locate, it was good to be a guest. This is one thing I will recomend this Convention for, If you are ever invited to be a guest here, then accept. In my conversations with several guests, I found out that in addition to what was avalible in the green room, each guest ws also given a small expence account for food durring the con. Most of saterday breezed by far to quickly, and we soon found ourselves at what many concider the main event, the Cos-play. It was here that I had my first major disappointment with the convention, It started with The opening act that wouldn't end, known as 'Otaku Duet'. Now don't get me wrong, She is a skilled singer, and He is an amaizing pianist, but this act did not belong at the begining of a Cos-play. The act it'self was, mildly entertaining, however When I am surrounded by Guests and other members of the Press, and all I hear after the third song are mumbles about it not being over yet, it becomes obvious that it's far too long. I do tend to agree with those around me, if the act had been three songs instead of six, it would have been much better.

Eventually the cos-play begins. What humor the opening act was lacking, the M.C. more than made up for, dispite the notably low turnout. There were good acts, there were bad acts, but there was one act, that reaffermed one simple fact, Ravers shouldn't cos-play.

If all you're going to do is get up on stage and wigle your fingers around with little lights on them, to a song noone could identify for me, then just be a walk on. As the Judges deliberated, we saw the return of the Cos-play chair and the opening act that wouldn't end.

When they began pulling people out of the audience to sing I began to feel physically ill, and left the room. I found out later that I wasn't alone in my dash to the restroom. The judges returned far too late for my tastes, and proceded to give all but one group an award, I'm glad I wasn't one of them. Saterday night saw the Dance, with some decent D.J.s and a Large number of Security guards. eventually I passed out and it was...

Sunday:The final day of the convention felt more like an after hours type day. everyone was packing up, from the dealers to the video rooms, everything was going into boxes. It seemed like everyone was in a hurry to leave. so much so in fact that nothing noteable happened this day.

Final Comments: This convention is what I like to call a 'Short Range' convention, If you don't have to travel far then it's a great con to goto. personally I don't belive I'll be back next year. It had a Great staff, wonderful Guests, and except for Otaku Duet, good events, But it's not worth crossing the Applations for.

B.P.