Kiyami and Chuck take Anime USA!

The official theme of the con was “Fashion,” but for me it was definitely “voice actors.” We went to a bunch of VA panels, Q&A’s, and info sessions, mostly with the one and only Steve Blum, and the Poke-tastic Michele Knotz! They were all really great, and often very funny. For instance, we learned that J Michael Tatum’s favorite Olympic sport is figure skating… because he wants to see them wipe-out!

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As for my favorite part of any con, the dealer’s room, Anime USA’s room was about average, with a few awesome gems here and there. The best part was discovering a new vendor whose stock consisted almost entirely of vintage Space Battleship Yamato and other classic Matsumoto merchandise! It was like Candyland, but with 70’s anime memorabilia I didn’t end up buying much, just a little model of Leader Desslok’s command ship, due to monetary shortages, but it was a great experience nonetheless.

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Next up, I bought the collection of the first three Slayers seasons. I actually haven’t seen any Slayers stuff yet, but judging from the level of 90’s nostalgia surrounding the show I feel like it’ll be right up my alley I also bought the super high quality (and high priced) Madoka Magica: Rebellion collectors set imported from Japan. While I do actually love this film enough to buy it myself, this purchase was actually a brokered transaction for a friend of mine who loves it even more than me (and who has more money than me too ) I also bought a nifty little Unit-02 keychain. There were appropriately colored keychains for Units-00 and -01, but I got the last -02, which prompted the clearly clueless vendor to ask “why does everyone always buy the red one?” 😆 At the same booth I also picked up a sweet FLCL t-shirt to wear to future cons and other anime related gatherings. Finally, I picked up a cool art print from an artist in the Artist’s Alley. Her schtick was tarot cards, and I couldn’t help buying the Tenchi themed card!

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Overall, Anime USA was a fun and affordable little con! I’m probably going to make this my go-to summer Maryland con over Otakon from now on, simply due to its vast superiority in terms of cost, comfort, and convenience! And with that, I’ll turn the mic over to the lovely Kiyami to share her experiences at the con.