Off To Anime Expo 2023!

Off to Anime Expo 2023!

My ITA backpack is ready!

And in case my favorite anime wasn't obvious enough already, I also put some pins on my badge lanyard!

So yeah, later today I'll be heading to Anime Expo (also known as AX), which is arguably the biggest anime convention in North America. Since I live near Los Angeles, I've been to the expo many times...this will be my thirteenth year attending! I've even saved all of my AX badges over the years ;)

(if you're wondering why I had to blur out parts of the badges, it's because they used to be personalized with every attendee's full name and city/state. They stopped doing that in 2015).

Even though I've been to AX many times, this will be my first convention since the pandemic, so I'm especially looking forward to it.

These are the events I'm planning to attend (emphasis on SxF related events of course):

Day 1, July 1st

-Spy x Family Panel featuring Takuya Eguchi

Start: 5:00PM End: 5:50PM

Day 2, July 2nd

-Production I.G x WIT

Start: 12:00PM End: 12:50PM

Day 3, July 3rd

-Bushiroad Panel

Start: 11:30AM End: 12:20PM

-Crunchyroll Industry Panel

Start: 3:30PM End: 4:50PM

Any time I have in between panels will be spent in the Exhibit Hall, where 100+ vendors will be selling all manner of anime goods, or Artist Alley, where 100+ artists will be selling their works. And when those places close in the evenings, I'll probably hang out in the Tabletop Gaming room playing Weiss Schwarz and Osica.

Obviously the SxF panel on Day 1 is my top priority. That would still be the case even if Eguchi wasn't part of it, but the fact that he will be there makes me even more excited! But anyone who's been to big fan conventions knows how crazy crowds can be, and unless an event has reservation tickets or something (which this one doesn't) it's all first come first serve. I know I'll have to get there at least a few hours early to ensure I can get a seat. This year AX will not be clearing rooms before or after most events, so that could help. Fingers crossed I can get in! The other events I want to attend will be crowded too, but not as bad as this one. I'm hopeful we'll get a sneak peek of SxF season 2...we've already gotten a movie trailer, and the movie comes out months after season 2, so maybe they're saving the season 2 teaser for AX!

Unfortunately I've been dealing with a health issue for the past month that has yet to be resolved. After weeks of pain in my gut and battling ongoing fatigue, I finally got a CT scan today and found out I have inflammation in my colon. I just started taking antibiotics that will hopefully get rid of it, but if not I'll have to get a colonscopy for further inspection. I wish I felt better so I could enjoy myself more, but I know I'll feel at least a little better once the adrenaline and excitement kicks in. Just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get worse during the trip...I've been looking forward to this all year and would be devastated if it was ruined!

Anyway, I definitely plan to blog about my time at AX. Unfortunately most of the big events, especially ones with exclusive content, don't usually allow photos or video. But I'll do the best I can even if I can only recount my experiences in text! I'll try to make posts while I'm actually at the expo, but depending on how things go, I might not be able to do the bulk of my posting until after I return. However, I do plan to make more sporadic, real-time posts on my Twitter, so follow me there if you're interested!

SxF merch at AX part 2!

Been a while since I made a new merch post!

I recently went to a collectibles trade show and found some nice SxF goodies! I didn't want to go too crazy so I just bought the below shikishi set and packs of cards.

This one booth had more stuff I liked but I restrained myself, lol.

I also decided to buy some new shirts (mostly in preparation for Anime Expo!) Of course a SxF shirt was among them 😁

I don't think I've seen this design before (it also took me a while to notice that Anya has a Bond popsicle!)

A while back I posted about the Osica card game because they have a SxF set. I finally bought all the remaining cards I wanted! Since the game is Japan-only, my friend and I had to use a Japanese shipping proxy service to get them, which thankfully wasn't too difficult (he bought Yuru Camp cards while I bought SxF). I now have all the cards I need for my Twiyor and Anya decks! (3-4 copies of each card per deck)

And lastly, I got this adorable Anya & Bond towel from AmiAmi!

Perfect timing since summer is just around the corner and I'll be spending time at the beach and my friend's pool 😉

I did see some of Shiny's responses to that anon, but I was admittingly too busy with Anime Expo and other things to pay much attention. And honestly, the question at hand was not an enjoyable topic I wanted to delve into, so there's that. But geez, deactivating her blog because of this is extremely drastic! I think she was one of the most popular SxF analysis blogs on Tumblr, and was actually the very first SxF blog I started following. She put so much work into that blog, to just throw it all away because of some rude anons seems like a hasty decision to me...but as @httplovecraft1890 suggested, perhaps there was worse harassment going on outside her posts. If that's the case, that's a very sad turn of events and I hope she can recover from everything soon (I also hope she kept a backup of her blog content. It would be a terrible loss to the fandom if all those great analyses could never be accessed again!)

I suppose a lesson to be learned from all this, besides what others have stated about not being cruel and rude to people just because you disagree about fictional characters, is that you shouldn't feel obligated to address every Ask you get, especially if whatever they're asking makes you uncomfortable. I used to get lots of weird anon Asks on my old Tumblr blog, and for the most part I just ignored them, blocked them, and moved on with my life. At one point I almost made a game out of it where I'd try to guess how much time would pass before they'd make new accounts to annoy me again, or whether it's the same person doing it or more than one person. But I know that laughing off harassment isn't something that's easy for everyone. So don't feel any reservation about hitting that block button or disabling Asks or DMs for a while. Hopefully Shiny will return, if not on Tumblr then maybe elsewhere.

what happened to shinybluebirdwizard 😰 is she alright?

I don't know.

Is something bad happen???

I haven't browse tumblr too much these days

Here's my remaining SxF photos from Anime Expo! (I'm back home from the con now and will be sharing pics of my merch haul tomorrow!)

I had a wonderful time and it was great seeing so much SxF love while I was there! However, I have to admit that I'm a little surprised/disappointed that they didn't have any exclusive SxF announcements or sneak peeks at any of the panels (and no, I don't count the Street Fighter collab as that kind of noteworthy announcement, lol). They showed exclusive content and trailer reveals for lots of other anime, some that aren't even scheduled to be released until next year, but nothing for SxF that wasn't already revealed before. Considering how much attention SxF was getting throughout the con, it was weird that they didn't have something - if not a trailer/sneak peek of season 2, then at least an announcement that Crunchyroll has officially licensed it, or dates that they plan to screen the movie outside Japan. The fact that they brought Eguchi as a guest really gave the impression they would show off something exclusive or have some big announcement. Maybe they had planned to, but in the end, Crunchyroll or whoever wasn't able to get permission in time. But besides being a bit bummed about that, everything else was awesome, so I can't complain!

Also, for anyone wondering about my health condition that I mentioned in my first Anime Expo post, thankfully it didn't interfere much with my enjoyment of the con. As I thought, the adrenaline and stimulation kept me going, though I did have bad bouts of constipation (which isn't unusual for me when I'm off my usual eating/sleeping schedule). However, now that I'm no longer distracted by AX, the sickly fatigue I was feeling before is coming back. I'm still taking the antibiotics but I have a feeling they won't fix the issue. I'll very likely be getting a coloscopy soon, if not next week then by the end of the month.

I may have stumbled upon the best Anya cosplayer at Anime Expo 🙃