Day One of Sakura-Con! That Friday would mark the 6th year I've gone to Sakura-Con so far, and the 3rd year I've cosplayed for Aniplex & American Cosplay Paradise at Sakura-Con.
Picture by Everon
Picture by Everon
Picture by Everon
My booth shift on Friday was from 10:00 AM to 02:00 PM on Friday in Kousei with Diligent Sesame's Kaori. With Imari's help however, I was able to get my hands on Good Smile Company's Snow Miku 2016 Nendoroid and Kotobukiya's Frames Arms Girl figure, Stylet!
Most attendees were checking out all the anime goods around the exhibitors hall since it was the first day that attendees would be able to purchase goods fromt the vendors. Many attendees were looking for exclusives like the Snow Miku Nendoroid and Stylet. The rush at the exhibitor hall's opening was intense, but most attendees were pretty good about walking slowly and not running across the hall.
The Aniplex booth itself was giving out Aniplex calendars with a limited-print SAO cover to match its Anime Boston Your Lie in April cover counterpart. Also, if attendees bought Sword Art Online related merchandise from the Aniplex booth, they would be eligible to receive some cute SAO sticker sheets!
A bunch of people shared their enjoyment and enthusiasm with Diligent Sesame and I over Your Lie in April and that was pretty awesome. Diligent Sesame even brought out her Melodica a few times for those who were lucky enough to be around to hear it!
We didn't have much going on at the booth in terms of booth events while I was on duty on Friday morning, but everyone was pretty chill to hang around with!
I noticed that the Crunchyroll booth wasn't set up that day or the day before. I was looking forward to seeing some old faces and some Kiznaiver merchandise! Miles even came around a few times with a (non-alcoholic) drink in his hand, staring over his booth for a few seconds before disappearing into the exhibitor hall crowds ; _ ;7
After my shift ended, I ate at the Cheesecake Factory with my hotelmates and girlfriend, Vexrai. The wait wasn't particularly long, surprisingly enough and we were in and out within the hour!
After having myself a burger and fries, I headed back to the convention center as Shirou from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works to do a photoshoot with Mei as Rin and Rico Tam Photography! Mei and I met during the first year of SAO at Sakura-Con as Asuna and Kirito, and this was probably the first time that we really got to hang out after meeting three years ago haha. Rico and Celia of Rico Tam Photography were really cool to work with! Super understanding and they definitely have the skills!
Picture by Rico Tam Photography
Picture by Rico Tam Photography
Picture by Rico Tam Photography
Picture by Rico Tam Photography
Picture by Rico Tam Photography
After the photoshoot, my hotelmates, girlfriend, and I went back to the hotel and got changed into Umaru to walk around the convention center in. Unfortunately we didn't really find anything to do or anything we wanted to wait for so we ended up heading back to catch an early night's sleep. There's a few shirtless umaru pictures floating around but to keep my blog a little tidy (not TIDDY, T-I-D-Y), I'm going to avoid posting that...