Anime Expo is one of those events that I wait for all year with anxiousness and a high degree of expectations. But it seems from year to year, my experiences at AX have been hit or miss. Either I will have a great time looking around the entire expo or I will have a lousy time having to deal with the staff and volunteers who work the show. This year was slightly different, however. My experience at AX was divided between having a great and memorable time and getting frustrated over and over again at the organizers. I really don’t understand why the people behind AX can’t put out a consistent expo year after year. I would rather have a great time year after year at the expo (as would everyone else); but I will admit that this is a better experience than I have had before. I don’t like settling when it comes to my experiences, but in this case I will take it.

Overall, AX had a good look and feel to it; better, in my opinion, than it has had in quite a while. Splitting the expo between the different locations of the Los Angeles Convention Center and L.A. Live made for a wonderful experience for many of the attendees. This year’s AX also had many great Guest of Honor that the attendees had a great amount of interest in. Whether it was the creators of Black Lagoon showcasing the world debut of the third season of the series, Black Lagoon: Roberta’s Blood Trail, the creators of Eden of the East screening the film for fans throughout the weekend, or talking to the seiyuu who made their way to the US to talk to their fans and answer questions in panels, fans had many different features to attend while at AX. Even the music provided by musical guest like AKB 48, Mell, Sophia, and May’N, fans had a great time watching these talented performers entertain the crowds throughout the four days of the show.

From an attendees stand point, I will say that there was a lot for anyone in attendance to enjoy. I was really looking forward to many of the panels, screenings, concerts, and dances that would be at AX this year. Some of the best features that I enjoyed the most at AX were the May’N concert, the Wonderland themed dance, the Mell concert, the screening of Evangelion 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone, and the Nerd Courting panel. In fact, I hope to see the Nerd Courting panel again at AX next year. The man who was featured at that panel, Adam Cullen, was the best panelist I have ever seen at AX and judging from the reaction of the crowd, many of them would agree with me.

But for all that good, I just cannot get the bad taste a few issues at AX have left in my mouth. Most prominent of all issues was how disorganized the people running AX seemed to have been this year. From the people organizing AX all the way down to the volunteers, there was no semblance of balance or of any form of organized communication to help resolves simple issues that kept coming up over and over again during the entire expo. For the most part many volunteers could not distinguish or even assist anyone from the press or industry; they treated every attendee as such. This is more likely due to the organizers lack of cohesion with regards to every event. Some events resolved issues rather quickly while others took several minutes and back and forth communication with one too many people to get any kind of clear answer.

Also, from a press stand point, we were told we would have unrestricted access to all the events at the expo. This also was not the case as several times myself and other members from various press outlets had to really fight with organizers to allow us access to events, contradicting the promises made to us by AX organizers. On more than one occasion, once an event or panel had almost begun, organizers had to ask attendees to move back and find different seats as they had taken up the prioritized seating that was for press and VIPs. I put the full blame for this can be placed solely on the organizers because they had forgotten to mark the seats which attendees could not sit in. Not only did it disappoint the press members but it also seemed to anger many attendees.

Also, seating arrangements aside, some events and panels were so poorly put together that it was really hard to get past the initial disorganization and enjoy them fully. Hopefully you have read my reviews on the Visual Kei panel and Chibi Masquerade event; but if you haven’t, let’s just say that both have a long way to go before they can be truly memorable. Another event that went off horribly was AX Idol. Not that the show was bad, but how do you excuse the people running it for having it start more than an hour late. For some people on a schedule, having something they really wanted to see run late and having to miss it in place of something they wanted to see; that is a bit inexcusable to me. When the show did start it was great but there is no reason such a big event at AX should be that far behind schedule. I would later find out that panels and events starting late would be a recurring theme at AX this year.

Finally, and I really hate to criticize this because as a former cosplayer I know how much work goes into each costume, but there were some real lackluster cosplays out there this year. For every one beautiful, imaginative, or stellar costume on display at AX this year (and I will showcase one particular group’s work shortly) there were at least two badly thrown together ones that made me believe that perhaps they should not have worn them at all. As a former cosplayer, if you are not going to put your all into it then perhaps you just shouldn’t do it. It has to be a work of love and you have to click with the character you are portraying or else it will come off while you are wearing it that this is something you hurriedly put together just for the sake of doing it. This is by no means meant to discourage anyone from cosplaying… just some simple advice you would hear no matter what you are doing. Either do it right or don’t do it at all.

One week removed from the excitement of AX has given me enough time to gather my thoughts, calm down, and clearly state my thrills and reservations regarding this year’s Anime Expo. It was a great show with many cool ideas that got bogged down by poor planning, miscommunications, and a less than knowledgeable staff who often frustrated the attendees more than helping them. It is definitely not the worse AX I have been too, but it was not the best either. Of course, what was done well deserves all the best of praise, and I will tip my hat to the Masquerade, Nerd Courting panel, and several concerts. I just wish that they would shore it all up to really make AX the epic fan expo that it should be. Hopefully next year’s AX will run more smoothly, but this year’s wasn’t too bad when I look back at it all.