Hello there and welcome to my Anime Expo 2002 page! Since you clicked on the AX link that means that you want to look at Anime Expo pictures and read about my exciting adventure to Long Beach, California. So.. I won't make you wait any more.
First off I would like to say that I live in Colorado and Chibishin (Ben) and I decided to rent a car and DRIVE (well.. Chibishin drove.. I'm only 20) to Long Beach. From where I live Long Beach was 12 hours away, with Chibishins driving, so we had an adventure on our hands. Anyway, we're suddenly in California. We got there early Wednesday and registered to get our badges and get all the great CRAP they gave us. After that was BOREDOM. So we just walked around for a while. The next morning at 10am was the Opening Ceremonies. We got to see all the Guests of Honor and their videos as to why some were not there. Yoko Ishida then gave a Para Para mini-concert and then we were off. First off.. since we were cosplaying we went to the Fruits Basket meeting and took a lot of pics. After that we decided to go into the Exhibition Hall and see what we could get our grubby hands on. I intended to spend very little while we were there. Instead, over the 4 days there, I was able to spend around $600. Whoops... and oh well.. I'm happy.. that's all that matters. So basically Thursday was just buy buy buy buy buy buy buy! Friday... the DAY.. the Music Video Contest! I got up to go get tickets which was jacked up anyway because the seats were supposed to be together but were not! I got a seat on the floor and Chibishin got one on the balcony way in the back corner. We went to the Yoko Ishida concert and I sang along to every song she sang because Yoko Ishida kicks ASS! At 8pm the Music Video Contest was supposed to start but we waited until 9:30pm to get seated. Then at 10:30pm they said they screwed up and the contest would be at 8am the next morning. According to them they encoded the videos incorrectly and screwed it all up. EVERYONE was pissed. So I woke up early and went to the AMV contest since Cybernetic Eyecandy was a finalist in the Comedy category. I just have to say.. I got SHAFTED. They decided that some videos didn't belong to any of the categories so they made a fourth: 'Fun'. Now.. if you watch my vid.. tell me if it's funny. I don't think it is but I only had the Comedy category to put it into. Why they didn't put my video in the fun category is beyond me but oh well. Some other video won and I was pissed. After that I went back to the Exhibition Hall and bought more stuff. For the rest of the day I just read my Inu Yasha Manga. Chibishin went off and took pictures as I continued to read. Saturday was spent mostly in the Exhibition Hall again.. and getting more pictures. We also got our pictures taken with Yoko Ishida and get her autograph. That was so damn cool to meet her =D !! Finally on Sunday we drove to Los Angeles and got in line at Anime Gamers to meet Koge-Donbo (creator of Di Gi Charat). I got her autograph on a pencil board that I bought at the store. The employees there were so nice and their store was mind-blowing. After that we went back to Long Beach, walked around and took some pics, and then finally headed home. Anime Expo 2002 was over and I was ready to go home. Below are the pictures that Chibishin and I took. I hope you enjoy them!
- Stalfos
Here are some pictures of the merchandise that I bought and got for free while attending Anime Expo 2002
