This is asking what has been your most fave of the Fanimes you've gone to over the years.
---
2011, 2012 and 2013 have been a blast. I can't seem to say why, for some reason. But this year, I got to see the Sharks/Kings game as well. :D
2006 for me. I wore my Kenpachi Zaraki cosplay for the first time and one of my AMVs made it to the finals. The only year I attended without my regular group of friends but still had a great time.
2010 was my most memorable because it was my first and I met my current boyfriend there. <3
For me it was probably 2006. It was my first year back after a long hiatus, and I was really blown away by how the con had grown and the new atmosphere it had from the hotel days.
'03 and '04, for sooo many reasons. I wish I had come back for '05 through '10, though.
Back in the days when Fanime had Megumi Hayashibara as a guest. Got most of my Ranma goods autographed that day. ;D
2K. First ever con. Walking into dealers room for the first time. Peak of my personal anime fandom. (Nowadays, not so much)
Nothing quite like your first Fanime I feel. Although I'm excited for this year because I'm going to be able to see a lot of my college friends I haven't seen in a while on top of being able to bring along my hubby when he's not working.
2003 for me......Where do I start? XD
2012 for me. I mean A it was my first one, B I learned A LOT about myself then, C I got to staff the one thing I love to do and hope to do more this year.
2008 my first time there :c i miss those days
Really enjoyed 2004 or was it 2005 when Fred Gallager and crew of MT were guests.
2007, when my first Fanime memory was shaking Hiroyuki Yamaga's hand and telling him how much of an Eva fan I was.
Although I shouldn't count out 2009 when Halko Momoi sat right next to me during one of the Maid performances at Stage Zero or watching FLOW two years in a row (2010 and 2011) from the front row.
FanimeCon 2009 was my first FanimeCon. It was so iconic to me for so many reasons besides being my first.
It was the first time I had ever ventured out beyond my own community in Sacramento, and I carpooled with a group of my best friends at the time.
It was also the first larger sized anime event I'd ever been to.
The trip began when I introduced a friend of mine to Sac Anime, which at the time was in the Scottish Rite Center, also used for Sac-Con, the building houses barely 2-3 thousand at max if I'm guessing correctly. Sac Anime Winter 2009 had been the first time I crossed the boundary of shyness and I brought a crappy little digital camera with me to the event to take pictures of cosplayers and other events. I had also never attended events with friends, and it was a good Sac Anime- in fact it was the final one to be in the Scottish Rite Center because there was so many people that year that the event outgrew it.
But back to FanimeCon.
Having such a good time together at SacAnime Winter 2009, my friends and I talked about taking a further step. Going to an actual good sized out of town convention, doing the whole hotel thing, and staying for 5 days. It was all so new, and we booked a terrible room at a Ramada Inn that was 7 miles away from the convention. LOL.
I had done intense planning at home, saving/earning money, and fantasizing about the biggest Dealer's Room I had yet to see- on top of everything else I'd be seeing there. Funny thing was, there wasn't a lot of coverage/photos or videos online back then, and it made it difficult to really picture what it would all be like.
We left for our journey on Day Zero, since I had heard about the benefits of it. It was check-in time for our hotel, and we rushed because I knew (back then) that you had to be in line at least by 3 or 4 pm or you weren't getting into Day Zero.
With terrible luck, we got into a car accident on the way to the hotel just after turning off from the freeway into San Jose.
The car was still drivable and everyone was okay, but the radiator was leaking profusely, and we later realized that we would have to buy a bottle of radiator fluid and use the whole thing just to get from the hotel to the convention, then back to the hotel later that night. We bought 10 bottles and used them all. LOL.
Also, one of our friends had to be "the reverse", since the car wouldn't do that either, our friend had to get out and push at times when we needed it.
But we endured through the whole 5 days for FanimeCon.
Each day of FanimeCon 2009 was amazing for me. I experienced the Day Zero Swap Meet back in its prime before stores and crooks started monopolizing it. Mostly everyone had good quality items to sell for low prices. The swap meet was about getting rid of gently used items back then, not about making a killing like it has become at most of them today. Sadly whoever is running them these days are totally unaware of what's happening in them.
Day One of FanimeCon 2009 was the day I walked into the fabled "Dealer's Hall". Exhibit Hall 3 (as it used to be), the biggest of them all, was teaming with anime goods and sellers of all kinds. The room looked like the one I saw in vids on YouTube, but it wasn't 2004 like the vids, this was 10x better! I found so many deals and merch I still have to this day.
I also learned of Haruko Momoi, met her and the fanimaids, and witnessed her panel. I had no idea who she was but I watched her anyway, and I learned that I was practically witnessing a goddess. The trendsetter of Akihabara, The Holy Land to all otaku, pioneer of the legendary maid cafes in Japan, and believer in the Moe' Space, an invisible field of good vibes brought about when an idol/maids are singing and the crowd is entranced, while some perform "Otagei" and all are happy in the Moe' and sheer glee.
Day One also taught me about the community. While much of the Sacramento community attends FanimeCon, I also got to know so many other like-minded individuals from the SF/Bay Area regions, and even folks from SoCal and even out of state!
FanimeCon felt authentic, true, and perfect.
Day 2 and Day 3 followed on, making memories for me that I'll never forget. One of them being MusicFest. O.M.G....Momoi's performance.
I might as well say that I had never been to anything that would have qualified as an authentic otaku idol performance. Its very hard for most who weren't there to understand this, but that concert was magical. It felt almost too good to be happening in Cali. The Otagei, the glowsticks, the music, the maids, lol, I felt like I was really in The Holy Land of Akihabara.
I came home very changed, and I delved deeper and deeper into my hobbies from that day forward growing and furthering my passion for event photography, the community, the anime goods business, conventions, and the otaku culture itself. I even turned my little blog about food and stuff that I did each week into a full blown production that created the company I manage today.
FanimeCon seemed enormous to me, teeming with possibilities and a limitless number of things to do and see.
Not only was I enthralled to be within it, but I learned much from it.
It helped kindle the fire inside of me that keeps me loving what I do.
And I'll never forget 2009.
PS: The car had to be towed away after it stopped working, and my parents rescued myself and one friend. I had a fun time stuffing bags of loot into the truck, and talked everyone's heads off all the way home back to Sacramento. (that's 3 hours!)
-Kazu
99, they had the guy from Japan who has the most ever toys/figures collected, Dude was a proper riot and the dealers had cooler stuff back then...I likes 2004 too, met a bunch of cool people volunteering.
I cannot remember which year it was but I recall that wiimote plushies were very cute to have, followed by pocky plushies... I also remember yaoi paddles and signs with asking for hugs...
((I AM VERY CERTAIN that the wii-mote plushie, pocky plushies are illegal to sell at artist alley))
I also remember a time where artist alley was amazing and affordable ($30 tables x 1 (you can have up to 2))....
There was also some arcades located on the HALL way near stage zero when i first played guitarmania / drummania..
And wheeled shoes with final form sora gliding by...
......and when kingdom hearts gatherings actually had a large amount of people......
...
.....i kinda miss those days v_v...
now I am alone, and my friends don't want to go to fanime due to problems and horrible experiences... especially both the black out, AND 2012... ........
.........
At least its nice you guys are talking about the previous years, because i really forgot alot of wonderful moments!