Anime Expo 2015! Haul & Thoughts ♡ (PIC/VID HEAVY)

 This blog post is all about my experience and haul in Los Angeles, California! I'd been planning on going to Anime Expo since last summer and finally made the trip from July 1st to July 6th! (The convention was from the 2nd to the 5th!) I was my very first time not only to Anime Expo, but California so I'll be mentioning some feelings about how it was for me city-wise! I also went to one of my dream stores while I was in LA, Daiso Japan! It's kind of like a dollar store that sells a lot of very cute items for cheap! It's near Little Tokyo in LA, which I also went to! 

Anyways, enough of my rambling on with the post!

The plane ride to Los Angeles took about 2 and a half hours! I haven't taken a plane ride in years before last week, so I was extremely nervous haha and take off really freaked me out. I had the window seat too, so it helped my fears and also made it worse if that makes sense haha. 

When we finally landed we took a shuttle bus to our hotel to check-in and unpack! I really wanted to go to Anime Expo's Day 0 to pick up my badge and afterwards I wanted to go to Little Tokyo! 

The line on Day 0 is known for being super long, but when I got there around 12 pm my mother and I only waited for about 45 minutes to pick up our badges! 

When we picked up our badges we were directed to a shorter line where we were given free tote bags! I don't really have a photo of the bag, but it was black, with an Anime Expo booklet that had all the events, booths, sponsors, and maps inside! It was really helpful! 

Venturing off into the streets of LA was both creepy and very interesting! I saw a lot of different people, different places, and smelled different things on the walk to Little Tokyo. 

In Little Tokyo, there's a super neat anime/manga store called, Anime Jungle! I managed to visit it twice during my trip, the first time was really crowded and the second time I actually bought something! Here's a few photos of it that I managed to take!

(This was a picture of another branch of Anime Jungle! I didn't go inside but it seemed focused on cosplay and plushes!)

It was chock-full of various anime figures, artbooks, manga, posters, patches, pins, etc. inside which I found really amazing! I've been in shops similar to this, but this was the first time I'd seen everything strictly for anime/manga! The figure selection was really nice, but being a serious collector myself most of the prices were seriously hiked up (mostly because it's already imported, etc.!)! I didn't buy any figures from here because anything I was interested in I knew I could find online from a shop directly in Japan cheaper or I already owned the figure!! I wish I could've spent more time in Anime Jungle, but the time I spent there was really good enough ♥ I got one patch on my second trip that I'll show in my haul!

I managed to visit Daiso twice during my trip and it was my favorite place! Daiso Japan is a store where nearly everything is $1.50!! There's things from snacks, household items, makeup, school supplies, etc. and it was pretty big inside! The first time I visited was on Wednesday and it wasn't crowded at all, the second time I visited was a Saturday and it was more crowded, but not annoyingly so! Here are few pictures I managed to take on the inside!

Shopping in Daiso was almost heaven! I love getting things at a good price and since almost everything was $1.50 I got a good amount of things to last me for a while! I don't have a Daiso Japan where I live, but I heard news that one is being built sometime soon nearby! Like I said before, I visited Daiso 2 times during my trip and got as much as I could. Unfortunately, I tried to also limit what I could get because I had only so much space in my suitcase! All items that I got are gonna be included in the haul below ♥

Anime Expo was held at the L.A. Convention Center! It wasn't really close to the hotel that I chose, but the convention had shuttle buses that could pick up people to and from their hotels! 

The convention center was huge and I got lost so much it was annoying haha! I had a map, but it was very hard to stop and try to figure out my location most of the time because it was packed inside. 

Moving on, I had a 4-day badge and went every single day!

The 1st day, Thursday, I was Seo Yuzuki from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! 

(Sorry the picture is so dark haha! This is of me, one of my closest friends Hannah (she's an amazing cosplayer and you can see evidence of that on her Instagram!) cosplaying Sakura Chiyo, and a really nice guy who chased us down because we all were cosplaying from Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! He was Mikoshiba Mikoto!~)

Day 2/Friday: Peko Pekoyama

Day 3/Saturday: Plugsuit Asuka Langley

Day 4/Sunday: Fem!Kageyama Tobio

I was very excited to see a lot of my online friends for the first time at this convention! Seeing them all in person and just clicking with them made me really cherish the time we had together! I also saw several people who recognized me from my Twitter and also my blog, which really made me happy ;v;!!

Here are a few of the several cuties that recognized me from Instagram/Twitter!! It was super wonderful meeting them all and so flattering ;w; I love you!!

The days at the convention were quite fast-paced and spent in the exhibit hall, or dealer room! The dealer room was the place I went to the most, but since it was the place to shop it had most amount of people usually :s. It was cramped and everyone was shoulder to shoulder, especially in the artist alley where artists sold their items (prints, buttons, charms, etc.!)! The exhibit hall was also home to many well-known companies in the anime/manga "world" like: Good Smile Company, Aniplex, Crunchyroll, Yen Press, Vertical Inc., and more! I tried to visit as many as I could because I love these companies and I throw hundreds of dollars their way every year haha! (Perks of being an anime figure collector and a big manga fan.)

(This was Good Smile Company's sale sign on Day 3!!!)

I knew a bit before the convention that Good Smile Company would be selling a few figures at the convention, some being exclusive and others being sold there because of recent release! One of the figures, or nendoroids ("chibi" or small, posable figures) I should say, that I was hoping to get from their booth was the 2-Star Fight Club Mankanshoku Mako nendoroid! The line on the first day was crazy long (it would've been a 2-4 hour wait I'm sure), so I kinda gave up hope on getting her at the convention! Luckily, I walked by again on Day 2 of the convention and the line was significantly shorter! I waited for about 10 minutes before I left the line with...

Mako's exclusive/limited edition nendoroid and a copy of Little Witch Academia's sketchbook! Little Witch Academia is an anime by Studio Trigger that I absolutely fell in love with! (There was a Little Witch Academia 2 premiere that I'm very sorry that I missed!!) The nendoroid was really adorable and very fun to put together, while the sketchbook ($10) had beautiful pictures and made me super happy that I got it! 

Since Mako's nendoroid was limited edition she was only exclusively available at AX at the time and Good Smile Company's site! Her preorders have ended already though :c ♥

I managed to visit the booth of one of my favorite manga publishing companies, Vertical Inc.! Most of their manga is in the josei category, in my opinion, but it's very diverse and it deserves a peek through! They had a full table that I missed, but when I visited them they still had a good amount of manga left! ♥ 

They had a super great sale going on (2 for $20 and 3 for $25!) so I got a good amount of manga from them that I'll show below later! ♥

The cosplays at the convention were really amazing!! I tried to get as many pictures as I could, but here are a few for you all c:

One of my favorite cosplayers, Tofu!!!!! I've followed them on Instagram for like 2 years and was lucky enough to meet them at AX!!!! It was awesome and amazing and I adore them so much!!! Tofu's Instagram & Twitter!

I was also super lucky to meet one of my inspirations and friends at AX for the first time ever, April (or more commonly known as Jasmine Blu haha!) and her sweet boyfriend Christian!~ She was pretty much one of the main reasons I began blogging so I was excited to have met her! She and Christian are so sweet and I ran into them 2 different days!~ Their cosplays were great! April's Twitter/Instagram & Christian's Twitter/Instagram!

There were so many amazing cosplays fitting 4 days worth is almost impossible! I'm very happy these people were kind enough to allow me to take photos of them!

A few weeks before going to California, Crunchyroll announced a concert that would be opened by Anamanaguchi! They're one of my favorite bands, so I knew right off the bat that I'd have to get a ticket. Luckily, some of the friends I had planned on meeting loved them too and I was able to have someone to go with ;v; I didn't want to spend too much money so I opted to purchase a ticket in the very back on a higher plane than the pit (groundfloor and usually best place to listen to a concert in my opinion...).

This was my very first concert so I'm glad I spent it with people I really care about ;v;!

Outfit I wore to the concert!~
Crop top: Forever 21
Skirt: American Apparel

 (PLEASE DON'T WATCH IF YOU'RE PRONE TO SEIZURES OR HAVE EPILEPSY!!!)

Please excuse my screaming, I was very happy and excited!! ;w;

In the middle of the show, my friend and I were able to go down into the pit for free because there were so many open spots down there! It really turned the night into something even more amazing and it was really breathtaking! I wish I had taken more photos, but I took more video clips so I could never forget this night's sounds. It was my first time experiencing Porter Robinson's music and I really fell in love with it and totally reccommend it to people who like groups like Anamanaguchi, Slime Girls, Meishi Smile, and Towa Tei (among some of my favorites)!~♥

All in all, I think I got a pretty good amount of items from this trip! I wanted to get as much as I could because it was my first time traveling in a very long time! Plus, many, many people I admired were at Anime Expo selling things I really wanted to make sure I got my hands on~ Anyway, enough with my rambling on with the haul! 

I made 2 separate trips for Daiso which is why I have multiple photos! Like I said before, everything was $1.50 (unless otherwise stated in the store)! I wish that Daiso had an online shop, but I just be patient until one opens up near me!

The very first place I visited at the convention on Day 1 was the "Always Raining Here" booth in the artist alley! Hazel & Bell are the artist/writer duo behind this webcomic and it's been one of my favorite reads for over a year! They only has a limited amount of volume one copies sold at AX so I made sure to rush there as soon as the doors opened! Luckily, I made it in time, got a sheet of stickers and one of each of all the charms they were selling! Hazel also signed my volume! ;v;~ I really recommend this webcomic if you've never read it before! Here is a link to their website!~

These were the apparel items I got while at Anime Expo!! The Steven Universe shirt I got from the We Love Fine booth and the pink sweater on the right is from Omocat ;w; I've wanted to get this sweater for SO long. Sickboy is my favorite OC (original character) of Omocat's and this sweater has been on my wishlist forever! I'm gonna wear it so much during the coming winter months! 

From We Love Fine's booth I also got the talking Puppycat plush (I think there are different sizes, but I got the biggest one!) He's one of my favorite pick-ups from the convention and he's little voice box is super adorable! ♥

Manga: What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Volumes 6-9) & Princess Knight (Parts 1 & 2) ♥

Here's all the manga that I got from the Vertical Inc. booth! Along with my limited edition 2-Star Mako nendoroid and Little Witch Academia sketchbook (which I mentioned above!) 

This Asuka hanger was a little gem I found passing by a booth on the final day of con! Since the seller wanted to get rid of stuff last minute there was a whole box of anime character hangers in a box! There were pretty much only Levi Ackerman hangers left (from Attack on Titan) but since I'm not a fan of it I dug around and found the only Asuka hanger!~ She was only $10 (compared to her previous $18 price tag). 

There was a super cute Gudetama ("Lazy Egg" and it's Sanrio's newest character!) booth at Anime Expo and they sold a few really cute things! The big stickers, little buttons, and chopsticks were given out free to everyone! The book, however, is an activity book! It was entirely in Japanese so I have no idea what it's saying but it came with tons of stickers!! The book was only $8 and I got it because April (Jasmine Blu to some of you) convinced me to! I'm glad I did because the stickers are so adorable!~

From left to right: Heart shaped Tenjou Utena & Tsukishima Kei buttons, Pompom Purin keychain, small Pearl (Steven Universe) pin, Gudetama pin, Sentai Works pin, Carter/Adrain/Carter&Adrian charms, Okita Sougo/Kagura charm, "Stupid Jerk" sticker, "Always Raining Here" sticker sheet, Elizabeth (Gintama) sticker, Motoko Kusanagi patch, Steven Universe sticker sheet!

These are all the small items that I got from AX, the Sanrio store in Little Tokyo, and Anime Jungle in Little Tokyo! 

 

It'd be almost impossible for me to name every print or the artists (especially since I've totally forgotten most :s) but these prints really were lovely. I always get tons of prints during anime conventions, but this year I held myself back a little because of limited space ;v; 

All in all, this trip was one of the most memorable I've had in my life so far! I met some of my closest friends, met some really sweet & wonderful people, and I felt really happy getting recognized by my blog or Twitter from a couple of people! I'm not really the traveling type so I was definitely pooped after this trip and currently I'm not planning on going to Anime Expo next year! 

I'm sorry it took over a month to post this, but compiling an entire week of a trip gets kinda overwhelming and it was my first time! I start school again next week, but I'm going to try to post a review post, back-to-school post, and a Taobao order post before then! They won't be anywhere as huge as this, so I might be able to do it. 

Anyway, thanks for waiting patiently and I really hope you enjoyed this post! If I posted your picture anywhere in this post PLEASE feel free to contact me (through Twitter or ask.fm or anyway you want!) so I can add your name and link to your photo :> I would be very happy to do so!~