Farewell to AnimeFest

 This last weekend was the last AnimeFest. The heads of the convention have decided not to continue holding the event. I have been to this convention six times and it will always have a special place in my heart. Every convention is a little bit different, and some are better than others. AnimeFest has the distinction of always being fairly well-run and having some of my favorite panelists and artists every year. So, as a send-off to this event, I would like to share some special memories I have of AnimeFest.

Charlie was so much fun to cosplay, she's definitely going to come out again at future cons.

-The first AnimeFest I ever attended was a month after I moved to Texas. It was the first convention I was able to attend after I moved. Looking back on the pictures, I can't help but smile. The big anime that year was Yuri on Ice!!! (the exclamation points are part of the title, I don't make the rules), and a college friend who lived in Maryland at the time flew down and joined in the merriment. We cosplayed our favorite characters and the Yuri on Ice!!! photoshoot was one of the biggest ones I have ever participated in, second only to the Disney shoot at Katsucon.

Look at me and Rachael, being silly

-AnimeFest used to host a competition called Ani-Idol, where contestants would sing prepared songs from various anime in front of judges for prizes. Out of many contestants, I made the finals. The finals were held at 9am on Sunday. Now, anyone who has sung knows that this is not the optimal time to be singing, especially not if you happen to be a soprano like myself. High notes tend to not happen before 10am without a lot of preparation, and the third day of an anime convention is not conducive to proper vocal prep. I got out of bed at 6am after being out until 1am to be in cosplay (I got a score bonus for cosplaying the show I was singing from), warmed up, and ready to perform. I walked away with fifth place, and I was very proud of myself.

I was dressed as Kotori from Love Live!

-I walked into my hotel room with a bag, announcing "Look what I won at a panel!" This happened every. Single. Year. One year, I made it my goal to acquire as much free stuff as I could. This meant trying to get on stage in every game panel I could. At the end of the convention, my pile of free stuff was larger than my pile of stuff that I bought. 

-Speaking of interesting things bought at a convention, at one point I bought a few volumes of manga. They were wrapped in plastic, and when I went back to the hotel room, I unwrapped them. A DVD fell out of one. A DVD with the logo of the publisher and no other information. In a volume of manga. My friends and I were all rather confused. So we all agreed that whatever this thing was, it needed to be investigated. We popped in in a DVD player and discovered......it was a bunch of trailers for anime from the early 2000's. We watched the trailers and laughed at how absurd the whole situation was.

-Looking back at my pictures, I realized that AnimeFest was where I first wore one of my most iconic cosplays, Ariel in her pink ball gown. I love this cosplay, it would make my six-year-old self proud. It seems appropriate that the final year for AnimeFest would be the year I show off one of my best props, Charlie's battle trident.

I always love wearing this cosplay

Conventions are a unique experience that is kind of hard to describe. This is partially because some of the best things about cons are those small moments that aren't on the schedule, that just kind of happen. Like bursting into a hotel room with a free poster and explaining the grand tale of my victory in a trivia panel though my deep knowledge of the manga of highest art that is Ranma 1/2. Or waiting in line for a panel and making the acquaintance of a first time con-goer who had no idea that there were so many people as nerdy as them. Or being in a hotel with 10,000+ people and somehow managing to run into the same person three times in a single day, then exchanging social media info and suddenly having a new friend. 

Thank you to everyone who made AnimeFest happen over the years, your efforts were appreciated. I hope my friends and I can find a new con in DFW during the summer, because I need something between the Texas Frightmare and the TRF. I'm sad to see it end, but I'm glad I got six years of AnimeFest. Here's to even more cons with even more memories.