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She stepped in front of me as I was rushing into the Artists Alley — a lady in a princess’ gown. With a playful smile she asked, “Are you my prince?” I stood there for a second, stumped by the random occurrence. But basing it on the atmosphere of where I was that day, I took a chance and casually replied, “Yes, I am!” Although perhaps not quite the answer she was looking for, she paused to think for a second before raising her arms, yelling “YAY!” and giving me a hug. I bowed, and she returned with a curtsey. As we parted ways I continued into the Artists Alley with one eyebrow raised, both puzzled and amused by the peculiar incident. Strange as it seemed, I realized it was all part of just another day at Fanime.

As I look back over all the comical, weird, exciting, awkward, fun, endearing, and often enlightening moments that happened during this year’s Fanime Convention, I can’t help but think that all my experiences would have been completely different if I’d decided to spend my Memorial Day weekend like most other years, taking it easy. Somewhere in some alternate/parallel dimension, I see myself sitting in my chair thinking back on how I spent a 3-day weekend nursing a sore throat, sleeping in, playing the new “Punch Out!!” game on the Wii, going out to dinner with a group of friends, and trying to melt popcorn in my mouth as I watched “Terminator Salvation” at the theaters. By no means would such a weekend have been considered “bad,” but in this parallel universe, right about now my alternate self would be feeling an unsettling sense of emptiness and an uneasiness spawning from the fact that I had consciously passed on the largest anime convention in Northern California. This alternate universe came very close to becoming my reality this year, and in fact is pretty much how things panned out when I had stayed home from FanimeCon in 2008.

Many anime fans don’t have to think twice about attending Fanime each year. To most, Fanime is a beloved ritual — a grand event that is prepared for and looked forward to all year round. Everyone has their own reasons for attending the convention whether it may be to cosplay, perform, dance, learn about anime culture, compete in a contest, be part of the Artists Alley, buy cool merchandise, or just have a good time with old and new friends. When I attended FanimeCon for the first time in 2007, I didn’t get to enjoy most of these experiences because I didn’t know that I could. Moreover, I didn’t even think that I might want to be a part of them. I took a few pictures, checked out some panels, and briefly skimmed the Artists Alley. It was all amusing, but I wasn’t having a lot of fun. I mainly recall being overwhelmed and disoriented by the sheer amount of people and all the different events that were taking place around the convention hall. After enduring about 4 hours, I made my way home thinking, “All this looks fun, but maybe it’s a little too much for me.”

That was then. But something had changed inside me over the last year or so. I won’t drag on about how this transformation came about, but this year I was determined to return to Fanime and make the most out of my time there by diving head-first into every aspect of the convention I could get myself involved in. As a result, I went through a sensory overload of laughs, embarrassments, excitement, learning experiences, and ultimately I’d say I ended up having an unforgettable weekend that would become the object of envy to all my alternate selves in those neighboring parallel universes.

Over the next week or so I’d like to share writings, photos and videos of nearly everything I was a part of during the 4 days I spent at FanimeCon 2009. Hopefully some of these stories will amuse you. Perhaps some of you will be able to relate to them. In the end, I hope that they will at least serve as a nice way to reflect back on the extravaganza that is Fanime 2009, and give you some ideas on things to try out and explore when the party starts all over again next year. If you are ever on the fence about directly participating in any convention activities or events the next time the opportunity comes around, I say don’t even think about it … just do it! Do it because you can! At least in my case, this simple line of thinking made all the difference.

Fanime Impressions: Table of Contents

Part 1: Prologue – Do It Because You Can
Part 2: Singing in the Karaoke Contest: An Epic Fail minus the Fail
Part 3: Notes from BayAnime’s “Local Bay Area Anime Fans” Panel (Coming Soon)
Part 4: Hanging with BAAU at the Artists Alley + 5 awesome people (Coming Soon)
Part 5: Ditching the Masquerade (among other things) for the Comedy Club (Coming Soon)
Part 6: The Maid Café: The Good, The Bad, and The Charming (Coming Soon)
Part 7: Ballroom Dance Lessons: Up close and just personal enough (Coming Soon)
Part 8: The BEST panel at Fanime = Speed Comic Jams! (Coming Soon)
Part 9: From Stage Zero the Free Hugs Alley, and everything else (Coming Soon)
Part 10: Epilogue - Why we need Fanime and Why Fanime needs us (Coming Soon)