Anime Matsuri 2016

My long awaited return to Anime Matsuri (AM) came and went so quickly. I miss it so much and once again I have a lot to say about Anime Matsuri. I had no trouble getting there this year and that is always good. I had 5 new roommates: Marley, Dulce, Ryan, Samantha, and Kathryn. Sam and Kat, had horrible car trouble just five minutes from the hotel. Luckily, they were able to get the car fixed and still enjoy their time at AM. This year at AM was sharing my love for Reika and Kaname with my roommates and showing them how cool the guest stars are besides just walking around. By Day 2 of the convention, I think I succeeded *evil laughter*

Day 0: Thursday

Akira and I

Landed in Houston at 1pm, which was perfect timing to attend the Meet and Greet with Akira at the shop Alice in Wonderland in China Town. Marley enjoyed looking at the highly expensive lolita clothing and made sure I didn’t spend all my money there lol. I also got to say hi to one of my roommates from last year, Daniela, who was the JFashion Show Coordinator for AM this year. Seeing Akira again was amazing. She also remembered me from last yer, after I showed her a photo of us and then asked why I was so causal XD. I explained I just got off a plane and had came straight her without changing. I asked for another photo with her. My plan was just to stand next to her because I was just in casual clothes unlike a lot of the visitors attending the event. Instead Akira grabbed my hand and hugged me from behind :D which cause a lot of the fan girls to start taking photos. Once the photos were done I walked past some who said to me “You get her girl!” and that cause me to trip because I burst out laughing XD. Before I left I told Akira I love her boots, which I is true because I love boots. She told me she bought them in the US from some company I forgot.

Akira asking about my boots.

I showed her mine and told her my friend (Xhinjis ) in Indonesia made them and her face was shocked and asked me what they were made out of and other questions as she knelt down to touch them. It was a great social moment. I more interested in Akira’s singing career than her modeling one. I already own one of her Disacode and Black Butler: Book of Circus CDs. Marley and I enjoyed the special photo session that some of the fans got with Akira because they were all so nervous. I also won the same CD I already got, which I am doing a raffle on to give to one of my friends. After an hour there, Marley and I headed to the hotel to check in and to meet up with Ryan and Dulce.

Once in the hotel room, I learned the Dulce is also a HUGE Sherrilyn Kenyon fan. Even had a few tattoos base off the books which made me soooooo excited!!!!! We instantly became friends and she came to realize why I go by Tabitha sometimes among friends ^_^.


Day 1: Friday
Friday started off really badly. Kat and Sam had two flats so around 4am we had to go get them and spent a few hours trying to take their car someplace. Sadly I couldn’t be much help since I didn’t have a car. Ryan and Marley ended up being a lot more helpful. They missed most of Friday events and were not at the convention center until 3pm.

Me as Noiz and Kaname

I did get to attend two panels that day. The first was a cosplay critique with Kaname. It as really informative. He got down off the stage and messed with our cosplays and wigs telling us what we should do to improve it. That day I was cosplaying Noiz so I was super nervous. He agreed that my shirt is a little and same with my wig. He also moved the button on my hat to a better location. I defiantly going to take his words to heart and try to fix Noiz up some more. After all I really do love this cosplay. I defiantly wish every con had a panel like this with a guest star. By far one of my favorites to experience. The second panel I attend was Reika’s kimono design. That one was really informative and I will have to make a PowerPoint for Marley since she had taken Sam and Kat to get their car fix. I really should just invest in a small video camera XD. Kat and I did do a photo op session together which was really fun. Wish we could of done more photos together :’( The last event I attended Friday, was the JFashion Show. The story this year was Princess and instead of one big story line, it was I think five mini stories instead. Not the best performance I saw compared to the last two. I think I prefer just one big story line instead of mini tales. Though I did enjoy the Cinderella Chapter, where they actually has a horse and carriage ride around the area bring Cinderella to the ball to meet her Prince (Kaname). Sadly since I did not have Superpass, most of my pictures did not come out well. I really wanted more pictures of Reika and Kaname’s outfits.

Ending of the JFashion Show

Day 2: Saturday
WOOT! The first half of this day was super slow, mostly since I only had one panel I was interesting in attending and it was the JFashion Brand one. It was interesting to see all the designers. I asked Ryan and Dulce to attend it with me and they somewhat seemed to have enjoyed it. Especially the personalities of Hasegawa (Putumayo) and the Triple Fortune interacted with everyone. My roommates learned that I love Hasegawa (Putumayo) and Shiva (Atelier Boz) designs. This weekend I was able to buy a jacket and stockings from Putumayo and a red vest blouse with roses design from Atelier Boz!!!!!!

My Shin-ah (right) with another Shin-ah!

I was cosplaying Shin-ah and that seemed to grab a lot of attention from people. I actually ran into two other Shin-ah’s that day as well and got my photo taken with them. Unlike last year, a lot more people realize I was cosplaying Shin-ah. Akatsuki no Yona is slowly getting very popular over here. It seems to depend on the convention. After ‘dinner’ time I got out of Shin-ah. We relaxed in our hotel room for a bit. I convinced Ryan and Dulce to buy tickets to the Maid Cafe Event with Reika and Akira earlier in the day. the event was at 9:30pm so we had some time to kill. Around 6pm we headed out to walk around the dealers room and I decided to wear the clothing I bought from Putumayo and Atelier Boz. Sam and Dulce was with me since Ryan walked off to go find something. When we came to the Fashion Both, Hasegawa was there fixing his section. He saw me and gave a huge smile and asked if he could take a photo of me. He fixing me hair a little to make sure the design of his jacket showed. He was all kinds of happy that it made me want to say how cute he was XD. I was so happy that he was happy about me wearing his designs XD. Then we headed over to the room the held the LARP, video games, and the 3D photo sets. There I asked Sam to take my photo in my lolita outfit and help take photos of Marley’s cosplay. Afterwards Ryan and I played some games..... ya I played a game XD. I played Dance Evolution and probably never play it again. I did get Ryan to play a second round with me. I danced to Maji Love 1000%, Maji Love 2000% (twice), and Luka Luka Night Fever. Ryan,Dulce, and I watched Morning Musume preform a few songs, but I wasn’t impressed...... I just didn’t like thier music or style. Sadly we were unable to watch Magic Kingdom preform since we had to attend the Maid Cafe Event. Just before we reached the top of the escalators my radar went off and I saw Reika walking in our direction with Kaname <3.

Me participating in the scavenger hunt.

The Maid Cafe Event with Reika and Kaname was the highlight of AM this year!!!! Not only did I get to have fun with my two favorite cosplayers, but I also got to have a reunion with my favorite butler from AM2014!!!! Thanks to Dulce for letting me take her winning ticket to participate in the scavenger hunt. I made it to the 3rd round, but I was happy to loose for a special reason. During the 3rd round Kaname told us to find our favorite maid or butler. I took off as soon as I saw Haru, who was my butler back in 2014. As soon as he saw me his eyes lit up and he yelled “It’s you!”. Then he grabbed my hand and took off with me, but we came in last XD. Even though we lost I turned to him and said “I don’t care I lost, I am just happy you remember me.” and we hugged. The whole crowd did a little ‘awwww’ sound at the scene >///<. As the event continued, Dulce kept taking photos and we both noticed Kaname kept looking over at us. He started to make some sexy and funny faces which was getting Dulce into a blushing mode. Ryan, who had been checking out one of the maids was now focus on Kaname and was enjoying the goofball cosplayer. Ryan won a free autograph photobook of Kaname and he was happy with how all the photos look in it. However, I was more distracted with how fast and hard Dulce was falling for Kaname *evil smile*. At the end of the event, there was a group photo. Dulce literally moved me out of the way so that she could stand in front of Kaname. I decided to torment my roommate turned fangirl now. I pat her on the head and gave Kaname a wink and hand signal to grab his attention. Ryan also made some hand motions to convince Kaname to touch Dulce on the back of the head which he did once with his finger and the second with his sword. Dulce fangirled so hard she was crying. Ryan and I were laughing so hard and we both thanked Kaname for what he did.

Group photo at the Maid Cafe Event with Reika and Kaname

After the group photo I went to ask Haru for a photo, which he was happy to do. I introduced him to my roommates and Haru told them, “Ashley was the highlight of my 2014 experience. I still talk about her to some of my friends. I am so glad I get to meet her again.” I was really blushing now because I did not think that after two years, Haru would remember me >////<. I believe Ryan was impressed too lol.

Haru and I at the end of the event.

Day 3: Sunday I was a bit sore by the time Sunday came around and only wore Narsus for two hours before changing out. Ryan, Dulce, and I got tickets to get our photos take with Kaname and Reika. Then spent the rest of the day shopping and packing our cars.

Kaname, myself, and Reika

I love Anime Matsuri for the fact that it is so easy to interact with the guest stars. I still haven’t had my personal moment with Reika, Kaname seemed to be the themed this year like Akira was last year. One day I hope I will get my moment with her :) especially as Ren. I hope all my roommates enjoyed AM and that they might decide to come back for AM 2017. Hopefully AM will have some of my favorite cosplayers and singers next year as well. Thank you again Anime Matsuri!!!!!

Dulce, Ryan, myself, and Marley. Sadly no group photo with Sam and Kat :(