Anime Festival Orlando 2018 Review

There is a charm about small southern conventions that, honestly, I do not think can be replicated! From young anime fans running around excitedly meeting internet friends to adults sharing a subculture they love with their own children - I think the variety of people who go to conventions has grown and expanded so much throughout my short time at conventions. Anime Festival Orlando, (AFO), was started back in 2000 and has been a strong contender in the Florida Anime Convention scene since!

While the con brings a small crowd, there is plenty of activities packed in the span of 3 anime-filled days*! From the Happy Happy Go Go Cosplay Contest, to the game room, to fan panels, I was excited to experience what this con had in store for me~!

Saturday:

Morning: I was excited to get dressed and prepped to visit guest of honor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa in his martial arts panel where he would explain and demo his spiritual form of martial arts, Chuu Shin. Before the panel, I was not sure if I would get the intense ass-kicking martial arts that I assumed would be the case from a Mortal Kombat and Tekken actor, however I was surprised to visit a calming panel with a peaceful storyteller helping guide the students into a state of zen…

Tagawa-san himself spent much of the panel retelling stories of his life, his art, and his acting while each of his fans sat in much awe and respect of him. He talked about the duality of life, of being a proud Japanese-American and the differences between the cultures he walked between for all of his life. He was especially interested in the Millennial generation with a high regard for them as they (me too, I’m a millennial and I killed the napkin industry!!!!) enter adulthood and help lead the world into the future. After some posture adjustments and cyclical breathing, it looked as if the panel came to an end! I was surprised that the panel was conducted this way, and it definitely was not what I was expecting… Which further excited me for how interesting the interview (coming soon!) was going to go!
 
Afternoon: After we had a quick lunch at Wawa (a gas station that is similar to Sheetz, QT, and new RaceTracs… If you know those branches? It’s not a sketchy place to eat, I promise!) we returned back to the convention to visit the game room! While in many conventions there is a game room stocked by vendors who have access to rhythm games and cabinets galore, this game room was well stocked by the volunteers to cover each major console and popular game to the best of their ability! I saw many people enjoying Smash, Tekken, and Blazblue games and even saw a station set up to play Katamari Damacy!! (Which I still have not played!!!)

Next was our journey into the dealers room! We were happy to be able to visit all of the booths and even find quite a few gems in the midst of the normal character goods! A booth was selling Pripara, nendoroids, and charms caught my eye and I made friends with the shopkeepers quickly because of how much I adored their booth! I even found one that sold a lot of sanrio goods and amuse plush, which I love~ I managed to even find some wonderful cosplayers to take photos of! (See the gallery below!!)

We finished up with a walk around the artist alley and then made it over to Tagawa-san’s signings with much time to spare! We watched as many fans came to get photos and goods signed and as they told Tagawa-san how much his role meant to them as fans of fighting games! Don’t worry, we will share our interview shortly, so you too can get insight on his wisdom! 

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Sunday:

Morning: Luckily, we did not have to check out so it was a great opportunity to sleep in~ With little to do on the agenda, I got into some lolita and made my way to the con for photos of cosplayers. We managed to get quite a few, so as I’ve said earlier, go check out our gallery! Maybe you’re in there!!
           
Afternoon: In the afternoon everything died down quite a bit! It only took about one hour for attendees to clear out of the con center and the next convention to start up! I was able to help do a bit of volunteering work, because I can’t help myself, and then get some rest by the pool before the con was officially closed for me!
 
Overall Review:
AFO was indeed a small Florida con, and there were, of course, bumps along the way… However that did not discount the experience that I had and the people I was lucky to meet! The humid Florida weather was perfect for staying indoors in a viewing room, and being right off of a big road helped the food situation immensely!

Volunteers were kind and always trying to help, and the con center itself was clean and had - according to Manuel… - amazing carpet and lighting fixtures that he wanted me to steal… 

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​Food: A ton to eat around there! If you’re lazy, go to Wawa!

Things to do: While there were some main events, there were not tons of panels that I for sure wanted to go to, as somebody who enjoys industry panels… If you’re looking for industry, this may not be the con for you, but general fan panels were definitely hitting the major fandoms!

Cosplay: There was plenty of popular cosplay, and I even saw some super niche cosplays too! The cosplay contest looked fun and had some real craftsmanship enter! (While there were plenty of outdoor places to take photos at if the lighting wasn’t too bad, the interior lighting of the convention was very yellow would not recommend hallway shots but that’s pretty nit-picky!!!)

Staff: Con-staff and hotel staff were courteous and helpful every time I lost my way… haha

Convention Center: After you walked around, it became very easy to make your way to rooms! And, as Manuel raved, the carpet and lighting is fancy and there are TONS of mirrors in the hall… Rooms were pretty standard, clean with a nice bathroom. The con center has 2 pools which is fun~

Dealers Room & AA: The dealers room and artist alley were both a small-medium size but had good content in them! I did not see bootleg items and the items were well priced for a convention.

Overall Score: 7 / 10 “Your Soul is Mine”’s
           
Thanks for reading~!
Sara   
 
Note: We were only able to attend on Saturday and Sunday of this year!