Companion Cube Love

This past weekend I was lucky enough to visit Anime Weekend Atlanta for a day and check out one of the largest anime conventions in the US. The convention took place from Sept 18 to 20th at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel and Cobb Galleria.

We got there bright an early on Saturday morning. The weather was not very pleasant, so it was great that the hotel and galleria were connected to one another. No one wants to be walking around in cosplay outside in the rain. Doubly so if you are dressed as a Companion Cube!

The first thing we did was check out the Dealers Room. As every good con-goer knows, the most popular items will go first and fast, so you want to make sure you don’t miss out on the rare find. There were a lot of great retailers there; FUNimation and Media Blasters had booths on the floor. Happy Japan had a great little booth with some bento boxes and accessories for the bento enthusiast. Several booths were selling felt/fabric kitty and animal hats. Of course, many t-shirts, keychains, figurines and manga and anime sellers were also in attendance. I didn’t spend too much in the Dealers Room myself, limiting purchases to some blue & black kitty ears, a Mokona keychain, an SOS Brigade button, a cute “wing” ring and Rock and Roll Love, a manga by Misako Rocks! (Look for a review coming to the Turning Japanese section later this week.) Thrallmind and I also picked up an onigiri mold and some sauce containers for bento making.

Bear Bento & Tools Used to Make It from Natakiya

There were two panels in particular that we wanted to see that day. The first one was Budget Bento Beautification. The panel was all about how you can make great bento with tools you should already have in your kitchen. Our hostess Natakiya had some really great tips on how to make bentos more colourful and fun with using simple things like food colouring in the rice, cookie cutters and even your standard single hole punch. Can’t afford a bento box at the moment? Odds are you have a Ziploc or Tupperware container around that’s just the right size. And you would be amazed at what you could have hiding in the fridge to help you make fun shapes for animals and other creatures. Rule #1 of bento making: make sure the rice is completely cool before putting meltable items on top! You can check out her blog for more great pictures and bento tips.

After this panel we were going to try to see Rikki Simmons (voice of GIR from Invader Zim) for an autograph and Misako Rocks! for her manga workshop, but due to an injury I sustained outside the hotel, we unfortunately missed those panels. So we grabbed some sushi and chocolate filled mochi before checking out the Steampunk cosplay panel.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect going into the Steampunk panel. I’ve seen elements of the genre in anime like Tsubasa Chronicle and Desert Punk, but I’ve never really researched the topic. Hosted by the ladies and gents of Outland Armour, they began with a video they put together, then proceeded with a brief overview of Steampunk and where it came from, the books and visionaries behind it. Then it got more technical as they started talking about various materials they’ve used to make their pieces and showing off some of their latest works. They had some very impressive looking weaponry and armour, including pieces they created for their Steampunk Star Wars. I have to say that other than the fact I was still a bit out of my element in the room, the hosts had some awesome humour in panel, which helped make the 2 hour block more enjoyable for me.

Gracious & Gorgeous Geisha

Next up we headed over to Artists Alley. We saw some very amazing prints and pieces there, as well as some not so amazing. Most people were very happy when we approached their tables, but some sadly chose to ignore us for their DSes or PSPs or iPhones and speak only to tell us pricing. A few of our favourite artists were Zelas, Shori Ameshiko, Chewibunny, and littlecelesse, to name a few.

They had several other great events going on that I didn’t have the chance to check out. There was a Maid Cafe and a Lolita Fashion Show, several video rooms and gaming rooms, panels with various guests like Tavicat, Troy Baker and others. If I had had the chance to go again on Sunday, there was a JDrama panel that I would have had a blast attending I’m sure.

I’m looking forward to attending again next year, hopefully for the entire event. It was a great time, everyone was so welcoming and well behaved, and there were some great costumes to behold. Many thanks to the AWA staff for hosting such a well-planned event.

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