After seeing the desperation of BlasterCon I was worried about the fledgling outing of the first anime convention taking place in Little Tokyo. My fears were dissolved after how much the community came together for Ninja-Con. The one day event brought together by Azure Lorica and Danny “Dboy” Gonzales was a success last Saturday. Anime lovers and cosplayers came out and enjoyed themselves in Little Tokyo. Be it at the Japanese Community Culture Center or the hotel Miyako Inn all anime lovers were welcome. Was the best part being able to eat wherever you wanted? After how Anime Expo has nothing edible in it, partially it was.
The voice acting panel featuring Christina Vee was filled with local voice actors all giving their thoughts on the industry and how to break into it. It started with Christina wearing a horse mask, it was a fun affair. Panels of all sorts were spread out, with some comedy events at the end of the evening with The Dub Show and Ninja Comedy with Jon Allen rounding up the night. There were plenty of laugh before then with anime enthusiasts taking over Little Tokyo. You could be in the Villa Plaza area or Anime Jungle and spot the attendees making their way around the area.
You could enjoy more than that with the maid cafe, the art hall or Garden Rooms open for panels. The lovely Japanese Garden part of the JACCC was wide open for cosplayers to take pictures in or be used for special panels. When the clock hit floor the anime swap meet occurred in the artist alley and all could give up their Yugi-Oh DVDs for perhaps something better. Before that the Artist Hall had multiple goods from artists and gaming via Raging Nerds.
It didn't matter where you were in Little Tokyo because it all felt like it was part of Ninja-Con. Freedom to go where you wanted without that much hassle made this an easy con to relax at and just enjoy anime, manga and Japanese culture.
With any event, I'd love to see growth, maybe a deal with the Q Pop Gallery or with the Kinokuniya Book Store or the adjacent Japan Arcade and brand new X Lanes. As I've written before, who doesn't want to see Goku and Naruto bowling. I really hope an anime night can occur their. Why even the Japanese National Museum may want to be a part of it? They were open free anyway for Target Free Saturdays.
more cosplay