AWA 12 Atlanta Georgia

I had the pleasure of attending AWA this year, as I wanted to experience what a "mainland" convention would be like, since the last one I attended was AnimExpo way back in the 90's (then, the total attendance was like 5,000 visitors). Struggling to find a room, I had the pleasure of sharing a hotel room at the Waverly, where the Convention was held, with a couple of Canadians, who were as friendly as they can be! So, this is a shout out to them, for letting me camp out . To Kevin and Vessa, much mahalos!

What was nice was that I was able to see how a bigger convention than Kawaii Kon is run and the different panels they had going. Interesting enough, the Waverly and the Cobb Galleria Center was mind numblingly huge. So, Kawaii Kon is definitely going to improve when it is held in the Hawaii Convention Center next year.

I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Michael Sinterniklaas again. Last I spoke with him, he was celebrating his birthday (Happy Birthday dude!) in California, and I had just missed his visit by only a week. So it was great to see him there (and get a really big hug from him). He's still as funny as ever!

Oh and I can't forget Jennifer Sekiguchi! It was awesome to catch the premiere of Paradise Kiss with her, since she directed the dubbing for it. Great job, girlfriend!

Okay now to the pics. Im only post a few, since I dont want to weight down with the load times!