The past two years that I've attended AnimeNEXT, I only went on Saturday, because I have to work on Friday. This year, I decided, what the heck? I have time off available, it is local, and I have so many people I want to see, and pictures I want to take. So for the first time, I decided to attend on Friday as well.

It's a good thing I did, too, because not long before the con, DJ Ranma S approached me, and asked me if I'd like to be on a Sailor Moon fan panel. Now, I've never been on a panel before. If you want to know the truth, I've never even attended a panel before, and I said as much to Ranma. "Well, you know Sailor Moon, right?" he asked me. Well, yes. "And you've had some experience in the fandom?" Well, I should say so. "You'll be fine."

Well, I thought, he was right when he said that about my emceeing the New York Comic Con. And I certainly know more about this. So I said sure. As it turns out, the panel was scheduled for Friday at noon, so it's a good thing I had decided to go!

So, I got to the con at around 11:30 or so, which means I made MUCH better time then I did last year. The line for picking up your badges that you preregistered for was HORRENDOUS. The line for buying badges at the con? Nonexistant. Honestly, I really wonder if it's not worth paying a little more, and risking that ANEXT will sell out (I don't think it ever has), to be able to breeze right in. Thankfully, I met up with Carrie and her friends on the line, so when they offered to let me join them, I gratefully accepted.

I got my badge, joked around with B-chan for a bit (who is always one of the first people I see at AnimeNEXT, partially because he's always working the information booth), and posed for some pictures while I waited for the fan panel to start. Usa and her gang found me and I got to wrap my arms around her. Thankfully, just before we were supposed to start, our friend Ger showed up in time to keep me from losing my flipping mind completely, and even sat in on the panel so I'd be sure of at least one row of friendly faces if I lost my cool.

By this point, more of my friends were arriving. My friend Jess was cosplaying for the first time on purpose (for a further explanation on that, check out my BAAF 2003 report) and looked wonderful as Tsunade. Ger and I went to find a Burger King for lunch...and that was like crossing the Sahara Desert barefoot. Mainly because I decided to be barefoot. Picture a short busty Eternal Sailor Mars jumping from one car shadow to another in a vast, burning parking lot, and you'll probably laugh as hard as Ger did. Louis and Skye met us at Burger King, and I got to squee at Skye looking particularly adorable in my Utena costume. I will drag more people into this cosplay hobby. I WILL DRAG.

But there was still so much we wanted to do! Louis needed time to fanboy all over Jess's pigtails. (It's his thing.) Lou and I had to buy each other presents in the dealer's room--something we do at every anime convention we go to. I need to stalk as many Utena and Sailor Moon cosplayers as I could. I needed to arrange photoshoots of both Jess and Skye so they would be hooked as badly as I am. I needed new pictures of me and Usa together, because frankly, it's been too long.

Thankfully, I think I did get to accomplish everything I set out to do. I saw many, many people on Friday, and I apologize for not being able to mention everybody by name, although I did my best to remember them all in the shoutouts I did on LiveJournal in the following days.

I don't know if I found a present for Louis that day, or the following, but Jess surprised me with three adorable presents, a Sailor Mars sparkly sticker that's going on my sketchbook, a cute card with a see-through cel-like portion of Mars and Moon sticking their tongues out at each other, and best of all, a chibi Utena pin! That was so sweet of her!

Usa and I found Dave and were able to get some photos together. Dave didn't have a lot of time, because he was working as staff photographer, but even in the few minutes he was able to steal just for us, he took such amazing photos that they absolutely took my breath away. Thank you so much, dear!

Then we found Tony K and headed over to the large grassy lawn that's in front of the con hotel, and first he posed Skye for her first solo professional photoshoot, and his pictures came out perfectly. I really think Skye makes a much better Utena then I do--I'm way too bubbly at a con, because I'm so excited to be around all of my friends. Skye is able to turn that off and look absolutely badass in photos, which suits Utena's character much better. At any rate, all three of us were extremely pleased with Tony's pictures.

Then he grabbed Jess for a Tsunade shoot, which was notable not only because it was Jess's first cosplay shoot, but probably one of the first shoots ever where she was in front of the lens instead of behind it. I think Jess and Tony really bonded over their love of photography, and since the sun was just beginning to set, the lighting of her photos are truly remarkable. Of course, I've always known that Jess is gorgeous, but now the rest of the world can see that, too. I think she's hooked, too--she was talking about her next costume before the day was over!

I bribed Tony into taking a few more shots that you can see below, but by this point, I absolutely had to start heading home. My throat felt stabbing pain every time I had to swallow, and my nose was beginning to close...