Given that I'm a San Antonio native, I just had to attend San Japan 009 this year!

I actually went last year as well, which was memorable in its own regard. This year was a completely different experience for me personally. I went with a new friend, didn't cosplay, was old enough for the 18+ events, and I didn't even go for all three days! Despite all of that, I got to see parts of the convention that I hadn't paid a whole lot of attention to before.

FRIDAY

On Friday my wonderful friend, Ian, came and picked me up from campus, and within 20-30 minutes we found ourselves stopped on the side of the road, having to change a blown out tire. From then on, we ended up spending a good two hours in Kyle, TX at a Walmart wandering around and killing time as we waited for his tire to be replaced. Needless to say, we didn't get to San Antonio until 6 or 7 p.m., and decided to stay in for the night and prepare for the next two days of the con.

SATURDAY

We literally spent 16 hours at the convention. By hour 12, I was frustrated, tired, and annoyed.

In the morning we attended a fan-lead RWBY panel, which was... interesting. Anyone who was interested in battling in their respective cosplay could compete against a foe, and whoever won would advance to the next stage. (They weren't actually able to get through everyone, but it was pretty funny to see everybody get into character and 'duel'.)

They had a few rooms set aside for the purpose of showcasing anime series. We saw a few minutes of Cowboy Bebop, and I was reminded of how cute Ein is.

We also attended a 'Bad Fanfiction Reading' panel - which was exactly what it sounds like. The people who hosted the panel are known as 'The Communicast', and they were hilarious. The amount of Harambe jokes made was was unbelievable... and a little bit unbearable.

In the evening we saw a burlesque show called 'Nerdlesque'. Rather than being a traditional burlesque show, Nerdlesque included both male and female performers, and they would dress up as popular anime, video game and movie characters - really catering to the whole 'nerd' part.

SUNDAY

Sunday is generally the less chaotic, more relaxed day of the convention since it's the final day, and everything closes off earlier in the day.

We attended a panel called 'Mechanical Barbie' which was informative and interesting and lead by Gamers Without Joysticks. They discussed disabilities and technological advances that have allowed people to do amazing things, ranging from being able to control prosthetic limbs to becoming real-life cyborgs.

Another thing that I learned about this year was the charity auction held at the convention. This year's organizations that the auction was going toward were JASSA (Japan-America Society of San Antonio) and the East Asia Institute at UTSA.

And finally, I just had to do a little bit of a self-insert and include some pictures taken of myself and other cosplayers (and Dave-Senpai).