Run off to see some of the Rage's Anime Trivia Quiz. Darn those questions are tricky. Leave after the excitement level of Pikachu's being thrown into the crowd rises to beyond hangover-tolerance level.

Back at the booth, no-one talks to me. Realize that I blend in! I don't stand out like a sore thumb anymore! Change into the bunny ears and I'm in demand once again.

After we pack up the stall we decided to get a square meal and piled into the tank. We are told in every restaurant that it'd be a 50 minute wait. Feeling like we're back in Tokyo and fighting off suggestions to get fast food again, we waited at one Italian place for 30 minutes. When the food came there was so much of it that I could only take a few bites! Mojojojo gets a doggy bag and has my dinner for breakfast.

Went back to hotel and worked.

Watched some crap telly.

Passed out.

Saturday July 7

Crawled out of bed. More difficult than usual as Saturday is my traditional sleep-in morning. Fighting back the tears, I had a shower and crawled into the bunny ears again.

Went to booth. Very busy day and lots of people dropped by to say hi! Had so many photos taken of me that my eyes went a bit funny from the flashes!

Actually I'm pretty amazed at some of the cosplay. Had checked out the photos from previous years and it seems that it has definitely leveled-up. Ran into a Rabi en Rose "cross-player" and had a cat fight. Unfortunately someone was standing nearby with a camera...

After the Dealers room closed Risa-chan and I were in a bit of mess as we had agreed to give an industry award at the Masquerade - but no-one had picked it up from us yet! We dashed to the AX kids and one fab dude (whose name I'm embarrassed to admit I've forgotten) physically took us to the hall, put us in touch with the right person and generally sorted everything out. Had to restrain Risa-chan from giving him a big kiss and we then raced back to the hotel, did a supa-quick refresh and change, grabbed Karaoke-man and dashed to the Masquerade.

It was pretty entertaining and some of the costumes were amazing! Have to admit though that a lot of the jokes went straight over our heads. I had been given the role of judge for our prize and decided to give it to Nekki Basara and the fallen Rocketman, mainly because it appealed to our sense of humor and my Aussie appreciation of the underdog...

Risa-chan carried a semi-conscious Karaoke-man back to the hotel and I decided to run around for a bit then ended up at another party...

Back at hotel round 3:30 am.

Passed out.

Sunday July 8

It's the last day - yeah! My feet are killing me and I've been slathering on the anti-wrinkle cream like you wouldn't believe trying to stave off laugh lines. At the booth I dance around as my flatmate warned me to be careful of varicose veins. Damn cosplay is hard.

After a brief day of craziness the Dealer's room closes and we frantically run around and total up what's left for the invoice and package it up to send back to Japan. We came over with four crates but luckily only had one not-full-to-the-brim crate to send back. Soon the booth is no more...

The ANIMAXIS team then headed off for a well deserved beer or five at a nearby restaurant to recover from an experience quite unlike any other. We'd survived AX2001.

After a substantial intake of beer we staggered back to the hotel to reflect and rest. Except for me of course who ended up at a Japanese Karaoke bar singing j-rock until 3 am, then went to a party from which I went back to the hotel at 5 am to pack my suitcase has I had an 8:30 am flight to New York. Got to airport just on time. Plane then delayed for three hours.

Finally got on plane. Passed out.

In conclusion:

Well I've been to a number of events in Japan but this was my first one OS and first time to participate in one. It was fun but a huge amount of work. It was interesting to see anime-fandom from a different perspective, I'd seen mania in Japan but to see it overseas from people who mostly don't even understand Japanese...