With the festivities winding down today, so ends another chapter of A-Kon. There were cosplayers, internet celebrities, furries, 4channers, and regular fans all gathered together for the sake of anime. Sure the smell was… unique, but it was certainly fun. There was a group Caramell Dansen in the dealer room earlier but alas, I didn’t bring my camera for the final day.

Picked up one final item, the Kotobukiya Shana swimsuit version for a cool $30 plus tax. I couldn’t resist Shana’s siren song after all. I also saw the cute Max Factory Kotori Shirakawa, but then I realized that while I like Da Capo, I don’t like it that much. Some of the dakimakura covers were tempting too, but I wouldn’t be caught dead with one of those.

Anime Fest is spaced far enough from A-Kon to give my wallet time to recover, and for better or worse, it’s a much smaller convention.

I don’t think I’ll go to A-Kon next year, but I’ll be shooting for either Anime Expo or Otakon in 2009, because it’s time to see and experience something new. I’ve really wanted to go to both of those conventions for a long time. I should start looking for a group to meet up with since I don’t know anyone out there, and it’s doubtful I can persuade any of my friends around here to travel that far.