London Anime Con 5: Highlights

 June/July London Anime Con is upon us and the ques have formed, discounts have been announced and guests have been secured. All you need is a stop watch to see if they weren’t lying about the minimum fifteen minute wait in the queue. Queuing from noon on Saturday 30th June, we only waited ten minutes! You win this time LAC.

Beyond the reception of the Rocket (part of London Metropolitan University) was the bar, games room, small stage, DDR area at the back and anime screening room showing the classics Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, K-On! and much more. Games room kept to a retro feel with SNES & PSOnes littered everywhere with the original Street Fighter & Mario Kart - strangely there were no females in sight. Amongst the space were independent artists, a raffle table and the Brony stall.














‘Brony’ was a new term to me and I did not hesitate in finding out what it was all about. This is a term typically used on male viewers/fans of the 2010 reboot of My Little Pony show or franchise. They do not give in to the hype that males aren’t allowed to enjoy things that may be intended for females. Brony = Bro + Pony, simples! They were promoting the first UK Brony event in Manchester with special guest John De Lancie, from 18th-19th August for more details go to www.bronyuk.org.
We came across our friends Mayamada handing out free cupcakes to all their fans, Destiny Blue manga artist & Jewellery maker, Aid for Japan and came across a business card for Manga social night www.mangasocial.net on Keroko James’s (www.neokeroko.com) stall as she diligently drew a manga portrait for a cute cosplaying couple.

The entire bustle was moving towards the upstairs, I caught Kimono Time performing some energetic moves – phew how did her makeup stay flawlessly on after that workout? This was just a warm up for Kelsey, the Youtube sensation singing and dancing to English, Japanese & Korean music later on in the afternoon.

The opening show gave us a glimpse of all the things to look forward to at LAC5, Then Cinnamon Purin (a troupe of dancing maids) Jess and Becki both did some fierce solo dancing and also explained the use of fellow supporters dancing at them to encourage and heighten moral, ending with a warmly welcomed lesbian dance getting people riled up for the Otaku Fashion show.

After some delay and plugging for people go to the Alcon Q&A and pub quiz downstairs I had decided to pounce on some unsuspecting cosplayers, one of which was Esti Licious. Anyone who used the sticker booth machine at Cyber Candy at HYPER JAPAN this February would have seen photos of her everywhere wearing her magnificent Sailor Moon cosplay. Finding out she wasn’t a pre-made model for the machine I asked her about her time at LAC5, she was in fact to be interviewed on stage before the Otaku Fashion show!

Discussing her favourite cosplays and her professional seamstress business, people didn’t waste time in asking her for cosplay tips ways on making fully moving wings with the help of metal wiring & expanding foam. She even fully made all her Cosplay outfits to date. See more of her cosplays on fashionvscostume.co.uk.

 After 4pm people had all accumulated around the main stage and standing space was scarce as so many people were looking forward to the highly anticipated Otaku Fashion show. Showcasing Wing, Finny Attridge, Sah Starr, the Spirit Models (professional alternative models in the latex outfits can’t miss them), Cinnamon Purin and many aspiring cosplayers.

 At the end photographers got a chance to get group shots of everyone together at the end , we got to see a range of Lolita’s from sweet to Gothic, some steam punk male & females, some Kimonos, Sailor Moon ensembles, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil & Harajuku style!

This article is also featured on animepicks :)