Anime Expo was better?! 

First rule of any large convention. If you see something you like, buy it right then, or else it will likely be sold out when you come back to the booth.

Fun Fact: Bluelock was made in collaboration with the Japanese Football Association, so they genuinely do have access to some Serious Schmoney. That's also why there's references to actual soccer players in the like Messi, Neymar, and Pele, because they have access to likeness rights via fifa

Omg RE: con goers and spacial awareness. This is, by far, the BIGGEST pet peeve I have as an avid con goer for many years. I swear, you could make an aisleway in an expo hall a mile wide, and people at cons will STILL find a way to jam it up somehow, just randomly stop in front of you, bump into you, etc. People will literally come from behind you, walk around you, and then stop in front of you. Like, dawg, you just walked around me so I know you saw me walking.

I didn't go this year, but a big issue for me last year was the accessibility issues. A person needing mobility aids or brakes would have been smothered. The lack of benches made it hard for me to rest.

They did listen! It was a MUCH better show than last year. Especially safety wise. Who they DIDN'T listen to? Food vendors. I can not explain to you the feedback I have received from food vendors. They hate it.

I was staffing one of the booths in the Exhibit Hall but leading up to the con there was LOTS of drama when it came to how AX was handling Industry this year. People who have worked a longtime directly in the industry like manga translators/letterers/editors/etc were getting rejected sooo Industry was just kinda weird this year apparently. ALSO definitely check out Inkwell's AX Artist Alley recap video for more info when it comes to profits/expenses/losses/etc! It was very insightful.

I went to LA not knowing anime expo was happening, so it threw a wrench in some of our plans, but all I kept thinking was “I bet Swell is there”😂

"why do so many hot women watch my content" girl you know why

The guys going "I didn't expect to see you in here" for the 18+ section are trying to mask their embarassment for getting caught being in those sections, probably xD

I saw the video title and thought "omg really??" because I feel like I'm constantly seeing you make videos being like "this event was bad" and the event never gets better and eventually disbands. It's nice to see that an event can improve!

Don't mess with a physical measuring tape. Buy a laser distance measurer. They're accurate to the millimeter, cost less than $50, and take an instant measurement. Super handy.

Swell needs a "Do not disturb, Swell is at work" subtle sign. Like the tie on a doorknob. Maybe she could wear just a doorknob? 😂

I was vending in Artist Alley again this year and while the apparent capped badge sales affected most of us business-wise, I'm glad it was a better experience for attendees since it seemed to be less crowded in a lot of parts of the con!

The state of the economy. Yup. Just trying to get a job over here is tough enough. A lot of lower paying jobs say I'm too overqualified, and the career jobs in my industry I apply to won't hire because my degree is in business and not engineering. It's so frustrating. Go to college they all said.

My sister worked for SPJA and says the director has been trying for YEARS to shut down Pico in order to make the flow of traffic better. We also think that SPJA got a huge fine for the Fire Marshal coming in last year and that's what ultimately pushed AX to have more than 2 entrances this year. I went this year and last year, and i actually was happy with how it was ran this year and i actually had fun. The only thing i didn't do was the Meet & Greets because they were in the Marriott across the way.

About the "people have money but they dont" personally, i feel a lot less bad spending money when i know its on an artist or a small business. I want merch of some things very badly but i will be less likely to buy a 10$ keychain from a big manufacturer than a 15-20$ keychain from an artist. Things keep getting cheaper and dont last so i feel better spending on something that was made by a person with some amount of care put into it and maybe even better quality.

I just wanted to pop in about the sold out items and merch! I can imagine that people don't go to as many cons for cost reasons, so when you do go to one, you have to do ALL your shopping there, instead of maybe spacing those purchases out to four or five cons a year. I remember doing many cons when I was a kid and buying less because I knew I'd be at a new con in a few months where I could buy more. So if most people just do one con, they're probably shopping a lot too. And probably money that otherwise would go to planes/hotels/tickets that are too expensive now.

It was so nice to meet you!! I felt bad stopping you at the exhibit hall, but I’m glad you had a great time. AX was definitely better this year. When I was walking around in the artist alley they had a dedicated room towards the front where people could file grievances about the state of artist alley and how AX could do better, don’t remember this from the 2 previous years I went but hopefully that shows they are going to make progress? Idk.

In my personal experience it is an EXTREME delight to follow up a “you never responded” bluff with a request for them to forward the email or send a screenshot with the email address they sent it to visible so you can “correct any errors” My last school I worked for scammed me out of $500 for completing a training by saying “oh well yeah you did it in January but since you ended up not coming back for the next year we don’t owe it to you according to the stipulations we sent” Asked for them to send me a copy of that list of stipulations (that they never sent; their going general rule is that the “no money if you don’t return” is only for stuff over the summer unless otherwise stated in writing) and it dragged out for six months of the head of HR trying to dodge me and the union and the state labor board 💀

A cosplay (anime) convention listing to con goers? Did hell freeze over?

*Light screaming* OMG! I presented four times at this convention and mentioned at one panel that I hoped you would be at the con reviewing the event, and HERE IT IS! 😀

the anime fans having poor spacial awareness is SO true. it feels like it's gotten worse in recent years i swear. as a disabled attendee the amount of times i have to deal with people refusing to move out of the way of wheelchairs/scooters is ridiculous. one of the last cons i went to thankfully had a system for attendees using ADA services where you could request a staff member/volunteer to go around the convention with you and they were able to get me a volunteer to go through the artist alley with me just to tell the crowds to move out of the way of my scooter. it was great and i wish more cons had that. same con that day had staff members just stationed around the artist alley directing the flow of traffic and intermittently telling people to clear the way. another con i went to a couple months before that had people darting in front of me and my friend also in a wheelchair waiting for the elevators despite multiple other people also waiting for the elevators calling out to everyone to let us go first. though maybe that's less spacial awareness and more just not caring.

The food truck prices were insane. $30 for a small plate of curry was insane!!!

Us ladies watch you because you are eloquent and down to earth while being so open minded about what you try and watch. PS trying to do more things solo so watching you do it is inspiring😊

"I collect copies of dracula and frankenstein. that's my English major coming through." A WOMAN AFTER MY OWN HEART

Lol. Thank you for the spatial awareness comment. I really enjoyed my local anime convention but man, I have never been banged in to by more bags, strollers, backpacks, and costume parts at any convention I'd been to before or since.

All I wanted from the goodsmile booth was miku racing stuff, and they were starting to sell out of stuff just 3 hours after the convention opened, so i know your pain. I really wanted that sun shade so bad

Something that was an issue I saw online was some artists were getting copyright strike notices from Viz Media and Crunchryoll executives for selling FAN made art and merch. Anime fan art that were affected were Evangelion, Dragon Maid, Lucky star, etc.

AX: (is shit as managing industry passes) Swell: "So i took it personally..."

13:00 As someone who does indeed have spatial awareness and is friends with a lot of anime people, I can confirm that I have to interrupt our conversations to not stand in the middle of a crowded walkway and push our circle towards a wall on several occasions, not even limited to conventions

I took a class in college about adapting Shakespeare and we read a manga version of Hamlet as part of our coursework. I wrote my final essay about the interlacing tropes of comedy and tragedy and cited the Demented Cartoon Movie as a source. It was a good class.

I went to AX this year for the first time in about 5 years, and was genuinely surpised by how much better organized it was, and how short the line waits were in comparison.

“My assistant” okaaayyyy Amanda. 👀 lol Jkjk glad you’re moving up in the world.

IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER THIS YEAR!! (As an attendee) More entrances meant the lines were shorter all around, wider isles in artist alley was definitely real, way better organization than prior years. Here's the thing, a little birdy told me they are For Profit starting this year. No more non-profit status. This explains some of the changes, higher ticket costs, and the insane food prices (vendors had to pay fees on all food sold!)

you didn't miss anything not getting an industry badge, if anything, 4-day attendees had an easier time than industry badgeholders, seeing as myself and a few other industry badge holding friends were literally barred from entering several events (fan run panels, mind you) at the JW and the novo based solely on the fact that we had industry badges

Fair bit of warning for anyone wanting to get into Blue Lock and/or Haikyuu!!: They are two vastly different shows, specifically in tone and theme. Haikyuu!! is a more grounded and realistic sport anime, and it centers themes about friendship, resilience, teamwork, etc. Every character is treated with nuance, and you’re really invited to understand each players’s/teams’ philosophies. Now, I might be biased-I’ve been reading/watching this animanga for nearly ten years and deeply love these characters but it’s such a fun ride. the ending makes me cry. I saw the first movie two times in theaters and cried both times lmao. Blue Lock, on the other hand, is not about teamwork or friendship. “Blue Lock” is about a bunch of strikers who are put into a program to become the best players in Japan and thus compete on the world stage. It’s in direct opposition to animanga like Haikyuu!! The players are implicitly encouraged to be ruthless and crass and mean. it’s a hierarchal fight to the death. Players who “lose” Blue Lock can never play soccer professionally ever again. It’s also very unserious lol. Like, do not get me wrong it’s very hype. But these guys are so silly and weird. Oh and there’s no magic. that “smoke” that you saw is the physical manifestation of each player’s “ego”. Each player has their own color ego that represents their personality/drive to win. It’s the author’s way of adding contrast to each character.

I was there helping a friend sell in the exhibitor hall. The prices for the exhibitor booth in the artist alley are roughly the same as in the exhibitor hall from what ive been told. The flow of traffic in the exhibitor hall also wasnt the best this year, a lot of people were packed in the artist alley. I will say the theft was better this year but i think there were a couple of people just try to take whatever was left out on the table during the con. Also viz media went down and striked everyone in the exhibitor hall and a couple of people in the artist alley. I know some people say they didnt touch the artist alley but i heard one-two people down there were impacted by viz.

A lot of exhibitors were forced out that’s why you saw so many booths from the main area last year taking over other spaces. AX last minute down to the last week cut almost 100 small businesses so other big brands could have more space :(

You should try ACen (anime central) or C2E2. They are Chicago conventions and I think a coastal perspective of a midwest convention would be interesting.

This year was my 15th AX and I will say that crowd management was much better than before. I heard from people in the industry that they are moving towards the main exhibit hall being primarily industry booths (stuff like Aniplex, Crunchyroll, and big vendors like amiami, Kotobkiya, Good Smile etc.) while small businesses are moved to the edges or downstairs near the artist alley. Personally I think this worked well as there was more room to move around in the main exhibit hall, but I can understand how vendors would not be thrilled about it. I also heard that a lot of the traffic in the artist alley was due to several stamp rallies where people had to purchase from certain booths to get some free items, which led to huge lines at those booths. Personally I don't think that should be allowed unless they can figure out a better way to handle line ups like that because it can cause problems for other artists around them. Also, AX is the biggest convention in North America, so you were not off base saying that it's the biggest on the West coast.

I follow vTubing so naturally the biggest story for me was the Nijisanji and Hyte (featuring a talent they'd very loudly sacked in February) booths right next to each other. But looking at the footage I was surprised how big those booths were. Like when they filled up, they obviously filled up. But as a vendor, I'd be a little squeamish during off hours having people see mostly empty booths.

22:00 omg, have you seen the manga version of the count of monte cristo?? Saw it at a con some years back, was sold out the following day and I think ordered it online ... either that or I got like the display copy on that second day, something like that

Dunno if this would help with clarity but something I’ve heard that better describes the money issue has been “real people economy” rather than just plain economy. Dunno if it matters that much.

I opened RU-vid thinking let’s find and watch an old swell video but voila gifted a new one 🎉

This was my first con and I had a really good time! It's funny you mentioned a line to get in because I never had to wait in any line to get inside the venue. The badges were mailed to us, we activated them online, and then got into the door closest to the crypo area. Security took 5 minutes. Though the lines to get into any of the special events/panels/showings were insane. Waiting in that heat was miserable and often it was unclear where we were supposed to wait because the lines were outside (not marked on the schedule, that would've been really nice). We spent as little time out in the heat as possible, so we unfortunately missed out on the beer garden area upstairs. But overall, it was a great time.

Kaiju No 8 is amazing!! 10/10 would recommend! Haikyuu!! is also amazing!

To Skootish: Hot women like to watch other hot women *insert lip biting emoji*

Thanks for keepiny me entertained while I try to not die during Art Fight Amanda. Keepin me alive fr

Food trucks got really fancy and expensive. At least the ones that are commissioned to go places. The cheap ones are the ones that dot the roads in a city center. They are still there but the fancy ones with the big wraps around the truck and the logos and everything were ALWAYS expensive. Even pre-pandemic. I remember buying a sandwich for $15 in like 2018 from one. On my campus, I could get a bigger sandwich for $6 from a different food truck

It was nice meeting you at Anime Expo 🙌🏻 thanks for a lil chat ❤

I wonder if Food Trucks becoming a big marketing thing for a chef is what turned them to become so expensive. I gotta try more food trucks though

Blue lock got a massive boost from the last world cup where Japan did very well . Why the new movie is popular though is a bit baffling

I was working for a vendor at ax but i also talk to aa artist downstaird and they said because of AX wider aisle a lot of aa artist had not space to exit their booths. Also at AX they did boot out some vendors. One of the vendor was selling ai/hand traced art of figures and offical art. Also there was subleasing issues with them and along with a meet and greet that got a bit out of hand. AX was def cracking down on rule breakers this year since its been going the more corperate route.

So, i was industry last year, along with my wife. (We performed at BG and L21) It definitely did not leave a good taste in our mouths with it being insanely crowded. Im glad its better this year, and i hope it improves! Kinda thinking about applying again for next year

I went to AX last year, and I’m glad things are better this year, I hope they take what they did this year and improve for next year.

Really awesome to see a video where you clearly enjoyed yourself.

This was my first AX & I’ve heard nightmare stories abt overcrowding. I expected there to be a long line & long wait times. But overall the experience of it was not as bad as I expected.

21:47 I wouldn't be surprised if more people bought a one day ticket where in years past they'd have gotten a four day pass. If you're only there for a day, you gotta buy what you want when you see it.

yeah, you nailed the cost to vend if not costing more cause you need more space. breaking even is the very best you can do sometimes

I modeled for a fashion brand at an anime convention and it didn't really match my personality. So it was okay. I don't know how much of it they would let you film. They told us no filming but pictures were okay unless someone was actively changing.

I attended AX on day 2 this and it was better than last year in general but a booth i was really looking forward to in the entertainment hall (arknights/yostar) felt a lot smaller. I met you last year which was awsome too ❤

I ghosted AX this year (aka hung out outside Friday and Sunday and went to little Tokyo) and I was actually devastated I didn’t buy a badge. It seemed awesome this year with a lot of improvements that made it better. I am SO glad they listened to their fans. Now to see how this goes next year because a ton of people didn’t go this year. I def blame that for why it was so quiet.

You should check out the pet expo that comes to Pittsburgh every year in the fall, you could probably make a great video on it.

I wouldn't be shocked if they were struggling to sell tickets. A lot of people are broke 😊and they don't really think about it

I can't believe amanda has a manager, assistant AND editor omg mother's winning yall

i love how in these reviews of expos or products, swell always says “you could’ve done this better…” “you did this well” “you did x y and z” and i just love how it’s not a vague/generic review. like in this video, she is telling anime expo directly what they did well and what they can do better. DIRECTLY. idk what it is about that but i love unabashed, straight to the point and no frills commentary and reviews. 💖✨

One thing I never understand conventions don't do regularly at summer events, are the big misting fans???? Like the amount of concerts I've been to in summer where they have spaced out misting fans, it cooled everyone down enough to be bearable.

Not long ago, I was a healthy headphone user, but everything changed when 6:28 attacked...When I tell you I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK, I'M NOT KIDDING!

13:28 If this is the same artist I’m thinking about, apparently they got caught tracing a lot of their artwork that they were selling at AX.

I went years telling my friends I'd never go to AX because of the wait times. Then they announced Ono Daisuke as a guest and I had to go. Yeah there was a lot of people but I never felt overwhelmed by the crowds. The longest I waited outside to get in was 5 minutes. I entered through Ai gate 2 of the 3 days I went with no issue. If this level of crowd control continues for the coming years I'll actually plan on going out ahead of time. I spent my first day then half the second day just explpring then panels second half of second day then all of day 3. I've heard complaints from vendor friends about sales being down this year but a balance has to be found between keeping the crowd manageable from an attendee standpoint (as well as keeping the fire marshalls from getting mad) and having a crowd to buy goods.

This year was my fifteenth year attending AX and it was genuinely one of the best years in recent memory. The programming was a little light but I'm also woefully out of touch with anime in general so that could just be me. One of my concerns was how they were opening halls an hour earlier than they did in years prior but that turned out to be a non-issue. On Saturday of all days, I showed up to the convention center around 8:30 or so, found the end of a line in about ten minutes, and got into the convention center in less than ten minutes. With how well 2024 was run, it almost hurts to make it my last one for a while. I hold this convention pretty near and dear to me even through all the ups and downs but when I only know about ten percent of what I'm looking at, I need to move on. I sincerely hope they take what made this year so successful and apply it to future years so when I eventually do come back, it's as great as I remember.

I really wanted to go to AX because of the Witch Hat Atelier trailer and panel 😭

Don't bring a tape measure, bring a "laser tape measure" or like laser range finder. Very cheap and will be useful for other fun stuff after :)

Swells villain arc, showing no mercy to mis managed events

Traffic and parking was a nightmare. They are no parking directions. The event was crowded and artist alley was horrendous. It smelled so horribly I became nauseous and never got to experience it. There is no point of the last day it closed at 3pm. The beer garden forced ppl to drink outside in the heat. Also amazing performers have to suffer in the heat. They capped out the garden so you would get separated from your friends if you left to use the restroom. They stopped selling drinks in the front area super early. We could only buy one beer and had to leave b/c they stopped selling at 7 and there was a huge line for the garden. The food trucks were grossly overpriced. I’m not going back next year I’m super over it….

It was kind of weird getting there at 8:50am and thinking "oh crap I'm not gonna get in till 12pm" and then being in artist Alley by 9am

I modeled for the AX fashion show this year and 2022. I literally laughed out loud when i saw you in the audience during the final walk. It's a fun experience but we used to be comped a 4 day badge instead of the 1 day. It's an all day commitment to do the show because of getting ready and after show pics so everything was closed by the time my group was undressed. I love modeling at conventions but I don't think it's worth it if it isn't at least a 2 day badge because I didn't see anything of the actual con. Models are chosen by the designers. Its a great time and something i hope you get to try. (I was the blue dress in the final group) if anyone has any questions I'm happy to answer :)

Video / Stream idea: Tier Rank Racing Miku designs

I liked the part where swell offered some random girl in con logistics a kiss if they wanted one.

Yooooo, I've been OBSESSED with Kaiju No. 8! It's literally Pacific Rim with a bit of Power Rangers camp mixed in, I've been reading new content as it drops on the Shonen Jump app. The Crunchyroll anime also goes HARD, Yungblud and OneRepublic made the opening and closing themes, I've been blasting that shit.

27:34 hot women feel comfortable around their own kind :)

when you were talking about people having no spatial awareness and just stopping in the middle of spaces, I was like 'that's just my grocery store every time I go.' I think its less anime people and more people in general for some reason are becoming less aware of the space around them.

As someone who started the manga of Kaiju No. 8 when it was releasing it's first few chapters, I love it! Definitely worth your time.

You give wholesome vibes. Like being in the 18 up section I wouldn't be surprised. Now if you talked about buying the biggest boldest fantasy toy, that I'd be surprised pikachu face about.

I may not be the "hot women" category by age (almost 60) but my nickname among the family is "Granny Von Hottie" and I love, love your channel!

Dang, AX actually making improvements? Never thought id see the day

I really enjoyed your coverage of these shows. Have you looked into Designer Con? It'll be in Vagas this year for thr first time. I'd love to see your review of that show...its a very niche show about Asrt toys and Design.

You should come to Montreal, our Otakuthon is pretty big (maybe slightly bigger than Anime North?). We usually don't have that many problems in the merchants or artists alley. It's next week-end though, so I don't know if it's feasable for you (2-4 august 2024). Also, most people there are very chill & billingual. Our artists have very talented too XD !!! Hope to see you there at some point :)

My husband spoke on one of the panels on Friday. Later night one I think. He said it was super crowded lol half his coworkers caught the vid 😬

If I were traveling as much as you are I’d be masked up for my health js

Great video❤ happy to have seen you in person ❤

I went to AX one day last year and I remember how bad artist alley was. I had my body all up against other people as we were all shimmying to booths or out. I hardly last 20 minutes before I felt like passing out from the air and crowd. This year, my group and I went to artist alley early in the morning where it wasn’t peak traffic. Literally perfect and I was surprised at the amount of space which was so desperately needed last year. I tried going to panels this year and let me reiterate, I TRIED. There were so many lines for panels but it was so confusing. I literally explored the entire area just so I could go to a line for a panel. Communication for capping off lines felt a bit poor? The line for Connor and Ironmouse at the Novo was literally insane! Like you knew the people who were waiting the building across from crypto arena never had a chance but waited there for so long too! I wanted to go but you could never catch me in that line. There was also a ridiculously long line on day 2 that halted people from exiting out as the line was going to a panel room. You knew that line was probably capped off long before that. I suppose I haven’t watch too many top animes this season to appreciate the exhibit hall but the stalls that were selling items felt lackluster this year? I did watch Kaiju No.8 after AX bc their area was cool. Shame that I didn’t see more of artist alley nor the entertainment hall.

i hope you check out dragoncon in atlanta, georgia. its one of the biggest and most popular convention in georgia. its mostly a comic convention for everyone to party lol momocon is also pretty cool

Hot women simply attract more hot women; I don't make the rules, the universe does

13:00 It's because anime fans spend a lot of time indoors, alone, and in small groups with only people they know, so they actually, literally dont know how to navigate a crowd where not everyone utilizes the same unspoken signaling. Im in a wheelchair and I just avoid conventions because it is so insane. Im not worried about myself Im worried about the dudes who are like 6'6" and this is the third time theyve been in a crowd in a decade and if they fall they will die because their head will reach terminal velocity by the time it actually strikes the tile. And I dont know what it is but while there are a lot of short anime fans, they also seem to be a group which includes some of the tallest and least coordinated men on earth.

Love that it was such a short comment but I feel you about the food truck thing. Live in a small town. Several very popular food trucks that rotate around the area. One taco truck my wife loved went from three tacos for 5$ to 10$ a taco. And they’re complaining about a lack of business. Dude. Who’s going to pay 10$ for a single taco. But it’s not just LA.

biggest issue by far is dudes who didn’t ask for consent for photos and being on videos

they moved the artist alley to the basement for years and I always heard horror stories about people fainting and the high co2 concentration and lack of AC in artist circles. I'm local and I havent gone to one since maybe 2018 because the crowding has overwhelmed and stressed me out as a nd person. If they arent gonna cap ticket sales like they should for safety, they should at least make it a week-long event to try to ease up the traffic inside the building by stretching out how long it goes for.

2005 I went and was lucky enough to meet Tomokazu Seki, Greg Ayres, and Crispin Freeman. Was a fun time, and a far away era. I feel old.

Seriously, I don't plan on going next year, but if there's a Swell meetup, I'm 100% there.