And so it begins the journey known as Anime Expo 2018, a 4 day convention in the heart of LA, California in the sweltering heat but of course we always gotta start off at home, in Toronto. Let the  Adventureeeeeee beginnnnn!!!

At Terminal 2 at pearson airport. Kinda shit compared to Terminal 1 but then again what do I know, I haven’t traveled in 4 years. They have these cool ipads where you can order food and pay with credit card.

I ordered the “Western Sandwich” with hash browns. Sandwich was ok, although the hash browns you can easily tell are just short cut fries. lol

On the WestJet plane, see this guy packing his luggage with the shirt. You know what this man is going to. I also saw a dude holding a big love live Ruby plush waiting to get on the plane too. Yet, this is the right place.

Our beautiful snack, compliments of west jet. I didn’t eat the pretzels.

Arrival at LA airport. Found it so strange that when you get off the plane, your just there, along with other people waiting for the next flight. Quite a journey to get luggage too from here.

After a relatively awkward taxi ride to our Hotel, Sheraton Grand Los Angles; we checked in each of us got one these these kind of room keys. Pretty cool since the hotel was an official partner with the con.

Our place of habitat for the next 10 days or so. Pretty standard. I rotated between beds each night.

Outside in the city you see lots of this shit, considering LA translates literally into “City of Angels” people draw and put art on walls and shit with wings where you stand in front for selfie purposes.

Short walk away is first lunch in LA, Jinya Ramen.

Black Garlic Shoyu Ramen, pretty solid and tasty shit.

You can ask for more fresh garlic to squeeze if you like. I did, it enhances it further.

Outside, good shit good start.

Inside a Wallgreens, which is the equivalent of American shoppers drug mart but a bit more ghetto. Looks that way too.

Cheap water to hold us for the days ahead. Honestly, it tastes like shit compared to our nestle pure life but whatever, it’s cheap.

Some clock tower, walking to the convention space.

Staples center, where sports teams play and where I don’t really give a shit but whatever, it’s here.

First big sign that we are in the right place. Goku greets us well with huge banners in your face.

Same thing for Love Live Sunshien and Idol master Cinderella girls. Awww yeaaaa.

Lining up to pick up our Anime Matsuri concert tickets for the next few days. Remember, this is Day 0, technically there is only supposed to be some panels and the Love Live concert.

They have multiple stations on the ready for the hordes of fans.

Been seeing these for awhile now. Apparently I am told that people/girls buy these bags that are clear and put lots of little nick nacks and stuff in it to show their dedication to the character and or whatever they like. As seen here it’s Mari from LL Sunshine, full of key chains, pins and other plastic goods. I can understand the rise in popularity of plastic acrylic key chains now in recent years…

This Chika plush mounted on this dude will be a common similar sight throughout the convention.

Another Chika fan huh. Not my favorite but whatever, good shit.

Pretty nice swag bag pickup, nice crunchy roll branded bag that acts also as a string backpack, good shit. The bag i mean, not crunchy roll, they are bullshit.

Only I got the normal people bag and so we headed towards lining up for the Love Live concert. Lots of people there already.

Oh hay, another Baby Metal fan. Although I honestly don’t care too much about them now, still cool. Nice shirt.

Some hardcore fans were giving this shit around, they wanted people to participate in certain songs in order to coordinate pem light colors and motions.

Serious shit man, pretty cute drawings too. Serious business.

On the other side was another guide for another character’s song. Wow.

Then some other girl came around and gave us another plan, to do rainbow pen light formation. Wow.

Makes you feel like you gotta participate huh? Well, we didn’t’ have any at the time so yea, that’s it for our participation today.

The ratio between guys and girls is actually very close to being even. Love love is very popular among girls due to the popularity and success of the anime and mobile game.

One of the hoodies being sold. Official merch. I think probably sold out on first day. It was damn hot when we arrived. This guy must be insane to be wearing a hoodie in this weather.

A spread of the things to come. The bling bling ticket shot.

After a time we realized that we are very dumb. Everyone thought that there was a single line and it snakes around. In fact there were like 6 separate lines and 6 doors to get in. What the fuck and of course we were in the main door, the longest long possible. And when you think about it, it doesn’t even matter if we line up since our seating is reserved anyways. ah well.

Inside the place, very lively indeed.

Some dude dressed up as a cop, something something idol police it said on his back shirt. Can’t remember, funny shit.

Love Love concert was pretty good, extremely hype fans and high energy all the way. No downtime. Felt really bad that we didn’t have pen lights and our feeble attempts to get them at the place were in vain. All sold out. Good show tho.

I dub this picture “After the Rainbow, I stand still but the world keeps moving”

Yep, pretty solid logo we have their for this event.

Post concert people just hanging around and shit. I don’t think the Original Joke guy has much business.

The sun is setting on the Microsoft theatre.

High off the concert a group does their best to awe the crowd. Not bad but I didn’t hear like any music.

Dark so soon, nice lights on “Downtown LA” which is just this little pocket of building complex, not really “Downtown”.

Mari cosplay, America Fuck yea. Jokes that people kept on shouting “USA USA!!!” because of her costume.

Remember, this was the 4th of July. Gotta have great American fireworks you know.

Group of LL fans doing somthing. No Idea.

The Yard House. The recommended place to eat after a concert.

I really like that painting in the back.

Some beer. House blend or something? Amber Blend? Can’t remember. It was alright.

Ordered some hot fried chicken and pancakes. Not exactly what I was expecting but very tasty neverthelesss.

Mark’s Tuna Poke thing.

Daniel’s Asian chicken noodle thing.

I dub this photo: “Waiting for Fire”. Yea, we weren’t exactly in the best view to do this really.

Fate Grand Order is being pushed so hard on the streets around the convention centre. Huge ass banners on the Wells Fargo building. Lol pretty cool, they lighted too.

Day 0 and I alright brought some shit. Some little cute plushies sum things and a nice red AX hat. Good start, good start. Real day 1 stars tomorrow.

More to come…