The train route to get to MangaNEXT was so tortuous and needlessly complicated that I've decided not to go tomorrow. This is more of an incentive for me to learn to drive.

The con itself was...somewhat disappointing--there just wasn't much content. But it's only its third year, so I sort of understand, and it was really quite well-organized (especially compared to NYAF, which is just kind of a trainwreck). But I was annoyed that they advertised their dealers' room as having manga-specific stuff such as doujinshi, and really it was just the same old stuff, except a lot less of it, and no doujinshi at all. Nevertheless, I still managed to spend a cringe-inducing amount of money on manga and anime.

I spent a lot of time in the manga library, reading the first three volumes of Reborn. All I have to say is that Amano is on some crack, and it's only occasionally the good kind. He seems to have very little interest in anything approaching coherence or believability. But it's amusing, and I like Haru and Gokudera quite a bit. I also hear it actually gets good after a few volumes, but I don't know how much I'll read. In and of themselves, I think the female characters are cute and fun, but the way the manga treats them is obnoxious (I want to see less being-Tsuna's-object-and-obsessing-over-cake!Kyoko and more dying!will!Kyoko).

The main reason I stayed until ten at night, though, was that I was waiting for the swap meet. Having experienced it, I think I can safely say it is a force of nature.

There were a handful of surprisingly good cosplayers. There was a Hinata I liked, and also a Vincent Valentine; and an amazing Amaterasu from Okami. I thought I took a picture of her, but I'd forgotten to put the memory card in my camera. Sigh. Hopefully someone else's picture will turn up.

I also talked to ali_wildgoose, which was nice!

All in all...I got a lot more stuff than I expected. ( Lists. )

Even though I'm not going back tomorrow, I do plan to go to AnimeNEXT in June.

Of course, now I'm free to start my NaNoWriMo tomorrow. I'm starting to get cold feet, but I refuse to let them make me run away. I will be posting it chapter by chapter at xashar.

But first, I'm going to make my drops at polychromatic and finish my political post before the election.