One of my painting professors told a story about how she had created a tornado character, that came from a very personal place, and she had painted it for years…only to find out another artist had done something very similar. So she stopped painting her character. I always felt that was sad and unnecessary.
Sometimes I wonder if this is just a faulty mindset, from our copyright-obsessed (and thus, money-obsessed culture). It's the same reason everyone is so obsessed with only having "original" ideas. Even though every coincidental similar idea is a sign of our shared, "universal", human experience. There's a reason disparate cultures have so many similar mythologies.
One of the biggest things I noticed from anime, was how so many people can repeat the same idea, and yet every inflection can still be unique. The same premise can be repeated so much, by so many authors/artists, that it creates a new subgenre.
"Reincarnated as the villainess in an otome game".
"Magical girl team with transformation sequences, fighting monsters every week".
"Milquetoast boy gets romantically pursued by a group of girls which often include a tsundere, deredere, dandere, kuudere, oneesama, ojousama, and a childhood friend".
"High school girl gets thrown into another world, full of fantastical adventures, while confronting parallels of her inner demons".
Every one of those subgenres have been done to death, and yet, each one has several revered "classics" among them.
Don't forget that "Bleach" by Tite Kubo was originally rejected from publication, for being "too similar" to Yu Yu Hakusho.
Don't forget that Sailormoon took blatant inspiration from Super Sentai.
It should be okay to repeat a similar idea. Your interpretation of the same idea, will always have your specific interpretation, even if you don't mean to.
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It's always interesting to me, to see people mourn the loss of a sense of community at anime conventions, or lament any change they've sensed over the years in anime conventions. Because I attended conventions for a long time, yet I often can't relate to the things that people miss from old anime conventions.
I'm socially anxious, so I don't relate to people mourning the loss of a sense of community in conventions. I didn't go to cons to talk to friends or to hang out with people. I went to video rooms and shopped at exhibit hall. I listened to panels and took video of cosplay gatherings. That alone, took all my con time. Then I got into figure collecting and spent more time taking figure photos around cons. Anime conventions were never a social event for me.
In fact, people trying to become my friends, scared me so much on an instinctive level, that I lost all my passion for cosplaying. Cosplaying used to be a major activity of mine, for years. At every con, I needed a different cosplay for each day of the con, and I needed to make new cosplays for every con. I was video documenting cosplay gatherings, following cosplay videographers' music videos, hosting cosplay gatherings, always on Cosplay.com, etc. But when people started recognizing me through my cosplay and started talking to me instead of my character...Cosplay became this beacon that attracted the socializing that I was so afraid of. I reflexively became averse to it. It wasn't something I consciously did, more of a reflexive feeling. And I couldn't make it go away. Cosplay was now too associated with inciting my social anxiety. It used to be, I could pretend to be social when I was following the usual cosplay script:
"Hi, I love your cosplay! Can I take your picture?"
"Oh, thank you! Sure!" [pose]
"Thank you! Great cosplay!"
"Thanks! Enjoy the con!"
It was a very easy script. And what's more, I could pretend to be the character. I could feel stronger and less socially anxious, because I was playing pretend as a stronger person/character. But if everyone keeps breaking the 4th wall, by trying to talk to me, the real person under the costume, then the illusion was repeatedly broken. I couldn't cosplay anymore. It was becoming too social for me.
If it weren't for the COVID19 pandemic, I'd probably still be attending conventions. I'd still be shopping, attending panels, and maybe even still vending at artist alley. The only difference is that I'd be buying at artist alley more. To tell the truth, I never shopped at artist alley, before I started tabling at artist alley. But after I learned the appeal of it, now it takes so much more of my con time, and I get so excited about it now, even if I'm only shopping, not vending. If I was still attending cons, I'd still be fairly anti-social with my con activities.
On the other hand, once the pandemic got me out of the con habit, I realized how much money I was saving and how I didn't need cons to get what I liked from cons. When you don't see cons as a place to socialize or meet up with friends, there's a lot you can do that pretty much substitute the con experience.
I found so many other places to shop, without spending the increasingly over $100 convention registration fees. I live in LA, for gods' sake! I should have been going to Little Tokyo any time I wanted to shop! Sure, convention exhibit halls have more stores than Little Tokyo, with more options, and all conveniently concentrated in the same place...But There's also online shopping. (Though, that's been severely truncated by the new dumb tariffs and the overcomplication of my tax processes whenever I buy from out of state, so I'm forced to try to avoid that.)
Staying at home or shopping in Little Tokyo is so much easier on me, physically too. I don't know how I used to have the stamina to run to so many events at conventions and have such a packed con schedule, on so little food or sleep, and few places to sit at cons (besides panel rooms). But I don't think I can do that anymore. Especially with how every panel now has lines. I don't think I can just dash into random rooms to sit and listen to panels anymore. And now with the crowds more dense, taking up more possible places to rest, it might be better for me to skip cons and stay home, or go to Little Tokyo, where I can take a more relaxed, unscheduled pace.
I've been watching videos and photos of the crowds in Anime Expo, increasing in density every year. I remember when that type of crowd density was only at San Diego Comic Con, and it made me want to stop attending SDCC. It was so stinky and moving anywhere felt like a snail's pace, waste of time. Now it looks like the same crowd density is at AX, and makes me reluctant to attend. I recently went to the free LA Anime Artist Alley in Little Tokyo this past weekend, during AX2026, and it reminded me of how much I've been underestimating how uncomfortable dense crowds make me feel. Even though that event wasn't actually too crowded, like a con would be, it was still more people than I had been around in a long time. And that contrast did feel crowded at first. I thought I remembered it as just annoying. But last weekend, I was reminded how frustrating it is to be stuck, unable to move in a dense crowd, and how that inability to move while trapped with my frustration and simultaneous constant vigilance for a way out, as well as the constant overstimulation of looking at so much merch, and the pressure of missing good art to buy, forcing me to impatiently skim thru merch, thoroughly and quickly, constantly, all created a feeling similar to panic. I had to go to clear areas with no booths, several times, just to take a breather and feel the clear space around me. I can't imagine returning to AX to experience worse crowds. (Though, someday, I would like to finally return to AX anyway.)
But do I need to go to AX anymore when we now have video essays on YouTube? So many of my favorite panels were interesting discussions and analytical topics. I wasn't really interested in industry panels and their big announcements---except for Good Smile Company. It was the interesting discussions and presentations that made me eager to attend con panels. But now that we have user streaming services like YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, etc., so many interesting discussions can be had outside of convention panels. And that's usually where I get my fix of analytical fanboying/fangirling now.
The last activity I really do at cons is artist alley. And I'd love to return to vending at a table again, but it's harder to get into artist alley now, more than ever before. And I do love shopping artist alley. But at the same time, do I really have to, when so many artists have online shops? And are those con crowds worth sifting through, for the artists that don't have online shops? Still, I love the experience of shopping and having little acrylic charms of my favorite ships, by the end of the day.
Personally, I don't lament not having returned to AX yet. I don't miss it too much, but I do think it would be fun to return. But to not take it so seriously, like I used to. But if I just replaced AX with a shopping trip to Little Tokyo every year, I think I would have almost as much fun, AND without the suffocating crowds, schedules, and pricing.
Frankly, since 2026 was my first year, hanging out in Little Tokyo at the same time as Anime Expo, it occurs to me that with AX growing in size and Los Angeles seeming so set to keep AX at the LA Convention Center (even working on construction to expand the con center this year, though I'm sure it's also for the LA 2028 Olympics), it's very possible that AX could turn into the type of event that takes over the entire downtown area, in the same way that San Diego Comic Con takes over the entire San Diego downtown area with events. Every year, SDCC not only conducts their convention with the San Diego Convention Center and adjacent hotels, but they also have so many free events throughout all of San Diego's downtown district(s), that it seems like the convention is ALSO throughout the city, BUT FREE. And that's what LIttle Tokyo felt like during AX. There was Kodansha House, the Sega pop up shop, the Los Angeles Anime Artist Alley, Square Enix had just opened up a permanent cafe in time for AX, and Kinokuniya had just opened their new location in Little Tokyo, so big, it may as well have been a convention space. I checked out Kinokuniya's new returning location, and one third of the store is practically just for manga (and anime/videogame artbooks and magazines) now. Their old location in Little Tokyo may have been similar proportions allocated for manga, but now that I think about it, this new space is so big, I didn't realize how many otaku were in there. But now that I think about it, there were a lot of people just shopping for manga! And merch! That manga section had so much merch, and big displays, and a space for seemingly touring exhibitions. Right now, it was an exhibition for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Kinokuniya's new Little Tokyo location may as well have been part of an anime convention exhibit hall. I can't wait for more publishers and industry companies to turn more of Little Tokyo into a free version of Anime Expo, the next time AX comes to town.
Because I will be there. Frankly, I'm excited for the next AX, because of that possibility of more Little Tokyo events during AX. I'm excited for the next AX. I may return to AX someday for only a day or 2, or for working artist alley. But I'm more excited to spend the weekend in Little Tokyo again, eating more fruit sandwiches from Nijiya Market (without the exorbitant convention prices for food), taking the trains, and not paying those expensive AX badge fees. I hope LA Anime Artist Alley returns. I hope more companies, in addition to Kodansha and Sega, have more pop up shops. I hope Daiso's Little Tokyo branch continues stocking anime merch, and I hope by next year, they start stocking the Persona 5 merch that was announced last month, made exclusively for Daiso. I hope the Square Enix Cafe expands their shop merch, since they're supposed to be a permanent branch. I hope maybe the JACCC (Japanese American Community Cultural Center) also has some events, or at least seating for people to hang out at. There are just so many possibilities, if industry companies coming to LA for AX, take over Little Tokyo, the way that SDCC takes over San Diego. I'm excited for the next AX weekend, if not as much for the next AX. I can't wait. lol
Last weekend, I saw a booth at LA Anime Artist Alley, so full of Jayvik, that I wanted to spend ungodly amounts of money. So I knew they were much more obsessive fangirls than me. And yet still, I felt that twang of embarrassment, when I had to ask for the button of Jayvik kissing. lol Still, knowing they were big fangirls of the same ship, made the whole purchase non-humiliating. ^_^
I am continually haunted by the things that fell into my lap during my Japan trip, but I hesitated to buy, because I was afraid of over-spending. -_-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Ryuji Sakamoto Persona 5 Tactica can badge.
Nendoroid Doll Heads "Cinnamon".
Nendoroid Rinne Rokudo.
more Nyanko Sensei gachapon. They were only 200yen! I should have gotten more than just one!
Hello Good Smile Morgana
rice crackers from that Maeda house at Gokayama village.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Sometimes I'll look back on a time of that one person and really think "How tf did I put up with ts?" Like damn...the person I am now would have lost their mind.
