Scarlet Muse at AnimeFest 2018
After a couple of weeks delay, we are finally done showing all the fun we had with Erica from Scarlet Muse Cosplay at this year’s AnimeFest in Dallas! While it isn’t the largest anime convention in North Texas, it is gaining recognition as one of the best. AnimeFest has given the community an event that feel large, thanks to the fact that it stretches from the Dallas Sheraton & it’s convention center all the way to the Plaza of the Americas, but also maintains the intimacy of a smaller convention during all of the panels & sponsored events. Most importantly, all aspects of the anime fandoms are represented: from the casual viewers to the hardcore officiates to the dedicated cosplayers & artists. Everyone has a place to feel at home at this convention.
For our coverage of the convention, we have to give a very special thanks to our guest host, Erica Muse, for letting us follow her around to get her perspective of what AnimeFest is like for a cosplayer. The biggest misconception that most non-cosplayers have about the cosplay experience at a convention like this is that it’s all fun & games. In reality, it’s almost pure chaos. I met up Erica & Chris at their room at the Sheraton at 8:00 Saturday morning & was immediately greeted by scene that looked like the Cosplay Fairy exploded all over! They had both already been at the convention for the past 2 days, going late into the early morning hour every night, while continuing to debut multiple cosplays each day. As a result, their room had cosplay pieces strewn about everywhere. However, neither of them acted like that was anything but normal. Once Erica’s My Hero Academia cosplay was ready to go, we went over to the Plaza of the Americas for breakfast while Chris finished resting up after only having gone to sleep four hours earlier. All the way to breakfast, we passed convention-goers & cosplayers were already finding things to do…or maybe they had never stopped from the night before. As Erica kept reminding me, anime conventions like this run 24 hours a day until they are done. So, with enough caffeine, it is possible to go through the entire convention without a minute of sleep.
As it turned out, breakfast was the only real time that we had to slow down for the rest of the day. After that, it was on to artist alley to talk to a few people who had already opened shop for the day, visit the vendor room, & check the event schedule to see if there were any panels to visit in between interviews & photoshoots. Even as we walked around trying to see what was already happening for the day, we were stopped every couple of minutes by someone that wanted to get a picture with Erica. While some were fans of hers, most were fans of My Hero & simply wanted to get a picture with the real life embodiment of one of the characters from their favorite anime. It’s always interesting to me to see people’s reaction to cosplayers. Even though they know that they are not actually the person who plays the character in the show, there is always a sense of joy & excitement around getting to ask a cosplayer for their picture. It is the perfect chance to see everyone’s inner child come out in such a fantastic way!
The day went on & we had photoshoots to attend, which turned into more photoshoots & eventually, it was 6:00 that evening & we all needed a quick bite to eat. As we looked back, we had only attended one panel all day, Women in Voice Acting. The rest of the day just went by so fast. However, while my day was over, Erica’s would continue to go on until around 4:00 the next morning.
By Sunday, Erica finally needed a little more than four hours of sleep, so we met back up at 11:00 & spent all day interviewing cosplayers & artists. We even got to attend a few more panels & events at the convention. While Saturday was fun, Sunday definitely showed off the community side of the convention much more for us. Rather than focusing on all the cosplay events & special requests that the day before had been focused on, we finally got to talk to people & hang out. There was such a strong sense of friendship among everyone that it was easy to see why so many people keep coming back to AnimeFest year after year. There’s just something special about this convention that is hard to put your finger on what or why, but everyone knows it’s there.
If you haven’t attended AnimeFest before, I highly recommend that you do.!
Scarlet Muse Cosplay: