AnimangaPop

Our first event of the year was AniMangaPop which is a small yet very succesful show hosted in Plymouth.  The venue was The Holiday Inn right on The Hoe.  

The organisers are 'Fantasy Events' who have teamed up with the 'Keep It Secret Group'.  Fantasy Events have over 20 years of experience in putting on shows and we found their organisation excellent and the show ran like clockwork. Keep It Secret started seven years ago and have their own Kawaii boutique stores in the South West. 

Due to the time of year we decided to travel down on the Friday in case of bad weather and it was a real treat to be able to set up the day before.

The photo above shows the stand nearly set up, we just needed to tweak it the next morning. Over the last few years we have been working on our display as it is difficult to have easy to carry display shelves which are attractive however  we are very pleased with the fold up shelves we have customised that you can see below. 

We also have a couple of perspex shelves which are great as they add height without distracting from the hats.

For our last two shows we have put our items together in colour families as we have found that this works better than displayed in types. What you can not see from these photos is our clothes rail and mannequin which we take to events.

It was great to start the day with a lovely breakfast and not to be eating breakfast nearer lunchtime which is what usually happens. 

This was a feast but lunch was just half a sandwich!!

It is always difficult to decide what to wear to a show but this time Emily chose 'Discovery of the Ocean Rose' OP in black, one of her favourite dresses, worn with 4 different hair accessories (a girl can never have too much in her hair), one of which you can just see is our tiny baby fawn horns which come in a multitude of colours.  These are sparkly green decorated with bows but a lot of them have crystals and pearls.  She wanted to wear the larger horns but they didn't quite go with her coord but at our next event she will be wearing  her new print which is an enchanted forest and the larger horns will be perfect.

The show opened at 9.30 for the VIPs and 10 for everyone else.  The show was really well organised with lots of performers as well as time for shopping. Scarlett Young who was voted UK Kawaii Star at Hyper Japan and appears on Japanese television was the first performer and also singing was Kelsey Ellison, a You Tube sensation.

There was also Momoiro Otome Ensemble (MOE), maid cafe performers and a great Kendo, Way of the Sword, performance, a Japanese Martial Art.

  

What is great about comic cons is the cosplayers, so many people put such a lot of effort and love into their costumes and it makes for a colourful and happy day.

These are just a few cosplayers which we managed to photograph.

There is also always a wide variety of different vendors such as artists, jewellery designers, cute things, bags, sometimes wigs but always the favourite the plushie store.  Below are the items Emily bought this time.

The Pocky came from Keep it Secret,  www.facebook.com/keepitsecret, the art from Anita Yip www.porukachii.deviantart.com and a suprise My Little Pony box from a collectibles stall local to Plymouth and inside was the character Discord.

We had a great day and look forward to the next one.