We're Zero & Cat, a couple from San Diego who like going to conventions, cosplaying, and staying busy. We both have Cystic Fibrosis and have had double-lung transplants, but we don't let that get in our way. Zero is a web developer, avid toy collector, and community lead on the Transformers TCG Continuation, while Cat is an artist with a strong passion for cats, Nintendo games, and all things cute. Growing up here Southern California, San Diego Comic-Con was both of our first conventions, back in the days when you could just casually decide to go down there and buy a ticket. Zero started attending conventions in the mid '90s, and Cat in the mid 2000s. We started doing conventions together and cosplaying in 2014, and have been staffing conventions since. Between the two of us we've attended and/or staffed:

• San Diego Comic-Con
• AnimeExpo
• BlizzCon
• FanimeCon
• LA ComicCon (formerly Stan Lee's LA Comic Con formerly Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo formerly Comikaze Expo)
• Anime Los Angeles
• TFCon
• Long Beach Comic Con & Long Beach Comic Expo
• AnimeCalifornia
• Pacific Media Expo
• HentaiCon
• HanadokiCon
• PAX Unplugged
• TitanCon
• Fangaea
• San Diego Anime Con

...and probably more that we're forgetting about. Most of what we do at conventions is run game shows, with Jeopardy being our most popular. We also run a number of other games such as Charades, Cosplay Chess, Chopped, Pictionary, Debates, Scavenger Hunt, and more. We've also assisted in the designing & running multiple escape rooms, as well assisted with an AMV contest.

Saturdays are always a bad day to something in San Diego due to how many other people are doing the same thing. It's the same thing here, only magnified.

We went to Shibuya today. We knew it'd be busy, but today was one of the only days we had free. We braced ourselves for the crowd, but it was still worse than we could imagine. From the moment we got off the train, this felt like the biggest station we had been to. As we made our way through all the people, finally finding the exit we were looking for, we were transported to a familiar scene: construction going on, thousands of people, car horns, people yelling, there were even a few people begging for change. For the first time here, it felt a little bit like we were back home in Downtown San Diego.

Once we got our bearings, the first task was to cross the street. This took at least 10 minutes. There was a 2-person wide line that stretched from the front area of the station to the nearest crossing area. We didn't realize it until after the fact, but we were actually at the infamous Shibuya crossing that there's so many videos of.

Our primary destination was Shibuya PARCO. PARCO would be analogous to cross between Macy's and Westfield. They started as stores in the 1950s, but are much more known now as a line of shopping centers with numerous retailers in it, each of them many stories tall. Think mall-meets-skyscraper. Each floor, at least the ones we've been to, have had a theme. Men's clothing stores on this floor, women's on this floor, jewelry on a floor, etc, all with bars, restaurants, and cafes sprinkled about.

Before we could get there though, we happened across a Disney store and went inside. It's still so interesting to see what characters get merchandised here, or more-so, what characters don't. Much like we saw at Tokyo Disneyland, there mostly legacy Disney characters, and a bit of Lilo & Stitch (well, less Lilo more Stitch) and Baymax from Big Hero 6. Despite the cool crisp air outside, it was hot and stuffy inside the Disney store. The place was not designed for that many people to fit in there. It also wasn't designed with handicapped in mind. I had heard from a few people over recent years that a lot of Japan, especially Tokyo, had done a lot to make itself more wheelchair accessible. It was all part of the lead up to the Olympics, along with many public signs also including English. We've definitely seen it during our trip here, as (most) stations have elevators. Not the Disney store though. So it was quite an undertaking for us to go up the set of very narrow spiral stairs to the second floor. If we were hot downstairs, it was now worse after walking up those stairs. We briefly looked around and noticed another set of stairs, with the third floor being plushies and action figures. It was the floor made for us, but we just didn't have it. We went back down, Cat bought some honey caramel popcorn, and we left.

Shibuya PARCO is home to Tokyo's Nintendo store, as well as 1-of-5 Pokemon Centers in Tokyo, a Capcom store, a Jump Store (a popular magazine in which many famous manga character originated from), and many other stores we completely ignored. The Capcom store was small, and was mostly Monster Hunter merch (a very popular game they make that's significantly more popular here in Japan). We were hoping to find something neat featuring Zero from the game Mega Man X (where Z's namesake comes from), but they had nothing. Likewise, the Jump store barely had anything Dragon Ball, it was mostly One Piece (a long-running very popular anime).

The Nintendo store ate most of our time. They had so much to look at. They had an entire wall of Amiibos (little figureines that can unlock things in games), and we grabbed 7 of them to add to our wall of Amiibos. We also picked up a few things for some friends, some things to go on our Mario shelf, and some neat little holders shaped like old Famicon disks to hold our Suica cards (used for all public transportation).

The Pokemon Center had a very neat Mewtwo statue in front, referencing the original Pokemon movie where he breaks free from the lab. There was also some cool art of Mewtwo & Mew made to look like it was spray painted on the walls. Each of the Pokemon Centers in Tokyo are different from one another, including decor and items stocked. We both agree the one we went to in Skytree Town had a bit more interesting items, but we of course still found things we liked here. They had a neat "design your own t-shirt" thing, where you could pick what Pokemon to go on it, what slogan if any ("Pokemon", the type of Pokemon, "Shibuya", etc). It wasn't for us, but it was neat. The check-out line was long though, nearly out the door, and we were in for about 40 minutes. We were both watching the clock because there was a nearby Mandarake that closed at 9:00 that we wanted to get to.

Knowing we'd be somewhat close, Z had ordered a few things from Mandarake (a popular anime goods store) for us to pick up. We weren't expecting to spend so much time at the Nintendo store, and so much time in the PokeCenter line, we left Shibuya PARCO and took the train a couple stops away to Nayuta. It'd be a stretch to say we "run" any where, but we were absolutely walking with intent. After a couple wrong turns, we realized we had to walk through a neat underground tunnel to get there. In the first basement of another PARCO, we made it to Mandarake 45 minutes before they closed.

Mandarake primarily deals in used goods. Granted, "used" in Japan often feels to have a different connotation than it does in the states. Two of the items Z was getting were "used", but they were still in their original packaging and each still tied in place as though they hadn't been fully opened. The other item was sold at $40 off because the packaging was damaged; it took us a few minutes to find the slight indent in the back of the box. Z just threw away the box.

We finally returned home, each of us carrying two large bags.

It took a handful of train rides and a bit of a walk, but we went to Gotokuji Cat Temple today. Originally built in 1480, this Buddhist temple is now mostly known for the immense number of manekineko (beckoning cat) they have there.

When you first enter there's a large black incense burner adorned with a shishi (lion-dog) on top. The dirt ground was also pink, covered with recently fallen sakura petals.

Around the back is where all the manekineko were. They were lined up on a dozen or so modern-ish bookshelves. There had to have been thousands, if not tens of thousands, of various sized manekineko.

We spent a couple hours there looking around at all the buildings and structures. There's a marked off area, shaded by tree coverage, where feudal lords are buried from the 1600s.

We later read on their website that there are cats who live there too, and we happened to see one. We could tell (s)he was an older cat from the way it's fur looked and how it moved. It was sweet, with little fear of people, though it did walk away once loud children started to get too close.

Knowing it would soon rain, we cut our day short there and went home to make some fresh curry.

Even though we spent yesterday in Akihabara, we primarily were just shopping, so we went back today to walk around and see more of the town.

We started off with Cure Maid Cafe. Maid cafes were popularized in Akihabara in the late 90s, and have become a bit of a staple in anime culture. However, while most maid cafes feature bubbly waitresses in cute maid-themed outfits with shorter skirts, who act like seeing you is the best part of their day, Cure Maid Cafe is more quiet and refined. The waitresses instead wear long Victorian-inspired outfits, with a more simplistic decor to match. Z ordered a pear tea, while Cat ordered lychee tea, and we shared a fizzy drink that had a scoop of sorbet in it. The waitress brought the order over, putting a small strainer into our cups before pouring the freshly brewed tea. They also have a number of food options, but we weren't hungry yet. Unlike other maid cafes that will gladly let you take pictures with the waitresses (for money, of course), photos of the staff are prohibited at Cure; the staff is there to provide a calm relaxed atmosphere in an otherwise excited city, not to be part of the excitement.

After our time at Cure, we looked around some of the smaller shops, including one that sold souvenir Kit Kats (which have unique seasonal flavors here). We made our way to the Mandarake in Akihabara. It's a 7 story building that sells pre-owned anime & pop-culture goods. Each floor has a specialty: one floor for Blu-ray, DVDs, and VHS (yes, VHS), two floors of doujin (fanmade comics, a huge industry), and of course a floor for action figures & robots.

We then went to Neko JaLaLa, a small cat cafe behind the main busy area of Akihabara. Unlike Moff Cat Cafe that we went to in Harujuku, this place was much smaller and more intimate. We could tell that most, if not all, of the four people already there were regulars. They knew the cats by name, and were more hands-on than other animal cafes would typically let visitors be. The place was littered (in a good way) with cat toys, scratchers, things for them to climb on. The people there were welcoming despite how familiar they were with each other, let alone the language barrier. Of all the animal cafes we've been to, it was our favorite.

By that point we were hungry, so we went to Denny's. It's such a different experience from the Denny's at home. For one, breakfast ends at 11AM. The people there were dressed relatively nicely, but most people here have been (we haven't seen a single person in pajama pants, flip-flops, or shorts unless they were blatantly tourists). The food was more higher-end, being a step or two above Chili's or Applebee's, let alone Denny's. Cat got spaghetti in cod roe sauce and a bowl of onion cheese soup (basically French onion soup), and Z got a rich beef stew with a prosciutto Caesar salad. It was all delicious.

We also learned that Denny's Japan is part of the larger 7-Eleven Japan company. Oh, and Coco's still exists here.

We went to Akihabara today, the Electric Town. Akihabara has become the center of anime culture, with 7+ story buildings all around with giant video billboards advertising the latest shows and video games. In the '80s it was something of a city-sized radio shack, catering to electronics of all types. Now days, the best I could describe it to people of San Diego is it's a ComicCon town. All the excitement and hype of ComicCon that goes on all year-long in this small area.

When we order things from Japan, most of them ship from here in Akihabara, so it's unsurprising that this was where we spent the most money of the entire trip. We got everything from keychains, to Transformers, plushes, candies, and more. That's also why we didn't get a lot of pictures: it's hard to take photos when your hands are full carrying bags, and the place was rather crowded.

Afterward we ate at Ginza Lion, a restaurant underneath some of the popular stores. Japanese businessmen (salarymen as they're called) have a culture of the company going out for drinks after work. It's not *entirely* required, but it is if you want to get promoted within the company. It was interesting to see how the restaurant had three sealed off "cublices" for the salaryman to gather in, then watching many of them leave needing the help of others to walk out.

We mostly spent today recouping from Disneyland yesterday. We made a quick trip to the grocery store for a few things, and cooked our first meal here. It's not much, but pretty good for only having a single burner and no oven.

After taking a break yesterday and doing nothing besides going to the grocery store, today we went to Tokyo Disneyland! It was really similar to our Disneyland Classic in California, but different at the same time. Like a song you know well that's been remixed. However, it was much less crowded, and the people who were there were much more organized. A lot more people dressed up too, especially to celebrate Donald Duck. We went on a few rides, had lunch and dinner there, stayed for the fireworks, then went home.

The shopping aspect is probably where it felt the most different. We didn't see *ANY* Nightmare Before Christmas, or Pirates of the Caribbean, or Haunted Mansion, or Marvel, or Star Wars merchandise. It was all Mickey & Friends, Classic Disney, Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, Lilo & Stitch, and Big Hero 6. That's pretty much it. When you get off Star Tours, you're just... outside. We went to the shops by the Teacups to see if there was any Wonderland merch, but nothing. All the merchandise sold throughout the various lands was the exact same merchandise sold at the collection of stores in the front of the park. Also, some stores required a reservation to get into, which filled up early in the day. That was weird too.

All said though, it was a great time. We really enjoyed it.

We went over to Harujuku today, spending most of the time going into various animal cafes. We went to Moff Cat Cafe, MameShiba Shiba Inu Cafe, amd Moffu Samoyed Lounge. They were so fun! The shiba inus were so well trained to do tricks, while the samoyeds were rambunctious and excited. The kitties were really cute, but we went at a time of day were they were mostly tired and wanting to lay around.

Coming from San Diego, it's amazing how few cars there are on the road, at least in our area of Adachi.

After our lunch at McDonald's, we went to Tokyo Solamachi in Sumida. It's a large shopping area, spanning the first four floors of Tokyo Skytree, which itself is 31 floors tall, most of which are business. We went to a few shops there, including our first Pokemon Center. We'll likely go back at some point to eat at the Kirby Cafe, go to the observation deck on the top floor, and apparently there's an aquarium there we didn't know about.

We left an hour later than planned, went to wrong terminal, waited in line to get our boarding passes & check luggage, but still made it with more than an hour to spare.

(click on a photo for full screen a description)

Images to be posted throughout the day!

We're going be at SDAC on Saturday, November 16th! We'll be hosting Anime Jeopardy at 5:00 PM in Panel Room 2, Legacy Center. We've added a bunch of new clues and categories to the game, and have an hour & half to squeeze in as many rounds as we can. Come test your trivia knowledge!

We were featured as a "Patient Stories" post by the American Society for Apheresis. You can watch/read it here. Zero briefly describes how we met and how his treatments affect our lives. This was originally pitched to us as being for the AFSA annual meeting, so we were a little surprised to see it get posted online.

We're going to be at Hentai Matsuri next month, and we're hosting two panels there! Both are on Friday, June 14th. At 3:30 we'll be in Panel Room 2 running Ecchi Jeopardy, which is exactly what it sounds like. Then at 5:00, we'll be in the upstairs panel room hosting Cheeky Charades. which will be a lot of fun. Imagine charades, but the prompts are things like "reverse cowgirl". It's going to be a blast!

This past Thursday, we were talking about Star Wars Celebration, and kind of reminiscing that we weren't able to go when it was near us in 2022.

Then, late last night, we get a message from Cat's sister pointing out that Star Wars Celebration is going to be in Japan. One thing lead to another, and, well... Z is going to need to brush up on his Japanese.

Fangaea was this past weekend. It's nice that it's a one-day con, so we didn't need to drop a couple hundred on a hotel. Artist Alley had a lot of cute things that Cat was really into, and she got a Pikachu plush Plorb and a cute little plush chicken. The Vendor Hall however was a bit less exciting. It still had some interesting things, but nothing that really grabbed either of us. We were a bit surprised that there wasn't really any action figures or Transformers, but that also means Z got to save some money.

Our panel wasn't until 9PM, but we arrived shortly after noon because we were worried about parking. A longer walk from car-to-con would have been hard, especially since we had to make a few trips to the card. As such, we spent a lot of time sitting in on other panels. San Diego Sabers, a local Star Wars-influenced martial arts group, was definitely the highlight. Martial art demonstrations are one of the kind of panels that really never get old, since they're never entirely the same. Following that we were going to go to the masquerade, but it instantly filled up. We stood in line, maybe 15~ people from the door, but when they opened people kind of just rushed in, "lines" were largely ignored. Plus, after 45 minutes we didn't have the energy to really "rush" any where. Instead we used the time for an early dinner, and relaxed in the car for a while eating. Afterward, we went back and watched the Kids WB Retrospective panel. The guy hosting it, Daniel, did a great job and kept a good pace. It never slowed down or felt like a pure information dump.

Then we got ready for Pop Culture Jeopardy. To be completely honest, going into the convention we were worried about our 9PM time slot. Most attendees tend to leave after the masquerade/cosplay contest, and by 9PM we were literally the only panel left. This concern grew even larger as the Kids WB panel ended and most people started to leave. However, to our pleasant surprise, by the time we were done setting up the room had filled up some. We were even able to get three games in before closing up, with tech coming in right as we finished to clear out.

Overall it was a fun time. Great attendees, friendly staff. We'll be there next year, and maybe the change of venue will allow for some more panels!

We're going to be host Pop Culture Jeopardy at Fangaea this coming Saturday! We go up at 9PM and close the show out. Fangaea's a fun local con, so if you're in the area be sure to stop by and join us!

We'll be hosting Jeopardy at L.A. Comic Con this year. It'll be our first time hosting a game at LACC so we're really excited! We'll hopefully have some new cosplays ready for then too.

We went to Fangea back in April and enjoyed it, but we were only there as attendees. Next week we'll be at San Diego Anime Con, and it'll be our first time running a panel since the pandemic! We're super excited, so if you're in the San Diego area, be sure to come check the con out!

In addition to that, we will ALSO be at L.A. Comic Con running Pop Jeopardy! That'll be on December 3rd at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We're planning to cosplay as Princess Peach and Bowser, so if you see us say hi.

UCSD Health, where we both had our transplants, recently did a short interview with us in dual-celebration of Valentine's Day and National Donor Day. You can read it on the UC San Diego Health Facebook post.

Just because we're in quarantine doesn't mean we're not doing conventions!

Discord and a microphone will be required.

We hate to say it, but our trip to Japan this year has been canceled.

We've been following the covid-19 outbreak closely. On Wednesday last week the CDC raised Japan's travel notice to level 2 (use extra caution). We knew there'd be some risk, but everything in life has risks, so we were still going to go and just be very careful.

On Monday, the CDC raised the travel notice for South Korea to level 3 (do not travel). Coupled with the issues stemming from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked in Japan, we're pretty sure Japan would have ended up becoming level 3 while we were there.

It's disappointing to say the least, especially because we have NOTHING else going on for the next month & half (since we were going to be there). Also bummed out that we're going to miss the Evangelion-themed Second Impact onsen and the Type-Moon museum, both of which end next month.

Some silver lining, we won't be exhausted at WonderCon in April, where it'll be our first time running a certain panel there (we can't say what panel, but it's easy to guess). Even though Japan is canceled for this year, we now have even more time to save up to go there next year. Probably around the same time too, so we can there for the entirety of sakura season.

We've had a busy few months! Family vacation in Seattle, going to Philly for PAX Unplugged, birthdays, Christmas, then our anniversary and ALA. It doesn't stop there either, as we're getting married in in just two days!

PAX Unplugged was a very different convention than we're used to, but it was fun. We were primarily there for Zero to compete in the Transformers TCG big world championship, the Energon Invitational. Zero didn't do too well in the tournament, but it was still a great experience. Not that he'll likely ever see this, but shoutout to Vangelus for the good games and conversations!

This past weekend was Anime Los Angeles 16, and what a great weekend it was! Our panel turn out was great, so before we go into details, a big "thank you" to everyone who came out and participated!

We opened the con with a two hour block Anime Jeopardy on Thursday (ALA is a four day con). The only other time we'd done that long was at TFcon LA back in March, but we were ready with a bunch of new clues. We managed to get five rounds in, and everything went really smoothly.

Friday we had both Pictionary and Charades. It took a little poking and prodding the audience to help get them over their nerves of coming up in front of the crowd, but they all seemed to enjoy it and we had a lot of laughs. We have a bunch of ideas for new cards, so expect some great ones next time.

Saturday was the return of Anime Jeopardy. Yup, another two hour block! This time our good friends Jeremy & Dominque were there with us, and we're lucky they were. Somehow between Thursday's Jeopardy block and Saturday's our buzzer system broke. We did come prepared with backup buzzers, but they were back at the hotel room. Jeremy & Dom ran over to get them for us, and then stayed to be our judges on who buzzed in first. We can't thank them for their help! With that big hiccup taken care of, we managed to start right on time and had a great set of games. Four hours of Jeopardy at one convention, and we handled it with flying colors!

Sunday was perhaps the biggest surprise for us, and a great way to end the convention. We've ran Anime Chopped at a few conventions now, and while it's always been fun, it often ends up just being us in a small room with a four or five attendees trying to make each other laugh. ALA though, the attendees never cease to amaze us. We had well over 20 people at 3:00 Sunday, when most cons would be totally dead. The two teams were on fire too, and came up with some great anime pitches. It was by the far the best game of Anime Chopped we've ever had, and the perfect example of how we thought the game would work when we first came up with. An extra special thank you to any one who came out and participated in it.

We didn't go in with much cosplay this year, with just Cat going as ZeroTwo on Friday & Saturday. We plan to have some new stuff ready for the next con though. We didn't go too crazy shopping either, what with our Japan trip right around the corner. Still, you can see the few things we picked up in the pics below.

We love ALA, and this was probably our best year yet. Can't wait until ALA 17 in 2021! In the mean time, we have AnimeConji in May and AnimeCalifornia in August. Or at least, we assume so; neither con has officially announced 2020 dates, but if we're going off past years that'll be around the time. We're also heavily considering going up to TFcon Toronto in July.

As always, if you want to see us at a convention let us know, but more importantly, let the convention know too!

We have our ALA schedule! ALA is a four day convention, and we're hosting a panel each day (two on Friday even)! All our panels are in the same room, too: Room 200C (LP2) in the Ontario Convention Center.
Thursday 7:00-9:00 PM: Anime Jeopardy
Friday 12:45-1:45 PM: Anime Pictionary
Friday 4:30-5:30 PM: Anime Charades
Saturday 3:30-5:30 PM: Anime Jeopardy (again!)
Sunday 3:00-4:00 PM: Anime Chopped

Come by, say hi, and play some games with us!

What a busy time it's been, and things aren't slowing down. First HentaiCon was canceled due an incompetent third party data provider and issues with the venue, but it'll be back next year and we'll probably there. Shortly after HentaiCon would have taken place, we went on a week-long family trip up to Seattle. We both love the city, and really want to make it back up there for some conventions. Sadly, Sakura-Con takes place while we'll be in Japan, but maybe we'll make it to PAX West.

Yes, that's right, in mid March we fly out to Japan and are staying there for 35 days. We'll be there while Sakura season is in full force, go to concert or two, and go to the newly announced Evangelion onsen. We're of course really excited and can't wait.

Before Japan happens though, we still have two conventions to handle. First up, we're going to Philadelphia in early December for PAX Unplugged. Zero won the regional qualifier for the Transformers TCG tournament, so we're heading out there so he can compete in it. We'll spend Friday checking out the con and getting in some practice games, then the tournament starts Saturday with a cut to the top 8 on Sunday. We're going to stay in Phili for a few days after PAX to enjoy the city and then head back home that Wednesday.

Then January is ALA, and we got our schedule now! All of our panels are conveniently in the same room, Meeting Room 200 (Interactive Programming) inside the convention center.
Anime Jeopardy: Thursday @ 7:00 PM (a two hour block!)
Anime Pictionary: Friday @ 12:45 PM
Anime Charades: Friday @ 4:30 PM
Anime Jeopardy: Saturday 3:30 (yes, ANOTHER two hours!)
Anime Chopped: Sunday @ 3:00 PM
FOUR HOURS of Jeopardy. Wow. This beats out TFcon for the most Jeopardy we've done at a convention (that was 2.5 hours). We're going to be adding a lot more clues to Jeopardy in preparation, so if there's any categories you want to see on there let us know on social media!

Speaking of Jeopardy, Zero was on the PoP!cast (the Panels on Pages podcast) earlier this month and hosted our first online game of Jeopardy. It went so well they're having him back on at the end of December for end of year/decade games of Jeopardy.

Like we said, busy busy.