I’ve made it to Nijikon this year! Usually I forget about it or don’t have any money to go. But this year, somehow I’ve made it.

I’m sorry to say this, but for me the anime conventions in Romania aren’t getting any better. Now, I’m not saying everything was that bad, heck no. I saw some awesome Cosplay, some decent merchandise, the screening room was bigger than usual but that’s about it.

The only reason I don’t regret going this year is the Totoro plushie Johnny was so kind to get me.

The fee to get in was pretty high IMO. I’m going to quote Johnny on this one: “That was the most expensive fee we paid to go to the toilet, ever!”. I understand the building was rented for the weekend and they had to get the rent money somehow (and a little profit on the side) but if we are going to pay at least we should be able to see/find something worthy.

Around 80% of the merchandise was handmade, some were good others not so good (mostly not so good); only 2 shops with plushies or original anime/manga merchandise but not a lot of diversity. You could find One Piece, Sailor Moon, Fairy Tail and a few other anime related objects but that was it.

Everything there very expensive! Seriously, that Totoro plushie is very small but it was 50Ron (around 11€ or $15). 20 minutes, that’s how long we stayed at the convention.

This is it. I think I’m done with conventions. I don’t feel like paying just to be present somewhere.

But I got a Totoro so it wasn’t that bad. In fact, after leaving the convention the day became better and better. We went to the Botanical Garden. Apparently we paid for a walk in the park since every exposition there was closed. At least it was cheaper than at Nijikon. I managed to take a few photos with my phone and see a few brides.

After that lunch and a game of pool, which Johnny won. We ended the day with Pacific Rim, which wasn’t what I expected it to be. Overall it was a good day. It’s been a while since we actually went out and did many things and just had fun.