As the year was about to wind down thinking there could be no more events I saw a local one being sponsored by The Forbidden Planet a store in NYC called Anifusion.   It took place on December 20th in the Forbidden City restaurant.  Its was being hosted by Karl “Uncle Yo” Custer and Mario Bueno two talented people who show up regularly in the area’s con circuit so I made plans to see what it was about.  The night before a snow storm hit the city and figured it would be empty by the time I got there.    Arriving about a half-hour late and there were about 30 people there already, the snow really didn’t slow anyone down.  There was  a presentation going on and someone talking but couldn’t see who they were so I was somewhat confused.  It turns out that Patrick W. Galbraith the author of The Otaku Encyclopedia who was the guest speaker was conferencing in via the internet from Japan.   People in the audience had a chance to do Q&A session with him.   And don’t worry if you didn’t make it to the show I noticed that there were at least 5 video cameras taping the event.  I’m sure someone will eventually put up the video.

Next they had a quick break where Mario explained that he was planning to sing but had been sick for the last week.  Instead he did a cosplay changing skit where he changed into various characters including an Uncle Yo cosplay.  After that it lead into their musical performances by Emi and the girl group Promise.  Emi sang a few songs and Promise did their performance.  By the time they were done more people trickled in late so they has around 50+ people show up.

The cosplay contest was next where they had three judges and Patrick being one of them was video conferenced in.  For the judging break Uncle Yo again did his How To Survive A Mecha Attack” act.  I’ve seen it a few times, and the only thing consistent about this act is that he keeps adding new parts and without fail the Judging gets done and try to cut him off.   They brought in Patrick again but this time in a video conference where he was dressed in his signature Goku costume.  Here’s the winner of the contest.

Patrick did a closing talk and the hosts thanked us for showing up.

When the show was over I wanted to find out how the show came to be and had a quick chat with Mario.  He explained that about three weeks ago he was contacted by the Forbidden Planet that they had been wanting to do an event catered for the anime/manga fanbase.    Once the parties involved had the details worked out he contacted the other performers in the area and planned out this show.   With all the behind the scene work and getting everything organized during the holiday season is definitely impressive.    Everything worked out very well as things within their control ran smoothly.   I hope there will be future shows but only one thing that might hamper future shows if they take place in the Forbidden City is that its a small venue.