Rizwan Merchant

Sakura-Con 2012

Sakura-Con 2012 was by far one of the best cons I’ve been to in a long time, largely due to all the awesome friends I got to see and a total lack of drama. Furthermore, it was one of the con’s biggest years for guests. This year there were three major musical performances and a whole bunch of industry people. Voice actors, directors, and producers came in droves, and for good reason: this was Sakura-Con’s fifteenth year, and the staff gave it their all to make it their best.

An Insider’s Look at Japan: Asakusa

When visiting Japan for the second time in March 2010, I was reminded of the interesting duality of culture there. Many of us see Japan and think of technology, high fashion, and modern pop culture. J-pop idols, maid cafés, anime, and manga are all prevalent, of course, but it’s really interesting to see just how seamlessly Japan’s old culture is integrated into the vast urban sprawl of Tokyo.

An Insider’s Look at Japan: Akihabara

Akihabara, the Electric Town. This is the crown jewel for anime, manga, game, and tech fans in Tokyo. Located only a scant 5-10 minutes from Asakusa, the famous temple district in Tokyo, this place has absolutely anything you could ever want, and there’s so much to see it took two trips to see everything I wanted to (or at least had time to). Akihabara has an interesting little history.

Dropped! – MPD Psycho [Manga]

Some people stop watching an anime or reading a manga for several reasons. Sometimes it’s because a title is just

AM² 2011: Convention Organizer Interview

For the past few months word has been spreading about a new anime convention coming to Los Angeles, California, on July 1st – July 4th at the Anaheim Center. I recently had the opportunity to interview Mr. Chase Wang, one of the organizers of the event, to discuss their plans, challenges and other general information of running a first year anime convention on Yahoo Messenger.

MechaCon V: Convention Organizers Interview

This year at MechaCon V, Team Anime Secrets was able to catch up with the masterminds, Jon Russo and Peter Bares, behind Louisiana’s longest-running anime convention for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to put on a yearly anime convention and the future plans for the convention’s move to New Orleans from the Hub City. Below is the video of this interview:

Aurora, Colorado Shooting 2012

Anyone Can Be A Hero Originally Posted: July 27th, 2012 by Rizwan Merchant As many of you know by now,

Puerto Rico Comic Con 2012

Every year in Puerto Rico, the last week of May brings thousands and thousands of people waiting in line for Puerto Rico Comic Con. You can see the joy on everyone’s faces, since the convention is a huge deal here; it would be completely depressing to miss it. When I first arrived, I saw was Kratos from God of War and had an epic fanboy moment in the car. Then, the second I got out of the car, I saw Luffy fromOne Piece, and I knew the weekend was going to be big.

Aquari-Con 2012

UltimaCon was an upcoming, first year anime convention that was making its first time appearance in New Orleans and had many cosplayers excited to have something new to attend to. It was to be located at the Sheraton in New Orleans the weekend of May 25th through the 27th, however, there was a setback in which the Sheraton decided to cancel UltimaCon’s reservations of the venue two weeks prior to the event. With it being so last minute

Louisianime 2012

When Louisianime announced its move from Baton Rouge, LA to neighboring city Lafayette, I was not certain what to make of it. On one hand, I was beyond excited and filled with nostalgic memories of the experiences from the Lafayette-based MechaCon days.