Imagine if San Diego Comic-Con had a younger teenage sister and she liked to play dress up. That would be my best analogy for what I witnessed today at the Los Angeles Convention Center as I attended my first Anime Convention. Also, unlike Comic-Con, which is now impossible to walk around on the convention floor, today’s anime convention was easy to navigate.

The first thing that struck me was the enthusiasm of everyone there. I’d say thirty to forty percent were wearing costumes. And not just attendees, as dealers were also wearing and selling costumes. If you’re into anime and live in Los Angeles, I’d definitely stop by and look around (if you’re not there already).

More pictures and info after the jump:

Starting today at the Los Angeles Convention Center is Anime Expo 2009. Billed as the nation’s largest anime and manga convention, I went to see if their claim was true. And I have to say, it was pretty impressive. In a little while I’ll be posting tons of pictures of people in costumes and a more detailed write-up of what I thought. But for now, let’s talk “Gatchaman”.

At the convention today, Imagi Studios had a booth where they were showing clips from their upcoming “Astro Boy” movie and they also had some early signage for their next feature “Gatchaman”. After the jump, you can see the images as well as a “Gatchaman” watch which they were giving away to people at certain times of the day.