Hello all!

First, we thank you for joining us for at Anime USA 2013! We hope your weekend was filled with fun and adventure on our trip back to Edo period of Japan. If you missed, Anime USA 2013, don’t worry!

For 2014, Anime USA will be taking place on October 3-5 at the Marriott Washington Wardman Park! If you’re as excited as we are, please consider joining us by purchasing a membership today!

Each year, Anime USA features a theme. 2014′s theme is Anime USA Explores Fashion: Catwalk, Character, Culture, and Cosplay. For 2014, we’ll take a look at four different, but related, aspects of clothing and costuming. With Culture, it’s the traditional fashions of Japan, including the kimono and samurai armor and learning about the rich history of traditional textile production. Catwalk looks to the modern day, scouring the streets of Tokyo for the latest fashions and designers and focusing on recent trends and styles as well as Japan’s important place in the global fashion dialogue. Cosplay serves to encompass all the fan-fashion movements that make conventions so exciting in America, ranging from those who recreate the outfits of their favorite anime characters to people who sport original cyberpunk, rave, or steampunk creations. Finally, Character will allow us to look beyond physical fabric creations to the sketch pad and game console where we’ll look at the importance of clothing and armor in character design. By looking at these different aspects of Fashion, we hope all of our members will find something to be excited about. Anime USA is also pleased to offer two programming tracks devoted to our theme—the popular Cosplay track and our Fashion theme track will work together to provide wide ranging themed programming. Additionally, our Masquerade will showcase the best of Anime USA cosplay, and we’ll also present exciting new programming and events related our 2014 theme throughout our convention.

We have two new podcasts up for you! One features interview sessions with Troy Baker and Kari Wahlgren! The other features post-con scoop from the AUSA staffers themselves. Check these out on the podcast page.

Each year, we honor exceptional staff members from each department of Anime USA that have gone above and beyond their duties to make Anime USA fun for you!

Convention Support & Operations
Allen Wanser
Chris Shelton

Exhibits
Alex Piekarz
Amy Tochterman
Katie Allen

Guest Relations
Amanda Cumpton
Nick Frank
Sarah Massey

Marketing & Public Relations
Christopher Miller
Rosemary Foley

Personnel
Caramon Stanley

Programming
Geoff Beebe
Kat Allen
Joe O’Connor

Properties & Publications
Brittany Barnes
Danielle Gallo

Public Safety & Medical
Dustin Hoffman
Giancarlo Danubio
Beth Kee
Kiba Thompson

Technical Operations
Patrick Fry
Daniel Wheatley

The parking guide page has been updated with more information about overflow parking and various other parking information.

Hey everyone! A new updated schedule is now up! You can view it here: https://docs.google.com/a/animeusa.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmgbQWh070UodGtWdGMyT0Z3cmttYXdIbGFuMkpxTWc#gid=0

We have $20 discounted parking in the Marriott Self-Park Garages. There is no discount for Valet ($36 to $42 a day).

The procedure is different based on whether or not you are staying at the Hotel or staying somewhere other than the Marriott and/or if you are commuting in.

For those staying in the hotel they need to add their parking to their Hotel Room and they will be charged the $20 rate for the days that they are in the Garage.

• They need to keep one Hotel Room key so that they can leave the Garage at the discounted rate.
• They also need to keep the paper ticket that they received when they arrived at the parking garage.
• They will also need to have a payment form on file with the hotel.
• When they leave and they need to first insert the paper ticket in the parking machine, then they need to insert their hotel key as payment so that they can exit at the discounted rate.

For not staying in the hotel they need to get a validation ticket and they will be charged the $20 rate for the days that they are in the Garage.

• They also need to keep the paper ticket that they received when they arrived at the parking garage.
• They then need to get a Validation Ticket from the Info Desk so that they can leave the Garage at the discounted rate.
• They will also need to have a form of payment compatible with the Parking machine so they can exit without hassle.
• When they leave they need to first insert the paper ticket in the parking machine, then they need to insert their Validation Ticket, after that the right amount should display and they will then need to insert a form of payment directly into the machine to exit the garage.

You can view both the dealers room setup and artist alley setup online to get an idea of where things are located!

AUSA 2013 Schedule is NOW available on Guidebook. Download it here!

Harrumph! The Guide to the Sophisticated Gentleman will be appearing at AUSA. Read more on the panels page.

The following panels will not appear at AUSA as originally thought:

• Ai Yazawa the Retrospective
• World War Two in Anime
• Little Boys and Lizards are VERY BAD Things
• The Second Coming of Anime Explosion with Patrick Drazen
• Tatsunoko and You
• True Love Hurts: A Yandere Survival Guide
• Valkyria Chronicles

And one panel addition:

• Maid Cafes in America