Tag Archives: otaku

TMI 251015 L.A. Comic Con

Too Much Information live chat show. Today, my guest is Robin Casares who was a cosplayer at this year’s L.A. Comic Con. https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-251015-la-comic-con/

This video is sponsored by Aura. Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.

EARLYBIRD Clue:

THIS WEEK

Moondog2A

Moondog Reviews

Moondog Go

BRAND CONTEST CLUE

This comic book company was founded in 1937 and gets its name from what was its most popular series, at the time: Detective Comics

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

L.A. Comic Con is a three-day convention in downtown Los Angeles, California. It encompasses several categories, including comics, horror, sci-fi, anime, gaming, and pop culture. It was founded as Comikaze Expo in 2011.

SPECIAL GUEST

Robin Casares (neé Greenberg), Senior Graphic Designer / Cosplayer

CONTESTS

CONTEST CLUE

Brothers Richard and Maurice founded this hamburger chain in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. Roy Croc joined the company in 1955 and launched its franchising, which would grow into the largest hamburger brand in the world. 

YARD SALE

Fundraiser for St. Anne Middle School 8th grade class trip to Washington D.C.
https://moondogindustries.com/yardsale/

This week, you can get a Monstrum 2000 lumen weaponlight for half off.

Enter this week’s contest via email. Good luck!

Lets Glow BART Anime Festival

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is the subway system that runs through San Francisco, Oakland, and now to San Jose. They recently adopted an anime mascot character called Baylee and her three associates. On September 6, 2025 BART hosted its first Anime and arts festival, named “Lets Glow” at their Warm Springs station near Freemont, CA.

The event was free to attend. I drove in and utlized the ample free parking. I arrived before the official start time of 4:00pm, there were already over 300 attendees and more arriving via the regular BART trains to the station.

They distrubeted event passports that could get stamped at various sections of the event. There was an Itasha row with fun anime and video game graphics modified cars. There were huge crowds around the Artist Alley where local aftists sold their art and merch. There was exceptionally long line to buy BART Anime themed merch.

Lets Glow had probably 10 times more folks than the BART organizers anticipated. It was a fun taste for anime lovers but not much to do and see. Future events would do better to have a headline guest or guests like voice-over artists or J-POP bands.

Kinokuya NYC

Kinokuya is a chain of book stores that started in Shinjuku, Tokyo. In the 1980’s they opened up locations world wide providing Japanese language books to the Japanese business and ex-patriot community. Today they serve American Otakus.

Kinokuya occupies 3 of the lowest floors of the office building. In the basement you’ll find stationary, office supplies, and oddly enough their Studio Ghibli toys. On street level, you’ll find their books (many English language/Western travel books too). On the 2nd floor, are all of their manga, anime toys, Gunpla, and their café.

When I used to work on Madison Ave., my favorite lunch were bento boxes of chicken katsu from take-out shops on 40th St. I would carry them across the street and eating them on the benches around Bryant Park. On less busy days, I’d stroll over to Kinokuya just across the street from the western side of the park. I don’t quite remember as much of a manga or Gunpla is there is today, but I’m glad for it.