This past Anime Expo had all sorts of shenanigans.
On one of the days my friends I went to the cluster of food trucks located a block away from the con
To get some lunch.
There wasn't exactly anywhere in that area to sit,
And we weren't about to stand in the 40-degree weather and get cooked alive.
I mean, I guess our food would stay warm, but no it was just too hot okay, it hurt to be outside.
I don't know how you cosplayers do it but, *starts clapping* but man
you guys are troopers
kudos to you
So we head over to the block that's apparently called the 'Gilbert Lindsay Plaza'
Across the street to look for some sort of shelter.
During the Anime Expo weekend,
this area is pretty popular for cosplay gatherings,
and just general lounging for people who need some air from the jam-packed convention.
The hot blazing sun is still present but fortunately, there's a few trees to provide a bit of shade.
Granted you'd have to scooch over every few minutes as the earth rotated and the sun's angle shifted
So we picked a spot and plopped their stuff down.
While we were munching on our grub,
we noticed that not too far from us was a Haikyuu cosplay gathering,
where people were having group photoshoots with others in similarly themed cosplay.
If you're still unfamiliar with Haikyuu after I've been indirectly shoving it in your face this past year
It's an anime about high school volleyball
So the plaza was pretty much filled with Hinatas, Kageyamas, and Nishinoyas.
Off to the side from the main gathering,
was a small group of friends (who were also cosplaying as haikyuu characters)
rallying their volleyball around.
And just by looking at them, you can tell that they actually, did know how to play volleyball.
They had total control and knew how to hit the ball safely to each other.
Now enter another group of Haikyuu cosplayers.
Seemingly younger than the previously mentioned group,
these cosplayers just arrived at gathering,
looking excited to see other brethren.
However they didn't look particularly
interested in being with the main crowd
so after a minute or so they branched off to the side I guess to figure out
what exactly they wanted to do.
As they were walking by I overheard one of them ask one of their friends:
"Have you ever played?"
And they replied with:
"Yeah, I've played volleyball once."
And you'd think with that kind of uncertainty
It's probably not a good idea to rally a ball with inexperienced players
Especially in a pedestrian traffic area.
Not for these kids!
I think because they saw the other group of friends playing volleyball
They figured it was appropriate for them to attempt to do as well.
Assuming because they think they can contain the ball
if they played within a circumference
the group of friends got into a circular formation maybe
10 meters away from us.
The girl who asked the "Have you ever played volleyball?"-question, gets the ball
and does underhand serve to the other girl who she knew was inexperienced with volleyball
Ironically enough the first girl made a pretty poor serve for a friendly rally no offense
just being honest with my observations.
The ball gets lobbed up pretty high way past where she intended to serve it
And no-one went for the ball. No-one even called for it and in volleyball
communication is pretty important.
Literally everyone in the circle had their feet planted
and watched as the ball went up and land on a Sailor Pluto cosplayer's staff
Like it could have literally gone anywhere, but on that day that volleyball just decided
"I'm gonna wreck some shit today!"
Now if this staff was laying flat on the ground it may have stood a chance
But because it was partially resting on her bag
the volleyball kind of just came in like a meteor and obliterated the staff in half
Okay, probably not that violent, but it broke nonetheless.
You guys remember that video game Gun Bound and you have those boomer players
shoot those super high angle shots,
and you suspect them of hacking because it was almost as if they were homing missiles
Yeah, that's kind of what we saw.
And remember my friends and I were sitting pretty close to the Haikyuu crew
and the Sailor Pluto cosplayer and her friends
were sitting right beside us in the shade.
Front-row seats.
So the staff snaps and the Sailor Pluto girl starts crying
Obviously.
Cosplayers spend a lot of time with their costumes and props so naturally they'd be upset if something broke.
And then I look up and the Haikyuu kids are frozen
Deer-in-the-Headlights still with their feet planted.
The girl who served the ball just had her hands over her mouth and they're kind of just
Looking at each other not knowing what to do
Aw gee I don't know maybe apologize?!
Sailor Pluto's friends are trying to comfort her
and it's like the Haikyuu kids are just thinking that if they wait long enough
maybe it'll fix itself
It was just too sad of a sight so eventually my friend Phil gets up
and also joins in to comfort Sailor Pluto and ask
the other kids to come and apologize and figure something out.
Eventually they did say sorry after hibernating for like three years
and offered to take the girl to the cosplay repair.
And I just couldn't believe that literally happened in front eyes.
You know, it was almost scripted.
"Do you play volleyball?"
"No, not really."
"Well, okay. Here's a serve."
And for some reason this incident spread like wildfire
because we headed back inside the con right after and we were already hearing people
gossiping about it
"Did you hear about that girl whose staff got broken by a volleyball?"
"You won't believe what happened at the Haikyuu meetup."
"Oh my God, this girl's staff broke out there."
Oh like Gossip Expo, am I right
Hahaha, I'm not sure if she was able to repair her staff
But I hope the Sailor Pluto cosplayer was still able to enjoy the rest of the con
and you know damn well
she's gonna steer clear from Haikyuu gatherings from now on
Aaaw shiit!
You all know I can't mention Haikyuu without inviting you guys to join Crunchyroll
and having some anime and chill.
If you're behind on Haikyuu
now's your chance to catch up
if you head over to crunchyroll.com/domics link in the description
You can get a free 30-day trial of premium membership
ad free, professionally subtitled and in full hd.
It's my favorite place to watch anime
But on top of that they have manga and drama titles as well
I know Christmas may be over, but it doesn't mean you can treat yourself or even a friend.
Again that's crunchyroll.com/domics or click the link below
Enjoy and Happy New Year