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It’s time for Ronin Expo 2019! This is the third year Ronin Expo has been held in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC). Founder, Danny Gonzalez, and the rest of his team, put their utmost care, attention, and efforts to bring the love of Asian culture to the local community!
Starting off Ronin’s Opening Ceremony is the band Lolita Dark. Formed in 2012, Lolita Dark is a bilingual, LA based, symphonic rock band. During the Opening Ceremony, they performed four semi unplugged songs. The first two were covered by our livestream, however, we were not able to catch the performance of the last two. Once Lolita Dark was finished, they turned over the Theater Stage to the hosts of the day, Tyler McPhail of The Grand Geek Gathering and @DataFist, introducing the Special Guests of Honor! The Voice Talents; Rueben Langdon, Tara Sands, and Stephanie Nadolny! The Cosplay Talents; Keltonfx, Chaibee, and Chuupacabras! Finally, they left strong by introducing the founder of Ronin Expo, Danny Gonzalez!
We first made our way to the Tara Sands Q&A, where we are joined by our host Tyler! We were able to cover the first few questions via live stream but then Tara Sands had kindly asked for the videos and streams to stop. The rest of the Q&A revolved mainly around the 50 different Pokemon she voiced, Sailor Moon, and her recent role as Biscuit from HunterxHunter. Sometime in the afternoon, Tara Sands was also going to be hosting the “Your Best Pokemon Voice” contest at the Plaza Stage. Afterwards, tickets for a free autograph were given to the audience.
Stopping for a quick bite to eat, we had ordered some food from the Okamoto Kitchen! Okamoto Kitchen is an Oufu-style Japanese curry food truck, offering mocha, katsu, chashu, and other delicious Japanese food! We tried the Katsu Curry Sandwich with a Lime Soda, a perfect combination for the lovely weather. If you’re local to Los Angeles, we recommend you check their website for their Week’s Schedule for times and locations!
Making our way back to the Theater Stage for the next event, the Stephanie Nadolny Q&A! We are joined again with host, Tyler of The Grand Geek Gathering. The first half of the questions are covered with our live stream, while the other half is not. Stephanie had the chance to talk about some of her many favorite experiences during the Dragon Ball recordings. After the Q&A, Stephanie was also going to be signing autographs, as well as judging the Kamehameha Contest, prizes go towards the best DBZ yells and poses!
That concludes our brief coverage of Ronin Expo 2019! This was a great second year to attend and cover. Again, many special thanks to the Ronin-Expo Committee, the JACCC, artists, cosplayers, special guests, performers, vendors, and the many volunteers that helped make this another successful year! We hope to see you all next year, take care!
