JRPG Fan in Anime Wonderland

[@davidvinc]

This was such a good synopsis of the event!! Maybe I’ll do a video on it too - I loved hosting the panel with you and I had a blast!! Always good seeing you my friend :)

[@JustTheGems]

Thanks David! It was so much fun, and so great working with you!

[@RomanJr316]

My two favorite KZbinrs. I wanted to go but I already used my two weeks vacation this year and I’m in Miami, Florida, so going to the other side of the country takes some planning and time. Glad you guys had a good time and I hope to see you guys in a future event

[@JardinDeLucioles]

Love the nip slip! ;)

[@SuperSupersoda]

Finished this video from Brandon, and I see that a David video titled "Trails is ending. What's the future of Falcom?" is in my sidebar. Time to go watch that, give it a like and leave a comment. It was awesome to meet you on Saturday. Your channel is great and I'm pulling for you to hit 100k subs this year.

[@davidvinc]

@@SuperSupersoda thanks so much my friend!!

[@orbalology]

It was great to hang out with you last weekend! I hope NIS comes back with a big Falcom presence next year so I can make an excuse to go again 😆

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah likewise! I had no idea it would be as big as it was, but it was a blast!

[@femtrooper]

So much fun!!! One of these days I'll have to go to that one. So neat seeing you all together like that!

[@JustTheGems]

It was a TON of fun!

[@madkaiser4887]

Happy you had a great time there, with David and Emily And once again congrats with the Panel Us Falcom fans been eating real good

[@JustTheGems]

Thanks! And you're darn right we are!

[@joellen5984]

I was at the panel and had a great time - it was a great balance of you three and the answers to the questions were thoughtful and passionate - awesome! I'm just getting back into JRPG after a 14 year hiatus (I played a lot when my kids were babies through elementary). I lined up early to get in to see you all and was not disappointed. Your panel was a big part of the reason I went (with my daughter). It was my birthday as well - so that made it exceptionally special. I just started Trails in the Sky - after discovering your channel and others. Thanks for doing the panel and for this great channel! (P.S. I was in front so had great views of the panel!) - and the cosplay was out of this world - agree every level of fandom would have a fab time at Anime Expo! And Artist Alley - such an amazing place - bought a lot!

[@JustTheGems]

Thanks so much for coming to that! And happy belated birthday! (Even more belated because I've fallen so far behind in comments...😅)

[@DrGamingPlays]

Glad to hear that you have fun, got to meet a bunch of people, and that the panel went well. It was a Trails panel in late 2021 at our local convention that kept me going after finding CS1 to be a slow burn. So, you never know... someone(s) in attendance may now be hooked.

[@Eagleknight815]

I am so glad that you made this video to recap for us that were not able to make it. Hopefully NIS America does something similar next year because I would really like to go and enjoy those panels talking JRPGs.

[@JustTheGems]

I hope so too!

[@infernofoxgaming10]

So awesome to hear about your experiences at the convention! I do hope the panel was recorded so we can watch it later. 🤩

[@JustTheGems]

Hit me up on Discord re: that

[@millasgameroom]

So glad you had a great time and that the panel went well! I've not been to AX but always wanted to go - it's the perfect opportunity for JRPG fans to gather and chat about games! :)

[@JustTheGems]

I hope you're able to go at some point, I think you'd really enjoy it!

[@themanboycave122]

I hit like for you! Sounds like an awesome time!

[@RomanJr316]

That’s awesome, brother. I’m happy for you. I would have loved to go. I’ve never been to anything like that. I really wanted to go to that one because you and Davidvinc are two of my favorite KZbinrs. I hope to see you guys in another event

[@JustTheGems]

Yeah, fingers crossed we can get to another one soon!

[@MarkTengPhoto]

Hey Branden, it was great seeing you at the convention. My daughter is a die-hard Japanese and Anime fan and she was so thrilled to speak with you and that you took the time to answer her question! (She's 12 btw.) It was our first time at Anime Expo and we loved every moment of it.

[@JustTheGems]

I was so happy to get to talk to her, it legitimately made my day😊

[@ColdNightsGaming]

Glad to see you had fun with your friends! Congrats again on the panel! 🔥 Random plane smells are always fun 😂

[@JustTheGems]

Heck yeah man, hopefully we can get out to a con together sometime soon!

[@SuperSupersoda]

Hey, it's me, the Grandmaster theory guy - It was fantastic to meet you and David and Emily this last weekend. Anime Expo was such an amazing experience this year. My biggest takeaway is that Falcom fans in the US are completely committed. Kondo said in the first two panels that he hadn't been to anime expo in five years and that he was afraid no one would show up to his panels. All 3 of his panels were packed, everything Kondo said was applauded by everyone in the room. The early Friday afternoon panel, where we all waited for close to 2 hours in the heat of LA in the summer-time is something I won't soon forget. I turned to the guy in line right behind me as we were going into room 403 for the panel, and I said "I don't know a single trails fan in real life, it was incredible to stand out here and wait with you all." He told me "I don't know a single trails fan in real life either." I saw that Emma Milstein figure in one of the pictures in your video on Sunday as I was watching the teaser for Konosuba and Overlord at the Crunchyroll booth, and it was just such a lovely figurine. I also called an Uber from that same spot at LAX that you did on Wednesday night when I arrived. By the way, that's a common thing in California: lots of big places have designated spaces for ride shares, they keep things organized and make sure Uber doesn't make airport congestion worse. Did you manage to stop by the Marvelous USA booth (it was near the NIS America booth)? There was a demo of the 2025 release of Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana which I got to play through. I got to talk to that very nice lady in the photo at 15:03 of your video for quite some time on Sunday, as she was at the NIS America booth. You and David were amazing, but please, try to get this settled a little earlier next year so that people know what panels you're going to be on in the official expo program. Raynatis is breath-taking. I spent a lot of time playing it on Sunday at the NIS America booth after first hearing about it at your panel. I liked the game-play, but the visuals and the art-style of the game are breath-taking. This game just looks really freaking good. This show was the most fun four days I've had in a long time. I will definitely be at next year's expo, and if you're going to be there too, let us all know which panels you're on, what time and where so we can meet up. I met more Falcom, and trails fans, in four days than I had in the previous four years, and I'll never forget that.

[@oOPrettywinxOo]

Hello Grandmaster-theory guy. Glad you had a great time! But I gotta admit: I am kinda curious about that theory now. If you wouldn't mind explaining it, I would be very interested to hear it (but if not that is also totally fine - typing something like that out takes far longer than talking about it after all).😊

[@davidvinc]

It was great to meet you as well! Sorry I had to pull away afterwards, but I had a flight I had to grab at LAX and I didn't want to miss it! :)

[@SuperSupersoda]

@@davidvinc I've lived in California my whole life, over 46 years now. The one thing you never have to explain to someone from California is what a nightmare catching a flight at LAX can be and why you want to get their on-time. Believe me, people from California are experts on this! 😀

[@JustTheGems]

So great meeting you too! It really was a blast from beginning to end, I can't wait to do it again

[@uppernimbus]

Glad you had an awesome time dude! Hopefully you can experience something like that again many more times in the future!

[@JustTheGems]

Thanks! Yeah, it was so much fun

[@chuckhaynes9166]

That's great! I had been a regular at anime expo for years, including the very first one (then called anime con in San Jose, before it changed names and moved to LA). Had I known you would be out there, I might have come down, maybe next time. I find the event a little exhausting and crowded these days but I generally get friends or family to get what I want. The event has long catered to JRPGs as much as anime in general, and back when it was difficult to get import games, I would get them there. It was amazing to see the crowds grow over the years as all Japanese culture got bigger and more popular. I'm glad you had a good time!

[@JustTheGems]

Oh yeah, it is SUPER crowded. I think they said 100k attendance... maybe more. That's insane.

[@chuckhaynes9166]

@JustTheGems such good memories though...you got to see Kondo! I met Hideko Anno before Evangelion, Hirohiko Mikimoto (Macross), the Gainax crew for Gurren Lagan, etc over the years

[@bigumamitaste]

As someone who is basically a life long JRPG fan(I'm 30). It's pretty crazy to see Falcom taking the west seriously. I personally love it. Ys VIII is sincerely one of my favorite games ever. But when it was released, the only people who cared were The Giant Sword Podcast, and a couple other enthusiasts. Although the idea of Niche JRPG s going mainstream in the west does give me some pause, I'm still very happy to see this.

[@JustTheGems]

I have a feeling that it will still at least FEEL niche, regardless of how many fans it gets over here. The community that has grown up around Falcom just has that vibe. (The nice ones, anyway.😅)

[@bigumamitaste]

@@JustTheGems Let's Hope! Sometimes I boot up Nights of Azure, or Exist Archive just to get that sweet sweet low-budg-niche feelings the games give me. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[@JustinKeeleyJonker]

Thought you should know that while I was watching this, a bat started flying around my living room and I netted it with a blanket and covered it in a bucket to take outside.

[@JustTheGems]

😱😱😱

[@pauls713]

Looks amazing! Next stop, a UK convention. Go on, you knows you want to.

[@JustTheGems]

I would LOVE that! Plus my wife has family in the UK, so we could see them, too!

[@aaronmayfield6581]

Is there any chance we could see this same panel at PAX West this year? Seems like it was a great time had by all.

[@chuckhaynes9166]

Oh yeah, Brandon, I have a story about line cutters. When I went in 2015, I brought my wife to it for the first time. My wife is a southern girl of the ahem...stereotype... So these dudes just started running past everyone and even former Marine, but passive mode me was going to let them by. My wife immediately stepped in front of them and said "Get the **** back in line like everyone else?" Which actually got some people in line with us to gasp...but soon a few people echoed her and I stood next to her looking for trouble. They actually frowned, turned around and got in line...wild To be honest over the years more rude people show up then before, another reason I don't go regularly anymore. It used to be a pretty small, tight knit community, I would meet strangers and be eating at their house the next night. Now that's just scary.

[@JustTheGems]

We needed someone like that in our line... We were all just... passive. 😅

[@felixthecatx887]

I wish anime nyc had more jrpg content!!

[@sebastianalarcon817]

This has nothing to do with the video I just love how it looks that your holding your mic on your nipple 😂 I loved seeing all my fave jrpg people together on social media. ❤

[@threeswordssama]

You're better than me man. If someone cuts the line when I know people have been patiently waiting, I'm saying something for sure.

[@JustTheGems]

I admire the ability to do that 😅I'm too conflict-avoidant

[@threeswordssama]

@JustTheGems it's not always a good trait that I have to be fair though 😂

[@bongatumtum]

That's awesome you had a good time and the panel went well! Do you think you'd ever want to make the journey to AX again or was once enough?

[@JustTheGems]

Oh I'm already looking forward to next year 😁