I love Fanime. I can't say it enough. It draws in big names but still has that small con punch. And Yokota was one of those artists that, if he held an event where you just watch him eat for an hour, I'd go. Probably. Well...maybe if a huge drawing of Light was held behind him for an hour...

But, things change in a year. I don't know if Yokota wasn't feeling well or maybe he was unable to join the Mile High Club on his JAL flight, but Yokota was not a happy camper at Fanime.

According to the staffers, Yokota stayed, drawing in the autograph room from 9 pm until 2 am for fans during his autograph session, and he still had not finished the line at that time. Although he told the staff he would try to return to the Artist Alley section during Sunday, Yokota came down with a cold and had to cancel. Unfortunately, no one knew that he had canceled, and throughout the day, people were lining up in the hopes that Yokota would show up.

After much hesitation between holding a regular autograph session or having Yokota take markers and color pre-drawn copies, the Fanime staff decided that Yokota's final autograph session would be just that - an autograph. Some of us were informed that if Yokota was up to it that he would sketch in the Artist Alley after his autograph session. After waiting around for an hour after his session, Yokota showed up and took commissions. Although I was five back from the front, I was one of the last ones to buy a commissioned sketch. I figured that Yokota would be a little happier if I requested one of his characters, but, he was grouchy and complained that Carmine was too detailed. But, after some pleading, he finally gave in.

My shikishi kohai, who was standing behind me in line, requested Carmine and said that he had a similar experience.