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FanimeCon 2011

‘On your mark! Get set! Fly!’ was pretty much running through my head as I hopped on the plane to participate in another year at FanimeCon which took place at the beautiful McEnery Convention Center. Towering over the convention on the left and right were the Marriott and the Hilton where fans eagerly checked in to their hotel rooms and quickly snagged a spot in line for pre-registration. For many, this was the event of the year for them with guests of honor, dealer’s room, artist alley and an almost countless line up of things to scope out and do. But before I run through the nitty-gritties, I want to thank the staff this year as well as all the other contributors of this convention, which include the attendees themselves as well. So without further delay, I showcase to you all of FanimeCon 2011~!

Swap Meet

I told myself this a thousand times, if not more, to stop buying. Seriously, swap meet this year was crazy. Now let me define crazy for you people in this context: the ability to provide a massive supply of goods ranging from doujins, figures, out-of-print items and whatever your minds can come up with. Since the start of swap meet a few years back, it had grown exponentially to what it is now with thousands of fans selling and buying and looking for that special something only a diehard anime fan would still possess. In terms of numbers though? Really, I swear it felt like people would have exploded outward into the sky, both Thursday and Friday nights had there not been a roof above Exhibit Hall III.

With the addition of set ups of E-Gaming and Arcades, you could imagine just how jam packed even an exhibit hall of that size could have been. Now moving on to the actual products, I really liked what I saw this year and as mentioned above, I bought things to the point where I got sick of buying more. You know the phrase “shop till you drop”? Well.. it almost happened to me. But anyways much like last year, swap meet was a success in terms of what it offered and I don’t think it has failed me personally. However, there are some minor complaints with the swap meet this year.

One concern of mine was how it seemed as if a few people were monopolizing the spaces in swap meet. Granted it was understandable some had much more to sell and wanted to maximize their profits, but it seemed almost unfair for those who wanted to take part in swap meet for the first time and make a little extra spending cash for the convention. Hopefully those who took up massive spaces by having friends buy out more spaces for them would allow others to get in on the action of swap meet next year. Either way I loved swap meet and I hope for its continued success.

Dealer’s Room

With this tough economy and the skewed exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar that’s been going on for who knows how long now, being an anime dealer isn’t exactly the easiest or profitable thing to do. However, dealers still made their trips from all around the country to participate at FanimeCon, bringing with them loads of anime and anime related merchandises. Even Crunchyroll, Bandai and other anime industries made their appearances this year to show what they licensed and had to offer.

I have to admit that even though FanimeCon didn’t have the most dealers in the dealer’s room this year, enough of them still came and they came with quality. You want Cospa t-shirts imported from Japan? Try half a dozen of them with those. You want figures that are desired? Try… a lot of the dealers. Long story short and as mentioned, the dealer’s room at FanimeCon came with quality. Still a lack of imported CDs, but we all have an idea of what’s going on so I assume there isn’t a need to touch up on it. Anyways good dealer’s room this year and I hope to see many return next year old and new.

Artist Alley

Ah artist alley. If there was one place where creativity thrived, this was it. I remember the artist alley back at Anime Boston and how I noticed an increasing number of artists venturing into the unknown world of playing with metal, wood, plastic and other earthly material on top of the traditional pencil and pen and buttons and what have you. T-shirts, paper origami characters, plastic beaded characters, plushies, keychains made out of plastic, wood, metal, paper… and possibly even fire, wind, water and earth weren’t a rarity to see. I mean the list went on and on with what the artist alley had.

What I found more interesting was how in tuned the artists were with what was currently popular in the anime world, one of which being Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I would safely say almost a dozen artist, if not more, had some form of work of that anime in one way or another. From key chains to pins to stickers to even magnets. This was a prime example of the type of interest of fans that were at FanimeCon and how closely in touch attendees were with releases of anime out in Japan.

Many of the PMMM merchandise at the artist alley were sold out by the last day of the artist alley and even I had my regret of not buying a Kyubei phone strap an artist was selling the day before. Aside from that, I spoke with a good number of the artists and they shared their stories of how they got into doing what they do: a passion for art and creativity. Keep doing what you do best and love. See you guys around when FanimeCon rolls around next year.

E-Gaming and Arcades

Well much like last year, the set up was just about the same for E-Gaming with the same amount of awesome and diverse games of all genre. This was the first year I stuck around for some of the tournaments and actually participated in one and, wow were they hyped. One thing which bugged me was the Blazblue tournament and how even though PSN was restored a week before the convention, the updated game wasn’t put out until the very end when the tournament started. Had I known that, I would have signed up rather than to fight for my life to get a spot, when it was almost too late in the end. I guess they did mention that it was version 1.02 or higher, but honestly it was like playing a completely different game. There was a bit of confusion but it worked out in the end regardless.

The Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament was also pretty fun to watch and I found it pretty funny some guy placed a container of salt on top of the TV before the match started. Overall it seemed to me the tournaments started on schedule and went very smoothly. The two I attended were very organized and ended on time so props for getting that done. Also having iplaywinners there to record and upload videos of the top whatever players to their site was a bonus.

One thing I do wish to see in the future is having fight sticks and whatever accessory being lent out for use. I understand that those things do cost quite a bit but if there is a way to monitor who uses what, say by someone giving up their ID and badge or something for the staffs to hold on to, it could work. It happened at Anime Boston and it worked out fine. But again, it’s still a risk so this isn’t so much a complaint as it is a possibility of any staff of e-gaming wish to provide what they have for public use in the future.

Arcades worked out really well this year and I thought they had a decent selection of games. The head of arcades actually posted on the Fanime Forums asking which titles people wanted. Again, a sign that the staff is listening to what the fans want. The prices to play them were also not too bad even though some have mentioned that they were cheaper elsewhere. However with the way things work at a convention, it is a bit different so that needs to be taken into consideration. Finally with the layout, nothing much for me to complain there. People seemed to have a lot of fun and being next to E-Gaming all these years is like a match made in heaven <3

Stage Zero

Well if there was one thing that FanimeCon stood out against the rest, Stage Zero would certainly be one of them. Located at the main entrance on the second floor of the convention, Stage Zero served as a spot where big events and showcases took place as well as providing casual entertainment for the occasional and curious passerby. One event which took place was the Fanimaid Stage Zero performance. Like the previous year, Momoi also joined in on the fun as they danced, sang and shared memories with each other and everyone else. Also on Stage Zero was a Marvel vs. Capcom 3 charity event where people paid a few bucks to play against each other. Again, much hype took place during the matches as people watched on and cheered. Overall though Stage Zero is and will continue to be a major contributor to FanimeCon’s diversity and uniqueness. I look forward to seeing more events next year.

Tohru Furuya

Yep, you heard it right. Tohru Furuyu, the legendary seiyuu known for his key role as Amuro Ray in Gundam, Tuxedo Kamen in Sailor Moon and Yosuke Kasuga in Kimagure Orange Road, made his trip to FanimeCon this year. For many, his visit was highly anticipated as floods of people crowded into his panel room, snaked around to form lines for his autograph session and getting the chance to meet him up close. During his panel, dozens of people lined up to have their questions answered and explained. For the most part, the questions were fairly entertaining, although I was hoping there were more diverse ones regarding the whole spectrum of his career.

Nearing the end of the panel session as Tohru was running out of time to answer everyone’s questions, he went down to the rest of his fellow fans and gave them all hugs as a final show of appreciation he had for all his fans. After his panel session, people rushed to get his autograph as a loooooooong line was formed in the waiting room. All in all, he was an amazing addition to FanimeCon this year and I hope he felt the affection from his fans who look at him not only as a legendary seiyuu, but also as a role model.

Ryusuke Hamamoto

Brian Lee: A guest of honor I was happy to see is the artist Ryusuke Hamamoto. I have been familiar with him for approximately six years after seeing one of his sketchbooks from Comic Market, one of Japan’s major doujinshi sales events. Hamamoto has a distinct style that involves superdeformed designs and has contributed work to a variety of companies like Bandai, Shueisha, and Square Enix. His most recent commercial works are for Bandai’s Petit Eva and R-style series and Comic Gekkin’s Usagi Rurikarakusa. An artist throughout his life, Hamamoto really developed his style during his high school years and was influenced by Ryusuke Mita, mangaka of Dragon Half, and CLAMP, the famous group known for Cardcaptor Sakura, xxxHolic, and others.

The format for his two panels were open Q&A and inbetween questions he drew Neon Genesis Evangelion themed illustrations on his laptop. He gave advice to potential artists on how to break into the industry, both American and Japanese. As a fan artist turned professional artist he had to go through the same process. When asked about how well he was able to live off of his work he answered, “I brought seven things with me to work on while I’m here.”

Halko Momoi: The Queen of Akihabara

Brian Lee: Known as the “Queen of Akihabara,” Haruko Momoi has been active in the industry for the last ten years as a seiyuu and singer with unofficial work starting even earlier. This year’s convention marked her third Fanime and second formal concert. Momoi’s concerts are marked with crowds wielding glowsticks and performing designated dance movements called “otagei” (sometimes spelled “wotagei”) which makes it easy to tell who has been around for a while by what they carry in and what they do. The main two glowstick colors are blue, one of Momoi’s favorites, and pink, a natural given her name and its similarity to “momo” which means peach. At select times an intense, short-burning orange known as the UO (”ultra orange”) is used. New as of last year’s IVY album is green for its namesake song.

For the first half of the concert Momoi wore a white dress adorned with sparkles and a matching hairband and lace gloves. Midway through her performance she donned a pair of faux heart-shaped headphones reminiscent of those worn by Crypton’s Vocaloids. They had been presented by a fan to her during Saturday evening’s autograph session and this fan was thrilled they were being worn. A panda themed jumper helped round out her appearance.

The song list for this concert contained a mix of fourteen songs ranging from new ones from IVY like Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!, a mix of old standbys like Wonder Momo-i and Ai no Medicine, and even a few unexpected ones like Luka Luka Night Fever, a high-energy dance song popularized on Nico Nico Douga and YouTube that was originally composed for the Vocaloid Luka Megurine. For Luka Luka Night Fever a few brave souls even volunteered to perform the dance onstage alongside Momoi.

LOVE.EXE helped closed out the concert’s main set. It is the opening song for the game Baldr Force EXE and is a mainstay of Momoi’s music repetoire and a true fan favorite. It also plays host to one of the more complex of otagei moves, the “thundersnake,” which is characterized by a series of wide, sweeping arm movements. The room up front was at a premium so this particular otagei had to be done sparingly with the more close-quarters friendly “mawari” which involves jumping and spinning repeatedly (hence the “mawari”), arms held high, being favored in its place. The maids of Fanime’s maid cafe were only too happy to join in onstage. Some of them were attendees of her previous concert and executed otagei flawlessly.

Besides her concert on Sunday, Momoi had two Q&A panels and two autograph sessions on Saturday and Sunday as well as a mini-concert in the early afternoon on Saturday. On Saturday she cosplayed as her most recent seiyuu role, Feiris Nyannyan, from the Xbox 360 visual novel and now anime series Steins;Gate. She fielded a variety of questions including ones about the current state of anime and the increasing use of fanservice, how to become the King of Akihabara (”Well, Feiris Nyannyan is the queen so if you marry her, then you’ll become king!”), and whether or not it would be possible to stream her concerts from Japan for those unable to make the trip. After every question the questioner was presented with a snack brought from Japan.

Momoi expressed the desire to return in 2012 and with any luck she will.

Karaoke Contest

Brian Lee: One of Fanime’s annual traditions is the karaoke contest held on Friday. 2011’s preliminary round consisted of three hours and approximately forty entries which was whittled down to ten for the second and final round which lasted another hour and a half. All of the final ten were awarded prizes with the eventual winner, Patrice Coleman, receiving a Nintendo 3DS and trophy (both in the mail), and the opportunity to sing at the Fanime Masquerade, which she eventually took advantage of. The vast majority of songs were anime or Japanese culture related with the exception of a few like Portal 2’s “Want You Gone.” Older fans were well represented with classics like Bubblegum Crisis’ “Konya wa Hurricane,” the singer jokingly saying “I can tell you’re all younger than me” from the relative lack of a crowd reaction.

Contestants came both in their casual clothes as well as cosplay. One contestant, Emily Chen, was well prepared with a Ranka Lee motif (of Macross Frontier) and two of her songs, Houkago Overflow and Nijiiro Kuma Kuma from the second Macross Frontier movie, Sayonara no Tsubasa. She was even prepared to give a summary and explanation of each song’s theme. As a Megumi Nakajima fan (Ranka’s seiyuu) I was thrilled but also slightly disappointed at the lack of one of my favorites from the soundtrack, Koi no Dogfight.

Masquerade

Brian Lee: This year’s Masquerade Cosplay Spectacular was MC’d again by Ric Meyers. California con-goers should be very familiar with Ric as he has attended Fanime in some capacity for the last seven years and July’s San Diego Comic Con for more than a dozen. San Jose’s Civic Auditorium was again packed to capacity as attendees waited to see the many contestants and their skits. 2011’s entries numbered at more than 60 with 54 skits and a few more display entries. Some of the skits included a line of Star Driver cosplayers from Thick Bread dancing to “Men in Tights” from the 1993 movie “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” the cosplay group Angel Hearts performing choreography to idolm@ster (something they would do throughout the convention including a concert early Monday at Stage Zero), and a near-naked Dante from Devil May Cry in a parody of the Old Spice commercials.

One entry that stood out both during the masquerade and later online was a Portal themed affair by NOTN Cosplay in which two Chell cosplayers performed in sync to music, complete with blue and orange portals and trademark portal guns. In true portal fashion when one entered the other would exit and even when peering through one side you would see the other. This entry ended up winning the “Most Dramatic” award. Gaming websites like Gamesradar and Destructoid would later pick up on it in the coming days.

Fanimaid Cafe

Fanimaid Café took place again on the side of the Hilton where attendees lined up to take part in this event that had grown proportionally in recent years. I visited the maid café on both days and it was jam packed with a line that looped around the corner almost every time I passed by it. Inside, the set up looked nice with neatly arranged and decorated tables. People were served by their maid, allowed to eat while their maid kept them company, chatting and playing games with them. Every table that I passed by, I saw happy faces one after another. It was a sight to be seen.

To touch up on the maid café a bit more, there are a few points I want to bring up regarding this event. For one, the Fanimaid Café is a prime example of the “By Fans, For Fans” idea of FanimeCon. A good comparison I can think of is masquerade where fans spend their time to put up a performance by the fans and for the audience. I guess if you think about it, every anime convention has a little bit of the “By Fans, For Fans” in them. However, the Fanimaid Café attempts to introduce people to what an authentic maid café would be like in Japan. It’s an attempt to incorporate an aspect of the anime subculture that’s bold and daring with many skeptics who question this having never experienced this before. But that’s the whole reason why FanimeCon is loved by so many, as this type of event is exactly what makes this convention unique and stand out on its own.

The fans which are a part of this subculture attempts to pro-actively be a part of it and reinforce the saying “By Fans, For Fans” to another level. This isn’t so much as being simply a staff or volunteer as much as it is an idea or concept put forth by people who are passionate for an area of the subculture. All the time that the maids spend in practicing for skits, training for the café and the time spent during the café are all 100% volunteer work with no compensation. That’s dedication and I hope to see its success grow in the following years.

MusicFest: Yuya Matsushita and FLOW

Well ladies and gentlemen (mostly ladies), Yuya Matsushita made his appearance at FanimeCon this year and wow was he popular… I mean REALLY he was. Though he has only done two anime themes in the anime series Durarara!! (”Trust Me”) and Kuroshitsuji (”Bird’) he’s nevertheless an amazingly talented dancer and singer overall. Throughout his concert, screams ran through the concert hall with every move and wink he gave. It was almost like watching a Japanese Bieber in action. Overall, his concert went very smoothly and on time. I hope he enjoyed all the girls who cried out for him, wanting to have his baby and I hope he will contribute more of his work in future anime.

Following a small intermission after Yuya’s concert, FLOW took on the spotlight as cheers ran through the crowd once more. Unlike last year and with a change for good, FLOW’s concert took place on a day different than Swap Meet which not only yielded more audience for the concert, but also in part gave the people who missed them last year a chance to see them. Like Yuya’s concert, things went without a dent in time or any technical problems. For me, it was a pleasure to have them back as they have done extensive musical work in anime, such as, Code Geass, Naruto and Eureka 7. Their return was a treat for both their dedicated fans and fans who were attending FanimeCon for the first time and I hope they enjoyed what this convention offered them.

This was the first time that FanimeCon has held two concert during a single MusicFest that involved major names. The proper care and enforcement by FanimeCon’s staff who took part both directly and indirectly made this joint concert successful and on time. Though a small incident happened involving a fan who took video of the concert when it was strictly prohibited even for approved Press members, stern rules were needed to prevent other potentially dangerous things from happening and forming such as mosh pits. Good job all around with the concerts this year.

Cosplay

Never a year have I been disappointed by the cosplayers at FanimeCon and this year certainly wasn’t one of them. One thing I love about this convention is how much in tuned and up to date people are with anime. It would be unfair for me to make the judgment that cosplayers represent the extent of the general anime competency of the fans, it certainly does represent a more active rather than passive attitude fans at FanimeCon have. Madoka cosplayers? I literally saw dozens of them floating around the convention.

Although many have mentioned how the amount of cosplayers have been declining more and more, there also isn’t a doubt that the recent seasons of lackluster shows isn’t exactly something that helps in relieving the problem. During the previous few years, big hit anime, such as, Gurren Lagaan, Code Geass, Lucky Star, Haruhi and so forth have made choosing cosplays very convenient for many who looked up to a popular series with characters to choose from.

What is there nowadays? Madoka? Well that’s actually been covered fairly well at FanimeCon and in fact several have mentioned an inflation in the number of them. Panty and Stocking cosplayers have also exploded and of course you have your usual Bleach and Naruto cosplayers. But what next? Star Driver? Sure there are interesting characters but even for more hardcore anime fans, how many really have cared to watch it? In other words, I don’t believe that fans are caring less and less for cosplaying but are finding it more and more difficult to find characters to worthy to cosplay.

With that said, every year I have my top 5 choices of cosplayers I usually acknowledge for their contributions to FanimeCon through their passion in the art of cosplaying. However this year, I have decided to increase the number to 10 rather than 5. Keep in mind though these are just my top picks. For everyone who did their part as a cosplayer for FanimeCon this year, keep it up. You are an active participant of this subculture and I appreciate the hard work and dedication that you have been put into it.

Reflections and Afterthoughts

This year FanimeCon brought over many talents new and old. Our friend Momoi made her return for a third year in a row performing on Stage Zero with the maids from the Fanimaid Cafe as well as in her own concert. Tohru Furuya, the legendary seiyuu from famous series, such as, Sailor Moon and Gundam, was also summoned over as his-trulys littered his panel and autograph session. FLOW made their return for a second year as well, giving fans the opportunity to see them due to conflicting timeline from the previous year. Also for the first time Yuya Matsushita made his debut in MusicFest, singing and dancing with style. And as always there were the amazing Swap Meet days, Artist Alley, Dealer’s Room and with a massive list of other things as well. There are however a few concerns I want to address.

The biggest problem this year at FanimeCon was a lack of a printed schedule. Fans were forced to go off the electronic schedule via the net in order to know what was happening. For me, it wasn’t a problem since I haphazardly wander into stuff most of the time anyways aside from the major events. But regardless, fans weren’t pleased. Going as far as that, the reason for it’s absence has been untold so far but it wasn’t a printing error as mentioned by Tony, FanimeCon’s convention chair. I guess we’ll have to forgive FanimeCon this year and move on to the next. Talk also has been made regarding mini-pocket schedules. According to Tony once again, the staff responsible for making those in the previous years didn’t participate with the convention this year. I’m hoping next year either that person returns, teaches someone how he makes them or someone who knows how to make them, make them.

The final area I want to touch up on rather than it being a concern are Rovers this year. There has been some grievances shared by fans with the behaviors of some of the Rovers. On the contrary after speaking and discussing this with one of the Rovers’ department head, apparently fan behavior was amazingly difficult to deal with especially at night. Based on what I saw while walking around, no one was screaming, running or acting like a complete idiot. Initially my thinking was that fan behavior really kicked up a notch. Then after being told essentially the “behind the curtain” stuff by some Rovers, it made me think twice. So here is the million dollar question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? In this scenario were the Rovers doing their best job of their lives or did some attendees turn and acted like proper human for once? With all honesty, it doesn’t really matter as the end result yielded properly behaved attendees from what I saw. If the Rovers were responsible, you have my respect and support and I look forward to that dedication in serving and being the protector of FanimeCon. If fans, WOW…. please keep staying normal next year. If it was on both ends, kudos to both then.

With all being said and done, another year of FanimeCon has concluded with new friends, memories, knowledge and experience gained. What the short weekend of FanimeCon was is now only a strong yet fleeting and distant memory of the once crowded and packed floors. I look back now remembering the mixed feeling I had the day that I arrived after a long trip across country just to be there. As funny as it is to say, FanimeCon has watched me grow just as much as I have with FanimeCon in the passing years. While a lot are returning FanimeCon attendees like myself with feelings that are mutual, a good amount are new to this convention. To those I say keep up your dedication as an anime fan and continue to be a part of this subculture so long as the passion is there. Until next year, see you all at FanimeCon 2012~!

*Special thanks to Brian Lee for his contributions in this convention report.

Helloooooo~ Anime Boston!

Once again, Anime Boston took place at the gorgeous Hynes Convention Center in the heart of downtown Boston. As a second time attendee of this long awaited event, I had my hopes set to experience another year of great guests, people and memories to be made. One main event from last year if people recalled, Nobou Imatsu along with the Video Game Orchestra conducted one of the most magical symphonic event any musical fan could hope for. But for this year though…? Let’s just say the best is yet to come. However before I start, I want to thank all the hard working staffs and volunteers for making this convention possible. Though only three days of convention, these people sacrificed their time to provide us with something we carry with us for years and beyond. So without further delay, I bring to you Anime Boston 2011!!

Line-Con? No, It’s Actually Registration!

You know those hideous lines that’s hated by the world whether you’re at a DMV or grocery store or say… an anime convention? Well, seems like this year Anime Boston relieved some of those fears with a well organized registration area for people to pick up and purchase their badges. Upon asking, most people spent literally less than half an hour to get that piece of validation in a shiny plastic pouch to sling around their neck. Call it what you may, the matter of the fact is if lines were what you dreaded at an anime convention, Anime Boston probably isn’t the best place to find it. And no, I didn’t end up bombing an exam this year like last year on day one of the convention for the sake of registration. That was one of those “memory I can live without.” Oh and one last thing, did I mention over 19,000 people registered?

Dealer’s Room

Of the many attractions of Anime Boston, the dealer’s room certainly was a main one as thousands of people searched through the rubble of close to 100 dealers for that special little something. Whether they are figures, posters, t-shirts or whatever, the dealer’s room at Anime Boston mostly had them all. For me there wasn’t much to buy this year except a few Spice and Wolf posters and an Angel Beats (<3) towel. With that said however, I did find a few oddball “dealers” such as, oh I don't know... Verizon? Beats me but either way, I had a great time walking around in the dealers room and conversing with the dealers as well.

I know it's probably over done and over mentioned in the last half a dozen reports that I've done, but in this gloomy economy, I really appreciate dealers for coming to Anime Boston and keeping a part of the fandom alive by providing us with fun and unique merchandises. For us, supporting an anime industry is one thing but supporting an entire subculture that stems from anime and vice versa is quite different. I hope these dealers realize how happy they make fellow anime fans feel and I hope they will continue to be one themselves.

ONLY ONE WAS LEFT STANDING!…. FUNimation!

I walked into the dealers room and the first thing I saw, boom, there she was: Maria in all her hot-pink plug suit glory on possibly the biggest tapestry for a single anime character. I mean she might as well be an Eva herself. Ahem… that aside since the subject came up from how much I wanted that giant orgasmic piece of art, FUNimation came and they came prepared to showcase some of the awesome things that they had, such as, Baccano!, Evangelion 2.22, Eden of the East movie and many more. A few years back I remember telling myself FUNimation was going to be one of those anime distribution companies that was going to last. Up to date, they have licensed two of my top 5 anime: Solty Rei and Gunslinger Girl. Pretty good ratio I must say coming from someone who’s pretty darn picky. Either way they came, they impressed and they licensed. Keep up the good work FUNimation and also keep putting out those Blu-Rays * wink *

Swap Meet

Maybe this is from someone who is too spoiled by FanimeCon’s massive football field size swap meet set-up, but this was one aspect I would really like to see some more investment and progression in. I’ve talked with a few staffers regarding the issue of people not being allowed to purchase the items from swap meet and it pretty much boiled down to not upsetting the dealers. That aside, swap meet took place in the same tiny and sweaty room where people were literally squeezed shoulder to shoulder at times just to pass each other. Though I’m not saying it should have been in Ballroom D or some other main event room, at least it should have been moved to a more formidable and a room closer to where more traffic was, rather than a secluded location at the end of the hallway around a corner.

I personally believe swap meet is an excellent opportunity for anime fans to socialize and discover some common interest that sparks from a simple conversation of an item being traded. I admit that this was only the second year that swap meet was put into motion, so I won’t say more about it than that from personal experience, swap meet can become a main event and if fine-tuned, can maintain a balance between the fans and the dealers where both sides are happy.

Artist Alley

I swear, every year at every anime convention that I’ve been to, artists have been getting more and more creative with what they offer to people and wow, there were no exceptions at Anime Boston this year. In the past, a lot of artists focused on prints, pins and postcards of their art work. Nowadays, don’t be surprised to see custom made… well, I think the pictures will do more justice for them than words from me. All in all, artist alley will definitely remain one of my favorite attractions at Anime Boston. It’s one thing to be an anime fan, but it’s another to be inspired by it and apply dedication and hard work to that inspiration. Keep up the good work you promising artists and I hope to see what you guys will bring for us next year.

Masquerade… “I lift things up! And put them down! I AM A ROADIE!”

Over the years, one of the main events that I have come to love is masquerade. Though the nature of an anime is static no matter how many times it’s watched, masquerade brings out the creativity of those performers to create a new crossover that’s completely fun, entertaining and original. For example the first skit of masquerade was with Pokemon characters, the originality and fun-factor was within the actual cosplayers who carried out the skit. With that, I can safely say I had a great time watching performances which ranged from Magic Knight Rayearth to Persona 4 and so forth.

One skit which caught my attention and actually surprised me a bit was of Star Driver. The anime itself is fairly new and to see passionate fans perform based on it proved that Anime Boston did shelter those die hard anime fans. Although the acts and the people who performed were good, I would have liked to see a bit more diversity in the types of anime, as they served as the backbone for the skits. Given that, masquerade at Anime Boston this year, like last, was entertaining and amusing and overall something I encourage people to attend and experience.

In addition, what could be better than fun skits by fans dressed up in cosplays?… a MC who brought life to the crowd and kept people entertained even during masquerade skit intersessions. This year Anime Boston welcomed a new/substitute MC for masquerade due to circumstances of the original MC that should have been in charge. I have to admit though, this guy is by far the best MC I have ever seen. I mean Ric Meyers was awesome as MC in the past FanimeCons but wow, I think I enjoyed him almost as much as I enjoyed the skits. Finally if anyone was curious about the nature of the sentence in the title above, tune in to Anime Boston 2012 masquerade… IF he returns for round two.

Video Gaming Room

Aside from the sewer looking room that the video gaming took place in, the overall set up and games put out was very impressive and comparable to the E-Gaming room of FanimeCon and by far outclass the one at Anime Expo. The set up was pretty much like last year where each system was on a platform and to each its own, an LCD TV. Looking over the massive room and the overall set up, it was pretty obvious a lot of time and effort was put into making everything fun and presentable to the public. At the very back of the room were three projectors set up where people played and showed off the games in style. I did however noticed that the projectors were directly on the wall of the room rather than against a projector screen of some sort. Later on I think one of the three projectors got something like a white screen but still, it seemed a bit “ghetto.” Hopefully, next year there will be projection screens to make that area of the gaming room both attractive and more visible with regards to the games.

Aside from that, no complaints as people were able to request games they wanted to play, borrow controllers and so forth. The tournaments were well organized as I jumped in on the hype and watched parts of the Marvel vs Capcom 3 one. A big disappointment however was that there wasn’t a BlazBlue: Continuum Shift tournament, something that I would have been a part of myself. I mean, the game hasn’t even been out for a year and it was pretty much dead in a way. Maybe more people will be attracted to BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II the next time Anime Boston rolls around. Either way, the video gaming room this year was impressive and provided people with that extra kick of entertainment, whether one was stopping to take a rest or to simply challenge another in a battle to the e-deaaaaaath~

Girugamesh

Like, excuse my next few unprofessional words but holy CRAP! People came, saw and head banged HARD. To introduce them, Girugamesh is a long time established visual kei band that plays metal as their genre and is fairly well received in Japan. They were a bit more popularized in the States a few years ago when Sakura-con announced them as the musical guests of honor, not to mention how Sakura-con’s promotional commercial turned Girugamesh into a popular online meme.

Putting that aside, I honestly did not realize what I was getting myself into before the concert. I mean, they haven’t done any anime theme songs. Heck, I don’t even think they’ve done anything even anime related. Just how good could they be or how much would I even enjoy them? Answer: after the concert.. A LOT. Lets put it this way: I remember a transition from a subtle and laxed sitting position in the front taking pictures to head banging and pumping my fist in the air as the concert progressed…*cough*. In addition, I think I felt miniature earthquakes during the entire course of the concert.. that or people were going nuts jumping up and down. Yeah, I think I’ll stick with the latter.

Overall, Girugamesh were simply amazing as they energized the entire crowd, drawing them into a world of it’s own. It was not only a sight to be seen but a transient feeling of something that couldn’t be explained and only felt during that time. Anime Boston, kudos for bringing Girugamesh this year. Next year, I can only expect the greatness to continue.

Stereopony

One of the best things Anime Boston can do is to give the opportunity for people to meet guests of honor who they know and appreciate for what they’ve contributed for the fandom. For me the rock band Stereopony and their featured song Namida no Muko, the opening of Gundam 00, was just that. I remembered back a year or two when I heard that song for the first time, I fell in love with it right away so naturally I was psyched when I found out that they were going to be at Anime Boston this year. Though Namida no Muko wasn’t the only song in their discography that I enjoyed, for me it certainly was the highlight.

After the pre-event hype, Stereopony light the whole room up with applause as they walked up to stage to the welcoming cheers of the passionate fans. The duration of the concert was filled with joy, grief and hope. They brought to us joy through their passion in music, grief as they shared their condolences with us in the recent earthquake of Japan and hope for the victims and family of the victims of that earthquake. There were so many different emotions flowing through that concert hall as they poured their hearts out with every song they played. Overall, Stereopony was amazing and I would love to see them perform again.

Cosplay

If there was ever something that would challenge an anime fan to go above and beyond than just being a passive fan, cosplaying would certainly be one of them. Hosting almost 20,000 attendees, the absence of them would certainly be something that wouldn’t cross anyone’s mind at Anime Boston. However, I was a bit more disappointed with the turn out than pleased. I should go back to my original statement about the lack of cosplayers. The big problem I saw was a lack of diverse cosplays.

There were plenty of Pokemon cosplayers and little bits of Haruhi, Code Geass, Gurren Lagaan and others sprinkled here and there. Aside from that, there were plenty of people dressed up as random and I mean really random stuff. In fact a lot had neko mimis (ears) on or a tail… or being a fur cosplayer. Where are the Madoka cosplayers? How about the Zakuro ones? I saw no Index or Railgun cosplayers and believe me, I searched hard for the three days I was there. In fact it was because of last year, I decided to spend a lot more time this year in search of cosplays I had hoped to see.

In the end though, I did find some and from those I picked out, five I absolutely loved for the anime character cosplayed, the quality of the cosplay and just.. pure awesomeness. To those who cosplayed, I want to acknowledge the hard work, effort and time put into it. I want to clarify that by no means am I putting other cosplayers down. I simply wish people to expand into new area of anime and characters they can fall in love with and cosplay as. With that said, here is my top five list. Thank you for being a vital part of this fandom and to everyone else who contributed to the diversity of the people of Anime Boston.

Afterthoughts

As a second time attendee of Anime Boston, I had a lot of mixed feelings compared to last year both positive and negative. To get it over with, one thing which bugged me was how eccentric the behavior of some of the fans were. Not saying they were crazy per se, but there were some behavioral problems, such as, people running around and people with random meme outbursts. I mean I understand the fact that major Eastern conventions like Anime Boston and Otakon would host a large amount of 4channers. Even the mascots of Anime Boston revolved around 4chan: A-chan and B-kun. But to stress this again, people in general were having fun and were well behaved. With every anime convention, things like this are expected so I’m just picky.

Also another thing which actually upset me a little were the mall cops. I mean, who in the world do they think they are? I don’t think I saw a single one smile during the entire 3 days I was there. Maybe I had to really stare at them and study that robotic facial expression? Not sure. All I know was that at times I got an attitude from them for no reason. Again, this had nothing to do with the staff members or volunteers as I had absolutely no issues with any of them. I think I even mentioned last year how laid back, helpful and awesome the staffs of Anime Boston were.

Another thing I would like to see improvement in would be swap meet as previously mentioned. Although a slow process, I hope down the line swap meet will expand and gain popularity. Again probably my personal biased devil speaking, but from how much I enjoyed swap meet at FanimeCon and how I’ve seen it expand exponentially, there isn’t a reason why Anime Boston can’t turn that around in the future years. Finally my biggest hope is to see more cosplayers and more cosplays from different anime new and old. Though no anime convention has that completely covered, even one extra person who decides to put a few extra hours to making a cosplay rather than slapping on a tail or ears or face paint or whatever, makes a difference in the long run. I saw so much potential this year it was unbelievable. I urge those people to push yourself one step further. While it’s true to love something you already cosplay as, venturing out and discovering new things can be great as well.

Now for the good stuff to boot, both the artist alley and dealer’s room were pretty decent. In this kind of economy with no relief in sight, dealers still made their trip and carried fairly good imports from mugs to figures to towels and so forth. It was good to see their continued support for the fandom and our cravings for all things anime and manga related. In addition, both Girugamesh and Stereopony were amazing and I hope Anime Boston will continue to invite amazing musical guests and other guests of honor in the future.

Overall, I would say I had a lot of fun at Anime Boston this year. This convention is growing on me as I am becoming more and more attached to it. Personally I think the location is amazing being at the heart of one of the best places in Boston. Anime Boston has already booked the next almost half a dozen years to be at the Hynes Convention Center. Since the creation of the convention, Anime Boston has been growing tremendously with an attendance of almost 20,000 this year. The future looks good for this anime convention but for now, have these words haunt you… “ I lift things up! And put them down! I AM A ROADIE!”. Until next year, so long Anime Boston~!

Anime Expo… ARISE!

Yep, you know it! Anime Expo, America’s biggest and fastest growing anime convention, was back again at the Los Angelos Convention in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. In those short 4 to 5 days, tens of thousands of fans gathered to entertain themselves with the hundreds of events Anime Expo offered. This year, Anime Expo brought over literally dozens of guests of honor from Japan ranging from seiyuus to directors to animators. In addition, Anime Expo offered one of the biggest anime exhibit hall with hundreds of dealers and artists as well as members of anime and gaming industry who brought to us newly licensed DVDs and games. Those will be discussed later in more details but for now, I want to start off by thanking the staffs for their hard work and dedication. From what I heard, the staffs of Anime Expo are some of the most hardworking staff members of any anime convention who work tirelessly to make sure the tens of thousands of fans can get to where they needed to be, do what they needed to do and see what they needed to see. Now without further delay, I give you Anime Expo 2010!

Red Carpet and Opening Ceremony

With the start of every anime convention, it is traditional to kick off and open with a ceremony to welcome all the new and old fans as well as guests of honor who fly from around the country and world. This year at Anime Expo, the many guests of honor were greeted formally and in Hollywood style on day one with a red carpet ceremony. To name a few, Yuu Asakawa, BENi, MELL, May’N, Kenji Kamiyama, AKB 48 and Sophia were all warmly welcomed by their fans. Though this was the first year that Anime Expo held a red carpet ceremony, I have to agree with the idea of a formal and respectable welcome and spotlight for our guests. Following the red carpet ceremony, our guests were brought up on stage inside the Nokia theater and introduced once again. Following an introduction by the new CEO of Anime Expo and his warm greetings to the guests, Anime Expo officially started and people left soon after, dispersing throughout the convention. Overall, opening ceremony went pretty smoothly aside from a slight delay in start time. Again I really like the idea of the red carpet ceremony. I mean, we are in Los Angeles after all right? Let’s give them that spotlight to shine in at Anime Expo.

Dealer’s Room

If there were only a limited handful of highlights of Anime Expo to experience, the dealer’s room would be one of them. From figures to DVDs to you name it (yes… even eroge), the dealer’s room here had it all, bringing to the fans the newest and some of the hardest to find items any single location could offer. Though I’ve heard there had been some trouble with the exhibit halls this year regarding union and the fee of setting up, many dealer’s nevertheless still came and set up to support the fans. Unfortunately on the flip side however, some of my favorites dealers such as Toyslogic and Anime Pavilion either didn’t make it or was very upset with what happened this year. As something as important as this, I hope all this drama won’t jeopardize the future and the prominence of Anime Expo’s dealers room. Keep the dealer’s room as strong as ever and I hope to see this issue solved and many dealer’s happy and returning to Anime Expo next year!

Japan Video Games

Whether you’re a casual or a diehard gamer, Japan Video Games made its presence known to the gaming community of Anime Expo by bringing over the latest domestic and imported games. I had the honor of meeting Kenny who introduced himself to me and showed me around to some of the amazing things he brought with him. Honestly however, I expected nothing less from him and his store and evidently enough, he delivered this year once again. What I like most about his store is that he caters and cares for what his fans want and offers himself as part of the community rather than be a bystander. I can proudly say Japan Video Games is a store worth supporting and I strongly hope the same feeling is with the rest of the gaming community. Thank you for contributing to a part of this fandom Kenny. We hope to see you return to Anime Expo in 2011.

MangaGamer

There were three words to describe my initial response to seeing MangaGamer this year: ‘Oh..my..God’. Yes exactly you heard right. They were just that awesome and I kid anyone not. Like last year, there was a main stage for vocal performances but with a major upgrade in the set up in terms of size and merchandise. Last year, there was one large area with half a dozen tables or so set up. This year, they increased their size three-fold with artists doing sketches, anime tapestries, t-shirts and the list goes on and on.. and oh, free oppai mouse pad with purchase of $50. The only thing I guess missing this year were certain ‘toys’ which I found very ‘interesting’ but mostly, the reactions of other people when they saw them.. hah!

Aside from that, another thing that I liked about MangaGamer was not just what they brought with them for attendees to buy but the people they brought with them. For example one of my favorite singer, Minami Kuribayashi, who was the seiyuu for Haruka from Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien and has done various anime opening and ending theme songs ranging from Chrono Crusade, Mai Hime and Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, came to put up a performance. For someone as diehard as me, I was ecstatic when she came up on stage and started singing as I have been wanting to see her live for a long time. I strongly suggest people check out MangaGamer in the up coming years and what they have to offer. On a final note for whose who weren’t content with how Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien ended, check out the MuvLuv games. They’ll give fans something new to think about.

Anime Industries

In the past few years, many anime companies have suffered from illegal pirating as the internet offered a new form of media for people to watch and obtain anime. Major companies that have recently gone-under that many loved, such as, Geneon and ADV will not be forgotten. From the ashes however came new anime distribution companies, such as, Nozomi Entertainment who licensed things such as Maria-sama Ga Miteru, Sokou no Strain and Aria along with NIS America that just recently joined the anime licensing industry by obtaining and announcing the fairly new and popular anime, Tora Dora.

This year at Anime Expo, FUNimation, Bandai and NIS America made their appearances and brought with them special guests to promote what they had to offer. For example, Yui Horie who had never came to America was brought over by NIS America along with Eri Kitamura. Kenji Kamiyama, the director of Eden of the East and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, also came with his buddies on behalf of FUNimation. Finally, Bandai showed up with style as well by bringing over Katsuyuki Konishi who was the seiyuu of Kamina from Gurren Lagann. Though I am one who does not believe anime will ‘die’ as a result of online pirating, I do expect people to realize how important these companies were in the past and still are today in introducing and promoting anime. I will continue to show my support for them for everything they’ve done up to now and how much anime has expanded as a result of them. With that said, Bandai announced the licensing of K-On! I guess we can only wonder what special guest/s they could possibly bring with them to Anime Expo in the future?

Aksys

This year at Anime Expo, Aksys games returned for a second time with a set up even more amazing than the last with about half a dozen LCD televisions promoting their new and to be released games such as Blazblue: Continuum Shift and Deathsmiles. Since I first saw Aksys at FanimeCon 2009, I’ve been a firm supporter of them and what they’ve brought for the fans. During the 4 days, Aksys held mini tournament events for Blazblue on each day as well as a major tournament on Saturday where the winner received a Blazblue LE tournament stick, the Blazblue game mailed to him when it comes out and an autographed book by the artist of Blazblue. Not too shabby of a grand prize, no? Anyways I hope Aksys will continue with its success by introducing people to new and unique games that are rarely seen anymore in today’s market of video games. Thanks for coming again Aksys.

Artist Alley

Be the person a fan, an inspiring artist or both, the artist alley at Anime Expo this year was anything but disappointing. What I’ve noticed more and more about artist alley is that people are getting more creative each year, deviating from the typical drawing and printed artwork to crafting things with their hands like pop-up stands of characters from a fleet of anime to t-shirts and even pillows. Creativity, which was a key factor in making a successful artist alley, was seen by me as I wandered through the artist alley. To all the artist out there, keep doing what you enjoy doing if you have a passion for it. Your work amplifies just how much appreciation there is for anime and in general, this subculture. Keep up the good work and I hope to see even more great things next year at Anime Expo.

Console Gaming

One thing that I really like about the console gaming at Anime Expo is that fact that they have nice LCD televisions for people to use on top of different size ones for the appropriate games. For example, Blazblue made its appearance in console gaming with a rather nice set up on a 32 inch LCD TV. Rock Band, which was next to Blazblue, also got the same treatment. Though much of my time wasn’t spent in this location, I could tell from the time that I was there that people seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

Unfortunately, I still have to disagree with the location of console gaming which was in the same room as it was last year: a small room which has a maximum capacity of probably no more than 200-300 people. For a convention as big as Anime Expo and knowing tournaments such as SSB:B and Rock Band 2 would take place, a small location like that no doubt would cause a lot of traffic and interferences beyond just that. Other than that and as far as what I’ve experienced and mentioned, console gaming did a fairly good job in their selection of games. As far as how well the tournaments were held, I can only hope it went smoothly. Either way, gaming is a big part of many people’s life especially with people who are into this subculture. I hope Anime Expo will continue to honor the desires of the huge diversity of the gamer population that attend next year.

Guests of Honor

Oh boy where to start. Well for one never in the history of me attending any anime convention from the West coast to East, big or small, have I seen such an impressive list of guests this year. Then again, this is Anime Expo, the nation’s biggest anime convention we are talking about, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see people such as oh I don’t know, how about Yui Horie? Or how about both Megumi Nakagima and May’N? Those were just a few of the dozens of guests who premiered this year and with only 4 days, it was a rush for people to get to panels they needed to be at, autographs they needed to line up for along with many other events Anime Expo offered. With each set of guests, there were panels, autograph sessions and even concerts with a few of them which will be discussed later. To boot, let’s start with the panels.

Guests of Honor Panel Sessions

Since Anime Expo brought over so many guests this year, panels would no doubt be one of the main attractions for people with different preferences be it for a seiyuu, director and so forth. I was fortunate to attend a few of the panels such the ones of Yuu Asakawa, May’N, Megumi Nakajima and Kenji Kamiyama. One panel I skipped out on unfortunately was the panel of Yui Horie but that was a whole other story. In general, most of the panels started on time and questions by the audience were appropriate. For example, a fan who attended Megumi Nakajima’s panel asked her to do her little -Nyan Nyan~-skit in her role as Ranka Lee from the popular anime Macross Frontier.

One thing that did bug me a little was during Kenji Kamiyama’s panel when the announcer asked questions he had on a sheet of paper for nearly 45 minutes of the panel session before letting fans of the audience take it away. Though most likely those questions came from gathering questions submitted by the fans, there is nevertheless a difference between a fan who wants to ask the question himself and being there to show his appreciation for the guest than to have a question addressed by the host, announcer.. whatever you want to call the person who read out the questions. I think maybe more time could be used by people who were actually there. In addition though I understand the questions were made very formal and informative for the audience, I think Kamiyama-san would like some down to earth questions on top of those more serious ones. Obviously, this goes without saying for every other guest as well. But still, I enjoyed the panels and they are something convention goers should check out to show their appreciation for people who are part of making what we love. After panels and with never before guests like these, people of course want…. autographs!

Guests of Honor Autograph Sessions

Most of the autograph sessions this year were held at the back of the dealer’s and artist alley exhibit hall. A full list of location could be found on Anime Expo’s main page for those who are still curious. But with autograph sessions this year, autograph vouchers which gave priority to those who stood in line to those who didn’t have one, were given out at the panel session of that specific guest. Rows from the front to the back were given tickets in that order and were only given out at the end of the panel. One good thing I noticed when looking back on the autograph schedule is that most of the guests had at least two different autograph sessions on different days for those who missed out or had other events to attend to.

This worked out perfectly for those with a voucher ticket. For example, an individual could choose to wait in line and get the autograph in the first autograph session. However should he not be able to get the autograph in the first session, he still had priority in the second session with the autograph voucher. In short, someone who had an autograph ticket could choose to bail out of the first autograph session, wait for the people with tickets to fight for the autograph then and go to the second autograph session when there was less people with tickets to have less of a problem getting the autograph.

To me that was a good idea and made it very convenient for people who weren’t very flexible with time, I included. However, there was one huge thing which upset many people including me which was the Yui Horie panel and autograph session. Unlike the other panels where autograph vouchers were handed out, there were none for Yui Horie. All of her autograph sessions were open autographs which meant that it was first come first serve. Though it sounds like a good idea, the big flaw which I did not mention was that people who wanted to line up for the autograph were not allowed to do so until 15 minutes before the start of the session.

Now Yui Horie is pretty much one of the biggest seiyuu in Japan and Anime Expo is the first convention not to mention the first place that she’s ever set foot in America. Given that fact and taking into consideration that it was an open autograph session with no lining up for it until 15 minutes before the autograph session starts, spelling it out in one word would be this: chaos. Of the two autograph sessions, attendees were cutting, crowding, creating traffic, creating confusion and so forth. To top it off, her first autograph session ended prematurely by 20 minutes and started late. Her second autograph session was extended by 15 minutes to compensate for the first. Finally to put the cherry on the cake, people who lined up for her panel didn’t realize that tickets weren’t given out at the end so fans had to choose to either line up for her autograph and miss her panel or miss the panel and line up for the autograph.

However, it seemed people sacrificed one and didn’t get either in the end. Now, in no way am I blaming any of this on the staff as I know this was the decision of the manager of Yui Horie. In fact, the whole reason the second autograph session was extended by 15 minutes was because Anime Expo staffs fought hard for it for the fans seeing how long the line still was. Though in the end I was disappointed not being able to get her autograph being only behind a dozen people before getting cut off, I still had the pleasure of seeing her in person.

To end this I will say that even though many fans were disappointed, Anime Expo at least was very careful with how it treated its guests this year. For example when Horie’s first autograph session was cut early by 20 minutes, take into the fact that she was still in Japan’s timezone where she should normally be sleeping. It would be unfair to push her too much and make her feel unnecessarily uncomfortable. For me, I had a very good experience with autographs this year at Anime Expo. This wasn’t because of my status either since I was treated the same as everyone else as I lined up normally like any other fan and waited patiently for my turn. I hope next year Anime Expo will bring back equal number of guests as this year and I do have my fingers crossed for the cast of K-On! since it was licensed by Bandai. We’ll see what happens next year!

Megumi Nakajima

As weird as it is, I really want to single out and dedicate a section to Megumi Nakajima. As people may or may not know, she is the seiyuu of Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier and people LOVED her at Anime Expo this year. One of the main reasons of me bringing her up is because I really see her as a fan-oriented individual. In this industry, it can be easy to forget those who are important and those who are responsible for making that person who he is: the fans. Thus, it is important to show equally how much he or she love the fans just as much as they love that individual. Her autograph session was a prime example of this.

On Saturday, Nakajima-chan had an autograph session from 1:30PM to 2:30PM. However as long as she wasn’t tired, she was free to continue as long as she desired and that was exactly was she did. For an additional 2 hours until nearly her NEXT autograph session at 5PM, she signed everyone’s autograph until the next crowd of people for the 5PM autograph started to line up. When it was my turn to bat, I asked the translator to please thank her for staying for her fans. She replied thanking people like me for staying just as long. It’s highlights like this that really touched me and gave me joy in going to these conventions and meeting people like her. Did I mention she was also a great singer? Keep reading =P

Concerts at Nokia Theater

Concerts at Anime Expo took place for the first time at the Nokia Theater and both the outside not to mention the inside of the theater were simply beautiful. Of the many concerts that took place there, I was able to attend the May’N and Megumi Nakagima concert as well as the MELL concert. For both events, there was a slight delay with the start time but they were both well worth the wait.

May’N and Megumi Nakajima Concert

As the lights dimmed, the crowd began to roar as May’N, the song vocalist of Sherly in Macross Frontier, stepped into the stoplight to get the show going. Song after song, fans cheered and glow sticks flew into the air as the excitement and sound of the people grew more and more with each passing song. Half way through the concert, May’N stepped off the stage as Megumi Nakajima took the stage to remind everyone how awesome Ranka Lee was. As the concert drew to an end, May’N stepped back onto the stage and sang alongside with Megumi Nakajima as the whole Nokia Theater shook and thundered into the finale.

What I really liked about both of these singers was that one seemed to be the complete opposite of the other. For example, May’N really stirred up the crowd with her very outgoing and forward personality while Megumi Nakajima had almost a cute, gentle and innocent side to her (which I guess makes sense as her character Ranka Lee). For example when she sang Aimo, the whole crowd became silent as the piano melody harmoniously flowed and blended in with her soothing voice, reaching the ears and hearts of everyone who was there. At that moment, I was able to proudly say that my breath was taken away. All in all, I loved this concert and it was probably one of the best one I’ve seen to date.This was one concert I wouldn’t mind watching again and for those who missed out, pray you can catch it somewhere somehow.

MELL Concert

MELL is no stranger to anime fans as she is known for songs such as Red Fraction which is the opening theme song in the very popular anime Black Lagoon and Proof which is the ending theme song of Hayate no Gotoku. What I really liked about MELL was how she was not only a singer but also as an on-stage performer as witnessed in her opening act which really gave me this strange feeling of almost watching the start of a magic show. However, that later tapered off as she got to the heart of the action by starting strong with none other than Red Fraction and she continued to keep the crowd on their feet by banging out song after song. Half way through the concert, MELL stopped to speak with the audience as she became emotional at the sight of the large number of her supporters. It was truly a touching moment as she gave a shout out to everyone who was there. I think I even saw her tearing up a little which in turn, almost made me shed some manly tears myself. It was an amazing concert despite the delay in start time and it was worth staying until the very last song. Thank you for coming MELL!

Cosplay

It goes without saying that an convention without anime cosplayers just isn’t complete. But fear not, Anime Expo lacked nothing but that this year. Though I have to admit I have seen a decline in cosplayers throughout the country in my previous attendances at Anime Boston and FanimeCon and strangely just in the last year, I was still very much surprised to see the creativity and hard work by those who did put the time and effort to create the costumes and cosplay as characters they love at Anime Expo. I really encourage those who have never cosplayed to do so in the future. Why not represent the character you love right? Go out there and diversify this community. With every convention, I want to focus on 5 cosplayers I really took a liking to be it for their choice of character or creativity. That said though these 5 cosplayers were my personal favorites, I want to thank everyone for going to Anime Expo and cosplaying with the deep affection for that certain character. You people are one of the main reasons why there is diversity in this community to go above and beyond not as just simply fans of anime but also contributors. Keep up the good work and give yourselves a well deserved round of applause.

Afterthoughts

This was the third Anime Expo that I’ve attended so far and I have to admit, it was by far the most fun that I’ve had. So far, no other convention that could even rival the number of guests of honor this year. Though the stories from 2007 about Anime Expo had been sealed away and suppressed by many, I could say that I’ve seen a change with how Anime Expo treated the guests this year.

For example as mentioned, this year was the first year of a red carpet ceremony for the guests of honor, something that was very appropriate as these people did deserve every bit of attention for everything they’ve done for the subculture. In return, I felt as if the guests also enjoyed their time at Anime Expo. With May’N and Megumi Nakajima’s as well as MELL’s concert, I saw the strong support fans had as they threw their hands in the air, tightly gripping glow sticks on each hand and their eyes sparkling with joy with each passing song.

Throughout the panels and autograph sessions, I saw fans laugh and smile as they had their chance to speak to one of the many specials guests of honor who came all the way as far as Japan. From these guests, I saw a new star in the seiyuu world who showed us just how truly she cared about her fans by staying nearing 2 hours longer than her scheduled autograph session. From everything so far, it seems as if most of my writing has been focused on guests of honor but the fact is, that is exactly what I am doing.

Though the dealer’s room was fun, artist alley was exciting and arcade was a great way to pass time along with everything else there was to do at this mammoth convention, I felt as if people sometimes overlook those responsible for making what we love take shape. Directors, voice actor/actresses, animators, character designers and whoever else. Those people should never be overlooked and I feel that that was one of Anime Expo’s most defining features: a place where a bridge of appreciation between them and the attendees could be made. This doesn’t mean other conventions don’t do the same, but Anime Expo seemed to focus heavily on guests and I applaud them for that. In summary, both the guests and fans were great this year and I hope the bond and appreciation will grow stronger in the up coming years.

Another thing that’s been buzzing is the new CEO of Anime Expo, Michael Lattanzio, as well as his fleet of staff members. Both him and the staffers have done a good job this year and Anime Expo was able to continue making history as a result. Though however I did get an attitude from a few staffers where one even threatened to pull my badge, most were very helpful this year and in general, better compared to the last. For example, I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the assistant manager of guests of honor, Larry, as he kept me very well informed with when, what and where things will start. For many staffers this was their first year and given, a learning curb through many years to come where humility, respect and dedication will all be progressively strengthened. As a previous staffer myself of another convention, I know of the stresses and hardships and even more so for those at Anime Expo, the biggest convention in America. Therefore it is my hope in the future that these new staffers will continue to grow, to learn and to support Anime Expo as its backbone.

With that, another Anime Expo has concluded as tens of thousands of fans who littered the floor of the convention center return home, anticipating and planning the route of attack for next year. Though there are many events to attend at Anime Expo be it the exhibit hall, concerts, cosplay gatherings or whatever else, we are ultimately here as fans and individuals, or should I say as a collection, with an appreciation for this subculture and everything it offers to us. Anime Expo this year has done just that by expanding our knowledge and respect for not just the anime that we watch but also those who take part to create them as well as those who bring them to the States for us to enjoy. I truly believe that Anime Expo is a major cornerstone in bridging not only anime but also the subculture which revolves around it. Anime Expo has been impressive this year and I could only imagine the surprises it will bring in the future. But until then, keep your dedication as a fan stronger than ever. Until next year, ADIOS!

FanimeCon 2010 Has Arrived!

FanimeCon took place this year again at the beautiful McEnergy Convention Center in downtown San Jose. Like every previous years, this year’s convention was a very special event for old and new fans alike. People around the world traveled to see what FanimeCon had to offer this year and this year was anything but disappointing with a huge line up of guests of honor ranging from musicians to seiyuus to popular video game creators and character designers.

For a convention that started with nothing but a few hundred people, it has grown almost exponentially to what it is now and what many take pride in help running and going to. The “By Fans, For Fans” motto of this convention is what fuels the diversity of the people, events and guests and every year, the proof is not in the number but the types and diversity of attendees. Like every year before I proceed, I would like to thank the hard working staffs who make this convention happen and for us to enjoy. Some work tirelessly as they sacrifice their own free time and even sleep just so this convention can happen for us to enjoy. I’m sure each and every staff member in one way or another take pride in being an integrated part of this fandom. Vice versa, we as loyal fans also take pride for everything that’s done for us by them. But without further delay, I proudly present FanimeCon 2010.

Swap Meet

A few years back, Swap Meet was somewhat of an experimental event. Questions lingered with whether or not dealers might be upset with its presence. However as the years passed by, swap meet has thrived and has proved to be one of the biggest and most unique event of FanimeCon. This year, hundreds if not thousands of fans set up and gathered to sell and buy. It was unbelievable what one was able to find there, but taking into the consideration of the huge diversity of people who attended FanimeCon, it should in some way be expected. In comparison to last year, the crowd was moving much more fluid without the massive cluster of people who were not able to move past the E-Gaming tables near the wall. Things were set up swiftly and smoothly and overall, I saw many happy faces. For me, I would say this year’s swap meet was by far the best in terms of what was sold and like last year, the majority of my money was shelled out just at this one event. With those things said, a few things came up with the swap meet that I would like to briefly address.

One of the biggest complaint by fans this year is the overlapping of FLOW’s concert with Friday’s swap meet event. Many felt unhappy about the fact that they had to choose between one or the other. The fact of the matter is however that at conventions especially bigger ones like FanimeCon, overlapping of events is bound to happen and not everyone can be satisfied. From a swap meet seller’s point of view, I can in some way see that person having a bit more of a disadvantage since someone who’s just browsing could simply go to part of each event at separate times. However again, the question is what’s more important: a concert by a famous Japanese band who’s featured their songs in popular anime such as Code Geass and Eureka 7 or making a lot of money? I guess the answer depends on each individual but I have an idea what the majority of the fans chose. Another issue I want to address goes back to my previous point about dealer’s possibly being upset that their business could be dimished by people who plan to save their for money solely to spend at the swap meet. However, I see it as an opportunity for fans to take advantage by making money so they actually have money to spend at the dealer’s room. At Anime Boston, I commented on the fact that their swap meet was very small and would benefit if it was more developed and given attention to. However FanimeCon is a prime example that both swap meet and dealer’s room could be successful. On a final note, I hope to see even more fans return next year to share with us not only their merchandise but also a piece of their memory and their record as dedicated anime fans.

Dealers Room

There is both a good and a bad for the dealer’s room this year at FanimeCon. The bad is that the economy still sucks and the US currency conversion to Japanese yen is still amazingly horrible for importing just about everything. The good is that dealers are still true to the fans and came to support the subculture by providing the things we want. Some dealers are veterans of FanimeCon while others are fairly new. However, all of them, With a smile on their faces displayed their products with pride as attendees passed up and down the aisles looking for certain items to fancy their specific taste. For me, I was pleasantly surprised with a few items such as the imported figures by Toyslogic and Toylet. Also, another booth sold a set of Clannad plates that I really wanted which, unfortunately, was a little out of my budget. Nevertheless, I have not been disappointed by the dealer’s room though I have to admit I really wanted to find a Railgun t-shirt. For those K-On fans though, there was an abundance of their products.

Speaking with a few dealer’s this year, many were pleased with the treatment the staffs at FanimeCon provided for them and I was even told they were treated like ” Kings” in comparison to other conventions. Hearing that made me feel at ease since dealers are no different than the general attendees. People need to realize that those who sell to us were and are still a fan of anime and this subculture and they deserve every bit of respect like the rest of us. They started out as anime fans and many ended up being a seller years down the line as their way of trying to reach out to other new generation of fans by making certain products accessable to people who aren’t able to easily obtain them. Unfortunately, many sellers were not able to enjoy what the convention had to offer because they were tied down. Speaking personally, I would love to run an anime store in the future. However, it would be a shame to forget and lose in touch with myself as a fan that made me who I am today. My hope is that dealers next year can enjoy the convention and the many events there will be. I thank each and every dealer for coming this year and I hope to see their return next year and beyond.

Aksys, Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori

Back for a second year in a row was Aksys in the dealer’s room to demo their new line up of games to come, mainly Blazblue: Continuum Shift and Death Smiles. For many, Blazblue: Continuum Shift was something new for people who have never been exposed to its style of fighting and art. For others, it was an opportunity to take a glance at and play the sequel to the previous Blazblue game, Calamity Trigger. Again, their set up at FanimeCon looked very nice despite the small amount of space that was provided. Merchandise ranged from comics books, older hit Aksys games and even a limited edition Blazblue fighting stick. Nearing the end of the convention, Aksys even auctioned off a large banner of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger that was used in Anime Expo 2009 from what I remember. Overall, I would say many had fun whether they watched or played the games Aksys set up. I was really glad to see their return in promoting games that aren’t very accepted or even known by the general public. Keep up the good work Aksys and keep bringing over games for people to experiment and fall in love with.

Along with Aksys this year came the creators of Guilty Gear and Blazblue. Both Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori held autograph sessions and a panel for the loyal fans and the curious. Though I haven’t played Guilty Gear too much, I have played Blazblue and I love the game for its music, character design and even the background art. Though the Guilty Gear series is done and over with, I already can’t wait to see what Mori-san has to offer with the third installment of Blazblue be it the storyline or characters buffed or nerfed. I hope to see them again in the future and I hope they will keep supporting the fandom.

Artist Alley

Before I start, I would just like to say wow to this year’s artist alley. Of all the conventions I’ve attended from as far as I remember stretching from the West Coast to the East coast, this year’s artist alley at FanimeCon was just simply amazing and probably the best that I’ve seen in a long time. Just to make it clear, when I say ‘best’, I am in no way putting down previous years. It wasn’t a change in quality of art work that made this year my favorite year. Making a judgment based on that fact would be too narrow-minded. No, it was the creativity of each artist for their booth and what they sold that made this year’s artist alley most fun and memorable. What I mean by that is that there were so many diverse things artists offered this year outside of just drawings and prints. For example, how about some Touhou t-shirts in which I was lured into buying? Or how about miniature Gamecube console decorations made out of little plastic beads? Better yet, how about large sushi roll pillows? Artist after artist, I was very impressed with what I saw and again, especially with how creative most went about their booths and merchandise. Besides, isn’t creativity one of the biggest factors for an artist? On top of that, the type of artwork followed closely with the newer anime and games that are out currently in Japan and America so finding more recent things like K-On, Sora no Woto and Railgun wasn’t too big of an issue. Keep up the good work prospective artists and don’t stop what you love doing!

E-Gaming and Arcade

Compared to past year, the layout for E-Gaming this year was simply beautiful. The tables were organized and the games provided by e-gaming was overall for both old and new generation gamers. Last year, I remember ranting about how Rock Band 2 wasn’t made available for the general public to play. But guess what, this year the game was set up in all it’s glory. Sadly for me, I lost all my finger pressing skills on the guitar but I was nevertheless glad to see crowds of people tentatively on standby waiting for a chance at the spot light. But like last year, there was a game I was disappointed with not being present and that was Blazblue: Calamity Trigger. Though I understand the fact that Aksys will be setting up a booth to promote Blazblue: Continuum Shift along with an arcade, there should at least be a tournament for Calamity Trigger. With the excuse that there are many other tournaments, I still don’t understand how a very popular fighting game that was released less than a year ago was not part of the list of tournaments while games from ages back made it to the scene. Other than that, e-gaming was good from what I saw. I know e-gaming staffs work very hard since it’s opened 24 hours. Some get single digit hours of sleep throughout the duration of the convention so I want to thank them
for all their efforts and hard work.

Like the layout of E-Gaming, the arcades were set up really nicely and organized. The choice of games was excellent ranging from the new Aksys fighting game Blazblue: Continuum Shift to DJ Max Technika. Along with new games came older games and even fun, obscure games not many know about such as Mushihime. Both of these factors made arcades this year feel more complete. In addition, the prices for the arcades were very reasonable. On that note, this year FanimeCon recruited a new head of arcades and he has worked very hard to make sure these games made their appearances for the people to enjoy. A job well done and I hope to see what his big plans are for the up coming years.

Stage Zero

FanimeCon delivered with Stage Zero this year again as it sets itself up to be one of the most diverse attractions. Many events happened on the stage ranging from the Maid Cafe’s performance, Halko Momoi’s live concert, Yukie Dong’s performance, Reuban Langdon’s buttwhoopin’ in Street Fighter IV and beyond. Whether one needed some down time in-between other events or just a place to rest his legs, stage zero was constantly providing entertainment. Many of the events that happened on stage zero were done by the fans for the fans. As previously mentioned, Halko Momoi who was last year’s FanimeCon’s special Japanese guest of honor, returned again this year to put up a show on stage with the maids of the maid cafe. Also, Yukie Dong who has been to many cosplay gatherings and an avid support of her fans, bravely put up a show by singing songs from popular and new anime titles. And yes, good old Reuben Langdon was back to show off his Street Fighter IV skills but this time, I heard that he got much better compared to last year (since I remember him losing to Abel more than just once). The charity auction, like every previous years, also took place on stage zero to raise money for the unfortunates. Stage zero is truly the life of the party of FanimeCon and I hope to see the same dedication by the fans next year to put up even more shows for us.

Masquerade

Like every anime convention, masquerade is an event for the fans to be creative and put up a show as characters they cosplay as. It is both a creative and cooperative process by the fans to deliver originality in entertainment. Though I did enjoy some of the acts during masquerade such as the infamous Super Yaoi Brothers, I was still in a way dissapointed by some of the cosplays. At times, I wasn’t even able to relate with some of the characters since I didn’t know who some of the characters cosplayed even were if they were even anything at all. In a way, I was hoping to see cosplayers who were more in tuned with current anime and games out in Japan. Though I have nothing against Ghibli, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Bleach, One Piece, Pokemon or any of the more mainstream anime out there, I did in some way wish some of the acts were a bit more diverse and reached out to not just casual anime fans. I mean, how awesome would it be to see a Kuroko parody of the anime Railgun and her constant ” oneesama~~!” cries? Or how about some K-On skits which are not even hard to think of in terms of being original. Heck, times like this I even miss the overly done Haruhi skits back in FanimeCon 2008. With all that’s said, I want to not send out the wrong idea that I don’t appreciate the hard work and efforts of the people who performed. I am also in no way saying every skit must be relating to anime or some game. However, I do hope that people who put up acts that are relating to anime can dig a little more and maybe find something new, fun and exciting to share with everyone in the following years. It brings closer the diversity that is of masquerade by catering to fans of all ages and preferences. Still, good work with masquerade this year and all your efforts to putting up a show for us.

Maids Maids and more Maids! Maid Cafe and Maids on Stage Zero

What started only four years ago has turned into one of the most popular attractions of FanimeCon under the guidance of the recent head of maid cafe, Jun, and the rest of the maids and staffs who worked with her. The set up with the table was organized and beautiful with ballons stringed to the center of each and the overall layout was very nice which created a comfortable atmosphere. As people ordered their food, they were greeted by lovely maids before being seated by them. Whether it was one person or a group of people, there was a maid available for whoever. After the meal, the maids would keep the customer company and play a small game with them or even spark a genuine chat. When the customer was ready to leave, they had a choice to take a picture with the maid/s who served them. One of the complaints I hear from people were the prices for the food and dessert. However, people need to understand that the price was according to convention pricing and not any more expensive than anything else bought at other locations of the convention. Also keep in mind that these maids and staffs did get paid for their hardworks and services. They were there for the fans and they enjoyed seeing people appreciate an aspect of this subculture they provided.

One of the things I love the most about the maid cafe at FanimeCon was that it tried to retain the authenticity of what a maid cafe was like in Japan. Even the music played in the background were selected carefully. The maids at the maid cafe should not be underestimated in terms of what their duties were either. They were not only there to serve people food but they were also performers and entertainers. For example, the maids put up a grand show on stage zero with Halko Momoi as they brought the whole crowd to life as they sang and danced. The time and effort put in by them were countless and I want to thank them for being a prime example and proud representatives of the motto ‘ By Fans, For Fans’ of FanimeCon. I also want to praise, again, the hard work by the staffs of maid cafe as I know some of them barely slept at all preparing for the many events during the convention on top of running the cafe itself. Thank you for diversifying FanimeCon and please put up a great show for us again next year.

MusicFest: FLOW and LM.C

By now, I am assuming people have already read the little rant about having FLOW and Friday’s swap meet overlap so I don’t think there is any need to go more into it. However I do have to mention that yeah, of course I went to FLOW’s concert between the two choices =P. At the moment, I’m still amazed with how the staffs of MusicFest pulled off getting these two major bands to come to FanimeCon. First it was the announcement of LM.C who’s done the theme songs of the anime Red Garden but then when FLOW was announced, everything hit the roof. They are known for their songs in very popular anime such as Code Geass, Naruto and Eureka 7. With the actual set up and start time, things went without delay and everything seemed to have gone smoothly. Fans were lined up long before the start of the concert to get the best seats in the house. Their popularity was not without base and the whole-hearted appreciation at the concert was seen by the uproar of the fans cheering and standing up song after song. Even I stood up and got into the mood for a few songs and at one point, I made a phone call during one of the songs for a close friend who wasn’t able to be there with me. Aside from a slight ringing in my ears after the concert which was most likely due to how close I sat, everything was very enjoyable. The only negative thing I’ve heard so far was the LM.C autograph session which happened only in a single time block on the last day of the convention with lines that stretch and snaked around the second level of the Hilton into who knows where. Other than that, I thinkmany people had a one in a life time experience or experiences with these two very hard to see bands perform live. I think MusicFest staffs did a bang up job this year and I thank them for their hard work. My hope is still to see Kotoko live but who knows. Maybe it will happen one day.

Halko Momoi Returns!

Yep, you guessed it! Halko Momoi returned to FanimeCon for a second year in a row. As people may or may not know, Momoi-san has taken on various roles relating to what we enjoy such as a seiyuu for video games and anime. In addition, she has released numerous discographies and has even written a book called Akiba Love which is an autobiography. Last year, Momoi-san performed a concert during MusicFest and now this year, she was back for round two since her fans could not get enough of her and vice versa. Most importantly as a self-proclaimed otaku, she came back as a fan and to simply just have fun. Instead of a large concert like last year, Momoi-san performed on stage zero and set up a Momoi Quest where fans would gather clues at each of her events for the ultimate prize of eating with her at the maid cafe while being served by the lovely maids. During her performance on stage zero, she sang and danced with the maids of the maid cafe and brought the crowd to life as she even ran into the audience to get them even more into the groove of things. With that, there were a few things I noticed about FanimeCon and their guest relationship which I greatly respect, one of which was how laid back and hands off the staffs of the convention were. What I mean by that is how much freedom Momoi-san had to do what she wanted to do. We as fans want to see our guests interact with us as much as possible for we are not just attendees but supporters of the things they contributed to everything but not limited to the fandom. As it was obvious, Momoi-san had just as much fun performing as we had watching. Secondly, I noticed how much respect the people of FanimeCon, both staffs and attendees, had for Momoi-san. What this indicates is that people are opened to new things at the convention as new doors open to possibilities people can take with their appreciation for the subculture. This shows the maturity of the majority of the fans of FanimeCon as compared to for example Anime Boston when Mimura-san performed at her performance only to be ridiculed and heckled by several people. Momoi-san also had an autograph session in which it was fully packed and went until the end of the session. Two, not one item, was even allowed to be signed by her and even a photo could be taken with her. All in all, having Momoi-san at FanimeCon and seeing how much fun everyone had proves how much in tune and just how much the people of FanimeCon care about the guests that are brought over. From what I know, there has been nothing but positive things by her about this convention and I for one don’t doubt any word that she’s said regarding that. In future hopes, I of course want to see her come back to FanimeCon and even bring along a few of her friends to experience what fans can do in return as a way to show their appreciation. FanimeCons close ties with her is a strong sign that the convention can treat their guests right and that respect for them can be met. To the staffs and attendees, thank you for presenting FanimeCon. Finally, I had the opportunity to interview Momoi with about two dozen questions so please look for it at the end of the report.

Cosplay

Cosplay is one of those things that’s almost a must and to be expected at any anime convention. Regardless of the reason a person decides to cosplay as whatever character, it is nevertheless good to see fans show that affection. This year at FanimeCon, I saw many diverse cosplayers ranging from both mainstream anime to those newly released in Japan. Though I saw a decrease in cosplayers of certain anime series, I saw a boom in other cosplays especially Vocaloid and Touhou cosplayers to the point that the gathering of the latter was causing a “traffic jam” near the main entrance of the convention. Still, I hope to see more cosplayers in future FanimeCon conventions with people who cosplay as something new and exciting. Though I have never cosplayed, I do know for a fact that cosplaying is a very special not to mention a time consuming thing for some people. Though there are many purposes that people have for cosplaying as previously mentioned, one should keep a clear and strong motivation in mind that as a cosplayer, you are representing the character and you love and as you most likely see something special in that character. While this may be the case for many, some seem to solely want to grab attention by cosplaying which isn’t exactly a sin, but I hope they will find a more meaningful purpose down the road. But away with the rant and let’s get on to some pictures! As with every year, I want to dedicate five slots for cosplayers who I really took a liking to be it for their creativity or choice of character. Keep in mind it does not mean every other cosplayer does not deserve recognition for his hard work and efforts to put together and contribute to another important aspect of FanimeCon. You not only share with us your costumes but most importantly, you also show us your passion and your dedication as fans.

Afterthoughts

For the last seven years that I’ve attended FanimeCon, not one year has been boring with important and meaning memories I took with me that has been carried over to the next. The friends that I made, the events that I took part in and even the smiles I have seen on the faces of people walking past me will be with me for the rest of my life. I have come to terms with this convention the fact that it will only grow stronger as the years pass. For those who created this convention as mearly fans of the subculture, they have provided the gateway and the opportunity to share with the rest of the world our passion and our dedication in what we love. For that, you have the highest honor and I hope those take pride in themselves for that. Thus from then on, FanimeCon has always been faithful to the motto ‘By Fans, For Fans’ as it has proven year after year. Though FanimeCon has increased in numbers, the most important thing that this convention has gained are fans with the deep appreciation and understanding of the fandom in which were original created and ultimately upheld by us. As one look around the convention, it is easy to see the big gap in the difference of age between attendees. However, that is the ideal convention I envision where the collection of people is not of a specific group with a specific preference but of anyone regardless of age or sex who has the appreciation for this subculture. FanimeCon has proven to those who are young and those who are old that this convention can be fun for anyone and everyone. That is a sign of diversity and integrity. Though there are several things I usually go into in my afterthoughts about things I disliked, I would rather skip that and allow people to step back and take a look at what they take part in when stepping into the convention center. You as a fan represent yourself including us and is a part of this fandom equally with the person next to you. Please realize what you do and reflect on them carefully. The increase in the number of attendees means there will undoubly be those who are new to anime and everything surrounding it. Though there are many types of people going to FanimeCon, please don’t forget to be respectful to not only those around you but also to yourself. In other words, please rethink random glomping, running around carelessly jumping up and down the elevators and etc. I remember this year at Masquerade when random people were trying to start up the whole marco/polo deal that was seen at Anime Boston. However, that only got so far as some called them out to stop the nonsense. By mentioned these things, I don’t mean people can’t have fun but one also can’t have fun while neglecting the responsibility to be representatives of FanimeCon.

So again, another year as passed for us and many memories created and people met. For many, FanimeCon 2010 went just as fast as it came from the crowded line at registration to the last and final day of the convention when people were saying their farewells with hugs and waves. For some on the ride home, many words were exchanged between people while others sat silently reflecting upon the precious four days filled with joy and excitement. Days will return to normal again and life will move on from morning to night, through the weekdays to the weekends and from month to month. However as each day passes, keep those memories of FanimeCon close to you. Remember the excitement of registering for the badge, remember the smiling faces of people who walk pass you, remember the wonderful events and most importantly remember who you are when you set foot into the convention center once again. You are FanimeCon. Until next year, sayonara!

Interview With Halko Momoi -

Q: This is your second time at FanimeCon, so what brings you back again this year compared to last?
A: This time it’s not a normal concert but it’s a stamp rally.

Q: What are some of your favorites events and what are some of the events are you looking forward to FanimeCon this year?
A: The singing and dancing of Fanimaid.

Q: How would you compare the Otakus at FanimeCon and the otakus back in Japan?
A: All otakus are similar to each other.

Q: If an otaku were to vist Akihabara, what stores would you recommend him to check out in Japan?
A: It’s really hard but if you walk around in Japan, you’ll find something interesting.. I think it’s different for everyone.

Q: Is there any place in the world that you have not visited but want to visit in the future?
A: I’ve been attending different cons around the world. I want to Brazil in France because I knows there are otaku there.

Q: What place is your favorite weather.
A: California has the best weather!

Q: Are there any other favorite foods outside of Japanese cuisine outside of Japanese food.
A: *In English* Hamburger! American Hamburger is very big and tasty.

Q: If you had to pick the most moe-iest character from an anime or game, what would they be?
A: Pac Man!

Q: If you had to classify moe as any type of food, what would it be and why?
A: Ohh!.. Ramen! There are lots of types of ramen like lots of different people.

Q: Doreamon has been around a very long time. How many episodes have you seen of that show?
A: I’ve been watching Doreamon since I was two years old.

Q: Which anime character that you were a seiyuu for did you connect the most with?
A: Anise and Komugi

Q: If you could be any anime character, who would you be?
A: Komugi so I cosplayed as her.

Q: What is your favorite role of all the working roles that you’ve done did you enjoy the most?
A: Going to anime conventions and seeing all the people

Q: How is your Seiyuu Relationship Between Sakura Nogawa (Nemu) Yui Horie (Kotori Shirakawa) and Yukari Tamura (Sakura Yoshino) during you voice acting takes while creating Da Capo 1st Season TV series?
A: I remember the show from six to seven years ago. Our relationship was very good.

Q: What are your favorite video games?
A: I like old video games. I like the Angry Video Game Nerd and his reviews.. I liked his review on Friday the 13th.

Q: Are there any cosplays that you are particularily looking for and have you seen it?
A: Transformer cosplays with all the parts on and I couldn’t see the face. I want to see big cosplays and BIG swords because those are banned in Japanese cosplays.

Q: Was there an arcade at FanimeCon you are looking forward to playing?
A: Dance Dance Revolution because we don’t have that anymore.

Q: If you were to see Yamaga-san in the arcade room, would to challenge him to a dance dance revolution high score competition?
A: *laughs* I can’t imagine Yamaga-san playing it but I would challenge him.

Q: If there were ever a battle between giant Mamori and giant Tokunaga, who would you be rooting for and who do you think will win the fight.
A: Don’t fight! Draw!

Q: Is there anything you would like to say to you fans at FanimeCon?
A: Thank you for having me back again!

So it Begins: Anime Boston

Anime Boston took place this year from April 2rd to April 4th at the beautiful Hynes Convention Center. As a first time attendee of a major East coast anime convention, I was very excited to see what there was in store. My previous experiences were mainly with major West coast anime conventions such as Fanimecon and Anime Expo, with the exception of Anime Iowa, so it was an opportunity for me to not only incorporate myself into a new group of people of the fandom but also gain a better understanding of the different types of anime fans that stretched across the country. As with every convention report, I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the staffs and volunteers who make Anime Boston happen. Without their efforts, these conventions would cease to exist but more about this will be covered near the end of the report. For now though, on with the show!

Registration

Registration is a very frustrating thing especially if one failed to pre-register or in my case, not pre-registering and arriving close to noon due to an exam early in the morning. Fortunately despite the fact that I was backed up all the way to the second floor, I claimed my badge on the 1st floor in just a short hour of wait. Part of this was due to the abundance of registration booths and the other due to the professionalism of the staff members who directed people accordingly and kept people organized through crowds of convention and non-convention goers. Pre-registration also had a line of its own and was moving even more efficiently as a result of a barcode scanning badge system. Overall, registration was smooth, well planned and professionally organized.

Artist Alley

Artist Alley at Anime Boston took place on the third floor in Ballroom B and C where dozens of aspiring artist traveled from across the country to share their works with their fellow anime fans. Overall, I saw plenty of originality in what was presented. In fact, I actually enjoyed what I saw to the point where I spent more money that day there than in the dealers room. That said however, I would like to see a little more art work relating to actual anime in the direction of things that are a bit newer and niched. For example though there were plenty of popular US anime art works such as Bleach and Naruto, I would like to see artists cater to the fans who were also in tuned with the newer anime titles out in Japan. Nevertheless, I was still very impressed with what I saw at the artist alley and I hope to return next year to see an even grander presentation. Keep up the good work artists!

Dealers Room

In Exhibition Hall A and B was the dealers room and it was anything but small with close to 100 dealers who came from close and far away. Even in this horrible economy where the dollar is weak and fragile, dealers still strive to bring us things we love through the stress of dealing with costly imports. I saw plenty of diverse items ranging from Touhou to K-on on top of merchandise for the general and more casual anime fans. In other words, I liked how the dealers provided a full spectrum of merchandise for the broad range of people. With the dealers themselves, they were very hospitable and courteous. One dealer called me out as I walked passed his booth and offered me a bag when he saw me carrying a figure with my hands while another dealer, coming all the way from Kansas, sparked a conversation with me as I commended their effort and dedication with opening an anime store with all the risks attached.

In the dealers room were also big name anime and video game industries such as FUNimation and Sega bringing for us popular and newly released titles. Currently especially with the US anime industry, a lot has changed in just a short amount of time and it is very sad to see FUNimation as one of the few companies left. I am glad to see them show up at Anime Boston. Overall, the dealers room was solid and I want to thank their support.

Swap Meet

Unlike other anime swap meets that I have been to, Anime Boston really applied the meaning of swap meet. The rule was simple: you trade stuff with one another with no money involved. While that sounded like a fun idea, I did not realistically see how two people could just happen to have something to trade where both were happy with the outcome regardless of how much taste they had in common. What if one happened to want something from another but had nothing to trade for it? I have heard from someone that swap meet was not the way it was this year and that the rule with no money involved was something recent but I could understand how something like selling at swap meet would upset the dealers. On the other hand, one could see it as a way for people to earn some cash so they actually have money to spend at the dealers room.

With the location, I felt that the room used was very small and crowded with limited space and a need for line and crowd control. At times I would almost be pushed to the side of the wall from people going in both directions and at times walking through a pathway as narrow as 2 feet wide.

Given that, swap meet at Anime Boston is still a fairly new event that is being shaped year after year. I myself strongly support swap meet and do not see it as a form of taking business from the dealers as extreme as some suggest. People need money to spend money and what better way to do that than passing on the item to another who sees it as treasure and buying new things with the earned money in the dealers room. For now regardless of whether swap meet should involve money or not, I at least hope to see an upgrade with the location and more importantly the size of the room. Best wishes to the fans that came and I hope to see more show up at the swap meet next year.

Video Gaming

From Rock Band to Street Fighter IV to Beatmania, the video gaming room had many popular and well diverse games to accommodate con-goers as they seek out a place to relax in between events and show off their skills in whoopin butt. The set up was good with LCD TVs for games that looked more presentable with them and CTRs for others which played better on them. Chairs were abundant and TVs were placed on a platform with staffs watching over the consoles on the side. Tournaments were fairly organized from what I could tell with staff members keeping track of the brackets. Controllers were made available to check out if it was needed and people were even able to bring their own equipment to use and plug in for the systems.

Overall, I would say the video gaming at Anime Boston was organized for the most part. The only section that was lacking in the video gaming area were arcades but I also understood the difficulty and cost those things can get especially around this area. Either way, keep up the good work and bring back an even better next year for the fans!

Masquerade

Originality is typical of masquerade and Anime Boston this year was no exception to that. Skits ranged from groups dancing to the beat of Michael Jacksons Smooth Criminal to Vegeta crossing over to the world of the game Portal. One thing I did notice however was that the variety in the cosplay costumes was a bit lacking. Not saying that this was a negative point of masquerade but as someone who loves to see cosplayers from newer shows, it was really something that I looked forward to. For example, it would have been nice to throw a few K-On or Railgun cosplayers in the mix or even from popular and current anime in the US such as Lucky Star, Spice and Wolf, Gurren Lagann and Code Geass. However as with any performance in front of an audience large or small, these people bravely stepped into the spotlight to both have fun and to create something amazing for us to see so I want to acknowledge their efforts. Keep representing the originality that is masquerade. I look forward to it again next year.

Video Game Orchestra

Video game orchestra was founded very recently back in 2008 by Shota Nakama but has seen a drastic jump in popularity and is well received for their diversity and for the more obvious reason of playing awesome music from a variety of video game titles. As someone who both plays an instrument and loves video games, the video game orchestra main event for me was on the level of eating a Girl Scout Chocolate Mint Cookie dipped in saturated chocolate sauce. Yes, this event was just that amazing?

Seating for VGO started an hour early and by the time the pre-event show began, the room was already filled to the rim. After a short while, the band members came up to stage and started to tune their instruments. Following a quick introduction by Mr. Nakama, the video game orchestra began to fill the room with such beautiful and harmonious sounds that left me sitting there in awe. Thousands of people like me sat there silently while they allowed the music to flood into their ears through their auditory canal and finally into their brain as they reminisced about the game they once played recently or long ago. The choice of songs ranged from Chrono Trigger to Mario Galaxy to even Sonic: The Hedgehog. If as little words could be used to describe this orchestra, it would be the follow: simply.. amazing. I would consider this one of the most entertaining and favorite event I have ever attended at an anime convention and I suggest people to take the opportunity whenever they could to attend one of their concerts. I hope they return to Anime Boston next year and I thank them for not only reminding people of how important music is in a video game but also of how important is it to our lives.

Nobuo Uematsu

Yes, this was not a mistake. One of the most if not the most renowned video game composer, Nobou Uematsu made his debut at Anime Boston this year. As a self-taught musician, Uematsu-san has composed music for numerous video games such as Chrono Trigger and the majority of the Final Fantasy franchise. It was an honor for me to see him as I still remember picking up the copy of the Final Fantasy IX OST that he composed almost a decade ago. For me and many other generation of fans young and old, his works gave life to the video games we played and still do to this very day.

At Uematsu-sans panel, the room was filled to the point where people were crowded to the side of the wall and against the door. A line of people curving towards the back of the door formed as fans stepped up one at a time to ask questions. Most if not all the questions were appropriate and some were even personal from aspiring young musicians who looked up to Uematsu-san as their role-model. It was a funny yet touching panel with an undertone of seriousness where everyone in the end felt connected with Uematsu-sans soft spoken words of advice, suggestions and encouragement.

I hope Uematsu-san will return again and I hope he has been touched by the praises of his fans as much as those he has touched himself. And oh according to him if you ever pass out in front of him, apparently beer and not Phoenix Down is the key to being revived. Just a little heads up =P

Reni Mimura

Reni Mimura, a cosplayer singer from Japan, moved to the United States in 2008 in hopes of introducing the idea of maid events, moe~ and her bunny ears to the people on the East coast and beyond :3

Her concert was on the very last day of the convention but a good number of people still showed up to show their support. When the concert started, Mimura-san got the crowd going and even taught them moves to dance along with her. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to learn it before her performance along with her so I was already a pro at it. Overall it was fun and the audience was good for the most part but still, there were some people in the crowd who were immature and laughed at some of the hand waves and cheers due to the differences in culture. I guess it was to be expected but maybe next time an 18+ sign should be used for some of those people for the purpose of preventing immaturity and lack of respect. Keep it up though Mimura-san! You have my support! :3

Cosplay

With every anime convention come fans who dress up as their favorite characters from that certain anime. One thing I did notice at Anime Boston was a lack of them and a lack of diversity within the cosplay community. Either I was not looking hard enough or I did not get lucky but regardless, the majority of the cosplayers were from Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z/GT, Bleach, Naruto and so on and so forth. Of course there were cosplayers from other anime but those were sparse to the point where I was almost trying to chase and hunt a few down (not to sound like a weirdo but it is my job lol). Though anime like K-On, Lucky Star, Toradora and Kannagi are fairly new, I would still have expected to at least see more than one or two of them or if ANY walking around. At times I would even see random cosplays of absolutely nothing relevant to anime or even video game..and maybe even a tree at one point. Also, I tried to look for where the cosplay gatherings were being held with no luck. Bottom of the line is more than being disappointed, I am more hopeful to see a diverse cosplay community arise next year. If there is a character one likes and can relate to, do it. The purpose here is not to get attention, it is to do it because there is something special you see and like in a character you are cosplaying as. Unfortunately for me, I would have cosplayed as Neko-arc but that is a whole different issue dealing with gender(less) stuff =P. But with every convention, I want to acknowledge those who did put the time and effort to making their cosplays so I will dedicate 5 slots to those individuals.

Afterthoughts

All in all, my first Anime Boston experience was in general a very positive one. For example artist alley, dealers room and video gaming were top notch and a good way for anyone to pass time and easily spend the whole day there. I especially enjoyed the video game orchestra and Uematsu-san and I really liked how Anime Boston used the theme of video game music this year by having both guests complement each other. Other guests of honor such as US voice actors and actresses seemed to also have been treated well and they seemed to have enjoyed their time as it was obvious in their special reenactment of the War of the Worlds with Carli Mosier, Chris Ayres, J. Michael Tatum and so forth. Of course these were only major events along with dozens and dozens of other things to do at Anime Boston.

One thing I want to mention and talk about is the staff members of Anime Boston. To start, they acted very professional and that in general kept the convention in order and organized. Main events started in a timely manner and delays were not long if there even were any. Also, they were very hospitable and knowledgeable. At one point I had requested to enter into the balcony area when it was at maximum capacity for the video game orchestra event to take photos in which I was allowed to. Also during Nobuo Uematsu panel session, I was allowed the freedom to move around and even up close to take photos as he was answering questions from his fellow fans. Finally, the coordinator of masquerade had allowed me freedom to move about throughout the event to take the necessary photos that I needed. I would say Anime Boston has an incredible team of staff members as they were professional, understanding and laid-back.

With fans and the attendees of Anime Boston, most were fairly young and I would even say the average age was 15-16 (which I guess is the typical age of anime fans anyways). With that however, I was surprised to see proper convention behavior from them. I saw no glomping ( thank god), I saw no running and no/very little screaming. The Hynes Convention Center joins together with a mall where non-convention people mix in with the crowd. The fact that I saw no police or mall security arresting and calling his mother for public disturbance was a good sign. However, I did find the occasional and sometimes non-stop Marco-Polo fad that people did a bit annoying.

My hopes for Anime Boston in the future for both the convention and fans are to open up to more possibilities in this vast subculture. For example, I look forward to seeing a possible maid cafe, a more promoted cosplay gathering event and invitation of Japanese seiyuu. To the attendees, I hope more will open up and be in tuned with not just what is out and popular in the US (or what is seen on /b everyday) but look into and really appreciate those who make anime happen as those are the ones who contribute to what we love. From there, one can start to appreciate and see anime on a whole new level if he has not already. Until then, farewell Anime Boston 2010 and on with Anime Boston 2011!

[WARNING - not 28.8k modem friendly]

Official Website

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/

Floor Plan

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/events/map.xml

The now fourth annual Blizzard Convention located at the Anaheim Convention Center. I got there at 6:00am. Parking was $10. There was already a line to go in for those who picked up their badges yesterday, Day 0. I waited in the registration line.

7:15am they led us downstairs. Staff members went around with a highlighter checking your IDs and barcode confirmation form.

Barcode scanners

It’s just like waiting in Disneyland!

When you shelf out $125 for a ticket, of course you can expect to get some good stuff in your goody bags. In particular the Raynor vinyl toy which will never be reproduced again. (Mike Morhaime: ‘Never sold except on eBay for the price of a small car.’) Details below:

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/events/goodybag.xml

Last April, Blizzard had an internal contest where over 250 employees designed their own figurine. Other entries:

Kinda reminds me of Build-A-Bear where you can pick up a blank doll and color your own in Hall B.

After registration, there was another line to go inside stretching all the way to the arena outside.

At 9:58am, the gates of hell opened. At the security checkpoint, the guards peered into your bags and purses for any weapons.

Drop by the Official BlizzCon Store on either side of the hall to purchase featured items.

Cute!

Opening Ceremony 11:30am

First on stage was Gary Platner, lead artist of World of Warcraft. He shared his pet peeves (people going LOL, GG). He told everyone to be courteous and mindful. When you exit the gameplay demos, there were feedback stations where you could complete computer surveys of your experience. I noticed staff members were also asking you how you liked the game upon finish. There were over 1700 PCs here.

Next we have the big man himself - Mike Morhaime, Blizzard Entertainment CEO. He didn’t shave haha. Shout out to all the Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. Then the Horde and Alliance. A big welcome.

Mike (referring to the attendees): ‘We outnumber the undergraduate population of UCLA. We root for something cataclysmic to happen.’

Blizzard is really committed to being the ultimate gaming company as well as the ultimate gaming community. At Blizzard Headquarters in Irvine, CA he mentioned that in the waiting room are binders of fan letters which include angry ones. He stressed that he himself has a boss - the fans.

World of Warcraft China is in beta testing.

If you didn’t get in que within 30 seconds, you didn’t get a 2009 BlizzCon ticket. Over 20,000 tickets were sold out in less than a minute. It took 45 minutes to process all the orders. BlizzCon is bigger than half of the countries in the world. Over 50,000 people from over 100 countries were watching BlizzCon on Pay-Per-View.

A big thank you to all service men.

Video of the midnight release of Wrath of the Lich King all around the world (New York, Anaheim, Paris, Mexico, and England). 2.8 million people turn out. Video of BlizzCon 2008 highlights.

November will be the 5th anniversary of the launch of World of Warcraft. 2010 is set for the shipment of Starcraft 2.

Sam Raimi will be directing the World of Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures. There could be a Leroy Jenkins cameo.

Level 80 Elite Chieftain, Ozzy Osbourne, so much in store. We’re part of something epic.

/cheer

Rounding up the pack we have the other big man, Vice President Chris Metzen. It’s Blizzard philosophy to not put out games until they are done. So we have to wait around a little longer than the average bear. He understands that this will hurt sales.

Trailer for Diablo 3 new class - the Tiger Strike Fury of the Monk. You were able to demo the male at BlizzCon.

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/movies/monk.xml

Next, he unveiled the newest expansion World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. He called it ‘earth shattering.’ The planet has diminished resources. Deathwing has returned. As a Ragnarok player, this reminds me of the Revival of Satan Morroc. All of Azeroth has been reforged. Character level now reaches 85. Two new races - Goblins for the Horde and Worgens for the Alliance.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/media/

3:30pm Starcraft2 Battle.net panel

Final Destination: Fanimecon

Yep, you know it! It’s that time of the year again when thousands of eager anime fans line up in front of registration at the McEnergy Convention, waiting for the moment to proudly swing those badges around their necks. But first however, I would like to start off by thanking each and everyone of the staffers and volunteers for contributing their time to make a convention as great as Fanime happen once again. The legacy of this convention lies in the root of that famous saying ” By Fans, For Fans” and as a result, leads to the dedication and sacrifices we see every year. So without any further delay, I give you Fanimecon 2009!

Swap Meet

Ever since I started attending swap meet a few years back, it has always been one of my more favorite events due to the fact it was an opportunity to not only pick up merchandise for cheap but also a chance to meet new people and see the diversity in anime fans through what they sold. Equally, I think fans who set up a spot enjoy taking part in this activity and counting up the bills after a night of hard work. Not to go through with a lecture in economics but especially this year, money was one of those things that was hard to obtain so swap meet offered a glimmer of joy for many individuals who struggled just so they were able attend the convention and make ends meet. I was thoroughly impressed with the turn out this year in comparison with the previous years and of course I picked up a few neat things in the process myself. Also, most of the people who sold at swap meet this year had very fair prices with of course a few exceptions such as a person who tried to sell me a magazine cut out for $5. And as hectic as swap meets usually were, I really have to give the staffs in charge a big hand. On Friday’s swap meet, the area of e-gaming closest to the wall met some heavy jam in the line as people who set up against the wall had around only a meter at most in width for movement between the e-gaming equipments and sellers. About half an hour later however, staff members gained some ground to set up the movement of the line in one direction, making sure that the line was moving efficiently. All in all, swap meet continues to be a great part of Fanime and I hope next years turn out will be even better.

I see Type-Moon stuff. Win.

Do I see something rare in front of me? I think I do.

Dealer’s Room

With the dealer’s room this year, I fully enjoyed it and appreciated their presence. I had a chance to get to know about half a dozen dealers and spoke with them while thanking them for coming despite the harsh economy on top of the set up charge. Certain dealer’s were happy with the outcome in the end while many others were grieving their losses due to the lack of buyers. Either way though, they were there for us in these hard times and I hope people who I hear whining about how “crappy” this year’s dealers were can see how much it hurts them just as much with the current weak global market. It’s natural to not have everything to cater to all 14,000+ fans and they do have to select what to bring wisely. Certain dealers have even told me they were forced to close shop recently so yes folks, it was just that bad for some. In the end, we should be thankful that many even came. Keep in mind that most are fans and a part of this fandom just as much as we are if not more so we should support them as much as we can. Next year will be a better year for everyone so keep that hope strong.

On a side note going back to talking about my fun adventures in the dealer’s room for anime PVCs and the likes, I found the selection of a few dealers such as Toyslogic and Toylet pretty decent (especially Toylet). Honestly if I had a few extra hundred to blow, I would have bought about 5-6 more figures just from them. Monday when the convention was winding down, many dealer’s had fair price drops but again, Toylet made me ‘wow’ with some of the mark downs which was down 40%+ from retail on top of some of them being fairly rare and hard to find. So yes to rephrase again, I personally enjoyed the dealer’s room this year.

People enjoying a little Toyslogic action.

Toylet showing off their Touhou merchandise.

Anime art books? Check.

Artist Alley

Every year, hundreds of inspiring and hot-blooded artist take this opportunity to show off some of their passionate works in artist alley. Surprisingly in the past 6 years of attending Fanime, this was the first that I actually bought stuff here because it was just that impressive and tempting. One of best part of the artist alley for me this time around was the huge diversity in what I saw. Even anime like K-On that came out as recently as two months ago saw light in the form of prints at a few tables. Adding to that was the Type Moon / Touhou table where my money went into buying a “few” buttons ( more like 15..). Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Lucky Star and you name it made it to the artist tables in one form or another. I hope next year will be even more diverse with many old and new talents coming back. Nothing much more to say but great job.

Do want.

Very nice. Makes me want to start drawing again.

Aksys Games and BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger

This year in the dealer’s room, Aksys Games (also well known for it’s work with Guilty Gear) brought forth a new game for people to try called BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger. The set up was perfect for the occasion: three LCD TVs hooked up to 2 Xbox 360s and a PS3, all of which had Hori fight sticks for people to use. A table was left on the side of the TV area to sell other import games and goods. It was a simple set up but it did the trick as people who walked past it were immediately drawn in. Not to go much into details of the game itself, the pleasure of just having Aksys and allowing people to play the game freely a month before the release date was a privilege. It was a chance to introduce people to things other than just Street Fighter or Soul Caliber. I was surprised to see at one point a person, who has never heard of Guilty Gear, made his first purchase with the guarantee that he will mostly likely enjoy the game. I really hope others will follow behind Aksys Games and take the time to make an appearance in a future Fanimecon to help diversify the gaming community that is also closely linked to this fandom. Thanks again for coming Aksys.

Aksys showing off BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger. It’s fun, I know. I was addicted at one point.

E-Gaming and Arcades

When I first heard that e-gaming was going to have Rock Band 2 for staffs to play on day zero, I thought to myself that it would eventually be opened to people to play in the following days of the convention. Too bad I was completely off the mark Friday when I tried to look for any group of individuals slapping drum sticks on a drum set or rocking out with a guitar. Apparently this year one of the most popular social video games that is currently out failed to make its appearance for whatever reason. Though Guitar Hero: World Tour was there, it however lacked the drum set and microphone. From last year’s experience, I guess the way that some of the equipments were abused would turn away anyone from even thinking about lending out his own stuff. Many other popular games were there such as Super Smash Bros Brawl, Halo 3, and Left 4 Dead as well as the appearance of Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Codes, Touhou, Melty Blood and so forth. Finally, I want to acknowledge the fact that e-gaming staffs have a very stressful job as it’s one of the only activities opened 24 hours throughout the 5 day long convention (not including before and after set up and clean up). They put many hours on the line to please the crowd of people. I hope to see improvements from next year along with more social games and better equipments.

Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Codes tournament. Looks pretty heated.

The selection of arcades this year were pretty good overall. There was BlazBlue, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Initial D and so forth including four Street Fighter IV arcades for people to challenge each other on at separate machines. One thing I noticed was that certain games such as BlazBlue and Street Fighter IV required 75 cents when it should only really require 50 cents to play. It was probably hard getting those machines and while it didn’t bother me, I could see why some would be upset with the price. But for me, an extra 25 cents was worth it to play some of the games I loved playing. Either way though, I really enjoyed the arcades and I hope it will be as good as this year.

The new Street Fighter IV machines. Too bad I’m too bad at it to play =P

This guy was on fire when I took his picture. No joke.

Masquerade

Unfortunately for me this year, I was only able to attend the last half of this event. From the remaining of what I saw, most were fairly good. With Masquerade, anyone who had the courage to stand in front of a crowd of thousands of people were winners in the end. Among those, the ones that I enjoyed the most were the Zero no Tsukaima skit along with the skit of Final Fantasy II where the party re-inacted a boss fight scene like one would see in the game. There were many other good ones but again, it was a shame I wasn’t able to make it for the first half of the event. Ric Meyers has also been a great host for Masquerade so far and I hope he continues to be a part of Fanime. I look foward to next year with more unique acts from those passionate and brave people.

Louise, take it easy on Hiraga now. =

Being petrified has never looked so funny until now.

Stage Zero

Of the many events that took place on Stage Zero this year, two major events that I stuck around for really brought life to the crowd and continued to give reasons for Stage Zero as being a major part of Fanime. First, I really enjoyed the Street Fighter IV event where random people in the audience went up to play against Reuben Langdon. People were ‘awwing…’ and ‘oohhhhing!’ the whole way through one special move after another as Reuben got handed about 90% of the time. I found it strange why Ken would be picked all the time, but it’s ok Reuben, we still loved you. Start practicing for next year! Another event was the maid performance by none other than the maid cafe squad. One song after another, one or a team of maids would go up to sing a song that ranged from the good old days of Urusei Yatsura to newer things like Maria Holic and such. Even Halko Momoi couldn’t help herself as she cheered on the side lines and even jumped on stage to sing along. Go Stage Zero, become the life of the party again for us next year!

Don’t lose now Reuben!…err… I mean, don’t lose to Reuben!!!

Seiyuu power!!! GO!

Maid Cafe

Wow.. how can I start this off other than saying that it was one of the most enjoyable and improved events this year! Since 2007 when Fanime first had its maid cafe near the Marriott, I’ve watched it slowly grow and change into a mirror image of what an authentic maid cafe should be like as it was this year. Under the new leadership of Jun, currently the head of the maid cafe, she had done a tremendous job training the maids, both physically and mentally preparing them for this event. I could only imagine the amount of confidence and hard work was needed in order for those maids to carry out the tasks given to them. I also did take part in this year’s maid cafe as a guest so after I ordered my food at the counter, I waited patiently to be seated…

After a few friends and I finished ordering our food and chatted while we waited to be seated, a lovely maid came to us with a bow while she fetched us our food and led us to the correct table. When we arrived, the maid placed a napkin down in front of each us followed by the food on top, bowed again, ask if everything was ‘ok’ and walked away to let us have at it. As I sat there eating, I really noticed first how friendly the atmosphere was around me. People were laughing and smiling and interacting with the maids with various games. They weren’t rushed but instead, allowed to take their time and feel right at home. I also noticed that there were a lot more maids to accommodate for practically every table so no one was left waiting had service been requested. After we ate, our plates were taken and we had a chat with a few maids. We then took a few pictures and left very feeling very satisfied.

I can say I am very proud of everyone who has taken part in the maid cafe this year and again, I applaud everyone for their hard work to make this happen. In just a short 3 years, it has evolved into what it is today and I can only imagine it getting better. Keep it up maids! *thumbs up*

What a nice welcome sign.

Hey wait… why do they get to have two maids at once..*is jealous*

Halko Momoi: Panels, Autograph session and MusicFest

For Fanime this year, we had an additional special guest of honor who is a seiyuu (Japanese voice actress) in anime such as Popotan as the character Mii and Seto no Hanayomi as the character Seto San as well as a singer for various anime opening and closing themes from Prism Ark and Kujibiki Unbalanced. She is also known for being a die-hard and a proud, self-proclaimed otaku who brings life and fun where ever goes. At Fanime, she proved just that.

In total, I went to both of her panels, her autograph session and her MusicFest concert. For both panels, most of the questions asked were very appropriate with the exception of a few sensitive and uncalled for ones. People needed to realize and think before asking such questions like ” who do you think is the better seiyuu” between ‘x’” and so forth since it was not only rude but offensive. Naturally of course, the reaction of the audience paralleled accordingly when those questions were asked. But Momoi-san answered them in a humble way as she kept the line going smoothly. Other than that, the panels were fun and interesting. Momoi-san was very enthusiastic in answering pretty much all of her questions and both panels had a great turn out with questions and people lined up until the very end.

Momoi looking through the Fanime guide book during her panel as a fan refers to something about her in there. I wonder what it could be.

One of Momoi’s ribbon fell off during her panel. Someone stop her from being so cute already..>_<

There were two separate times for Momoi's autograph session: one on Saturday and one on Monday. The one that I went to was on Saturday and people were lined up well before she arrived. Inside the room, Momoi's fans greeted her, thanked her for coming, and left with something that was priceless. Beyond what words were able to describe, it was easy to see just how happy Momoi was in the presence of her dedicated fans coming up one after another.

Momoi signing a fellow otaku’s board.

When my friend and I arrived to line up for MusicFest on Sunday at around 7PM, there was already a long line with the most hardcore Momoist as the very first few people to have arrived long before. Looking down the line, I saw many eager, bright faces waiting to finally enter the concert hall. For some, it was a simple curiosity but for others after days of anticipation and energy exhaustion it was an exuberant event. At around around 7:30PM, the lines began to move and we were off! When we arrived at the entrance, glow sticks were handed out to us since it wasn’t a Momoi concert without them. Armed with 3 glow sticks now ( one around my neck and one in each hand), I quickly snagged a seat as close to the front as possible. A few moments later, we welcomed Makenai who was our first band for the event. Even though it wasn’t Momoi, we snapped our glow sticks to show our appreciation. After a couple of songs, a short preparation was made with the stage. The lights dimmed and Momoi appeared with the biggest smile as hundreds of glow sticks flew wildly in the air to welcome her to Fanime. Song after song, the crowd moved their glow sticks in unison through the conduction of both Momoi and the front most Momoists. Near the end, Momoi invited her very own fans to jump on stage to sing and dance with her as the crowd continued to clap and cheer. It was truly a sight to be seen. After the concert ended, I realized that the hairs on my arms were standing up and the only thing that came to my mind was ‘ awesome’.

When I say glow sticks are important for her concerts… I…mean…business.

Momoi <3! =3

Momoi's appearance and the utmost respect guest relations staffers and fans treated her with proved that the people of Fanime was more than able to properly treating their guests of honor. Even though Japan and Fanime are half way around the world from each other, both Momoi-san and the fans at Fanime felt the connection that was inseparable regardless of distance. I truly believe that Fanime has made a big impact this year and I know Fanime won't disappoint us next year.

Karaoke, Video Rooms and beyond

Although I didn’t spend much time in certain other places such as karaoke or the video rooms, I was glad to see such a big turn out with these events as I passed by. The video selections this year were decent and really took into consideration what the fans suggested on the forums ranging from things that were both new and old. With the karaoke contest, I’m sure this year was no exception to any previous years with brave individuals who put up a good show for the audience because they simply love singing. Though certain events may not be for everyone, they are nevertheless important for the integrity of the entire convention. For example, a friend of mine loves the video room and has told me most of his past conventions were spent enjoying the excellent selection of Asian films. All in all good job, keep up the hard work.

Cosplay

Every year, thousands of people spend their precious time to create costumes and cosplay as their favorite characters. Be it one or many, some spend hours, days, weeks and even months working endlessly to make the right adjustments. Your hard work and contributions every year make Fanime even more fun, diverse, and lively. Thank you for being an integrated part of the fandom and I look forward to seeing even more diverse cosplayers next year.

I will now dedicate 5 picture slots for a few cosplayers I think deserve a spot light this year. Keep in mind it was very difficult as every cosplayer is special and deserves a round of applause in the end.

Rachel from BlazBlue - Calamity Trigger. Hey look! Ragna is over there!…*runs away*

What is the Palmtop Tiger and Minorin up to this time…

Just… beautiful.

Hey Mio :3

I bet you locked Kanako-chan up… didn’t you…>_>

Afterthoughts

Well, it has been 6 years since I’ve attended Fanimecon and there is only one thing I can say: from what I have experienced, this year has been excellent and most memorable for me so far. First off, I want add that whoever came up with the idea to include a mini pocket guide, kudos to you. It was easy to carry and very organized so people were able to keep in touch with certain events so I hope to see that around again next year. Secondly, the boards near Stage Zero with directions and times when certain events were going to take place was also a smart idea. There was also a help desk on the second floor in front of the Hilton and a help desk near Ballroom B (probably even more elsewhere). Overall, I experienced much less confusion this time around. Finally, the guide book provided to me when I picked up my badge looked greatly improved. With registration, I actually stayed in line with a friend on Thursday to realize it took only half an hour to receive his badge. Good job with the registration staff as they are one of the hardest working teams.

Fans this year also seemed to be more mellow and less “hyper” than previous. No, there weren’t people jumping up and down the elevator nor did I see many people screaming and running towards someone else so that was a very good thing. Glomping signs were still being worn but I saw many instances where someone actually ASKED before tackling the living air out of the other. Now there was one thing I do want to focus on known as the so called Wall of Hugs. Personally, I thought it was both annoying and creepy even for me as I walked across it. There were times when people screamed out to me ” HEY YOU WITH THE GLASSES LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG!!!!” with an additional aftertaste of…’blah’ in my mouth as I looked away. Don’t get me wrong like I’m shooting down something just because it was new. It was really about the fact that there was practically no control of the behaviors of some of the people. Some did just stand there with the sign and didn’t make much noise until asked to give a hug. Overall though, one needed to really empathize with more conservative con-goers and act accordingly. Just because it seemed fine for you didn’t mean others will feel comfortable just walking through it. Irrelevant of whether someone in the Wall of Hugs thought people should be less ” stuck up”, it was really more about setting up the appropriate atmosphere that should be as comfortable for as many as possible. For now and the way the Wall of Hugs was conducted this year, I feel it was completely inappropriate and needs to be change should it even happen again.

As people may or may not know Tony Figueroa, the former webmaster of Fanime forums and head of MusicFest, bravely stepped up to become Fanimecon chair for this year and the following years to come. I think it’s only fair for fans who attend Fanime new and old to acknowledge his time in shouldering the legacy of Fanime along with his team of staffers. It’s a great task and I have faith that he and everyone else will propel this fandom to a new level. Oh and by the way, Ric Meyers will most likely have Tony’s back again for next year’s closing ceremony. Can’t mess with that =)

With everything said and done, we once again go back to our every day life of working or studying…or neither. The uneventful mornings and nights when we come back home and ponder what to do next will exist as well. But keep in mind though as each day passes, we have something to look forward to as Fanime 2010 quickly approaches again like a bullet train. Though time can be one’s enemy when realizing there is almost another year, it can also be one’s closest friend when Summer passes and Fall closes in, when Winter is over and then reach Spring, and when the day those doors open for excited fans to pick up those badges with many new people to meet to tie unique interests together once again. As you wait until that time to come, stay in touch with what you enjoy and keep this fandom as close to you as you cherish it. Make Fanime new and exciting once again and stay true to the saying ” By Fans, For Fans”. Until Fanime 2010, adios amigos!

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Official Website

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/

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Floor Plan

http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/maps/floorplan.xml

Hands-On Gaming Red = Diablo 3

Hands-On Gaming Blue = World of Warcraft: Wrath of Lich King

Hands-On Gaming Blue-Green (right most side) = Starcraft 2

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Overall it felt like a continuation from last year’s BlizzCon. Strangest cosplay I saw was Indiana Jones. There was someone wearing a shirt which read: ‘Guns don’t kill people. Magic Missiles do.’

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I noticed that people at the Gamefaqs forums were taking whatever brief bits of information from http://kotaku.com/ quite literally leading to misunderstandings. Hopefully the information I’ve gathered will clarify some points.

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Left at 7:30 in the morning from Fullerton. Took the 57 Freeway south and got off at Katella.

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This year we had free employee parking so long as you presented the pink pass. Otherwise it would have cost you $10/day.

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BlizzCon Goodie Bag

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There were two types - an Alliance bag (blue) and a Horde bag (red). I got an Alliance. It featured a ‘16 inch inflatable divine shield ball, complete with a paladin inside in the midst of hearthing away’ ($10). It took me a good 30 minutes to inflate the thing. The Horde get: ‘Frostmourne. The very name of Arthas’s runeblade strikes terror into hearts across Azeroth. Now it comes to you in a more convenient package, and you don’t even have to travel to Icecrown Glacier to get it. As you go about your daily activities, whether they be raising legions of the undead or just brooding on your throne, carrying this 48 inch inflatable Frostmourne will grant you an extra touch of sinister majesty’.

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Also inside the bag are fun and unique Blizzard-themed trinkets: Diablo health or mana stress ball ($5), pandaren brewmaster bottle opener, zerg creep goop, hand sanitizer, Frostmourne keychain ($5), Warcraft the Trading Card Game starter deck, pen light, tissues, cinnamon mints, notepad. Finally, there’s a card code granting you an exclusive polar bear mount, waving a BlizzCon flag. ‘It’s the perfect way to cruise Northrend in style.’ All the stuff in the Goodie Bag almost made up for the $100 admission alone.

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Why are they waiting outside???

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You could find media cameras all around the premises conducting interviews.

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So with hours to spare until the doors to the hall opened I just chilled inside. This year they had security guards to check your bags before you could enter.

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Got to play Starcraft 2 right off the bat. My biggest issue was vespene gas. They made the assimilator/refinery overheat if you had too many units gathering from it. At that time it would turn red and be temporarily inoperable. Major drag. 20 minutes is not enough time to play. Oh well. Matches were 1-on-1 instead of last year’s 2-on-2. You were able to play all three races: Terran, Protoss, and Zerg. Certain choke points were blocked by garbage that you had to destroy in order to get through.

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11:00 AM Opening ceremony with Mike Morhaime, CEO.

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During the first Blizzcon, tickets sold out within 3 weeks. This year was completely different. There were website problems. Within 15 minutes, 15,000 tickets were sold. People from 27 countries were in attendance. Mike said that if Warcraft was its own country, it would be the 75^th most populated country in the world. For those who couldn’t attend, they could still watch BlizzCon footage on pay per view (for $39.95) from Direct TV (www.directv.com/blizzcon).

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BlizzCon this year combined all three universes of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. They showed a recording from Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational in Paris (http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08/video.htm?vid=best_of_wwi08_6min&dir=/wwi08/_videos&img=best_of_wwi08_6min&rating=wow).

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Blizzard has had over 100 tournaments this year with more than $200,000 given in prize money. There’s even going to be a Starcraft 2 tournament later in the day.

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Next month on November 13^th, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King will be on sale with stores opening at midnight. The developers will be available to sign boxes in Anaheim and other select cities around the country.

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For all attendees they will receive a Starcraft 2 beta key.

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Diablo 3 wizard trailer

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/movies/wizard.xml

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Lunch time. I ate an $8 pepperoni pizza. Brought my own bottled water. Otherwise that would have been $2.50 extra.

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1:30 PM Blizzard Sound & Music panel upstairs in Room 204

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Led by Russel Brower, Director of Audio and Video. He does the Protoss music for SC2. Jerry Goldsmith does SC2 Terran music, and Derek Duke does SC2 Zerg music. Glenn Stafford was the founder of the department and worked on full time composing since Warcraft 1.

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Blizzard sound is best heard. It’s harder to describe in words. Sound is much like finding the right marble for a sculptor. The opening chords of Diablo were 12 string. For Diablo 3 they wanted it to start with an ancient feel that builds bigger and bigger until there’s finally a ‘tada!’ moment (refer to the cinematic trailer http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/media/#movies). They wished to keep to the heritage that Matt Uelmen began in Diablo 2, a kestrel atmosphere. Uelmen has left Blizzard.

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Where do they get their inspiration? Early exposure from a young age. Classical music. Holst: The Planets. Russian influences like Tchaikovsky and the Russian national anthem. Keep your mind open. An idea can come to you anywhere and anytime, even in the worst of times. Keep a voice recorder. You can hum melodies in the car. For Derek it was a looming deadline. Also from the lore and art in the game. The purpose of sound is to serve the needs of the game.

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Wrath of the Lich King will add 7 hours of sound, totaling over 20 hours for World of Warcraft.

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Q/A

What are the qualities in a voice actor? Internal auditions didn’t end up well, although Chris Metzen still retains his role as Thrall. Basically it’s like listening to the radio. You can hear someone who is dripping with character with just a few lines.

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About character specific music such as Illidan and Arthas. It’s like Star Wars character themes. It may have not been intended. They tie in the music to the boss, mobs, and architecture in that area. Arthas was sung by a 10 year old boy alto; 10 minutes was all they needed. An aside joke: Kerrigan versus Arthas, the love story. LOL.

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Did they run out of time when they did the ‘Fight with murmur’? The music was about the space and not necessarily the fight. They wanted to change it up. It’s too easy to do big, scary dude music.

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How does one work for Blizzard starting from the lowest end of the totem pole? One must have passion and imagination. Each of us is a concept artist. Be able to tell a story. Make a demo reel. Russel: ‘We write music all the time.’

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How do they develop the strong melodic themes for World of Warcraft? It’s definitely a choice, done on purpose. They base it off the visual architecture. World of Warcraft is a persistent world. You hear it over and over. They don’t want it to be recognizable at first, rather more atmospheric leaving you with breathing room. It comes back and fades. Don’t want you to get bored with it. Of course there’s big city and important event music. Again, the sound is to serve the game. Not big top 40’s music list.

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Will there be an ambient CD as was brought up last year? Russel made his own ambient CD for himself. It’s still a good idea…

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How do you balance each section (like brass and strings) without the presence of a live orchestra before you all the time? It comes from education and experience. Trial and error. Can also look it up in the literature. The games are evolving to incorporate more live music. Of course they use a synthesizer as a mock up, for kestrel themes they can’t create. Or as a second layer. Even with an orchestrated version, they modify it after they receive it.

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When in the game development cycle does the sound team get involved? From the very beginning. They are on staff everyday.

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How do they like the rockband element such as Level 80 Elite Tauren? It’s in character. It fits the context and it adds humor. In the ending of Warcraft 3 we saw Arthas rocking it out. Jerry: ‘Terrans rock!’

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Just like last year, there was a special arrangement of Lady Sylvanus song, ‘Lament of the Highborne,’by Vangie Gunn. Youtube it.

Elven: Anar’alah. Anar’alah Belore. Sin’dorei. Shindu Fallah Na. Sindorei. Anar’alah. Shindu Sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Anar’alah Belore. Shindu sin’dorei. Shindu fallah na. Sin’dorei. Anar’alah belore. Belore..

Human: By the light. By the light of the sun. Children of the blood. Our enemies are breaking through. Children of the blood. By the light. Failing Children of the blood. They are breakin thorugh. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Failing children of the blood. They are breaking through. O children of the blood. By the light of the sun. Sun..

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3:00 PM Starcraft 2 Gameplay, Main Stage Hall C

Discussion by Dustin Browder, Lead Designer

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He was wearing a Diablo 3 My Little Pony and rainbows T-shirt.

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How about incorporating rainbows in Starcraft? j/k

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So the powerpoint presentation was all about the single player Terran campaign. You are Jim Raynor, the freedom fighter. You direct his actions. You start in Mar Sara, the same place where Starcraft 1 began. Jim meets Tychus Findlay, the marine in the Starcraft 2 cinematic trailer. Findlay knew Raynor back in the day. They both belonged to the group called the Heaven’s Devils.

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Findlay enters the bar.

Findlay: You’re the most wanted man in this sector.

Raynor reaches for his pistol.

Findlay: They call you the people’s hero. Hello Jimmy.

Raynor relaxes.

Raynor: So you’re the model citizen now?

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You can navigate around the bar. You are able to click on the jukebox, TV screen, the bulletin board, and on Tychus Findlay.

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Findlay offers Raynor a business proposition. The client (the Mobbius Foundation, a research group) will pay top dollar if they liberate alien artifacts from the dominion, Arcturus Mensk’s hands.

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Findlay: I’ll split it with you, 60/40.

Raynor: 70/30, my way.

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After the mission, Mensk declares marshal law. Suddenly, the Zerg arrive on Mar Sara.

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There will be a unique gimmick to each mission. Mission 3 ‘The Dust Bowl’ is a defense type where you have to hold out from the Zerg for 20 minutes as their creep expands. At the end of the mission, Matt Horner arrives to rescue you. Once on board the Hyperion, Raynor sends his battlecruiser into warp speed.

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You can walk around on the ship and visit the Cantina or the Armory. In the Cantina is Gabriel Taush. He knows about Kerrigan’s past. They went to the same academy. You learn that the Zerg have attacked numerous research facilities. The queen has returned.

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Raynor: ‘She’s come to finish the job.’

Taush: ‘It’s her or us.’

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In the armory you’ll meet Swan, the chief engineer.

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You spend mission credits to customize your force. You’re able to buy technology (for example, 3 mil for Stimpacks or an upgrade that will increase the number of marines in a bunker).

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They’ve taken a new approach to the traditional linear progression. During the middle of the game, the player can choose which missions to take which will effect character interaction. In the campaign the focus is on the universe as a whole. On board the bridge you can access a Star Map. Horner receives a distress call from the fringe planet Haven, a small farming community which Mensk has abandoned. At the same time Findlay says he knows of another location where they can find more alien artifacts.

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So, as you can tell this game is going to be much longer than Starcraft 1. In fact, major BlizzCon announcement:

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Starcraft 2 will be a trilogy.  ï¿½

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That’s right. The first game will be the Terran campaign titled Wings of Liberty. Second game Zerg campaign called Heart of the Swarm. Third Protoss campaign Legacy of the Void following Zeratul. The three game epics will be staggered. Think of them as expansion packs with the following game being sold some months after the other. Each game will have 26-30 missions and take place chronologically, one after the other with the overall threat being the Xel Naga. There will be some easter egg missions. For instance, in the Terrain campaign there’s a mini-mission where you can play Zeratul, just to give you a taste of the other races. The introduction and ending are fixed, but in the middle is where the story branches leading to alternate missions. The endings will be great. No cliffhangers leading to the next game.

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The Terran campaign is sort of like a Choose Your Own Adventure. The Zerg is like an RPG where you strengthen Kerrigan. Think of it like Warcraft 3’s Orc Campaign. The Protoss will be more of a diplomacy game.

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They showed a storyboard of Kerrigan when she was abandoned by Mensk on New Gettysburg. There will be flashbacks in the form of Kerrigan’s dream where you learn more of her childhood and origins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkmhxQ0SRXw

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Finally a sneak peek of Zeratul stuff. 1 minute movie teaser of 4 minutes.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41396.html

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Q/A

Multiplayer campaign will be complete in the first Terran game with a fully represented army for all three races. However, it is still to be determined down the line if you will need the Zerg and Protoss games for multiplayer. It was stated that some units from the campaign won’t show up in multiplayer.  ï¿½

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4:30 - 5:30 PM Starcraft 2 Art panel, Room 204

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Good ol’ Samwise Didier. There were technical difficulties starting up the presentation so the panel started with Q/A.

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Pre-rendered cinematics will be specific to the storyline. There will be more of them in game. You’ll have an introduction, ending, and a middle. The exact number they are not allowed to say but as many as possible.

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Dark Templar forum art contest? There will be announcements to be made. Notice though that there are a couple designs in game. Bladed either single or double, and with a scythe.

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Comment about the atmosphere being too light in Starcraft 2. There are shimmering desert worlds. Starcraft is still darker. They didn’t want it to be pixelie, but beautiful.

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What was the inspiration for the Protoss color scheme? Protoss were first derived from the gray alien stereotype. Had them wear gold metal to stand out from the purple Zerg. Also makes them look big, the kings of the universe in a sense. Lighting is crucial. It can make the Protoss look like bananas or white gold. They don’t ‘want it to look like ass.’ Inspiration for Terran? Astronauts and Starship Troopers. The Zerg have their own spin. They are ruled by a girl. (Hina: Like the queen bee in a hive.)

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One more tidbit about lighting. There could be a night vision mission. In multiplayer, there is one best lighting for the map. In single player, it won’t just be in a single corner.

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As an art student, what skill set is Blizzard looking for? Modeling and texturing. Strong drawing skills. Animation is too focused of a field.

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How do the artists balance between the styles of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Each game has its own unique style. They have to put the brakes on and be careful not to merge the styles so that they don’t corrupt the other. Although a Blood Elf Protoss…haha.

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Regarding Zerglings. At first they wanted to have multiple types but that didn’t work out.

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Xel Naga watch tower. It’s where the Protoss architecture originated from. Also contains some Zerg influences. The Xel Naga is the mother archetype. They have to reverse backwards from the designs. Not simply Protoss plus Zerg. Still more unique.

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You’d figure that the Zerg Infestor unit would be the least likely to burrow. They have yet to polish the Zerg. Some units will be phased out and changed. Still many more passes to go.

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In Starcraft 2, why are many of the Zerg units more like insects instead of animals? In Starcraft 1 the Zergling was only 8 pixels. They couldn’t figure out what it was. So they envisioned it. The Hydralisk is serpentine with a snake tail and slug body. The Ultralisk is like an elephant or rhino. Zerglings get a wing upgrade which will make them attack faster. Marines will get a riot shield to boost their HP. They hope to include more visual identifiers so you’ll know why you are getting your butt kicked in game.

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How do you define Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft? Warcraft takes superhero elements. Giant weapons, and more comical humor (clicking on units many times to hear what they’ll say). Starcraft is not as comical. Darker, not shiny and glowing. Diablo is even more dark and more realistic. So Warcraft and Diablo are on opposite ends of the spectrum with Starcraft in the middle.

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Any bloopers? Tauren Marine April Fool’s joke (http://www.starcraft2.com/features/terran/taurenmarine.xml).

What they always wanted to do was combine all the Terran buildings into a massive giant robot like Voltron. But there would be too many balance issues with that. There’s so many cool ideas, but it would no longer be Starcraft at that point.

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The different teams work together - art and level designers are in the same building. They bounce ideas back and forth between each other. The artists would come up with something cool, but then the level designers would say you broke the level and it’s no longer balanced.

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What’s their favorite Warcraft race? The Orcs, the epitome of the Horde. From the Alliance side, Dwarfs. They were always a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Dungeon & Dragons.

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Samwise started out on pencil and paper. How did he make the transition from traditional to digital? Drawing with a mouse was a pain in the butt. Once they made tablets it was better. Went on to using Adobe Photoshop after Starcraft Broodwar. Love the undo button. Because it’s digital it saves time having to redu watercolor. Even now drawing a line from one corner diagonally down is hard. Yes, there’s a line tool.

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Overall inspiration for what they do? For the environments, natural forestry. But Blizzard puts their own spin on it. For Samewise, comic books that he paid for with his own money off spin racks. 1977 animated Hobbit movie. Dungeon & Dragons fantasy world. He would draw pictures of group shots of all his buddies’ characters.

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What software do they recommend? 3D Studio Max

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In the Warcraft manual you see the Chris Metzen style in the black and white artwork. Sam said he won an arm wrestling contest with him which is why he’s in command now. >.> Metzen was originally an artist when he first started and later moved to becoming a storyteller. Soon that took up most of his time. His style defined Starcraft. Sam said it was important to keep the original style.

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Chinese artist named Wang Wei did the BlizzCon logo.

He’s super talented as you can tell. They send him reference materials, and he nails it. He doesn’t know much English, and he still lives in Shang Hai. They hope to bring him over to America one day.

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Why does the Lurker look like a crab? Still the first pass. They will re-evaluate the design and make appearance changes.

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Finally the presentation worked…sort of. The video didn’t load until the very end. The panel ran over time. It was the almost the same powerpoint from last year. Strong silhouettes, exaggerated proportions, and bold primary colors.

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Non-Blizzard art piece

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Starcraft Marine (Red = Win)

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The Firebat concept is now a grenader unit called the Marauder. He has a nuclear core, LOL.

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I mentioned last year of a zerg unit with crazy tentacle action. This was actually the original Ultralisk design (or what they wanted to call Omegalisk). It had 4-5 tentacles which it would launch at targets then eat the remains to restore its life.

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The Zergling is like a cross between a pit bull and a raptor.

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Samwise referring to forum posts: ‘Every time you say it has too many wings, I’ll add 2 more!’

Baneling Nest, animated building with green toxic gas. Makes you go ‘Arg what’s in my town. Oh, it’s not a unit.’

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Roach Warren building

Roaches are like armored Zerglings.

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Infestor Pit - looks like a bloated sac, has segmented armor plates

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Next they showed a funny marine test video (Admittedly, it’s stuff like this that is the reason why Starcraft 2 isn’t done, LOL). Loyal marines would walk up and test their armor against fire, sniper shots, buzz saw, machinegun rounds, logs (curse you Ewoks!), and a nuke. You basically saw the many ways a marine can die.

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There are over 20 unique environments. They showed the tile set for Haven and some four-wheel off-roader vehicle. New Folsom is a prison planet with lava. Albion is war torn between the Terran and Protoss.

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Fin. ï¿½

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And that’s the end of BlizzCon for me that day. For dinner I went to Thai Bazil in Fullerton (http://www.thaibasilfullerton.com/). I highly recommend it! Service was a little slow because they were busy. But the food was more than delicious. We ordered Poh Taak soup (Fish, squid, mussel, scallop, shrimp and mushroom in hot and sour soup with a touch of lemon grass) and pineapple curry with roasted duck.

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Day 2 Saturday Oct 11

Diablo 3 day. But first, trying to find F@#)%’*^(& parking!!! I missed the Starcraft 2 Lore panel. Whose bright idea was it to schedule it at noon, right in the middle of lunch? Both neighboring parking lots were closed off saying that they were full. Not true at all! There was plenty of parking on the top level. The exact same spot we parked in yesterday was empty. WTF! We finally parked across the way on Harbor Blvd. The clerk almost didn’t honor the free staff pass until I yelled at the guy. Not a good start to the day.  ï¿½ ï¿½ ï¿½

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1:30 PM World of Warcraft Q/A, Hall C

BlizzCon Announcement: Mounts will be able to swim in water.

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Something about Pandas so as not to upset the Chinese.

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They want to revamp the dispel system so that you can keep the beneficial buffs using dispel to remove the negative ones. ï¿½

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World of Warcraft movie by Legendary Pictures - Go! Chris Metzen: ‘We’re working hard on it. It has a cool story. If I say anymore I’ll get shot. Have patience. Good things are coming.’

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I didn’t understand any of the rest of it. I played Warcraft 3 but never World of Warcraft.

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3:00 PM Diablo 3 Lore, Hall C ï¿½

Diablo 3 is a unique world of horrific darkness. The designers hope to provide a backstory to every civilization. This may be done through character dialogue. Also using the environment as a tool to tell the story. You are free to explore as much or as little as you want in this action RPG.  ï¿½

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Diablo 3 takes place 20 years after the events of Diablo 2. To the inhabitants, a whole generation has passed. Those with direct experience with past events are dead. Except for Deckard Cain, the last of the Horadrim, who is still alive somehow due to some sort of special clan arts. Cain feels guilty because he believes that he could have ended Diablo earlier. He’s exploring the world to find clues that would help when the day comes that the legions of hell would return. ï¿½

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Caldeum is a trade city build on materialism and the free flow of ideas.  ï¿½

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/world/environments/caldeum.xml

As a contrast to Caldeum, Skovos is based off legend and mythology, equivalent to ancient Greece. You won’t be able to travel there but will hear about the place.

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Diablo 1 and 2 were set in a gray backdrop. In Diablo 3, they respect the past artwork and still emphasize horror. But they will be updating the classic with a new visual look using big, bold shapes, strong silhouettes to avoid symmetry, and select color palettes of green, blue, and purple. It won’t look cartoony. The camera is fixed so they can hand craft each scene. Background movement (ground shaking) adds believability. There will be destructible objects such as chandeliers that you can drop on enemies.  ï¿½

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Q/A

Is there going to be a secret cow level? Well, that would no longer be a secret would it…

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Everyone is assuming Diablo is coming back. The story continues from the previous games. There won’t be any stuff thrown from left field. There will be a main storyline plus some random quests. Also class specific quests. The developers definitely want to bring closure to the story. ï¿½ ï¿½

You’ll notice that there is class specific dialogue. The first mission NPC acts disrespectful towards Witch Doctors.

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You can’t play as a necromancer. They were perfected in Diablo 2. Although you will meet necromancers in the world of Diablo 3. ï¿½

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At BlizzCon you could play one of the first dungeons, Sanctuary with three levels of catacombs. 4 player cooperative. Got to choose from a male or female Barbarian or Witch Doctor and female only Wizard. Since it was limited, I played the Wizard, but so did everyone else on the team. It ended up being 3 Wizards and 1 Witch Doctor. I went Battle Wizard like my Battle Sorceress in Diablo 2. Wizards have this slash attack that consumes mana. Wizard class couldn’t equip swords or lances. She could equip axe, mace, and knife. Inventory: Belt, Helm, Shield, Weapon, Boots, Armor, Shoulder, 2 Accessories, and Pants. Inventory equips change your appearance. As we progressed through the game, my clothes changed from red to blue. You couldn’t add to stats. But you choose your skills. In addition, the game engine seemed to keep track of your kill count possibly a bonus. ï¿½  ï¿½

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The boss was the Skeleton King. Within the level you find his crown and use that to initiate the boss sequence. I died against him and respawned at a checkpoint one floor above. You kept all your items. Didn’t have to go back naked and find your dead body as in Diablo 2.

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I miss my Lightning Fury Amazon. They have to bring back some sort of ranged archer unit. ï¿½  ï¿½

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Diablo 3 Witch Doctor

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6:00 PM Comedian Patton Oswalt ï¿½

Not for kids. He cusses. He passes in my book. He made fun of the people sitting in the front row. One person was French. Said that the French make great porn and wines.

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He talked about his first jokes he ever came up with, geek material. What if instead of Spiderman, he got bit by a Dung Beetle. You’d figure that if an industrial accident made you into a god, everyone in Russia would be hanging around the nuclear facilities.

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Getting tired of all the people telling you that you’ve been wasting away your life playing World of Warcraft? Well, there are people who waste away their lives in reality. At least in Warcraft, you can pretend that you were a level 70 Warlock exploring the outskirts of Lordaeron. Who knows how many future Hitlers of the world have been prevented because of simply playing Warcraft in their basements.

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Political jokes. Always a safe subject when you insult President Bush. Not as fun anymore because people have stopped defending Bush. Bush keeps saying that future generations will judge his presidency. It’s like the movie Blade Runner or Battlefield Earth. People will still say that is sucked. Bush also brags about getting 10 hours of sleep everyday and being at the peek of his physical and mental condition. Take a look at his speeches. That really is the best that he can do. ï¿½

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McCain’s Vietnam story is like the origin of every supervillain. ï¿½  ï¿½ ï¿½

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He makes a good point that when he was growing up he played Monopoly. But he never dressed up as Mr. Moneybags or as a green house or the shoe. In the same way, people dress up as Warcraft Night Elves.  ï¿½

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Last joke about Yoshinoya beef bowls. Once you had one there is no seconds. The beef is like shoe laces dipped in air conditioning fluid. Then there’s this image of a face within the beef kinda like when people see the image of Jesus in a potato chip. The face tries to warn you last minute not to eat it.

I played Starcraft 2 single player just because the line was shorter at the time. It wasn’t a campaign mission but head to head against the computer. You choose the opponent’s race and difficulty level. I was Protoss versus Zerg on hard. Cannons saved me. I noticed the computer seemed confused; the first rush of Zerglings were hitting and running away from the cannons as they kept entering and exiting my base. Rushes soon grew more powerful with roaches and hydras. I ended up running out of minerals. I went for Dark Templars. They were ok until Overloads flew by revealing them. Had it gone on for more than 20 minutes I know I would have lost.  ï¿½

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I’ll end with COSPLAY!!

Harpy

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The angel Tyrael from Diablo. 3^rd place winner of the Costume contest.

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Anime Expo 2008 website
http://www.anime-expo.org/

Los Angeles Convention Center
http://www.lacclink.com/

Feelings, nothing more than feelings… not enthusiastic this year. Maybe I’m AX’ed out and need to take the next year off. With the announcement that it would be held in Los Angeles instead of Long Beach or Anaheim, there were many who swore that they were not going to attend. Still seemed packed.

Can’t forget the movie references of 300 and Pirates of Caribbean. This year’s hits were Iron Man, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones. Of course you’ll still find Star Wars. Last year had a spectacular Transformers showing. This year I guess the closest thing was a Batman: Gotham Knight premiere in Video Room 1 but you needed a ticket to enter. http://www.warnervideo.com/batmangothamknight/ Limited engagement Saturday 4:00-5:15 PM followed by an hour of Q/A. But the website says DVDs are available 07/08/08. Not to be confused with The Dark Knight movie July 18 which I did.

Speed Racer done right

Didn’t know who any of the Guests of Honor were. I looked at the schedule of events a week before and didn’t see anything that picked my interest. I did The Art of Glowsticking last year and wasn’t all that wow’ed by the Montecito art school. Origami? I was happy that Gravity was having a booth. Heavy advertising with every attendee receiving a paper fan and an Official Program Guide with the backpage featuring Gravity’s latest free to play game Requiem (www.playrequiem.com).

Cosplay.com AX forum
http://www.cosplay.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11

Cosplay.com Gathering List. Be there or be square. Eyeshield 21 didn’t get enough of a following this year :(

Oh yes. Beware of the Caramel Dance parade.
http://lostcontemplations.com/Auax/Caramel/Caramel.html

Thursday July 3rd
11:00 AM Prince of Tennis (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Lucky Star (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
1:00 PM Inu Yasha (Outside West Hall Flag Area)
2:30 PM The World Ends With You (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
4:00 PM D.Gray-man (LACC Stairs Site #3)
4:00 PM Disgaea/Nippon Ichi (NIS booth #311 South Hall)
4:30 PM Resident Evil (LACC Site Stairs #1)
4:45 PM Higurashi (LACC Stairs Site #2)
5:00 PM Indiana Jones/Star Wars (Outside West Hall)
6:00 PM .hack// (LACC Stairs Site #2)

Friday July 4th
9:00 AM Fruits Basket (LACC Stairs Site #1)
10:00 AM Rurouni Kenshin (LACC Stairs Site #3)
11:00 AM Cosplay Chess (West Hall Lobby - Downstairs)
11:30 AM Metal Gear Solid (Outside West Hall B)
12:00 PM Kingdom Hearts (LACC Stairs Site #3)
1:00 PM CLAMP (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:00 PM Code Geass (Outside West Hall)
2:00 PM Fire Emblem (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:00 PM Gundam (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:00 PM Tales of Gathering (LACC Stairs Site #3)
3:00 PM Air Gear (LACC Stairs Site #2)
3:00 PM The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Outside West Hall)
4:00 PM Magical Girls and Boys (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:30 PM Ouran Host High School Club (LACC Stairs Site #3)
5:00 PM Capcom vs. SNK (LACC Stairs Site #3)
5:00 PM JRock (Lindsey Plaza)
5:30 PM Hellsing (Outside South Hall)
6:00 PM Katekyo Hitman REBORN! (Outside West Hall Flag Area)
6:00 PM Super Smash Bros Brawl (Outside West Hall)
6:00 PM Vampire Knight (West Hall)
6:30 PM Fate/Stay Night & Type-Moon (LACC Stairs Site #2)
7:00 PM Evangelion (Outside West Hall)

Saturday July 5th
10:00 AM Guilty Gear (Concourse Hall by Rm.411)
10:00 AM Pokemon (Outside West Hall)
10:00 AM Pokemon Gijinka (Outside West Hall)
10:30 AM Dead or Alive (LACC Stairs Site #1)
10:30 AM Final Fantasy Tactics (LACC Stairs Site #2)
11:00 AM Hollow/Arrancar (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Bleach (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Touhou Project (Outside West Hall)
12:30 PM Trinity Blood (LACC Lobby)
1:00 PM Final Fantasy VIII (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:00 PM Yugioh Generations (LACC Stairs Site #2)
1:30 PM Phoenix Wright (LACC Stairs Site #3)
2:00 PM Naruto (LACC Stairs Site #3)**
2:00 PM Persona 3 (LACC Stairs Site #2)
2:30 PM Vocaloid (LACC Site Stairs #3)
3:00 PM Full Metal Alchemist (Outside West Hall)
3:00 PM Legend of Zelda (LACC Stairs Site #1)
3:30 PM One Piece (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:00 PM Ragnarok Online (LACC Stairs Site #2)
4:00 PM Soul Eater (LACC Stairs Site #3)

Sunday July 6th
10:00 AM Sailormoon (Outside West Hall)
11:00 AM Dragonball Z & GT (LACC Stairs Site #2)
12:00 PM Crossplay (Inside West Hall)
12:00 PM Final Fantasy (LACC Stairs Site #3)
12:00 PM Lolita Tea Party (Concourse Hall F Stairs)
12:30 PM GINTAMA (Outside West Hall Entrance)
1:00 PM Avatar (LACC Stairs Site #2)
3:00 PM Beyblade (West Hall)
3:00 PM Death Note (Outside West Hall)

Oddest cosplay
* Free sample man. Guy going throughout the Exhibition Hall pasting stickers and what not on himself and cardboard boxes.
* Krispy Kreme Doughnuts employee?
* Man Princess Peach
* Someone in an HP Printer box
* Captain Planet
* Tetris L Block (winner of GameFAQs character battle). Was actually cool to see all the multicolored Tetris blocks together.

* Jesus in front of the Yaoi booth. Also a Pimp Jesus carrying a cross.
* Transformers Hot Rod who proceeded to the girl’s restroom. WTF!

Survival Checklist
* Bag/Backpack
* Bottled Water
* $$$
* Digital Camera/Disposable Camera
* PSP/DS with AC adaptor, deck of cards, or a book to read for those moments when you are waiting in line or sitting down not doing anything in particular.
* Pens to write with
* Pre-registration e-mail confirmation with bar code

Day 1 Thursday July 3

Woke up at 5:00 AM and left the house at 6:00 AM. Took the carpool lane of 110 Freeway North. Got off at Adams then went down Figueroa. Parking fee: $12

Registration was fast once it started moving. Glare outside was bad. Couldn’t play PSP well.

Guilty Gear. Running joke of Dr. Doom.

8:00 inside air conditioned hall. Picked up my badge at 8:30. At Con registration opened at 9:00.

Headed upstairs to the console gaming room. They had Super Smash Bros Brawl, Rock Band (please if you’re going to perform, get into the groove!), Guitar Hero, Naruto, and Arc System Work’s BlazBlue (http://blazblue.jp/us/).

For lunch I had a smoked ham and swiss sandwich on ciabatta bread for $7.50. It tasted so dry. Wasn’t even worth it. I wish I had waited until they served hamburgers.

Exhibition Hall opened at noon. Following days it opens at 10:00 AM. I think some asian guy tried to pick pocket my bag. Watch your stuff at all times.

Bandai and Namco. Bandai had Haruhi and Lucky Star dance-offs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXO0Baqzme4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQUhCUWTrr8

Could try out the Naruto games and Soul Calibur IV.

Capcom Booth with artists Omar Dogan and Alvin Lee (below).

Gravity Booth (http://www.gravity.co.kr/eng/index.asp) where you can sign up for their cosplay contest to be held Saturday at 1:00. They gave out a free game DVD and raffle tickets for their drawing at 4:00. Each hour they did Spin the Wheel for prizes.

Community manager Hastur, because he’s cool and Heimdallr’s mean

Next door to Exhibition Hall is Artist Alley. What are the secrets to selling your artwork? Location? Signs? Popular series? There were tons of Bleach, Naruto, and Final Fantasy. Girl showing booty? Right price? Colored works seem to be better than sketches. Unfortunate that the artists were not able to use the power outlets.

After that I went home. Forgot about AMVs.

Day 2 Friday July 4
8:00 left house. Arrived at 8:15 with no traffic.

First place of interest, the Arcade. Open 24/7. Games: Metal Slug 6, Puzzle Fighter ($0.50 per game), Pile Up, Fancy Lifter, Dance Dance Revolution, Para Para 2^nd Mix, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Melty Blood, Tekken, Strikers 1945, Mushihime Sama, Time Crisis 4, Marvel versus Capcom 2, Initial D 4, Wangan Midnight 3, Derby Owner’s Club horse racing, Capcom versus SnK 2, and air hockey.

Next an interview with a person working behind the scenes that makes Anime Expo run smoothly - Mr. Cardenas who has been doing Electrical maintenance for 20+ years. It’s a good job, 6 figure income easily. And they won’t outsource you. He didn’t quite get Anime Expo. Equated it to collecting rookie baseball cards. Back in the day when 50 cents got you popcorn, soda pop, and a movie. At E3 last year he said that the power went out. Department of Water and Power (DWP) brought in mobile transformers. Doors unfortunately closed on the thick cabling and blew a hole in it. Had to reset the circuit breaker. The ground rumbled. Bad sign. 200 pound manhole cover even flew out of the streets.

Lunch exiting the Exhibition Hall was a Taco stand. $7 for three soft tacos, your choice of beef, pork, or chicken. A++!!!

Back in Exhibition Hall went to NIS booth and bought some pencil boards for Takehito Harada chief character designer for Disgaea to sign.Ms. Taniel character designer for A Witch’s Tale was also autographing.

More Cosplay.

All hail Cobra Commander.

Kanti from FLCL

Captain Commando

I spied on Gaia Online Panel in Hall B at 5:30. I don’t even play Gaia. Pictures and videotaping allowed.
http://www.gaiaonline.com/

On stage, in the black coat Chris, the ever so popular Lancer, Quickster the developer, and artist Charles Park. First a thank you for coming and causing chaos. Then a Stride spoof (http://www.stridegum.com/). Do NOT fire at the screens! …or we’ll find you… and do bad things…

as if we’d be allowed to bring in nerf guns to AX.

Whenever a pink gift box appeared during the presentation, Chris would sprint around the seats and toss free plushies, T-shirts, etc.

Started with sketches of radiant prism: disco ball, prism crystal, prism tattoo. MCs (Monthly Collectibles) used to be called donation items. Before they got sponsors, they were one of the methods to keep the site running. Every month the artist team of 20+ people would get together. Concepts reflected how big of a fan they were to that particular idea such as Metal Gear Solid 4. ICBM Nukes R Bad. Seemed to love drawing cardboard boxes. <- this is very important.

Webpage updates. New landing pages for art arena, avatar arena, housing arena (which was broken), writing arena for fanfics, and contest arena. More merchandise like omnomnom and WTF hat. More games - Electric Love Factory: help Buildo the robot NPC build robot friends. It’s a puzzle game where you align blocks according to color. There are power ups within the game to achieve bonuses.

Gaia mischief makers. Placing Gaia stickers around Chuck Norris Hollywood Star, yearbook cover with Gaia mentioned, and someone with a Gaia poster caught on WWE ECW.

Showed Gaia MMO game. On Bill’s Ranch is his daughter Rubella. Zen Gardens Katsumi. House on a Hill, continuing from Dead Man’s Pass. Null Chamber to release your life force after you die. New store Nicolae’s Backalley Bargaining. Jacques’s dog still needs a name. On to the monsters. The fluffs, OMG’s mama, garlic. Undine, lawn ornament creatures: gnome (For the Empire!), flamingos. A Sand Castle Golem which in the end looks like a knight with a sand bucket on his head. Minimap with Fog of War feature. Able to customize the screen layout, drag/drop windows. More recipes. Make a surf board, ninja outfit, atomi armor, guard armor, alien armor.

Q/A
Mentioned that the color of the website is blinding. They are experimenting with different designs.

Gaia is looking into letting other vendors sell their merchandise like Yesanime.com because they can’t attend every single convention.

Can you fight NPCs in MMO? In the beginning just monsters. Later PvP.

A manga compilation in paper format? Not at this time. Seriously considering it.

More flash games like Tetris.

MMO will allow you to customize controls, mouse click and WASD.

I just lost the game.
http://losethegame.com/default4.htm

Can you date Lancer? He had the exact same thought. It’s a floating idea. It’s another way to make fun of themselves.

Christmas Mistle Toe this year? Sure why not.

Is there a save your hairstyle option (referring to Halloween event)? Virtual bobby pins are hard to come by.

A real banking system with interest? Set and forget it. Well safe deposit box is a possibility.

Merchandise for children? They will definitely pass that idea on.

6:30 went home and saw the fireworks.

Day 3 Saturday July 5
Arcade again.

Lunch inside the Exhibition Hall. $8 BBQ ribs, steamed rice, and lettuce.

RO Cosplay Contest. Got pushed back to 2:00 PM.

Winners:
Runner-up #1 Leaf Cat (Prisilla) - was nervous to participate at first, Meow! Meow! Meow! Received an RO2 keychain collection.
Runner-up #2 Minstrel (Andy)
Grand Prize: Orc Hero (cupcake) - was there ever a doubt. Received an RO2 box, artwork, and full DVD set of Ragnarok the Animation courtesy of Funimation.

GM picks - winners received a certificate and 2 headgears
Hastur: Lord Knight (Pelori), loved the sword
Heimdallr: Monk
iroHeadGM: Gypsie (Neko)

4:00 PM. Mega64 Panel of Doom. Seriously. Shown on Public Access and soon on TV in the United Kingdom on Sky Network.
http://www.mega64.com/

Rocco Botte, Derrick Acosta, Shawn Chatfield, Josh Jones, and Garrett A. Hunter also in cosplay - Assassin’s Greed, Beowulf in 3D, Time Child, Future Brad Pitt, and Biggest Boss from Metal Slug.

Street Fighter 2 destroying the car bonus stage
http://www.mega64.com/car.htm

Assassin’s Creed video, at a swamp meet. He’s very touchy.
http://www.mega64.com/assassinscreed.htm

Rainbow 6 Vegas
http://www.mega64.com/rsv01.htm

Other videos - Wizard, Cosplayerz Strike a Poze (where the crew invaded a Naruto gathering), Wizard sighting, The Bookstore, rejected Nintendo DS commercial for the game Jam Session because Nintendo wanted it aimed at homeowners not homeless guy. They called it ‘unsavory.’ They did a recut version with larger than life fonts.

Q/A
For the hard of hearing, can they add subtitles. Now that they know how, yea. Half the time they don’t understand what Marcus is saying.

Will they be doing this forever? No girl will get in between them. Don’t grow up. Be stupid. Annoy people.

Open call for casting? There was for Wizard video. Could be another one.

While shooting a video do they ever recognize who they are? Once as mega64. Lots of Hey that’s Assassin’s Creed. Popular game.

Episode 4 is going to be Mega64! a musical.

Next stop for them is Comic Con in San Diego and East Coast Fan Expo in Toronto, Canada. They plan on giving away Con Exclusive DVDs featuring scratch and sniff technology. Umm…Cinnamon Rolls.
http://www.hobbystar.com/fanexpo2008/index.html

Snuck out at 6:00. Hosts of mega64 made fun of anyone leaving their panel. Masquerade $20 for ticket outside Registration. Otherwise have to wait outside in the sun in standby for 4+ hours. Just didn’t want to wait. Went home.

Day 4 Sunday July 6
Slept in. Decided not to go.

Short report this time. If I will be attending next year, I’m sure as hell going to make an outstanding cosplay. And I do mean that. On the same scale as that Optimus Prime costume.

It’s That Time of the Year Again

This year, Fanimecon takes place at the McEnergy Convention Center in downtown San Jose where (more…)