the 1-month late AX report. WHEEEE~
I got mingled with Beautiful World hype, and I never got around to typing it. But here it is: a very, very, VERY belated and brief 4 weeks late AnimeExpo2011 report. It's been 4 years since I went to an AX.
Sorry it won't be detailed, and I didn't really beta this either, so I apologize in advance for weird sentences lol~
Highlights:
- Boo Plushie!
- TEIOU (Morikawa Toshiyuki) panel + autograph *_*~
- Kalafina panel + autograph ♥ ♥ wasn't able to attend concert tho orz
- cosplays
- complaints about AX staffs <-- lol
Thank you so much rady for driving us down and hosting me and my sister~ Thank you Kat, gem2niki, lucathia, and lady_black_cat for being awesome hotel mates ♥
-------
Day 0 - 6/30 - Thurs
- Thanks to rady, we drove down to SoCal, stood around 1.5 hrs in line for the badges, and then my sister and I stayed at her home :D
Day 1 - 7/1 - Friday
First day of the con!
It was also the Kalafina panel, so that was pretty much the priority for the day. Because we were not able to get the tickets, at the very least we had to attend the panel, which was at noon.
Omg this year the staffs were beyond disorganized! Maybe it's due to the increased size of the con, but that's still no excuse for the mess for just one panel. The panel was upstairs, so naturally a line formed on the 2nd floor, but out of NOWHERE, the staffs dissipated the line and just held a sign that said "KALAFINA LINE FORMS DOWNSTAIRS"... didn't even guide the already-formed line or anything. There was confusion among all the attendees, and everyone just rushed downstairs. In the end the panel was delayed 40 minutes.
Now onto the actual Kalafina panel. Alas, no photos were allowed.
OMG. The girls were as porcelain-doll-like as you see them in pictures... absolutely graceful and beautiful. My impressions were that Hikaru was quite soft-spoken and shy, Keiko (who's my favorite) was surprisely bubbly, and Wakana was really down-to-earth. They all introduced themselves in English.
Q&A:
---- What do you look forward to most in the West Coast?
Wakana says she is looking forward to their live concert here at AX, as it is the first time performing in the West Coast. Hikaru said she was looking forward to Santa Monica Beach and Disneyland XD
---- About Kalafina's fashion styles:
Keiko says Kalafina would dress based on the theme of the song, but in private, she herself likes rock-ish style of clothing. Wakana also added that how they are dressed contributes to the inspired image of their producer Kajiura Yuki.
---- Do you have a favorite song or a song that's special to you?
Keiko says every song is precious to sing, so she has no individual favorite, as every song has their own taste, just like their latest song Magia. To Hikaru tho, Aria is great inspiration because it was her first song to be main vocal. Wakana particularly like the classical-sounding songs, but each song is produced to bring out each of their most powerful aspect of their voices.
---- Do you have an image that you like from the Kalafina songs? (I think the question was)
Referring to a previous PV where they wore white outfits, Wakana said white seems to represent her the most. Keiko likes the image in Magia because it seems to show the image of them as hard, strong women. Hikaru liked the Lacrimosa PV where they more long dresses.
---- What is your favorite instrument used in Kalafina songs?
Keiko: guitar, rock
Wakana: flute
Hikaru: violin/strings
The translator wasn't really that good... there were some tiny mistranslations, and the way she delivered it created some awkward moments.
Anyways, as the panel was over, we waited for them to announce the autograph session, which eventually was at 4PM. They were raffling "priority" tickets at the panel for autograph line while we have to go to the autograph area to get 'stand-by' tickets. Since the autograph was also in the same hall, my sister and I decided to kill time in the Dealer's Room and tried to see there would be any chances of getting Kalafina concert stand-by tickets.
Meanwhile, some cosplays...
FF9 will never NOT be special to me.
OH OH! I also got to see Songbird Ocarina's booth, and the infamous Ocarina player docjazz4@youtube was there *_*~ I was able to exchange conversations with him for a bit.
I got one of their 6-hole potato 3 years ago, but looking at everything up-close at everything else, I can genuinely say their instruments are very well-made. STLOcarina also had a booth there, but I think Songbird has better crafted instruments.
*_* Kalafina autographs~ I got them to sign on their individual photos in their Seventh Heaven CD! Even got the smudged marker on the lyric page for authenticity LOL. The girls were extremely sweet at the panel despite their obvious need of rest for the concert.
OH YEAH. The Boo plushie on my pic above, I saw it at a booth, and there was only one left, and I was looking for a Boo plushie that size since forever...so... |D;
At night, we went to Denny's for dinner~ :D
Day 2 - 7/2 - Saturday
A shot of the mass of people, tho this doesn't even cut it.
When I woke up, and the first thing I saw in my twitter was Queen Sho, I died, but my focus should've been on AX |D;
Our primary goal for today was to go to Teiou (Morikawa Toshiyuki)'s panel, and for today, Rady and I cosplayed Haruka 1 as Yorihisa and Tenma! My sister borrowed my Taiwan costume and kindly helped save a spot in line while we get ready for our cosplays.
Whee~ We met up with Rady's friends, who cosplayed as Takamichi and Haruka3's Kagetoki :D shoot me, I forget to get their LJ names
Also, remind me to pick characters that don't wear tanktops if I have to BIND. Trouble breathing, yo.
Skipping to Teiou's panel *_*~ (in case you didn't know already, Morikawa is a seiyuu one of the most prolific in the industry) I was so bummed to have missed up 2 years ago, so I was so happy he came back this year.
The sweetheart was such a dork and came in whacking w/ a light saber~
Okay, I have to say this again, but AX staffs this year are so...not professional. Forget about the whole con, but just the panel too? The COMMENTER was so terrible I felt so embarrassed Teiou had to see this... what do I mean? Well, the commenter literally blanked OUT after the introductions, as in he did not know how to bounce the conversation around and transition from one topic to another. He literally blanked out and said "...I'm...um...speechless!"
And the good sport that Teiou was, HE tried to break the awkward atmosphere and warm the audience up. Augh, it's not supposed to be the guest's job! So here are just some highlights from the panel:
Originally photos not allowed, for some reason they permitted us to take pictures of him! *3*~ (the picture above was also taken at the end of the panel)
He has a really sweet smile.
Here's a video I managed to get. He was saying DAISUKI DA YO~ to his fans ♥
Like the Kalafina panel, they also raffled out "priority" tickets. And like the day before, we browsed around Dealer's Room for souvenir and went around to take picture while waiting for the autograph session.
Now here's the frustrating part. When it was time, the "priority" line took SO long that it practically went for an hour. And it wasn't until the last 20 minute that some AX staff said "He's only gonna be here for an hour," causing the whole 100 of fans to go "WHAT?" But that's not it. The most MESSED-UP part is that none of the staffs have informed Teiou/Morikawa about it, and when the hour was up, he didn't know the staffs dissipated the line. Because he didn't know about the one-hour time limit, he gestured the next person to go up, and then fans were rushing up to him while staffs tried to block their way! HOW EMBARRASSING IS THAT IN "OUR" PART that Teiou had to see THAT!? I'm sure he probably felt at fault for causing it when it was NOT his fault at all!!
Anyways, so they told us there will be another autograph session the next day, but we'd need to get new stand-by tickets.
Cosplay pics of that day~
Hot Officer Jenny~
Damn good Ichigo.
What an accurate Porco Rosso cosplay *__*~ YAY for Ghibli!
We went to take some mini Haruka photoshoot and then went back to the hotel to change because the bindings were killing us. |D;
I think at night Rady, my sister, and I went back to the convention to go check out the Open-Mic for the Karaoke Room. Rady and I sung the classic "Velvet Underworld" of Weiss Kreuz xD~!! She mimicked the respective seiyuu voices so well, and I laughed so hard on her Koyasu LOL.
Day 3 - Sunday - 7/3
For Sunday, I decided to wear my Taiwan costume this time, and everyone who saw us were like "hey you guys switched costumes!" lol
So cutting the chase, the 2nd autograph session was at 11, and we finally were able to get it~
Up close *3*~
I don't know anyone still remembers Apocripha/0, but again it will always be special to me for many reasons, and Morikawa's role as Jade was one of his very first roles that I heard of him. Now my shitajiki has both SekiTomo AND his autograph on there~~ the fallen angels, my fav pairing ♥ I asked him in Japanese whether he still remembers his role as Jade, and I think he didn't remember, but that's totally okay ^_^;
As we intended Sunday to be the last day at AX, we spent the rest of the time finding souvenirs in Dealer's Room and Artist Alley and taking pictures of cosplayers~ So take cover for more cosplay pics xD
Me with THE MOST ADORABLE CHIBI ICHIGO COSPLAYER EVER.
Pasu and Sheeta! YAY MORE GHIBLI~
.
.
.
.
.
.
↓↓↓↓ half-naked LOL warning? xD
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
xDDDDDDDDDDDD genius, I tell you.
Lani of FF9!!! ♥
At the Nintendo gathering~
I have more but lazy to edit.
So after finish shopping for souvenirs, we went back to the hotel and pack our stuff. For that night, my sister and I stayed at Rady's house, and her parents kindly treated us to dinner :)
Day 4 - 7/4 - Monday
Nothing except our ride back up to NorCal, and I ended up listening to Beautiful World leaks in the car xD Again thank you rady for driving us!
-------
.
.
.
.
So that concludes my completely LATE report. Thanks for reading!
Sorry it won't be detailed, and I didn't really beta this either, so I apologize in advance for weird sentences lol~
Highlights:
- Boo Plushie!
- TEIOU (Morikawa Toshiyuki) panel + autograph *_*~
- Kalafina panel + autograph ♥ ♥ wasn't able to attend concert tho orz
- cosplays
- complaints about AX staffs <-- lol
Thank you so much rady for driving us down and hosting me and my sister~ Thank you Kat, gem2niki, lucathia, and lady_black_cat for being awesome hotel mates ♥
-------
Day 0 - 6/30 - Thurs
- Thanks to rady, we drove down to SoCal, stood around 1.5 hrs in line for the badges, and then my sister and I stayed at her home :D
Day 1 - 7/1 - Friday
First day of the con!
It was also the Kalafina panel, so that was pretty much the priority for the day. Because we were not able to get the tickets, at the very least we had to attend the panel, which was at noon.
Omg this year the staffs were beyond disorganized! Maybe it's due to the increased size of the con, but that's still no excuse for the mess for just one panel. The panel was upstairs, so naturally a line formed on the 2nd floor, but out of NOWHERE, the staffs dissipated the line and just held a sign that said "KALAFINA LINE FORMS DOWNSTAIRS"... didn't even guide the already-formed line or anything. There was confusion among all the attendees, and everyone just rushed downstairs. In the end the panel was delayed 40 minutes.
Now onto the actual Kalafina panel. Alas, no photos were allowed.
OMG. The girls were as porcelain-doll-like as you see them in pictures... absolutely graceful and beautiful. My impressions were that Hikaru was quite soft-spoken and shy, Keiko (who's my favorite) was surprisely bubbly, and Wakana was really down-to-earth. They all introduced themselves in English.
Q&A:
---- What do you look forward to most in the West Coast?
Wakana says she is looking forward to their live concert here at AX, as it is the first time performing in the West Coast. Hikaru said she was looking forward to Santa Monica Beach and Disneyland XD
---- About Kalafina's fashion styles:
Keiko says Kalafina would dress based on the theme of the song, but in private, she herself likes rock-ish style of clothing. Wakana also added that how they are dressed contributes to the inspired image of their producer Kajiura Yuki.
---- Do you have a favorite song or a song that's special to you?
Keiko says every song is precious to sing, so she has no individual favorite, as every song has their own taste, just like their latest song Magia. To Hikaru tho, Aria is great inspiration because it was her first song to be main vocal. Wakana particularly like the classical-sounding songs, but each song is produced to bring out each of their most powerful aspect of their voices.
---- Do you have an image that you like from the Kalafina songs? (I think the question was)
Referring to a previous PV where they wore white outfits, Wakana said white seems to represent her the most. Keiko likes the image in Magia because it seems to show the image of them as hard, strong women. Hikaru liked the Lacrimosa PV where they more long dresses.
---- What is your favorite instrument used in Kalafina songs?
Keiko: guitar, rock
Wakana: flute
Hikaru: violin/strings
The translator wasn't really that good... there were some tiny mistranslations, and the way she delivered it created some awkward moments.
Anyways, as the panel was over, we waited for them to announce the autograph session, which eventually was at 4PM. They were raffling "priority" tickets at the panel for autograph line while we have to go to the autograph area to get 'stand-by' tickets. Since the autograph was also in the same hall, my sister and I decided to kill time in the Dealer's Room and tried to see there would be any chances of getting Kalafina concert stand-by tickets.
Meanwhile, some cosplays...
FF9 will never NOT be special to me.
OH OH! I also got to see Songbird Ocarina's booth, and the infamous Ocarina player docjazz4@youtube was there *_*~ I was able to exchange conversations with him for a bit.
I got one of their 6-hole potato 3 years ago, but looking at everything up-close at everything else, I can genuinely say their instruments are very well-made. STLOcarina also had a booth there, but I think Songbird has better crafted instruments.
*_* Kalafina autographs~ I got them to sign on their individual photos in their Seventh Heaven CD! Even got the smudged marker on the lyric page for authenticity LOL. The girls were extremely sweet at the panel despite their obvious need of rest for the concert.
OH YEAH. The Boo plushie on my pic above, I saw it at a booth, and there was only one left, and I was looking for a Boo plushie that size since forever...so... |D;
At night, we went to Denny's for dinner~ :D
Day 2 - 7/2 - Saturday
A shot of the mass of people, tho this doesn't even cut it.
When I woke up, and the first thing I saw in my twitter was Queen Sho, I died, but my focus should've been on AX |D;
Our primary goal for today was to go to Teiou (Morikawa Toshiyuki)'s panel, and for today, Rady and I cosplayed Haruka 1 as Yorihisa and Tenma! My sister borrowed my Taiwan costume and kindly helped save a spot in line while we get ready for our cosplays.
Whee~ We met up with Rady's friends, who cosplayed as Takamichi and Haruka3's Kagetoki :D shoot me, I forget to get their LJ names
Also, remind me to pick characters that don't wear tanktops if I have to BIND. Trouble breathing, yo.
Skipping to Teiou's panel *_*~ (in case you didn't know already, Morikawa is a seiyuu one of the most prolific in the industry) I was so bummed to have missed up 2 years ago, so I was so happy he came back this year.
The sweetheart was such a dork and came in whacking w/ a light saber~
Okay, I have to say this again, but AX staffs this year are so...not professional. Forget about the whole con, but just the panel too? The COMMENTER was so terrible I felt so embarrassed Teiou had to see this... what do I mean? Well, the commenter literally blanked OUT after the introductions, as in he did not know how to bounce the conversation around and transition from one topic to another. He literally blanked out and said "...I'm...um...speechless!"
And the good sport that Teiou was, HE tried to break the awkward atmosphere and warm the audience up. Augh, it's not supposed to be the guest's job! So here are just some highlights from the panel:
- He warmed up by talking about his experience during 3/11 earthquake, how his home shook as well, how he personally visiting the Tohoku area and started doing charity events, and thanking the world for the kind donations.
- As the Sengoku Basara movie was currently(?) playing, he mentioned how he did a charity event where he played it for the victims in Miyagi because the movie itself takes place in ancient Miyagi.
- He said he apparently got a lot of father roles lately, such as Naruto's and Ichigo's fathers, and he prefer those roles over roles like Sephiroth LOL
- To commemorate the 25th anniversary of seiyuu work he has done (though he may have forgotten some of his older roles, he said), he started the company Axel One for those who aspires to become professional seiyuu, and many has joined the company so far - both veteran and fresh artists.
- He had tried playing FF7 before, but it was so difficult that he gave up. xD
- He liked to play Street Fighter, but as he had voiced Ryu before, it felt a little weird that he kept hearing his own voice in arcades going "SHORYUKEN! SHORYUKEN!" LOL xD
- He feels the crowd in America is a different kind of friendly from Japan. The Japanese fans tend to be very shy in front of him, but the fans here go all out, so he didn't want to leave when he came the first time.
- On a question where he was asked what he felt as the most and least difficult type of medium, he said nothing is easiest to do, but he found voicing for anime more difficult than live-action because anime is 2D and requires more imagination for the seiyuu, so he needs to exaggerate a lot to get the point across.
Originally photos not allowed, for some reason they permitted us to take pictures of him! *3*~ (the picture above was also taken at the end of the panel)
He has a really sweet smile.
Here's a video I managed to get. He was saying DAISUKI DA YO~ to his fans ♥
Click to viewLike the Kalafina panel, they also raffled out "priority" tickets. And like the day before, we browsed around Dealer's Room for souvenir and went around to take picture while waiting for the autograph session.
Now here's the frustrating part. When it was time, the "priority" line took SO long that it practically went for an hour. And it wasn't until the last 20 minute that some AX staff said "He's only gonna be here for an hour," causing the whole 100 of fans to go "WHAT?" But that's not it. The most MESSED-UP part is that none of the staffs have informed Teiou/Morikawa about it, and when the hour was up, he didn't know the staffs dissipated the line. Because he didn't know about the one-hour time limit, he gestured the next person to go up, and then fans were rushing up to him while staffs tried to block their way! HOW EMBARRASSING IS THAT IN "OUR" PART that Teiou had to see THAT!? I'm sure he probably felt at fault for causing it when it was NOT his fault at all!!
Anyways, so they told us there will be another autograph session the next day, but we'd need to get new stand-by tickets.
Cosplay pics of that day~
Hot Officer Jenny~
Damn good Ichigo.
What an accurate Porco Rosso cosplay *__*~ YAY for Ghibli!
We went to take some mini Haruka photoshoot and then went back to the hotel to change because the bindings were killing us. |D;
I think at night Rady, my sister, and I went back to the convention to go check out the Open-Mic for the Karaoke Room. Rady and I sung the classic "Velvet Underworld" of Weiss Kreuz xD~!! She mimicked the respective seiyuu voices so well, and I laughed so hard on her Koyasu LOL.
Day 3 - Sunday - 7/3
For Sunday, I decided to wear my Taiwan costume this time, and everyone who saw us were like "hey you guys switched costumes!" lol
So cutting the chase, the 2nd autograph session was at 11, and we finally were able to get it~
Up close *3*~
I don't know anyone still remembers Apocripha/0, but again it will always be special to me for many reasons, and Morikawa's role as Jade was one of his very first roles that I heard of him. Now my shitajiki has both SekiTomo AND his autograph on there~~ the fallen angels, my fav pairing ♥ I asked him in Japanese whether he still remembers his role as Jade, and I think he didn't remember, but that's totally okay ^_^;
As we intended Sunday to be the last day at AX, we spent the rest of the time finding souvenirs in Dealer's Room and Artist Alley and taking pictures of cosplayers~ So take cover for more cosplay pics xD
Me with THE MOST ADORABLE CHIBI ICHIGO COSPLAYER EVER.
Pasu and Sheeta! YAY MORE GHIBLI~
.
.
.
.
.
.
↓↓↓↓ half-naked LOL warning? xD
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
xDDDDDDDDDDDD genius, I tell you.
Lani of FF9!!! ♥
At the Nintendo gathering~
I have more but lazy to edit.
So after finish shopping for souvenirs, we went back to the hotel and pack our stuff. For that night, my sister and I stayed at Rady's house, and her parents kindly treated us to dinner :)
Day 4 - 7/4 - Monday
Nothing except our ride back up to NorCal, and I ended up listening to Beautiful World leaks in the car xD Again thank you rady for driving us!
-------
.
.
.
.
So that concludes my completely LATE report. Thanks for reading!