The scout has returned from Sakura Con!
First off, belated Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend because my feet definitely didn't!...not saying that i didn't. Sakura Con was just as big and crazy as ever. Lots of things to do actually but I didn't try to overwork myself attending to every single one. Sadly, because we come home tired, I am almost unable to stay up long enough to type up an update. I really wish I did but things don't always go as planned. Earlier during the week, on Thursday, three of my friends from Canada rode Quick coach lines and arrived at downtown, where me and my brother picked them up. We got a few drinks and proceeded to the convention center to pick up our passes for the 3 days of Sakura con. After that, we got lost a few times, blame my brother for that, but we eventually got home safely...and tired. My brother made some dinner (it was his turn) and it was delicious! It was salmon baked in butter, fresh lemons, and tomatoes and broiled marinated korean ribs. They loved it. Then, we introduced them to my aunt and cousin before they headed to their room to prepare for Friday. Oh, they also gave us some gifts as thanks for the stay and for last year as well. That really touched me because they got us such cool jackets! I made a mental note to get them some gifts as well, the next time we go to Canada (which would be in the summer in time for the AE con).
DAY 1, Friday
I have to say, I was very tempted to skip all of my classes. I wanted so bad to attend the openning ceremonies and take pictures of Mayumi Tanaka for pharoah999. It didn't help that the skies decided to welcome Sakura con with lost of rain and wind. Take about starting with a bang. However, I argued with myself that I might regret missing any important discussion for homework and stayed until class ended at 1:30pm. I'm quite lucky UW is only 10-15 minutes away from downtown. Once I arrived at the convention center, I wanted to meet up with my friends, but I had no way on contacting them. I decided to kill time by going to the Exhibitor's Hall (more commonly called the dealer's room, but I have no idea why they changed the name) and tried not to get myself lost. It's always been so big but I'm still surprised by how much stuff is on display. One thing that I found for the first time was a booth specifically selling cels! I kinda got curious and looked at the Slayers cels they had. I found a few good Lina/Gourry and Zel ones but they were so expensive! I knew I couldn't buy them without feelint so guilty. Instead, I just focused on buying keychains and pins. Then, I went to the artist's alley and checked out any new items, since half of the artist seem to be the same popular ones ever year. I did buy a few bookmarks I've missed last year so that wasn't too bad. (Seriously, they should put more tables! I can never get a table because they run out so fast!)
Feeling my feet hurt, I went to a spot outside the artist alley to rest beside a pillar. Fortunately, I found one of my friends in that same spot (it's quite funny how we have the same rendezvous point every year). There were a lot of cosplayers but I didn't want to take pictures just yet because my soles hurt. There wasn't anything interesting to attend later on and I ended up watching most of the stuff of my friends left behind as they went around for a few hours. I killed time by drawing, so I'll post the sketches later. Then, later in the evening, we went to international district and ate at 'Cau Cau', a small Chinese restaurant but they have the best dishes I've eaten. We finally are on our way home until the weather decided to give us a cold bath in cold wind! That was not fun at all! One of my friend's umbrella didn't even hold up and literally flipped backwards like in the cartoons. Once inside our house, we quickly dried off, changed clothes, and turned on the artificial fireplace. We ended the day by having a little drawing session, the pictures of which I'll post later.
DAY 2, Saturday
Today, I was very determined to attend one of the panels of Mayumi Tanaka so right after we arrived at the convention center, I went again straight to the dealers room and looked for a One piece pencil board. It took me a while to find anything like it and i just got a flier of some sort ($2), but i figured it would be perfect for a signature piece. Then, I went back to the same spot we were resting on Friday and waited for my uncle to call us. He was supposed to take us to some Honda dealerships to avail of a cheap lease offer. I was so happy when he said that we could do it next week because I was still attending the convention. I thanked him as happily as I could and proceeded to get an early lunch so I can attend the panels. This time it was my turn to leave my stuff with my friends, because they didn't have much to do.
The first panel I attended was "Music behind the anime" which featured an American voice actor and Mayumi Tanaka. Unfortunately, Tanaka couldn't attend because of throat problems but the panel was still interesing. If I had half a mind to write down all the questions and answers, I could have shared some cool information with you guys! That kinda makes me want to bonk myself in the head. Right after that, I went to another panel called "Mayumi Tanaka Q&A", which A LOT of people were very eager to attend. I'm not surprised, with the popularity of One piece. I managed to get a good seat close enough for viewing and not to far for picture taking. It was really a great panel even though the translator/representative didn't pick me when she was randomly picking hands to answer questions for Tanaka. I didn't give up but I was kinda bouncing between raising my hand and writing down questions and answers. I think pharoah999 might like some of the stuff I've found out, but I'll have different post for that. :D Tanaka also did a few song requests and impressions which was way beyond cool since actually seeing the actor do the character's voice is a different experience altogether. Tanaka was also particularly impressed with the American fans since they're more direct and straightforward than the Japanese fans, which she associated as a warm welcome. After that panel I went back to meet up with my friends again.
An hour later, I invited friends to watch Cosplay Chess before heading home. Only one of them wanted to go but I'm still glad for the company. We arrived about 15 minutes before showtime but there was already a growing line, which I expected. Our seats were in the back but it meant we could stand and take pictures without blocking anyone's view. Later, some of the staff offered to let us squat at the front (as long as we don't stand up I assume) so we still ended up at the frontmost. Once the game started, it was quite hilarious and some cosplayers managed to pull off some pretty good moves. (From this point on, I'll use names of character being cosplayed) The 'kings' of the game were Batman for black and Captain Jack Sparrow for the white. Everyone had so much fun listening to their witty banter between moving pieces. I'm happy to let you guys know that Lina Inverse was also part of the game (I really fangirled for a bit) and she was the queen! (I'll share some pictures as well) XDDDD It's too bad she only got to play twice before beig beaten by Captain Falcon. There was also a Zapp Brannigan (Futurama) who was just plain awesome with his acting, I wished I had a video camera so I could have shared that as well. The game ended with a showdown between Batman and Captain Jack. It was coooool!...even if Jack lost. XD
We had a reeaaaaally late dinner at McDonalds. It's funny how some people were asking us various things about the convention. Some even took pictures of one of my friends since she was still in cosplay. We went home and everyone just hit the hay, not caring what time we wake up the next day.
DAY 3, Sunday
Today we didn't go to the convention center directly. One of friends wanted to go to Jack in the Box (which they hardly have in Canada) to get those car bobby things. It was quite the walk but that's where we had our brunch. Once we arrived at the convention, I made a run for Mayumi Tanaka's autograph session. The autograph was for pharoah999 and I also squeezed in a minute to buy her a sakuracon pin as well. Inside, it had a line much longer and bigger than I expected and I was starting to wonder if I would even get an autograph. I was literally at the end of the line among with few other people. I got to talking with an older lady who worked in the Exhibitor's halls. She was from California and was up in Washington to visit her in-laws. She also flew in from Japan after visiting Ghibli's studios (how cool is that?!). She's apparently a big fan of the classics and even mentioned to be a fan of Slayers (I was giggling mentally in my head). She wanted an autograph for her Laputa poster and I instantly recognized the title as one of the Ghilbi movies. It was really nice to meet another Miyazaki fan of the older generation. In the end, I didn't get an autograph but i managed to steal one more picture and a handshake, which I wish I could have given to pharoah999. XD
Later, I went back to find my friends in the same spot and just sat around for most of the time, just drawing. We got to watch a mini-band who was doing some song requests for quite some time. The saxophone player and electronic guitar-piano player (I'm not really sure what it is) were really good, playing popular songs. Feeling bored, we decided to do some last minute shopping at the Exhibitor's Hall. I bought a few more stuff now that it wasn't so crowded and got to see some merchandise I have missed. It was a real close call since there was less than half an hour before I bought one last thing. After that we decided to go home but got up chatting a few of my friends' friends. It was almost dinner time by the time we got home and my aunt had the perfect timing to take us out to dinner (though they wanted to eat pizza and pasta, they were still happy to eat out). After dinner, we came back and had another drawing session. Then, I said good night and farewell since I wouldn't be able to drop them off but my brother will. (Actually I still managed to say good bye to them one more time today because I was calling to check up on them and my brother put his celphone on speaker to let them all hear me.)
Well, there you have it! Not as exciting as I hoped it to be but there's always next year!
DAY 1, Friday
I have to say, I was very tempted to skip all of my classes. I wanted so bad to attend the openning ceremonies and take pictures of Mayumi Tanaka for pharoah999. It didn't help that the skies decided to welcome Sakura con with lost of rain and wind. Take about starting with a bang. However, I argued with myself that I might regret missing any important discussion for homework and stayed until class ended at 1:30pm. I'm quite lucky UW is only 10-15 minutes away from downtown. Once I arrived at the convention center, I wanted to meet up with my friends, but I had no way on contacting them. I decided to kill time by going to the Exhibitor's Hall (more commonly called the dealer's room, but I have no idea why they changed the name) and tried not to get myself lost. It's always been so big but I'm still surprised by how much stuff is on display. One thing that I found for the first time was a booth specifically selling cels! I kinda got curious and looked at the Slayers cels they had. I found a few good Lina/Gourry and Zel ones but they were so expensive! I knew I couldn't buy them without feelint so guilty. Instead, I just focused on buying keychains and pins. Then, I went to the artist's alley and checked out any new items, since half of the artist seem to be the same popular ones ever year. I did buy a few bookmarks I've missed last year so that wasn't too bad. (Seriously, they should put more tables! I can never get a table because they run out so fast!)
Feeling my feet hurt, I went to a spot outside the artist alley to rest beside a pillar. Fortunately, I found one of my friends in that same spot (it's quite funny how we have the same rendezvous point every year). There were a lot of cosplayers but I didn't want to take pictures just yet because my soles hurt. There wasn't anything interesting to attend later on and I ended up watching most of the stuff of my friends left behind as they went around for a few hours. I killed time by drawing, so I'll post the sketches later. Then, later in the evening, we went to international district and ate at 'Cau Cau', a small Chinese restaurant but they have the best dishes I've eaten. We finally are on our way home until the weather decided to give us a cold bath in cold wind! That was not fun at all! One of my friend's umbrella didn't even hold up and literally flipped backwards like in the cartoons. Once inside our house, we quickly dried off, changed clothes, and turned on the artificial fireplace. We ended the day by having a little drawing session, the pictures of which I'll post later.
DAY 2, Saturday
Today, I was very determined to attend one of the panels of Mayumi Tanaka so right after we arrived at the convention center, I went again straight to the dealers room and looked for a One piece pencil board. It took me a while to find anything like it and i just got a flier of some sort ($2), but i figured it would be perfect for a signature piece. Then, I went back to the same spot we were resting on Friday and waited for my uncle to call us. He was supposed to take us to some Honda dealerships to avail of a cheap lease offer. I was so happy when he said that we could do it next week because I was still attending the convention. I thanked him as happily as I could and proceeded to get an early lunch so I can attend the panels. This time it was my turn to leave my stuff with my friends, because they didn't have much to do.
The first panel I attended was "Music behind the anime" which featured an American voice actor and Mayumi Tanaka. Unfortunately, Tanaka couldn't attend because of throat problems but the panel was still interesing. If I had half a mind to write down all the questions and answers, I could have shared some cool information with you guys! That kinda makes me want to bonk myself in the head. Right after that, I went to another panel called "Mayumi Tanaka Q&A", which A LOT of people were very eager to attend. I'm not surprised, with the popularity of One piece. I managed to get a good seat close enough for viewing and not to far for picture taking. It was really a great panel even though the translator/representative didn't pick me when she was randomly picking hands to answer questions for Tanaka. I didn't give up but I was kinda bouncing between raising my hand and writing down questions and answers. I think pharoah999 might like some of the stuff I've found out, but I'll have different post for that. :D Tanaka also did a few song requests and impressions which was way beyond cool since actually seeing the actor do the character's voice is a different experience altogether. Tanaka was also particularly impressed with the American fans since they're more direct and straightforward than the Japanese fans, which she associated as a warm welcome. After that panel I went back to meet up with my friends again.
An hour later, I invited friends to watch Cosplay Chess before heading home. Only one of them wanted to go but I'm still glad for the company. We arrived about 15 minutes before showtime but there was already a growing line, which I expected. Our seats were in the back but it meant we could stand and take pictures without blocking anyone's view. Later, some of the staff offered to let us squat at the front (as long as we don't stand up I assume) so we still ended up at the frontmost. Once the game started, it was quite hilarious and some cosplayers managed to pull off some pretty good moves. (From this point on, I'll use names of character being cosplayed) The 'kings' of the game were Batman for black and Captain Jack Sparrow for the white. Everyone had so much fun listening to their witty banter between moving pieces. I'm happy to let you guys know that Lina Inverse was also part of the game (I really fangirled for a bit) and she was the queen! (I'll share some pictures as well) XDDDD It's too bad she only got to play twice before beig beaten by Captain Falcon. There was also a Zapp Brannigan (Futurama) who was just plain awesome with his acting, I wished I had a video camera so I could have shared that as well. The game ended with a showdown between Batman and Captain Jack. It was coooool!...even if Jack lost. XD
We had a reeaaaaally late dinner at McDonalds. It's funny how some people were asking us various things about the convention. Some even took pictures of one of my friends since she was still in cosplay. We went home and everyone just hit the hay, not caring what time we wake up the next day.
DAY 3, Sunday
Today we didn't go to the convention center directly. One of friends wanted to go to Jack in the Box (which they hardly have in Canada) to get those car bobby things. It was quite the walk but that's where we had our brunch. Once we arrived at the convention, I made a run for Mayumi Tanaka's autograph session. The autograph was for pharoah999 and I also squeezed in a minute to buy her a sakuracon pin as well. Inside, it had a line much longer and bigger than I expected and I was starting to wonder if I would even get an autograph. I was literally at the end of the line among with few other people. I got to talking with an older lady who worked in the Exhibitor's halls. She was from California and was up in Washington to visit her in-laws. She also flew in from Japan after visiting Ghibli's studios (how cool is that?!). She's apparently a big fan of the classics and even mentioned to be a fan of Slayers (I was giggling mentally in my head). She wanted an autograph for her Laputa poster and I instantly recognized the title as one of the Ghilbi movies. It was really nice to meet another Miyazaki fan of the older generation. In the end, I didn't get an autograph but i managed to steal one more picture and a handshake, which I wish I could have given to pharoah999. XD
Later, I went back to find my friends in the same spot and just sat around for most of the time, just drawing. We got to watch a mini-band who was doing some song requests for quite some time. The saxophone player and electronic guitar-piano player (I'm not really sure what it is) were really good, playing popular songs. Feeling bored, we decided to do some last minute shopping at the Exhibitor's Hall. I bought a few more stuff now that it wasn't so crowded and got to see some merchandise I have missed. It was a real close call since there was less than half an hour before I bought one last thing. After that we decided to go home but got up chatting a few of my friends' friends. It was almost dinner time by the time we got home and my aunt had the perfect timing to take us out to dinner (though they wanted to eat pizza and pasta, they were still happy to eat out). After dinner, we came back and had another drawing session. Then, I said good night and farewell since I wouldn't be able to drop them off but my brother will. (Actually I still managed to say good bye to them one more time today because I was calling to check up on them and my brother put his celphone on speaker to let them all hear me.)
Well, there you have it! Not as exciting as I hoped it to be but there's always next year!