NY Comic Con --- April 19th, 2008
LJ-cutting everything for your (and my) convince. Pictures to come once I get them from Christa, as my camera decided to die...so I used Christa's the rest of the day. xD;
Comic Con. ♥ It had it's highs, it had it's lows. Thankfully, I believe the highs outweighed the lows, so I had a very good time. :)
It was so easy to get to the Jacob Javis Center from Penn! It's basically a straight line, except you go left instead of right out of Penn, which we usually do. :3
So, we get there~. Go into the Dealers Room and there are a BILLION MILLION PEOPLE OMG. X_X Eventually find the TMR booth, they tell us there are no tickets left for his autographing thing later, but tell us to get in line anyway, if he has time afterwards, he'll get to us. Okay, no problem.
At the TMR booth they had a few of his outfits and it was cool! One from ABS, the one with the plaid skirt... and 3 others. I have pictures. :D
The convention center was a bit confusing at first but we figured it out, found where the TMR panel would be, went to that. Was pretty close to the front for that, because nobody realized there were all these empty seats on the far side of the room~.
Half that panel was just them showing videos of stuff Takanori has done, all his solo singles, then there was his "other works" which was abingdon boys school, musicals he was in and a movie coming out this summer. A few questions were asked too, nothing really interested, but it was good. :) AND OMG HE IS SO SHORT. XD ♥ He's adorable though, I love him~. Some people asked questions to him in Japanese too, and I was like, "o___o Translate plz?" The translator did, so no problems. There were A LOT of people there from Japan. I was surprised. A lot of people from his fanclub.
After the panel from 1:30-3pm was the autographing, and we got in line despite not having tickets. So at around 1:45 someone who works there comes down the line checking that everyone has tickets... we don't. So we get put on a seperate line. Fine. Okay. Whatever, we can wait. So we wait. And wait. It's 2pm now and we've been standing in line for an hour, they let us on the actual line. The guys infront of us are like, "So, if he signs an autograph every 10 seconds, and there are xx people in front of us, how long will it be until we get up there?" XD We figure we'll get up there, no problem. 10 minutes later they say sorry, Takanori has to leave now, after he's done with the ticketed people that's it. ...There were literally 10 more people in front of us, maybe 20-30 of us total waiting the whole time without tickets, and they tell us no, even though the thing was supposed to go until 3pm. >_______<; What the hell. That was a waste of time. *sigh*
After that Louisa showed up, so we met up with Allison again. It was lunch time by then so me and Christa were smart and went outside to get food while the otheres stayed inside. Inside a hot dog was $4.50, outside $2. ^_^
Wandered around for a bit, tried to find something to buy. >D The kawaii booth got me. D: I had to spend money there~~ Got a small Rilakkuma bag and IT'S ADORABLEEEEEEEEEEE~~~! I love it. :D I saw a Rilakkuma plushie too and reallllly wanted it, but it was $14 and the bag was already $15, so I figured I shouldn't get it. D: ...then I went to one of the anime booths and got the last Samurai Champloo DVD (cause I love those episodes~) for $5. >D Whoot!
5pm now. We try and find Louisa. We head downstairs to get in line for the 9pm concert. Line is already rather long. o_o;;; We're surprised but sit down and get ready to wait. Lou goes back upstairs to say bye to Allison, we make friends with the people behind us, two people who were alone a guy and a girl. The guy...he was super awesome because he volunteers and works Jrock shows. It was cool to hear what he had to say. Like how 4 years ago when TMR was at Otakon (?) or somewhere in America, he helped put it together and organize it, and knew all TMR's people. He was going to go to X Japan's last live in Japan or he did, I don't remember, but he was far back and he figured, "Oh, it's alright, they'll get back together in 3 or 4 years." And obviously, with hide..., they didn't. ^^; He met Yoshiki. Was saying how Jrockers are just like the rest of us and want to be treated like normal people... it was just interesting to hear from someone who did all that stuff. He had to be in his late 20s, I'd say. He also had a Ghibli book from the Ghibli museum in Japan and we looked though it, it was cool! :D So yes, that was interesting. Then the line moved into the area we were supposed to be (aka out of the way) so we got mixed up a bit. This L saw Louisa as L and came over to us and we made friends with her~ Sam~ ...we know somebody who we met at a con's name!!! That usually never happens. XD Got her YouTube/AIM screenname. She has our contact info so she'll friend us on Facebook. :) Hung out with her the rest of the night and really, it was fun! She left her friends though and I think felt bad about that during the concert. :P
So. Line was a lot of fun. Somebody had a boombox and Rick Roll'd us, everyone danced, Sam got video. >D They gave out water guns...so Louisa's crazy friend from college she saw there actually filled it up with water and was squirting people. I ran around without my shoes on and slid on the floor with just socks. XD
Everyone wanted Starbucks so me and Christa volunteered to go upstairs and get it~. Sure I figured, why not go along, I needed to stretch from sitting for a while. We go in line. La la la. This woman infront of us can't speak English well at all and the employees are like, "...what?" so the guy behind us, the pretty guy we saw at the TMR panel earlier, goes up and helps translate for her. *___* ♥ ...they're out of caramel so I have to run back downstairs (literally) and tell Lou and Sam that, then run back up so we can order. Christa lets the guy and people he's with infront of her. So then we order, he gets his order, still waiting for our order... Christa goes over to him and asks to take his picture with her phone, cause camera is still downstairs. He says sure. We just thought he was pretty (and I read his badge, it said Press so I figured he was some Japanese magazine or website or something) but it turns out he's the guitarist for echostream, Tomo Asaha! XD Who would've thought~ he gives us his card, says how he was in a Jrock band when he lived in Japan but he lives here in New York now, then gives us a flyer for the show they have on May 2nd in South Hackensack, NJ. Aha, that was great. As we were walking back downstairs I said to Christa, "I have to take in this moment." 8D Whoot! ♥ I googled him too, and it's surprising easy to find info. o_o I friended him on Facebook too. :)
Good times.
Around 8pm they let us in, everyone basically stampedes in. The 4 of us hold hands so we don't get seperated, Sam leaves her friends, I ninja us to the front. (Because there are actual seats. ILU SEATS!)The staff says sorry, this row is reserved and I'm ready to run back to get a still close seat, but then they're like, "Oh, never mind, it's just the first two rows, aha! ^^;" So we get 3rd now, meanwhile there's a good few rows behind it filled already. Some luck, right? ♥ We're 3rd row. OMG. OMG. OMFG. There's a row of all Japanese girls/women behind us...who I believe came from Japan.
Before the show started the camera guy got the camera working so everything showed on the screens on the sides of the theater. We all wave when we're on camera. Then he learns to zoom in, and everyone starts holding things up and he zooms in on them. xD People are holding up TMR photobooks, him with his shirt off, him with a dog, people have signs they're holding up. We make a sign in .3 seconds with my sharpies that says, "WE <3 TM REVOLUTION!" Then a Naruto cosplayer comes on screen with a sign that says, "Free Hugs!" so I tell Louisa and Sam (both cosplaying L) "GO HUG HER!" so both L's ran and glomped her, and everyone clapped. XD
The concert finally begins! Once again I must state that I am so very glad there were seats and it wasn't just standing room. Seats = Personal space. We were in the 3rd row so it was amazing. In the ailes people ran up and they all looked so squished. >_<;; I was sweating and it was so hot as it was and we weren't even pressed against each other! ._.
Oh. My. God. Takanori definitly knows how to put on a show~. I'm not even a huge TMR fan and I realllllly enjoyed that! :D It was so good! The lighting I must compliment the staff on. The lighting was always so good, I was impressed with that. His band was really good too! Much better, I think, than any recorded version of his songs. I particuallary liked the drummer and the guitarist on the left (but the guitarist was for a different reason xD).
Definitely worth waiting in line for since 5pm.
Since the two rows in front of us were VIPs, it seemed like a lot of them didn't even care about the concert, they were just there because they could be. A few of the VIPs were really into it though. :)
We were basically dead center so we always saw TMR perfectly~. He occasionally went to the left and him and the guitarist got it on a bit. XD He went to the right sometimes. At one point he bent down a bit and was basically singing to the security guard stand at the stage but the guy didn't even turn and TMR was like, "Oh well~" with his hand gestures. It was funny.
Takanori outfit time. Okay, so he started with this long coat thing on and I was thinking, "He must be dying in that thing. ._." So he took that off after a few songs. His shirt/other jacket he was wearing was laced up in the back so we could see a bit of his back, it looked really hot. XD THEN he took that off too, so now when he turned around, his whole back was exposed to us. Um, hello Takanori's back. *__________* And his hair looked amazing the whole time. What the hell. I mean it started all "woosh-y!" you know, like...magic. Then it died a bit but still looked great. *___* During one of the songs towards the end he even headbanged a bit. XDDD OMG THAT WAS FUNNY. XDDD It was like a full out body moving-headbanging, just his head really but it was great. ♥
There were no pictures allowed, obviously, but since when has that stopped anyone. If you don't get caught by the staff I say, then props to you. (Even on a YouTube vid of 12012 from AnimeNEXT last year, a guy said he was security for that show and never noticed anyone with cameras, so hey, if you get away with it. XD)
The Japanese girls behind us tapped us on the shoulders a few times though when we had the camera out. Fine, whatever, we put it away then. Only took it out to get 1 photo, then put it away basically.
I read somebody's review on last.fm I think and they said TMR did not want to leave the stage and I completely agree with that. He really seemed like he didn't want to leave! The show lasted a lot longer than I expected, it was about an hour + half long! The last song was heart of sword which made me so happy, I love that song!
I don't know the setlist as I don't know his songs all that well, but heart of sword was last, he played Web of Night (Japanese ver.), vestige (which was really pretty~), resonance (his new song!!)... I know those definitely... maybe Thunderbird, maybe ignited... Hot Limit, I think.
Louisa, what songs did he play? xD
They went off stage, we shouted encore, and of course they all came back but this time with the TMR shirts the con was selling on! XD There were 2 encore songs, and he kept going, "One song? Yeah?" Us: "YEAHHHHH WHOOOOOOOO!" Then he did another song... and even after his band left the stage then, "One more song?" XD I love him. And he's so short. They all went up to the front to take a bow at the end, and Takanori was the shortest of all of them and when they held their hands up the others hand to reach down, basically. ♥ Adorable.
At that point it was over, I was like, "Screw this, I'm taking one good photo." and I did. :D But then the Japanese women (2 or 3 of them) behind me (not the girls, these women were probably in their 30s) literally pulled on my skirt and dragged me back into my seat, pushing me down and pointed to the seat saying, "No!" Needless to say I was really pissed off. Screw you! God. Not a good way to end that, but. I got right back up and continued clapping for TMR, continued chanting with everyone. We didn't even sit back down after it was over, I didn't want to sit with them behind me so I had Christa and Lou stay standing until those women left. >_>;
As everyone walked out of the theater and up the escalators we were all still chanting, "TMR! TMR!" It was fun. And by that point we were all dead and I had to take all my stuff off until I just had my tanktop on. It was so hot. ._. Then we got a picture of the pretty guy who I swore was a girl expect for his deep voice. >_> He still looked great, not dead from the show. xD
I think I need more Takanori songs now. :3 I only have the 1000000000000 album so I need more~~~. I also have to say, it seemed like a lot of the songs he played were more "rock" than I expected, so I was pleased.
I liked Comic Con. But it's about American comics and I don't know them all that well so unless NYCC has an amazing Japanese guest again next year I don't think I'll be going again~. :P
Comic Con. ♥ It had it's highs, it had it's lows. Thankfully, I believe the highs outweighed the lows, so I had a very good time. :)
It was so easy to get to the Jacob Javis Center from Penn! It's basically a straight line, except you go left instead of right out of Penn, which we usually do. :3
So, we get there~. Go into the Dealers Room and there are a BILLION MILLION PEOPLE OMG. X_X Eventually find the TMR booth, they tell us there are no tickets left for his autographing thing later, but tell us to get in line anyway, if he has time afterwards, he'll get to us. Okay, no problem.
At the TMR booth they had a few of his outfits and it was cool! One from ABS, the one with the plaid skirt... and 3 others. I have pictures. :D
The convention center was a bit confusing at first but we figured it out, found where the TMR panel would be, went to that. Was pretty close to the front for that, because nobody realized there were all these empty seats on the far side of the room~.
Half that panel was just them showing videos of stuff Takanori has done, all his solo singles, then there was his "other works" which was abingdon boys school, musicals he was in and a movie coming out this summer. A few questions were asked too, nothing really interested, but it was good. :) AND OMG HE IS SO SHORT. XD ♥ He's adorable though, I love him~. Some people asked questions to him in Japanese too, and I was like, "o___o Translate plz?" The translator did, so no problems. There were A LOT of people there from Japan. I was surprised. A lot of people from his fanclub.
After the panel from 1:30-3pm was the autographing, and we got in line despite not having tickets. So at around 1:45 someone who works there comes down the line checking that everyone has tickets... we don't. So we get put on a seperate line. Fine. Okay. Whatever, we can wait. So we wait. And wait. It's 2pm now and we've been standing in line for an hour, they let us on the actual line. The guys infront of us are like, "So, if he signs an autograph every 10 seconds, and there are xx people in front of us, how long will it be until we get up there?" XD We figure we'll get up there, no problem. 10 minutes later they say sorry, Takanori has to leave now, after he's done with the ticketed people that's it. ...There were literally 10 more people in front of us, maybe 20-30 of us total waiting the whole time without tickets, and they tell us no, even though the thing was supposed to go until 3pm. >_______<; What the hell. That was a waste of time. *sigh*
After that Louisa showed up, so we met up with Allison again. It was lunch time by then so me and Christa were smart and went outside to get food while the otheres stayed inside. Inside a hot dog was $4.50, outside $2. ^_^
Wandered around for a bit, tried to find something to buy. >D The kawaii booth got me. D: I had to spend money there~~ Got a small Rilakkuma bag and IT'S ADORABLEEEEEEEEEEE~~~! I love it. :D I saw a Rilakkuma plushie too and reallllly wanted it, but it was $14 and the bag was already $15, so I figured I shouldn't get it. D: ...then I went to one of the anime booths and got the last Samurai Champloo DVD (cause I love those episodes~) for $5. >D Whoot!
5pm now. We try and find Louisa. We head downstairs to get in line for the 9pm concert. Line is already rather long. o_o;;; We're surprised but sit down and get ready to wait. Lou goes back upstairs to say bye to Allison, we make friends with the people behind us, two people who were alone a guy and a girl. The guy...he was super awesome because he volunteers and works Jrock shows. It was cool to hear what he had to say. Like how 4 years ago when TMR was at Otakon (?) or somewhere in America, he helped put it together and organize it, and knew all TMR's people. He was going to go to X Japan's last live in Japan or he did, I don't remember, but he was far back and he figured, "Oh, it's alright, they'll get back together in 3 or 4 years." And obviously, with hide..., they didn't. ^^; He met Yoshiki. Was saying how Jrockers are just like the rest of us and want to be treated like normal people... it was just interesting to hear from someone who did all that stuff. He had to be in his late 20s, I'd say. He also had a Ghibli book from the Ghibli museum in Japan and we looked though it, it was cool! :D So yes, that was interesting. Then the line moved into the area we were supposed to be (aka out of the way) so we got mixed up a bit. This L saw Louisa as L and came over to us and we made friends with her~ Sam~ ...we know somebody who we met at a con's name!!! That usually never happens. XD Got her YouTube/AIM screenname. She has our contact info so she'll friend us on Facebook. :) Hung out with her the rest of the night and really, it was fun! She left her friends though and I think felt bad about that during the concert. :P
So. Line was a lot of fun. Somebody had a boombox and Rick Roll'd us, everyone danced, Sam got video. >D They gave out water guns...so Louisa's crazy friend from college she saw there actually filled it up with water and was squirting people. I ran around without my shoes on and slid on the floor with just socks. XD
Everyone wanted Starbucks so me and Christa volunteered to go upstairs and get it~. Sure I figured, why not go along, I needed to stretch from sitting for a while. We go in line. La la la. This woman infront of us can't speak English well at all and the employees are like, "...what?" so the guy behind us, the pretty guy we saw at the TMR panel earlier, goes up and helps translate for her. *___* ♥ ...they're out of caramel so I have to run back downstairs (literally) and tell Lou and Sam that, then run back up so we can order. Christa lets the guy and people he's with infront of her. So then we order, he gets his order, still waiting for our order... Christa goes over to him and asks to take his picture with her phone, cause camera is still downstairs. He says sure. We just thought he was pretty (and I read his badge, it said Press so I figured he was some Japanese magazine or website or something) but it turns out he's the guitarist for echostream, Tomo Asaha! XD Who would've thought~ he gives us his card, says how he was in a Jrock band when he lived in Japan but he lives here in New York now, then gives us a flyer for the show they have on May 2nd in South Hackensack, NJ. Aha, that was great. As we were walking back downstairs I said to Christa, "I have to take in this moment." 8D Whoot! ♥ I googled him too, and it's surprising easy to find info. o_o I friended him on Facebook too. :)
Good times.
Around 8pm they let us in, everyone basically stampedes in. The 4 of us hold hands so we don't get seperated, Sam leaves her friends, I ninja us to the front. (Because there are actual seats. ILU SEATS!)The staff says sorry, this row is reserved and I'm ready to run back to get a still close seat, but then they're like, "Oh, never mind, it's just the first two rows, aha! ^^;" So we get 3rd now, meanwhile there's a good few rows behind it filled already. Some luck, right? ♥ We're 3rd row. OMG. OMG. OMFG. There's a row of all Japanese girls/women behind us...who I believe came from Japan.
Before the show started the camera guy got the camera working so everything showed on the screens on the sides of the theater. We all wave when we're on camera. Then he learns to zoom in, and everyone starts holding things up and he zooms in on them. xD People are holding up TMR photobooks, him with his shirt off, him with a dog, people have signs they're holding up. We make a sign in .3 seconds with my sharpies that says, "WE <3 TM REVOLUTION!" Then a Naruto cosplayer comes on screen with a sign that says, "Free Hugs!" so I tell Louisa and Sam (both cosplaying L) "GO HUG HER!" so both L's ran and glomped her, and everyone clapped. XD
The concert finally begins! Once again I must state that I am so very glad there were seats and it wasn't just standing room. Seats = Personal space. We were in the 3rd row so it was amazing. In the ailes people ran up and they all looked so squished. >_<;; I was sweating and it was so hot as it was and we weren't even pressed against each other! ._.
Oh. My. God. Takanori definitly knows how to put on a show~. I'm not even a huge TMR fan and I realllllly enjoyed that! :D It was so good! The lighting I must compliment the staff on. The lighting was always so good, I was impressed with that. His band was really good too! Much better, I think, than any recorded version of his songs. I particuallary liked the drummer and the guitarist on the left (but the guitarist was for a different reason xD).
Definitely worth waiting in line for since 5pm.
Since the two rows in front of us were VIPs, it seemed like a lot of them didn't even care about the concert, they were just there because they could be. A few of the VIPs were really into it though. :)
We were basically dead center so we always saw TMR perfectly~. He occasionally went to the left and him and the guitarist got it on a bit. XD He went to the right sometimes. At one point he bent down a bit and was basically singing to the security guard stand at the stage but the guy didn't even turn and TMR was like, "Oh well~" with his hand gestures. It was funny.
Takanori outfit time. Okay, so he started with this long coat thing on and I was thinking, "He must be dying in that thing. ._." So he took that off after a few songs. His shirt/other jacket he was wearing was laced up in the back so we could see a bit of his back, it looked really hot. XD THEN he took that off too, so now when he turned around, his whole back was exposed to us. Um, hello Takanori's back. *__________* And his hair looked amazing the whole time. What the hell. I mean it started all "woosh-y!" you know, like...magic. Then it died a bit but still looked great. *___* During one of the songs towards the end he even headbanged a bit. XDDD OMG THAT WAS FUNNY. XDDD It was like a full out body moving-headbanging, just his head really but it was great. ♥
There were no pictures allowed, obviously, but since when has that stopped anyone. If you don't get caught by the staff I say, then props to you. (Even on a YouTube vid of 12012 from AnimeNEXT last year, a guy said he was security for that show and never noticed anyone with cameras, so hey, if you get away with it. XD)
The Japanese girls behind us tapped us on the shoulders a few times though when we had the camera out. Fine, whatever, we put it away then. Only took it out to get 1 photo, then put it away basically.
I read somebody's review on last.fm I think and they said TMR did not want to leave the stage and I completely agree with that. He really seemed like he didn't want to leave! The show lasted a lot longer than I expected, it was about an hour + half long! The last song was heart of sword which made me so happy, I love that song!
I don't know the setlist as I don't know his songs all that well, but heart of sword was last, he played Web of Night (Japanese ver.), vestige (which was really pretty~), resonance (his new song!!)... I know those definitely... maybe Thunderbird, maybe ignited... Hot Limit, I think.
Louisa, what songs did he play? xD
They went off stage, we shouted encore, and of course they all came back but this time with the TMR shirts the con was selling on! XD There were 2 encore songs, and he kept going, "One song? Yeah?" Us: "YEAHHHHH WHOOOOOOOO!" Then he did another song... and even after his band left the stage then, "One more song?" XD I love him. And he's so short. They all went up to the front to take a bow at the end, and Takanori was the shortest of all of them and when they held their hands up the others hand to reach down, basically. ♥ Adorable.
At that point it was over, I was like, "Screw this, I'm taking one good photo." and I did. :D But then the Japanese women (2 or 3 of them) behind me (not the girls, these women were probably in their 30s) literally pulled on my skirt and dragged me back into my seat, pushing me down and pointed to the seat saying, "No!" Needless to say I was really pissed off. Screw you! God. Not a good way to end that, but. I got right back up and continued clapping for TMR, continued chanting with everyone. We didn't even sit back down after it was over, I didn't want to sit with them behind me so I had Christa and Lou stay standing until those women left. >_>;
As everyone walked out of the theater and up the escalators we were all still chanting, "TMR! TMR!" It was fun. And by that point we were all dead and I had to take all my stuff off until I just had my tanktop on. It was so hot. ._. Then we got a picture of the pretty guy who I swore was a girl expect for his deep voice. >_> He still looked great, not dead from the show. xD
I think I need more Takanori songs now. :3 I only have the 1000000000000 album so I need more~~~. I also have to say, it seemed like a lot of the songs he played were more "rock" than I expected, so I was pleased.
I liked Comic Con. But it's about American comics and I don't know them all that well so unless NYCC has an amazing Japanese guest again next year I don't think I'll be going again~. :P