FLOW in Houston!!!! Day 1
Well, technically, it's The Woodlands. Anime Matsuri is an anime con over at The Woodlands, some 40 miles north of Houston... at least from my part of town. They invited BACK-ON and MIYAVI before. Of course, I've heard of them back then, but wasn't really inspired to drive all the way up there. Or maybe I just forgot to note down the dates. This year, the con managed to book a band I actually know and care about! FLOW!!!!! As far as I can remember, they're one of the very first Japanese bands I actually liked. When AM finally announced it, I was stoked at the thought of finally hearing "Life is Beautiful" and "Ryuusei" live after all these years! Okay, they're not anime songs, but a girl can hope and dream right?
We left Houston around 1pm, then arrived at The Woodlands by 2ish. While bro and his friends were roaming around, I decided to just hang out in the room where the Q&A was to be held (at 6PM). However, after the Mikunopolis director's panel ended, we got kicked out of the room. I thought I was the only one there going for nothing else but FLOW, until I met this adorable fan and her mom. Both of them are die-hard FLOW fans. They came all the way from California to see the band. They reminded me of Ikuko-san and Saki-san in Okayama. It's adorable to see mother-daughter squeal and fangirl together.
The sad reality. There was no staff nor volunteer to keep the line organized, thus adorable fan had to direct people where the start of the line was. Disappointed at the disorganization, the fan informed me that FLOW was doing an autograph session earlier! IT WASN'T ON THE SCHEDULE POSTED ONLINE~!! She said that the chairman of the con promised to send her the full schedule the day before the con, but that email never arrived even on the day of the con. Yikes. But at least she was given the times of the the autograph sessions. Lesson: Prepare for the unexpected at these cons. But expect chaos. Apparently I'm not hte only one who didn't know about the first session. There were barely any people who came to see them, it must have been disheartening. THIS IS FLOW MAN! WHY DO THIS TO THEM? They also didn't have pens for FLOW to use.
They actually opened the doors for the Opening Ceremony, which precedes FLOW's Q&A. The whole time I was sitting, I was admiring the back of Keigo's head from a few feet away. I'm still kicking myself for not being fast enough to get pictures with any of the band members. I've also been pretty unlucky, others bumped into them during the con while I never had such luck.
Q&A
Some questions were childish, others sorta offensive and probably would never be allowed in normal circumstances. I can't remember most of it and I may have mixed up some answers but here goes my best recollection:
Favorite colors:
Keigo - Blue, Koshi - Red, Take - Yellow, Got's - Black, Iwasaki - Purple
Favorite feature of their body:
Keigo - spots on his face (freckles?), Koshi - his abs, Take - hip, Got's - ?, Iwasaki - Tattoo
Follow-up, show off that feature. Koshi pulled up his shirt and wowed the audience with his abs. THen Take stood up and started unbuckling his belt to take off his pants. His bandmates desperately stopped him. XDDD
Favorite feature of a girl's body:
Keigo - nape, Koshi - ?, Take - *with a loud voice* BOOBIES!, Got's - shin, Iwasaki - cleavage
Favorite and Disliked Foods.
Take - Steak!
Have you ever had a one-night stand:
Keigo - confused face was ever so adorable~!!!!!!
What type of girl you like?
Take - BOOOOOBIES!
There was a little kids in the audience. There was a toddler in the center section's front row!
Do you know the song "Maru maru mori mori"?
FLOW sings complete with hand gestures. CUTE!!!!!!!
Favorite Pokemon? This is an anime convention afterall.
Either Take or Hoshi keeps on saying Satoshi. The interpreter had to repeat a favorite pokemon, and Satoshi is human. Then he answered Takeshi. I'm not sure if there was mistranslation somewhere.
Something you like in Houston:
Someone said the girls, warm weather... but Take said "STEAK!"
If you had an American name, what would it be? FLOW asked the fan to pick names for them.
Keigo - Thomas, Koshi - Bob, Take- Paul ????, GOT'S - Daniel, Iwasaki - Theodore
Keigo's shocked and confused reaction to Thomas was hilarious! He kept on repeating "THOMAS?!!!! Thomas? Thomas.....Thomas."
High school memories.
Keigo confessed to a girl and got rejected. He tried three more times, and still got rejected.
Iwasaki likes his tatooes to be animals because words have definite meanings.. at least that's what the translator said. I think he meant that animals can be more symbolic and leave different messages (depending on the colors/features/expression) while words/kanji are more limited in expressions due to its meaning.
Overall, the boys were charming. Keigo's smile is melt-me-away and to-die-for type. His facial expressions whenever someone asks weird/difficult question were priceless and in itself very entertaining. My first impression of Iwasaki was the bad boy rebel type. However, during the panel, he was very shy and quiet... he seemed very nice. The rest of the band seemed to have conspired against him. Whenever there's a strange or embarassing question, like who takes the longest in the bathroom, they'd all point to Iwasaki. GOT'S was serious and kinda intimidating. I don't know, I think it's his facial expression? But that got me really curious tho, like I want to talk to him more. Take is wacky, and actually pretty hot. Koshi is a cool guy. Really, he was interesting, but I can't remember exactly what interesting stuff he was saying. Weird.
Non-flow stuffs. It's weird how BIG American voice actors were. Someone who line up with us was genuinely into the band. But as soon as the opening ceremony ended, she dashed out to attend some panel. I could not comprehend ditching FLOW or any well-known Japanese band for some voice actor I'd see in other conventions at some other time. Lil' bro warned me that it can get dangerous and crazy in these events. The last con I was in was like 2005 or 2006 when High and MIghty Color came as guests. Well, it was a bit overwhelming but it was still interesting.
I don't know what this thing is. For a good 10 minutes I just stared at him waiting for different people to ask him for a picture, and he nods his head! IT WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER! I never thought I could squeal so much from a simple nod.
We left Houston around 1pm, then arrived at The Woodlands by 2ish. While bro and his friends were roaming around, I decided to just hang out in the room where the Q&A was to be held (at 6PM). However, after the Mikunopolis director's panel ended, we got kicked out of the room. I thought I was the only one there going for nothing else but FLOW, until I met this adorable fan and her mom. Both of them are die-hard FLOW fans. They came all the way from California to see the band. They reminded me of Ikuko-san and Saki-san in Okayama. It's adorable to see mother-daughter squeal and fangirl together.
The sad reality. There was no staff nor volunteer to keep the line organized, thus adorable fan had to direct people where the start of the line was. Disappointed at the disorganization, the fan informed me that FLOW was doing an autograph session earlier! IT WASN'T ON THE SCHEDULE POSTED ONLINE~!! She said that the chairman of the con promised to send her the full schedule the day before the con, but that email never arrived even on the day of the con. Yikes. But at least she was given the times of the the autograph sessions. Lesson: Prepare for the unexpected at these cons. But expect chaos. Apparently I'm not hte only one who didn't know about the first session. There were barely any people who came to see them, it must have been disheartening. THIS IS FLOW MAN! WHY DO THIS TO THEM? They also didn't have pens for FLOW to use.
They actually opened the doors for the Opening Ceremony, which precedes FLOW's Q&A. The whole time I was sitting, I was admiring the back of Keigo's head from a few feet away. I'm still kicking myself for not being fast enough to get pictures with any of the band members. I've also been pretty unlucky, others bumped into them during the con while I never had such luck.
Q&A
Some questions were childish, others sorta offensive and probably would never be allowed in normal circumstances. I can't remember most of it and I may have mixed up some answers but here goes my best recollection:
Favorite colors:
Keigo - Blue, Koshi - Red, Take - Yellow, Got's - Black, Iwasaki - Purple
Favorite feature of their body:
Keigo - spots on his face (freckles?), Koshi - his abs, Take - hip, Got's - ?, Iwasaki - Tattoo
Follow-up, show off that feature. Koshi pulled up his shirt and wowed the audience with his abs. THen Take stood up and started unbuckling his belt to take off his pants. His bandmates desperately stopped him. XDDD
Favorite feature of a girl's body:
Keigo - nape, Koshi - ?, Take - *with a loud voice* BOOBIES!, Got's - shin, Iwasaki - cleavage
Favorite and Disliked Foods.
Take - Steak!
Have you ever had a one-night stand:
Keigo - confused face was ever so adorable~!!!!!!
What type of girl you like?
Take - BOOOOOBIES!
There was a little kids in the audience. There was a toddler in the center section's front row!
Do you know the song "Maru maru mori mori"?
FLOW sings complete with hand gestures. CUTE!!!!!!!
Favorite Pokemon? This is an anime convention afterall.
Either Take or Hoshi keeps on saying Satoshi. The interpreter had to repeat a favorite pokemon, and Satoshi is human. Then he answered Takeshi. I'm not sure if there was mistranslation somewhere.
Something you like in Houston:
Someone said the girls, warm weather... but Take said "STEAK!"
If you had an American name, what would it be? FLOW asked the fan to pick names for them.
Keigo - Thomas, Koshi - Bob, Take- Paul ????, GOT'S - Daniel, Iwasaki - Theodore
Keigo's shocked and confused reaction to Thomas was hilarious! He kept on repeating "THOMAS?!!!! Thomas? Thomas.....Thomas."
High school memories.
Keigo confessed to a girl and got rejected. He tried three more times, and still got rejected.
Iwasaki likes his tatooes to be animals because words have definite meanings.. at least that's what the translator said. I think he meant that animals can be more symbolic and leave different messages (depending on the colors/features/expression) while words/kanji are more limited in expressions due to its meaning.
Overall, the boys were charming. Keigo's smile is melt-me-away and to-die-for type. His facial expressions whenever someone asks weird/difficult question were priceless and in itself very entertaining. My first impression of Iwasaki was the bad boy rebel type. However, during the panel, he was very shy and quiet... he seemed very nice. The rest of the band seemed to have conspired against him. Whenever there's a strange or embarassing question, like who takes the longest in the bathroom, they'd all point to Iwasaki. GOT'S was serious and kinda intimidating. I don't know, I think it's his facial expression? But that got me really curious tho, like I want to talk to him more. Take is wacky, and actually pretty hot. Koshi is a cool guy. Really, he was interesting, but I can't remember exactly what interesting stuff he was saying. Weird.
Non-flow stuffs. It's weird how BIG American voice actors were. Someone who line up with us was genuinely into the band. But as soon as the opening ceremony ended, she dashed out to attend some panel. I could not comprehend ditching FLOW or any well-known Japanese band for some voice actor I'd see in other conventions at some other time. Lil' bro warned me that it can get dangerous and crazy in these events. The last con I was in was like 2005 or 2006 when High and MIghty Color came as guests. Well, it was a bit overwhelming but it was still interesting.
I don't know what this thing is. For a good 10 minutes I just stared at him waiting for different people to ask him for a picture, and he nods his head! IT WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER! I never thought I could squeal so much from a simple nod.