A-KON REPORT: BAND SECTION
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
/breathes.
OKAY NOW THAT I HAVE THAT DONE WITH.
I'm sorry if any of this doesn't make sense, I still haven't slept well since ... a week ago, actually! So it's full of a lot of screaming and flailing, but. 8|
FRIDAY
Friday was spent entirely in cosplay, including me running through the con in makeup with my hair done, clutching my obi/etc to my chest and holding my kimono closed because ... look, it's hard for a girl to get those done herself. (I got pictures taken like that. OTZ) After my Akichan~~~~ (rivetspoon) got me all situated, I wandered around a lot and found the other Inugami cosplayers in the J-pop room, oh-ho-ho. (This was after we'd accosted their Kyouko before we were in cosplay, lol) Their Zin was MIA though and I never saw them the entire weekend. :( WEEP. We chatted for a while, had someone take pictures of us, and then I dragged them back to artist alley so Jouji could meet Akichan >:) There was yelling across the aisles, it was pretty great. (Look, we were excited?)
All this time, every time we would pass by the Cure table the people there would fawn over us and take pictures... to show Kyouko... Then one of them told us they wanted us to be in Cure so to come back when the photographer was there. Holy crap. (We finally got our pictures taken on SUNDAY because we kept missing the photographers, but oh well. Akichan is beautiful with her bows in her hair in the pictures they did take. Uh.)
The concert was a little late (not running late, but timeline wise) but we went in cosplay and ended up front and center. We let one of the Japanese fans that had flown out in front next to me, since she was literally a foot shorter than Akichan so STILL EASILY VISIBLE. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I'd never been to an Inugami show and a lot of the cues were lost to me and I got to cheat off of the tiny Kyouko next to me.
It turned out all three sets of cosplayers at the con were in the front row! (Set 1: Kyouko and Jouji. Set 2: Myself (Kyouko) and Akichan. Set 3: Kyouko... who was a set all to herself.)
First off, the set list (cped thanks to a facebook user from Tokyo that went to A-Kon, who is apparently also the girl we let in front with us ^^ idk if there are any typos, I didn't go over it. >_> SORRY.)
1. Bone
2. Zankoku paradise
3. Shini-time~Zisatsu no uta
4. Hitotsume-kozo
5. Itsuka
6. Jinmencho
7. Hikari to kage no tokkarta
8. Heisay Democracy
9. Yakooressya
10. Inugami tengoku
11. Nenbutsu-dani
12. Inochi mijikashi koiseyo zinrui
There was a little drama with some people behind us over headbanging (the other Kyouko's hair was shorter but mine is pretty long and so while doing the headbanging - if you've seen an Inugami concert you know the type - apparently my hair was hitting the girl behind me so instead of SAYING SOMETHING during a lull in the songs she was yelling directly in my ear on purpose as loudly and shrilly as she could (which was, uh, A LOT LOUDER THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE PLACE SCREAMING). Thanks, I didn't need that eardrum anyway. :( Anyway I got over it pretty quick and concentrated on the show. Kyouko seemed very pleased to see so many cosplayers in the front row and pointed at the little grouping of us in the middle a couple of times while we did things in unison.
Zin is a lot more of a troll than I remember from watching DVDs, but it was hilarious - a lot of trailing around Kyouko and creeping all over her, especially during bits of songs when she was singing AT someone. Jouji trolled around a lot too (this isn't very technical, is it LOL), when Kyouko started headbanging flowers flew EVERYWHERE and at one point Akira licked his drumstick...
All of the MCs were in Japanese so I don't have transcripts, sorry! She did belt out 'I LOVE YOU, DALLAS!!' a few times, though. :)
It was honestly one of the best concerts I've been to - and that's saying something, since while I haven't been to many every one I've been to has been amazing.
After them was Seikimatsu - we had to leave the front row for them unfortunately, because I was about to pass out haha. So we chilled in the back, listening and yelling when we were called to. They were GREAT. I honestly am kind of at a loss for words to describe how amazing and hilarious the whole show was. No set list, but I do believe they played El Dorado (or I hallucinated they did, either way.). There was a lot of yelling. A lot of yelling. A long description about apples (uh oh) and how in a certain prefecture they call them manko but everywhere else in Japan that means 'pussy' so, uh, he had everyone yell manko a lot because we actually WOULD, someone mentioned later that a lot of the native Japanese fans looked kind of mortified, haha.
After the show we saw the drummer wandering around the artist's alley downstairs, but we didn't want to bother him so we moseyed along. :)
SATURDAY:
Since we saw Seikimatsu we missed the first Inugami signing! But Saturday we suited up again and trolled both signings.
Seikimatsu was REALLY nice; they recognised the cosplay and signed my kimono sleeve when I asked. I bought Akichan a poster because security wouldn't let them sign the arm band from the uniform.
I went to the Q&A by myself after that - I can't remember all of the questions or answers, but it got to the point where every time someone asked something about the band mechanics, one of them would answer 'Oh, you just add hot water and wait three minutes.' It got to the point where the band themselves couldn't even keep a straight face over it - and then when someone asked, 'When you add the hot water and wait three minutes, what type is best?' as soon as they heard 'water,' they started laughing. Hard. (Apparently the best kind is Crystal Geyser Mineral Water, for those wanting to make their own band.)
There were a lot of questions about food - presumably because when I asked the first question 'What do you think of America so far?' Kyouko answered 'the tacos are really good here...'
...
...
sob.
-----
A couple more highlights of the Q&A: (They all answered most questions, but some of the answers I don't remember or didn't translate well.)
"What do you do in your free time?"
Jouji: I'm hungover when I'm not working.
Zin: I practice bass...
Akira: (whips his head around to stare at him, YELLS) YOU FUCKING LIAR!
Jouji: He doesn't even have a bass in his house...
Zin: (head in hands)
"What's the biggest difference between America and Japan?"
Jouji: Everything here is so big! Yesterday I went to the bathroom and my feet didn't even touch the floor!
Crowd: (laughter)
Jouji: ... Next question!
Crowd: (more laughter)
Jouji: (HEAD IN HANDS) NEXT QUESTION!
"What did you do on the flight here?"
Zin: I'm actually afraid of flights, so I slept the whole way...
Akira: I read a book the whole way.
Kyouko: It was such a long flight and my ear was hurting so I just ate a lot of candy the whole way and it made me feel better.
Jouji: I drank beer.
Translator: The whole way?
Jouji: ... The whole way.
Crowd: (laughter)
"How does Texas stand up to how you see it in movies?"
Zin: You know, I thought the whole place would be desert and everyone would be wearing cowboy hats and swinging lassos... (mimes lasso motion)
Rest of band: (nods approvingly)
"What souvenirs do you want?"
Akira: A cowboy hat.
"What other instruments would you like to play?"
Jouji: I used to play the trumpet, I might like to do that again...
Akira: Everything I'd like to play is something ridiculous and foreign, like some type of old African instrument...
Kyouko: You see, people who play instruments have to practice every day... I'd rather sing.
Zin: I'd like to try being a vocalist!
Crowd: (AWWWW)
"How long does it take you to do your makeup?"
Kyouko: Ahhhh... If it's only the face it's about 30 minutes, but if it's the face and hair it's about an hour.
Jouji or Akira (I can't remember, probably Akira): But really, it only takes three minutes. Because you add the hot water.
"Akira-san, do you make or buy your horns?"
Akira: Well you see, I add hot water and I wait three minutes...
"How do you feel when people cosplay you?"
(This was asked by the girl next to me, the other Kyouko cosplayer (sorry I don't remember your lj! Did you tell me? lol), as I sat next to her in full kimono and makeup.)
Me: EHHHHH? (STARING AT HER)
Crowd: (laughter at my expense ;_;)
Kyouko: We love it! It makes us really happy. (eyes me a moment)
Me: O_O (slides down in chair)
-----
After that I trolled around a bit, then we went to the Inugami signing.
They LOVED us. When I put my sleeve down to be signed I think that Kyouko almost had a heart attack, she went "REALLY?" with these huge eyes and everyone stopped to look, SOB. So it started one of those chain reactions where they all watch the person signing whatever so the line gets held up and security hates you... They signed Akichan's art print of the band this time (They loved it! It was great.) and we gave them copies of their own; they were really excited about them and Jouji asked me if I drew them; I told him that Akichan had and he was like 'It's so good!' haha.
That pretty much ended Saturday; we trolled around a lot but never saw them wandering or anything! so. (Someone said they'd seen Jouji and Zin wandering without makeup on in one of the con hotels, but that they ran when they got recognised, hahaha)
SUNDAY:
Another cosplay day! I wasn't going to, but we had another signing and still needed to catch up with the Cure people.
At the signing, Akichan had them sign her horns by leaning down and handing them a copper marker. This started ANOTHER chain reaction of stares, and the camera people came over to record the signings...again... like they did with my kimono... When Jouji signed them he leaned in and told her 'next time, you cosplay me!' which was adorable. (Apparently I need to keep cosplaying Kyouko. I'M NOT GONNA COMPLAIN.)
I had them sign my Saigo no Idol single, which... got MORE reactions. Scream. They all looked pleased that I had it, and Zin started LITERALLY handflapping in excitement. The translator was like 'what, what!' so he explained how hard it is to find and I handflapped back at him and told him how excited I was when I found it, haha. So uh, we're on film handflapping at each other! Which is super great.
There were no hugs allowed (I asked and security said no :( but then again I'm used to super hug-filled bands like MUCC so I wasn't surprised :P) so we got handshakes both times. Zin grabbed onto Akichan's hand with both of his to shake, and Akira... did some weird triple handshake with Akichan that ended in a brofist and then TRIED TO KEEP GOING. Security was eyeing us though so she shoved the marker into his hand and pointed at her horns, lol. Jouji grabbed my hand for a double handshake and sort of... didn't let go until I excused myself, it was very cute!
The Cure people finally caught up with us as we went out of line and took a couple of pictures for the magazine, so we're pretty stoked. ^^
We left the con a few hours after that to drive back to California; I tweeted pictures to Jouji and Zin of our cosplays thanking them and Jouji tweeted back thanking us in return so it was worth it. :P
... I DON'T THINK I FORGOT ANYTHING. Oh god. This is so long.
Okay guys, I have 3/4 sides of my sleeves signed - Inugami Circus-Dan, SEIKIMA II, and MUCC. I have one spot left. SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED.
/breathes.
OKAY NOW THAT I HAVE THAT DONE WITH.
I'm sorry if any of this doesn't make sense, I still haven't slept well since ... a week ago, actually! So it's full of a lot of screaming and flailing, but. 8|
FRIDAY
Friday was spent entirely in cosplay, including me running through the con in makeup with my hair done, clutching my obi/etc to my chest and holding my kimono closed because ... look, it's hard for a girl to get those done herself. (I got pictures taken like that. OTZ) After my Akichan~~~~ (rivetspoon) got me all situated, I wandered around a lot and found the other Inugami cosplayers in the J-pop room, oh-ho-ho. (This was after we'd accosted their Kyouko before we were in cosplay, lol) Their Zin was MIA though and I never saw them the entire weekend. :( WEEP. We chatted for a while, had someone take pictures of us, and then I dragged them back to artist alley so Jouji could meet Akichan >:) There was yelling across the aisles, it was pretty great. (Look, we were excited?)
All this time, every time we would pass by the Cure table the people there would fawn over us and take pictures... to show Kyouko... Then one of them told us they wanted us to be in Cure so to come back when the photographer was there. Holy crap. (We finally got our pictures taken on SUNDAY because we kept missing the photographers, but oh well. Akichan is beautiful with her bows in her hair in the pictures they did take. Uh.)
The concert was a little late (not running late, but timeline wise) but we went in cosplay and ended up front and center. We let one of the Japanese fans that had flown out in front next to me, since she was literally a foot shorter than Akichan so STILL EASILY VISIBLE. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I'd never been to an Inugami show and a lot of the cues were lost to me and I got to cheat off of the tiny Kyouko next to me.
It turned out all three sets of cosplayers at the con were in the front row! (Set 1: Kyouko and Jouji. Set 2: Myself (Kyouko) and Akichan. Set 3: Kyouko... who was a set all to herself.)
First off, the set list (cped thanks to a facebook user from Tokyo that went to A-Kon, who is apparently also the girl we let in front with us ^^ idk if there are any typos, I didn't go over it. >_> SORRY.)
1. Bone
2. Zankoku paradise
3. Shini-time~Zisatsu no uta
4. Hitotsume-kozo
5. Itsuka
6. Jinmencho
7. Hikari to kage no tokkarta
8. Heisay Democracy
9. Yakooressya
10. Inugami tengoku
11. Nenbutsu-dani
12. Inochi mijikashi koiseyo zinrui
There was a little drama with some people behind us over headbanging (the other Kyouko's hair was shorter but mine is pretty long and so while doing the headbanging - if you've seen an Inugami concert you know the type - apparently my hair was hitting the girl behind me so instead of SAYING SOMETHING during a lull in the songs she was yelling directly in my ear on purpose as loudly and shrilly as she could (which was, uh, A LOT LOUDER THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE PLACE SCREAMING). Thanks, I didn't need that eardrum anyway. :( Anyway I got over it pretty quick and concentrated on the show. Kyouko seemed very pleased to see so many cosplayers in the front row and pointed at the little grouping of us in the middle a couple of times while we did things in unison.
Zin is a lot more of a troll than I remember from watching DVDs, but it was hilarious - a lot of trailing around Kyouko and creeping all over her, especially during bits of songs when she was singing AT someone. Jouji trolled around a lot too (this isn't very technical, is it LOL), when Kyouko started headbanging flowers flew EVERYWHERE and at one point Akira licked his drumstick...
All of the MCs were in Japanese so I don't have transcripts, sorry! She did belt out 'I LOVE YOU, DALLAS!!' a few times, though. :)
It was honestly one of the best concerts I've been to - and that's saying something, since while I haven't been to many every one I've been to has been amazing.
After them was Seikimatsu - we had to leave the front row for them unfortunately, because I was about to pass out haha. So we chilled in the back, listening and yelling when we were called to. They were GREAT. I honestly am kind of at a loss for words to describe how amazing and hilarious the whole show was. No set list, but I do believe they played El Dorado (or I hallucinated they did, either way.). There was a lot of yelling. A lot of yelling. A long description about apples (uh oh) and how in a certain prefecture they call them manko but everywhere else in Japan that means 'pussy' so, uh, he had everyone yell manko a lot because we actually WOULD, someone mentioned later that a lot of the native Japanese fans looked kind of mortified, haha.
After the show we saw the drummer wandering around the artist's alley downstairs, but we didn't want to bother him so we moseyed along. :)
SATURDAY:
Since we saw Seikimatsu we missed the first Inugami signing! But Saturday we suited up again and trolled both signings.
Seikimatsu was REALLY nice; they recognised the cosplay and signed my kimono sleeve when I asked. I bought Akichan a poster because security wouldn't let them sign the arm band from the uniform.
I went to the Q&A by myself after that - I can't remember all of the questions or answers, but it got to the point where every time someone asked something about the band mechanics, one of them would answer 'Oh, you just add hot water and wait three minutes.' It got to the point where the band themselves couldn't even keep a straight face over it - and then when someone asked, 'When you add the hot water and wait three minutes, what type is best?' as soon as they heard 'water,' they started laughing. Hard. (Apparently the best kind is Crystal Geyser Mineral Water, for those wanting to make their own band.)
There were a lot of questions about food - presumably because when I asked the first question 'What do you think of America so far?' Kyouko answered 'the tacos are really good here...'
...
...
sob.
-----
A couple more highlights of the Q&A: (They all answered most questions, but some of the answers I don't remember or didn't translate well.)
"What do you do in your free time?"
Jouji: I'm hungover when I'm not working.
Zin: I practice bass...
Akira: (whips his head around to stare at him, YELLS) YOU FUCKING LIAR!
Jouji: He doesn't even have a bass in his house...
Zin: (head in hands)
"What's the biggest difference between America and Japan?"
Jouji: Everything here is so big! Yesterday I went to the bathroom and my feet didn't even touch the floor!
Crowd: (laughter)
Jouji: ... Next question!
Crowd: (more laughter)
Jouji: (HEAD IN HANDS) NEXT QUESTION!
"What did you do on the flight here?"
Zin: I'm actually afraid of flights, so I slept the whole way...
Akira: I read a book the whole way.
Kyouko: It was such a long flight and my ear was hurting so I just ate a lot of candy the whole way and it made me feel better.
Jouji: I drank beer.
Translator: The whole way?
Jouji: ... The whole way.
Crowd: (laughter)
"How does Texas stand up to how you see it in movies?"
Zin: You know, I thought the whole place would be desert and everyone would be wearing cowboy hats and swinging lassos... (mimes lasso motion)
Rest of band: (nods approvingly)
"What souvenirs do you want?"
Akira: A cowboy hat.
"What other instruments would you like to play?"
Jouji: I used to play the trumpet, I might like to do that again...
Akira: Everything I'd like to play is something ridiculous and foreign, like some type of old African instrument...
Kyouko: You see, people who play instruments have to practice every day... I'd rather sing.
Zin: I'd like to try being a vocalist!
Crowd: (AWWWW)
"How long does it take you to do your makeup?"
Kyouko: Ahhhh... If it's only the face it's about 30 minutes, but if it's the face and hair it's about an hour.
Jouji or Akira (I can't remember, probably Akira): But really, it only takes three minutes. Because you add the hot water.
"Akira-san, do you make or buy your horns?"
Akira: Well you see, I add hot water and I wait three minutes...
"How do you feel when people cosplay you?"
(This was asked by the girl next to me, the other Kyouko cosplayer (sorry I don't remember your lj! Did you tell me? lol), as I sat next to her in full kimono and makeup.)
Me: EHHHHH? (STARING AT HER)
Crowd: (laughter at my expense ;_;)
Kyouko: We love it! It makes us really happy. (eyes me a moment)
Me: O_O (slides down in chair)
-----
After that I trolled around a bit, then we went to the Inugami signing.
They LOVED us. When I put my sleeve down to be signed I think that Kyouko almost had a heart attack, she went "REALLY?" with these huge eyes and everyone stopped to look, SOB. So it started one of those chain reactions where they all watch the person signing whatever so the line gets held up and security hates you... They signed Akichan's art print of the band this time (They loved it! It was great.) and we gave them copies of their own; they were really excited about them and Jouji asked me if I drew them; I told him that Akichan had and he was like 'It's so good!' haha.
That pretty much ended Saturday; we trolled around a lot but never saw them wandering or anything! so. (Someone said they'd seen Jouji and Zin wandering without makeup on in one of the con hotels, but that they ran when they got recognised, hahaha)
SUNDAY:
Another cosplay day! I wasn't going to, but we had another signing and still needed to catch up with the Cure people.
At the signing, Akichan had them sign her horns by leaning down and handing them a copper marker. This started ANOTHER chain reaction of stares, and the camera people came over to record the signings...again... like they did with my kimono... When Jouji signed them he leaned in and told her 'next time, you cosplay me!' which was adorable. (Apparently I need to keep cosplaying Kyouko. I'M NOT GONNA COMPLAIN.)
I had them sign my Saigo no Idol single, which... got MORE reactions. Scream. They all looked pleased that I had it, and Zin started LITERALLY handflapping in excitement. The translator was like 'what, what!' so he explained how hard it is to find and I handflapped back at him and told him how excited I was when I found it, haha. So uh, we're on film handflapping at each other! Which is super great.
There were no hugs allowed (I asked and security said no :( but then again I'm used to super hug-filled bands like MUCC so I wasn't surprised :P) so we got handshakes both times. Zin grabbed onto Akichan's hand with both of his to shake, and Akira... did some weird triple handshake with Akichan that ended in a brofist and then TRIED TO KEEP GOING. Security was eyeing us though so she shoved the marker into his hand and pointed at her horns, lol. Jouji grabbed my hand for a double handshake and sort of... didn't let go until I excused myself, it was very cute!
The Cure people finally caught up with us as we went out of line and took a couple of pictures for the magazine, so we're pretty stoked. ^^
We left the con a few hours after that to drive back to California; I tweeted pictures to Jouji and Zin of our cosplays thanking them and Jouji tweeted back thanking us in return so it was worth it. :P
... I DON'T THINK I FORGOT ANYTHING. Oh god. This is so long.
Okay guys, I have 3/4 sides of my sleeves signed - Inugami Circus-Dan, SEIKIMA II, and MUCC. I have one spot left. SUGGESTIONS WELCOMED.