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Shoju posted on: July 14, 2007 7:00 P.M. (PST)
Anime Expo 2007 thoughts:
This year, I'm forgoing the normal AX report I
write up. This time I'll just babble for a couple
paragraphs.
First, the site the AX hotel block used to book
rooms fucked up and our Westin reservation was one of fifty rooms selected to be
moved because they overbooked. The hotel we were moved to was in LA.
Shit. Thankfully, another hotel was provided and it was just in San Pedro.
It was a nice room.
Badge (holder) pickup was pretty smooth.
Picking up Premier tickets for the SOS concert (and Masquerade), however, was
incredibly close. I was able to pick the tickets up right before they
closed up shop.
First day highlights were the SOS panel and AMV
contest. I actually waited in the wrong area for the panel for a while and
a few poor souls got trapped there with me. Walking quickly to the correct
line, I was still able to get in. It was almost filled completely.
Some interesting things to come up in the panel:
Aya's favorite character was Tsuruya. (XD)
Yuko's favorite character was Kyon. (Aww.)
Aya sung Cha La (ala Lucky Star). (Fanboygasm!)
One guy asked advice from Aya about voice acting and if she would be his friend.
Aya responded and told him if he worked hard at it and he becomes a voice actor
for an anime she works on, then she would be his friend. (O.W.N.E.D....to
the extreme! XFD)
AMV contest was a deja vu moment for me. Once we got in and seated, the
announcement came. 3/4 of the video contest was lost and unavailable to
show. Talk about fucking up. I mean I understand what happened, and
I'm not really mad at the staff for it. It's just hilarious to me that I
didn't foresee this. My cousin and I had an entry, and even though we
didn't make the semi-finals, our video would have probably been shown had we had
a DVD on hand(It was on my iPod, but they declined to use it.).
Second day highlight was the SOS concert.
I was a little sad that I couldn't attend the Death Note panel or the Eisuke
Inoue panel. Waiting for the concert to start was a very long process.
It started way late, but still, it was totally worth it. I had a seat in
the second row and right in the middle. The people next to me were
good(not obese or smelly). From what I could hear from the warm-ups,
they were missing the "left" audio because I couldn't hear the main guitar riff
from the beginning of God Knows. The concert was very enjoyable, and it
ranks as the second best concert I've ever been to(First is Nobou Uematsu's More
Friends concert). While most people were waiting for them to sing God
Knows or Hare Hare Yukai, I was geeking out when Aya started singing Lost My
Music. That song is <3.
Third day highlights were missing the One Piece
panel for nothing, and a very generic Masquerade. The day before, SOS were
supposed to have a signing, but that was cancelled and it was said that it was
to be for today. This meant I had to miss the One Piece panel if I wanted
an autograph. I gambled, and I lost badly. When the signing was
about to start, they told us that they were only willing to sign official
posters and nothing else and that they would only do a certain amount of
autographs(I forgot if they said 100 or 50.). No exceptions. I
didn't arrive early enough so I was out of luck. No signing of my limited
edition DVD box. The rest of day was spent wandering the exhibition hall.
We then waited for the Masquerade to start. I had a front row seat on the
right side. To my left, was an obese otaku with a camera. Another
deja vu moment bringing me back to AX 03 Masquerade. To my right however,
was a sexy cosplayer. The fatty was pushing me onto her so it wasn't
that bad, but I felt bad for her because the other person next to her was
another fatty. Most of skits sucked. About two or three were funny,
but nothing incredibly epic. At the very end though, I had another
fanboygasm when the Best of Show group did a special pose to end the show.
They were a One Piece group, and they stood on the front of the stage with their
backs to us and their arms raised. The goodbye to Vivi moment.
Fucking epic! ;_;
Last day highlight was me winning the sketch of
Zoro at the charity auction. I wanted the Sanji sketch too, but he isn't
worth it as much as this sketch of Zoro with his bandanna on and sword in
mouth. I love it, and it was well worth it. Shocker of an
announcement at closing ceremonies though. Next AX is at the LA convention
center. I fear for all my fellow otaku and weeaboos. With the events
that go on into the night, those who want to attend these events are in grave
danger once they leave the premises. I may not be attending next year's AX
due to personal reasons(Comic Con 08 here I come!). God speed to those who
venture into LA's night. AX staffers better have the full support of the
LAPD in protecting these people.
Anime/manga thoughts:
I heard something about School Days, and it
warranted me to download it last night. I just finished watching it.
Damn it! Why do I have to like these kinds of things! School Days is
<3.
One Piece's latest chapter was very fucking
epic. Sanji vs Absalom. I knew when Nami was shown in a wedding
dress, that once Sanji saw her, he would kick the living shit out of Absalom.
You just don't fuck with the ladies of the Strawhat crew like that. I hope
Sanji makes him beg for forgiveness and gives him a swift kick of death.
In the anime however, they have started filler.
Once again, they tease me by not showing the new bounties already. Then
there's the reveal of the Thousand Sunny and Usopp manning up and apologizing.
So many great moments are being put on hold. ;_;
Bleach (manga) has gotten slightly interesting
when Orihime finally cheers on Ichigo. I'm getting pumped again. I
want to see a kiss between those two somewhere near the end of this arc!
Naruto (manga) is fuck shit boring. Fuck
you Sasuke. I don't want to see you fight. Get this shit over with
already!
I caught the Naruto dub last weekend.
They're at the part where Tsunade just decided to take the Hokage gig. It
was my first time hearing Tsunade's dub voice. I'm very pleased.
Also very pleased with Naruto's voice actress's work when he was fighting with
Kabuto. Naruto's dubbing still has my seal of approval.
Favorite anime moments of the moment:
Watching the first episode of School Days
brought back a lot of memories of different moments across a dozen anime.
In honor of the title of the first episode, I'd like to reminisce about a couple
of "confession" scenes.
Air Gear manga: Ikki's moment of clarity
when Kazu told him to calm down and think of who he really likes. It turns
out that neither Simca nor Ringo is in his heart. It's Kururu.
Aww level: <3 <3 <3 <3
School Rumble: Harima runs. Harima
grabs. Harima confesses. It's Eri.
Aww level: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Ichigo 100% manga: Nishino runs into a
park. She stops under the pull-up bars. She jumps and with all her
strength pulls her head up and over the bar while confessing to wanting to be
with Manaka again. This is the mother of all epic confessions.
Aww level: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
That's all from this post. If all goes
well, I'll have a photo review of AX 07 and/or figure reviews of the
stuff I got from this year's AX. My AX 07 photos are up, but I'm not
linking to it just yet. If you're not stupid, you can easily figure out how to
see them. Domo-kun Photographer will be spotlighted next time! =P
Current favorite song: Lost My Music -
Hirano Aya
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