Day 1 - Came early and grabbed some nice seats for Opening Ceremonies.  Before introducing the Guest of Honor, they first introduced three American voice actors as special guest.  Crispin Freeman, Colleen Clinkenbeard, and Greg Ayres.  When Colleen went up there, she spun around for the crowd before sitting down.  Every guest after that, did the same thing.  Maaya Sakamoto and Tomokazu Seki couldn't make it to the ceremony.

After that, headed down to Hall E to wait in line for tickets to the AMVs.  After getting tickets, I went over to the Hilton to wait to get into Kotoko's panel.  From the panel, I learned that when she writes songs for anime or games, she learns everything about that world of that game or anime so that she can write the song to match with that world.  To go as far as learning that much in order to make the perfect song, that right there is something I highly respect.  She also happens to be a MAC user, and when asked if she plays any of the games she sings for, she said she only can play ones compatible with her MAC.  Note: She writes songs for a lot of perverted games. =)

After her panel, I went to Ugetsu Hakua's panel that was right after hers.  Ugetsu likes drawing girl's that show a lot of skin.  He also prefers that the girls he draws, have a lot of pride.  Greg Ayres, who was the moderator of this panel, also thanked him very much for the episode where Sei is wearing a really tiny swim suit.  I hit the dealers room for a quick look around.  I wasn't going to buy anything, but I ended up getting a big Orihime figure and two random Naruto heroine figures.

I finally tore myself away from the exhibit hall and headed back to the "Line" room (Hall E) for the AMVs.  Things started late as usual, but no major problems came up.  Drama was average this year.  Tear Stained Hearts got my vote for the category.  Action was pretty good.  Gods and Death got my vote for that category.  Prayer for Destruction, Full Panic, Ghost of Anime, Past, and Awakening were all good, but Gods and Death edged over the rest.  Comedy had a lot of great ones.  The Wizard of Ozaka got my best of show vote, and the Bride of Berserk got my best comedy vote.  Still Preoccupied with 1985 and The Purpose of Persocoms were good too.  AMtv wasn't as great as the rest.  Die Another Day was the shining star of that category.  It got my vote, and I'll definitely be watching that AMV a couple hundred times in the coming year.  I also liked the Utena one.

Day 2 - I really would have liked to attend Miho Shimogasa's and Tsuneo Kobayashi's panels, but I wanted good seats for Kotoko's concert and started the day with a 2-and-a-half hour wait in line.  The seats I got were pretty good.  I could see the stage and screens clearly.  Voice actors Johnny Bosch and Wendee Lee came out and started the Anime Festival off with a Geneon timeline looking back at all the work they've done, and the work they're currently doing.  The highlight was the Hellsing OVA which will animate the manga storylines.  The mangaka of Hellsing (Kohta Hirano) and anime director of the Hellsing OVA (Tomokazu Tokoro) came out and they were asked some questions by the Johnny and Wendee.  They explained that the OVA came about because Tomokazu was drinking one night with Yousuke Kuroda (writer of many anime including Onegai Teacher, Trigun, and Puni Puni Poemi).  Yousuke said that there should be more Hellsing because the ending wasn't that great.  Tomokazu said if he wanted more, he should write it himself.  Thus the OVA was started.  Finally, Kotoko was introduced and the concert started.

The concert was awesome.  She sang trance, rock, pop, and soft songs.  Honestly, I didn't recognize much of it.  I only recognized Shooting Star and Agony.  Shooting Star is my favorite song of hers, so I liked that one best.  During the soft song, people whipped out their cell phones and used their glow like glow sticks.  Being so near the front, looking back at all the waving cell phones was an awesome site to see.  AX staff were probably shitting their pants when every did it though.

I went hunting for AX Idol tickets, but gave up after going in circles.  I met up with a friend and then hit the exhibit hall again.  This time I got to search through it more thoroughly and made mental notes of what and where I was going to buy stuff.  I ended buying a big Ryoumou figure and 3 random Gundam Seed Destiny figures.  I went over to the Marriot and bought some pizzas and then went to wait for AX Idol.  I was sad to find that Kotoko wouldn't be one of the judges.  Idol was the same as always, only thing different was that singers had to choose from a pre-selected list of songs to sing.  That makes things a lot easier, but it kind of takes away the surprise of what they could sing.

Day 3 - Had to miss Hiroshi Ousaka's panel to get concert wristbands for Maaya Sakamoto's concert.  After getting tickets, I sent my cousin off to get Masquerade tickets while I hold their place in line.  AX staff made sure everyone knew that cellphones would be taken away if they were visible in any way during the concert.  The concert started late, but it was worth the wait.  It wasn't as exciting as Kotoko's, but great nonetheless.  After that, I went and got in line for the Masquerade.  It started late also, but not as late as some of the other events.

After two years of mediocre Masquerades, the greatness of this year's Masquerade was equal to the first Masquerade I saw at AX 2002.  The Metal Gear Solid 3 skit was my favorite and it won a bunch of awards, including Best of Show.  They retold the entire story in like ten minutes.  Other great skits were Moonsync, Kingdom Hearts 3, and a skit about Bleach.  Another great moment was when a guy in a huge mecha costume fell down and "turtled" his way behind the curtain.  Favorite costumes of the night were Kefka, Captain Komamura, and huge ass Kon.  A lot of skits used Darth Vader.  My favorite use of him was in a Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children skit.  Wheelchair man turned out be Darth Vader after taking the towel off, but when the mask came off, Sephiroth was revealed.

Day 4 - Final day started with me going to Maaya's panel.  There was already a huge crowd by the time I got there, but the seat I got was still really good.  Crispin Freeman was the moderator of this panel, and started it off by asking her a bunch of questions.  According to him, he was inspired to get into voice acting because of Escaflowne.  Maaya's most fond of her role as Hitomi on Escaflowne.  Yoko Kanno and her are like sisters.  When she was asked which guy in Gundam Seed Destiny she liked best; she answered Shin.  Most of the audience groaned, but I was fucking thrilled.  She also indulged us by saying her launch line when Lunamaria launches out in her Gundam.  Maaya was also asked about her crying scene in episode 37.  She explained that when she has a scene where she is required to cry, she makes herself cry for real for the scene.  For the end of the panel, a fan asked her to sing an excerpt from her song from the Tsubasa Chronicle anime.  She indulged us again and sang on the spot without music.  The entire room gave her a standing ovation.

After, I went over to the exhibit hall and spent the rest of my cash.  I got a big Meyrin figure, 3 more random Gundam Seed Destiny figures, 2 more random Naruto heroine figures, a regular size figure of Mizuho sitting in a chair, a big Maya figure, and 1 Gundam Seed hentai doujinshi.  After I was done buying stuff, I went to the main events room for the last of AX's events:  the Art Show Auction, Charity Auction, SPJA Awards, and Closing Ceremonies.  During the Charity Auction I did bid and win a set of Samurai 7 lithographs.  >_>

The SPJA Awards were given out a little bit later, and the Closing Ceremonies started a bit after that.  First, Kotoko and Maaya were thanked for doing concerts for AX.  They thought they had to come up when they heard their names, and they sat down at the table before they were properly announced.  After some more talking, they started bringing up the guests.  Just as in the Opening Ceremonies, they each spun around before sitting down to the crowd's delight.   Hiroyuki Kitakuba gave a nice ending speech about how everyone should tell everyone that his panel was the best even if they don't know who he is.  When Kotoko was properly announced she didn't bother standing up and spinning, but when Maaya was properly announced, she did stand up and spin for everyone.  When they asked for us to give all the guests a round of applause, the crowd gave them a standing ovation.  The chair person of AX spoke after and announced attendees were currently numbering around 33,000.  Then the check was given to the City of Hope.  AX raised more than $67,000.  AX was finally announced over.

Things I bought:

Freebies:

• Delray manga sampler

• Geneon DVD trailer and postcards

• Maaya Sakamoto concert program

What I wanted to buy:

• Bikini Sakura Naruto heroine figure

• Lunamaria big figure

• Naruto gloves (one booth had the exact same ones I have, but were sold out when I came back to it)

• Yuffie statue