Alas, we spent only two hours or so at the con on Sunday. My friend from New York was visiting, and she didn’t have a day pass, so we snuck her into the con briefly with my other friend’s pass so she could buy some presents for her little cousin. Otherwise, we couldn’t spend much time in the con itself. We ate at Nikko Sushi again, and then saw her off at the bus stop, because the bus’s at the con center run right to Port Authority in NYC. Then it started raining, then pouring, to the point that as we sprinting up the con center steps, I could see a thick layer of water streaming over everything. My shoes and socks were soaked.
We spent our last minute’s of the con in the dealer’s room, looking for last-minute deals. I’ve always been told that at the end of a con, the dealer’s start having sales, just so they don’t have to cart all the merchandise back home. Is this true? Because I’ve never seen it. In the last ten minutes before the dealer’s room closed, though, I bought Neji, a comic by Kaori Yuki that I’ve been casually looking for during the last…oh…five years? It’s never been translated into English but I don’t mind. I was just obsessed with reading it for so long and now I can practice my Japanese some more.
Last, I went down to the Art Show to pick up my artwork and found that 2 of my 3 pieces had sold! Hooray! Until I remembered that there was a $10 fee to actually have my work IN the show…so I only made $15…which will go toward paying expenses…….. But before I get too down, I’m just gonna remind myself that, after all, this is all part of the experience, and if I work really hard, maybe I can have my own booth in the future!! I hope…
So farewell to AnimeNEXT. I won’t be going to any cons for the next two years because I can already see that my schoolwork is going to interfere, but maybe between now and the next time I can work hard on this little business plan I have in my head…
If you have con stories, feel free to write! I’m interested in what I missed >.<
Well, it took me a while to get to writing this one! I’ve been busy with other writing projects, so alas, the blog got kicked aside. Now watch as I attempt to piece these events together…
Saturday was my friend’s birthday, and we had a surprise party planned for her that night, so we didn’t stay for the dance at the con. The whole day I was thinking really hard what I should buy for her, but this year, I really had nothing I could think of giving her. I guess I was kinda burned-out from other projects I’d done in the past, and from working so hard on art for the past month.
And by art I mean the three pieces I entered in the Art Show! I was both excited and disappointed that the Artist Alley and Art Show were located in the basement of the con center (in actuality, there was a parking lot down there, and they just put a black rug over the concrete). I wonder if the location drew less people down there. On Friday, I had basically just checked out the market and seen the price range in the art show. I was shocked that some people were selling pieces with a minimum bid of $6 but then charging $65 for a quickbid. Now I regret not bidding on those $6 pieces… Also, maybe I have no right to give this opinion, but it seems to me that despite their artistic skill – their Photoshop experience, or their understanding of anatomy, or their grasp of color – artists in the Artist Alley have a hard time understanding composition. Hardly ever have I seen a character in an interesting pose, or a drawing that was composed in an interesting way. Granted, because this is fan art, the artists probably don’t feel like spending too much time on it, but I wanted to see more effort in the art. Otherwise, for someone like me who can already draw, there isn’t much that interests me in the artist alley, although this year some booths had some crazy and great ideas, like decals and cute little food-themed items that reminded me of ShanaLogic. At Anime Boston this year, one booth sold team T-shirts for Organization XIII, and they did look like little league jerseys in a way. I wish I’d bought one >.<
We spent some time in the manga library this year, and I’m hooked on Banana Fish. I read Vol. 1 last year and Vols. 2 and 3 this year and I’m looking forward to reading the rest. The manga follows Ash Lynx, a young gang leader in New York City, whose brother fell victim during Vietnam to a dangerous hallucinogenic drug called Banana Fish. I THINK the manga is shounen-ai or yaoi – after all, Ash was a toy for a major crime boss and something is brewing between him and a young Japanese guy that comes to report on gangs in New York – but the manga focuses much more on the way each character is trying to each his ends, whether through subtle manipulation or outright killing.
This year on the way back from lunch, I finally saw that Kakashi gf/bf duo in person! I think this is them. What a great idea: Kinko’s Copy Ninjas!
Now I will fast-forward to the masquerade because my memory fails me in regards to what we did for dinner and so on…
The Masquerade! The BEST masquerade I have ever seen at AnimeNEXT. I shall explain through compare/contrast. You see, at Anime Boston 2008, which is supposed to be a super ultra awesome convention, the masquerade was terrible – unfunny with way too many dance numbers that didn’t add up to anything. The only worthwhile skit was the last one, an exhibition one, which you can watch here:
Furthermore, last year, AnimeNEXT had some knock-out skits, but some flops, too (like the endless Hare Hare Yukai dances). This year, there was only one Hare Hare Yukai dance, and it was abbreviated, and I think I remember there only being two really dull skits… So, in the interest of sharing, here is a sampling of some of the skits. I recommend going on YouTube to check out more.
SoraX5 Dances to Dirty Pop.
CPR in Kingdom Hearts II.
Don’t ask me why Kairi has to teach it.
The Birds and the Bees. The craziest sex talk I’ve ever heard. (“Today is a good day to die!”)
Because I’m totally drooling over Avatar and can’t wait for the finale.
It wasn’t THAT funny…except for “Fire Nation!”…”Fire Nation!”…”Fire Nation!”
And last but not least – for it was possibly the best – the exhibition skit. The guy sang LIVE and had charisma and charm oozing out of him, perfect for Tamaki:
In closing, I’d like like to point out that whereas the big thing at Anime Boston was…click this to find out… the big thing that I heard on everyone’s lips at AnimeNEXT was…”Buttscratcher!” I don’t know how it started, I just heard it in the street and spent the rest of the day exchanging “Buttscratcher!” with my friend.
Whew, so overall, a laid-back con…I’ll get to Sunday in a moment…
This year my con experience was rather abbreviated and I didn’t feel quite as exhilarated as I have in the past. My favorite part this year was spending time with my friends and making a new friend.
AnimeNEXT is a good-sized con held in Secaucus, NJ. This con used to be held at a smaller hotel nearby, maybe six years ago or so, but now it’s held at the Meadowlands Expo Center. This year, the con took up TWO floors of the Expo Center, and even added the option of picking up pre-reg badges on Thursday, a great idea since the line last year was an hour or so long on Friday morning.
On Friday, I had to go to my cousin’s middle school graduation in NYC, so I didn’t get to the convention until much later in the day (around 4 pm). I went through the Dealer’s Room and the Artist’s Alley/Show (scoping out the competition a little bit, since later I put up 3 pieces in the Art Show). I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about what was in the Dealer’s Room this year (although now it was much more like a market, since it took up almost half of the first floor), so I just bought some manga in Japanese so I could practice reading hiragana and katakana. My friends met up with me a little later and we ate dinner at Nikko Sushi, which has reasonable prices and where I got a beef bento. Then we went to the Holiday Inn to use the bathroom and watch a few minutes of a fandub (best joke: a Chinese character tattoo someone shows that is translated as “Stupid gaijin I take your money”)
We went to Starbucks and I got a Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade – extremely refreshing! Particularly in the hot weather.
Rentrer en Soi performed at the convention, and I’d like to offer a few tips to people looking to see bands at AnimeNEXT. For the past few years, the band has appeared in the large Panel 1 room. The seats in the center are cleared away so the crowd can move in, and people can also stand in the seats. If you’re not that interested in the band, don’t bother getting in line – there has always been room in the past to not only get into Panel 1 but also sneak your way toward the front. Unfortunately, if you’re short like me, being stuck in the crowd is a pain because there are so many tall people around.
So, since my friend and I were with someone who wasn’t particularly interested in the concert – and neither were we – we dropped in after the show had started (surprisingly, it started on time!! and no opening band). Immediately, I was amazed by the crowd’s silhouette against the bright white, smoky lights hitting the stage. They announced the band and the audience erupted, and when the singer came up he screamed into the microphone. Then the music started. Thankfully, Rentrer en Soi isn’t a screaming kind of band, but we only stuck around for 10 minutes or so before leaving since my friend wasn’t having fun unless she was close and our new friend really wanted to leave. I was in the middle on the decision and I sort of regret leaving because our friends who had VIP spots said it was AWESOME but…well…whatever… I’ve never listened to Rentrer en Soi so for the moment, I don’t regret missing them.
We hung around outside for a while and then we went home. It wasn’t particularly eventful, but I had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking. On the way home, the clouds that had been hanging around on the horizon finally came over us and the rain beat down hard enough that we wanted to pull over since our driver could barely see. We saw so many lightning bolts in the sky, including horizontal ones in the distance, that I started to worry we were going to have a repeat of that awful thunderstorm (actually, microburst) that hit NJ two weeks ago. We made it home safely, though, and I crashed into my bed soon enough.
I missed the cosplay chess, damn them! I wish they’d put it up on the bigscreen so people who aren’t 6 feet tall could see it…
Went to the Dealer’s Room for a last tour. Nothing worth buying unless I wanted to kill someone with one of the many weapons on sale (and I was tempted). Bought stuff in the Artist’s Alley (I am totally stalking that artist…okay, not really, but I love her art – it was so different). I was tempted to buy more Cloud Strife posters…
Kaleido Star marathon! I basically just watching Vol. 2 then went home ’cause I was really tired, but that show is so amazing. It’s so sweet and even though the animation isn’t so great, the scenes on the Kaleido Stage are to die for, especially the diabolo battle. And, of course, the Little Mermaid production! Poor Ken – Sora will never know how much he likes her…or will she? I’m hooked, I’m hooked, but not enough to buy the DVDs for $24 in the Dealer’s Room. What’s up with that? The policy at the Dealer’s Room should be to give us DEALS! Not charge $24 for something that takes $1 or so to make. And then try to say I’m getting 20 percent off. Hell…
Anyway, that is my account of the con, although of course I hung out on the green in front of Holiday Inn and watched the cosplayers enjoy themselves while I chilled in the cool, cool shade on this hot, muggy day…
After much planning, I was off to AnimeNEXT in NJ…
Comments on my day…
THE LINE. The dreaded, dreaded line… Where the hell did this line come from? I thought I pre-registered to save money and avoid the friggin’ registration line. And I did avoid the registration line, only to have to deal with the PRE-REG line. Stretching far into the depths of the parking lot… It took me an hour to get my badge when it took my reg line friends 15 MINUTES. Wow, that sucked. I would rather have paid full price and not have waited an hour in boredom. Maybe.
AMVS. Not as fun as last year, which weren’t as fun as the year before, or the year before… Maybe they keep getting worse? Or maybe I’m getting jaded… The Saturday winners weren’t surprising – I know all the shounen-ai fangirls voted for that amv with “Everytime We Touch” playing; I’m not saying it was a bad vid, but you could just hear them cheering for every kiss during the cosplay intermission on Saturday. How do actual gays feel about shounen-ai/yaoi?
Artist’s Alley. More on that in the Saturday section… But by far my fave part of the con as of now. I bought a huge poster of Cloud Strife (even though I had already bought the small postcard-sized version). I kept walking past it until I finally realized that if I didn’t buy it I would regret it for the rest of my life. So now it’s sitting in my room. Soon to find a home on my dorm wall. Damn, I love Cloud!
Dealer’s Room. Through the whole weekend, I bought…Steamboy, Princess Tutu Vol. 1 ($10!!), Akira, a Cloud Strife pillow (did I mention that I love him?) and candy!! I hardly ever get to buy candy, and AnimeNEXT is always my big candy weekend. I think I spent a total of $14 on candy. But in my defense, I shared most of it. And come on, one box of Pocky is like $3. So it ain’t that much. I bought mochi too ^_^
Dinner. My friends’ mom brought us steaming hot ravioli and fed me! I love her mucho.
12012. Wowzers. I actually got in line for this an hour or so early when I really shouldn’t have since the chairs on either side of the crowd let people move forward to grab seats. And I was in a seat since I’m not 6 feet tall and wouldn’t have been able to see over the crowd’s heads.
Wataru. I thought he was hot on stage, what with the miracle of make-up and hairstylists, but then I saw a picture of him in the daylight and that white make-up really makes him look gross. But anyway, he has a good stage presence, even though he never seemed to be looking at the audience – only through it or off to the side. He did get a where-the-hell-am-I expression at one point, which was priceless! He also made a triangle shape with his hands during one song, which was weird. I didn’t want to imitate it like other audience members were doing because it seemed fishy… Also, during one song, he just started touching himself, which of course got a lot of girls screaming, but I was intensely curious about how the guys in the audience were reacting to that… At the end, the band hurled their water bottles into the audience. But I wanted them to throw those dumb, sweaty scarves at us. That I would have squealed for.
The music. ‘Twas all right. Nice to hear the occasional melodic strain in there with all the feedback coming from the amps. My ears were ringing by the time I got home and I couldn’t sleep because it sounded like a bunch of electrical appliances had been left on stand-by in my room. First time that’s ever happened to me – ’twas a day to remember.
Oh, and the funny story about 12012….It took me almost an hour to figure out that they weren’t the opening band. My friends had mentioned how last year other bands had played before D’espairs Ray, so I figured that would be the case this time. And Wataru introduced the band as “Ichi Ni”, so I said to myself, “Wow, what a coincidence! The opening band is Ichi Ni and the band we came to see is called 12012…” But when the set had gone on for nearly an hour, I put two and two together and realized that I had never heard of an audience asking the opening band for an ENCORE… Well…yes, I am in college, why do you ask?
Woohoo!! Second day of AnimeNEXT. A scrupulous account of what I did and commentary…
College friend. My friend from college visited the con and I got to show her around. I felt like an actual veteran, and a careful count made me realize that I’ve gone to about seven cons. Why do I still feel so inexperienced? Maybe because I’ve never really cosplayed.
Kendo demo. My third time watching those Rutgers guys whack each other with sticks. When will they give that guy McCarthy a microphone so people can actually hear him talk? It’s very interesting, you know. All I heard this time around were the kiai from the guys behind him. But they had what they termed an epic battle, and it definitely was. I wondered exactly how tired they got from fighting, because not only were they concentrating like any fighter would, but they were carrying around armor, including a helmet that weighs 8 or 9 pounds. Kendo is cool, but I don’t know how I’d feel about practicing it.
Artist’s Alley. Now officially one of my favorite things at the con. In other years I was definitely not crazy about it because often enough I felt like I could draw better than what some of the artists were trying to sell me. Not this year, however. Some amazing artists turned up, as well as some great salesmen. Pins, bookmarks, keychains, bags, sketchbooks, hats, shirts, and even – I swear – a Naruto tarot card set. Anything that might be bought was being sold. Almost anything, anyway… I bought prints and despite my avowal to never buy fanart, only original art, I bought a really great Cloud Strife poster for my dorm wall. As well as art from this artist. Her art is FABULOUS and I love that she was selling mostly original art, plus some Revolutionary Girl Utena stuff (which I think is artsy/stylized anyway).
Dealer’s Room. Back there again. I just bought some overpriced Japanese snacks (though no Ramune – I got over that awesome marble trick). Even though I thought there was more variety this year, I couldn’t help but notice how much crap they were trying to sell us anyway – how many plushies do you need, Plushie Man?? How many?? Lol. But how many keychains am I supposed to buy? And cell phone charms? I am sick of the Yaoi booths, especially those yaoi paddles. I saw those last year and thought they were funny, but now everyone has to have one. What do they do with them anyway? I know they don’t use them. I hope they don’t use them.
Mushishi. I saw a few episodes of this anime – the flower one, the rainbow one, and the one where the guy’s wife is lost at sea – and I thought it was sweet. A guy from college had recommended it to me, and seeing it now makes me wonder what kind of guy he really is. It was such a laidback, gently poetic anime. I didn’t feel like there was much plot except the main character showing us the wonders of mushi. The rainbow episode was incredible – who hasn’t wondered what they might find at the end of the rainbow?
Sushi. Yum California roll… Okay, not quite sushi, but I can’t bring myself to like the real stuff.
Cosplay Masquerade. Now that was something. I had a great seat next to the aisle, so I got to see everything…FINALLY!! After 7 cons, I finally got a good view of the masquerade. And here is a list of the great things from this year’s masquerade:
0. The traditional preliminary panning of the audience to kill time. When everyone holds up the random crap they bought in the Dealer’s Room so the cameras can focus on them. My favorite is when people hold up signs (last year’s best was the “No RLY? Ya rly. No Wai!” extended conversation…and also the sign that said Xemnas = Mansex. That was hilarious). This year, I think the most memorable sign was “This is Sparta!!” I thought 300 was a terrible movie, but that line will probably stay with me forever. Also, I enjoyed all the bashing of “Believe it!” What on earth was VIZ thinking when they did that??
1. The host said very little. This is good. She gave the names of participants, skit titles, read intros…and unfortunately, had some really lame jokes for us, but those were kept to a bare minimum.
2. No one used microphones! Yay! Everyone had their skits prerecorded, so there was none of that “Can you hear me now?” “What are they talking about?” shit. At last I knew what everyone in the first three rows was laughing about!
3. The lights went out on the stage. A five-minute delay. Must have been nerve-wracking for the group whose skit was next.
4. The dance from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. THREE skits used this dance. I now realize that I must learn it, even though I had sworn not to… Okay, I had just been lazy. I mean, come on, it looks fast, but now I realize it’s just because the characters are sort of bouncing.
5. The skits! There were some false expectations (I was screaming for Twilight Princess, but it turned out it was just a Zelda walk-on…not skit…but I love Zelda!), and some surprises:
1. The Furuba dance skit. Kyo kissed Tohru in it, and it was so sweet! But then we realized that they were both girls, so we were confused. Apparently, it won best in show, and they definitely deserved it. Awesome, awesome, awesome!! And so sweet… I think the dance styles reflect the characters, too…
2. That “What Is Love?” SNL skit with anime characters. There were so many characters during that skit and I was verily confused at times, but it was one hell of a skit. And when the people in the background dropped the sheet to reveal Aerith about to be slayed by Sephiroth – that was sooo funny, but incredibly startling at first (since the music had changed to Final Fantasy). Hehe, at least this time Aerith lived!
3. Alucard vs. Pikachu. A toy Pikachu. I hope that gets posted online. Update: Oh, wait! It did!
4. Team Rocket. I didn’t think the skit was that amazing, but I finally got to see someone cosplay as Meowth.
5. The Naruto ninja skit! Okay, there was the typical Lee one with the dancing or something…but then they had Kakashi and Iruka and what happens when they’re alone. So Kakashi is of course trying to read his Make-Out Paradise book and Iruka bursts in on the scene, knocks the book from his hands and starts going on about how some guy might have been hitting on him. Then Kakashi and Iruka sing “If You Were Gay” – and of course they kiss at the end! I don’t KakashixIruka (come on, it’s weird when you have your own sensei…OMG, BANISH THOUGHTS, BANISH THOUGHTS!!) but I had to cheer for that.
6. Kingdom Hearts 2. Hayner sings of his love for Roxas. Except Hayner is played by a girl and she sings “I Won’t Say I’m in Love” from Hercules while four members of Organization XIII dance in the background and do back-up. That was brilliant.
7. Naruto uses Skittles and M&Ms – and the observation that they look alike but taste different – to defeat his enemies. Alas, Sasuke is killed by Skittles and M&Ms.
8. A Kodama uses the puppets of a Final Fantasy character (Vivi) and…a bunny? But has the tables turned when they turn HIM into a puppet…
9. That weird Springtime for Gendo skit…
Anime Fandubs. They dubbed Ghost Stories, which was funny. But then Good Enough Productions had two parodies – War in the Pocket and Ranma 1/2 – and unfortunately, there was a lag between the animation and the sound, which may have destroyed some jokes, but also, all the jokes seemed to be about sex and drugs. Which is funny, but I can only listen to someone talk about acid for so long. Eventually I got sick of that and walked out.
The rave! Dammit! I wish I’d stayed longer because it seemed less crowded than last year since they removed the barriers around the dance area, and less scary since people – at first at least – were crowded around the performance ravers (is that what I should call them?) at first and weren’t all up on each other. There was a HUGE conga line going when I left. Wish I’d stayed, but after another day of anime, I was pretty beat.
^_^
Note: I did not film any of the YouTube videos I linked to. Thanks to the kind people who posted them on YouTube!
And, of course, the Little Mermaid production! Poor Ken – Sora will never know how much he likes her…or will she? I’m hooked, I’m hooked, but not enough to buy the DVDs for $24 in the Dealer’s Room. What’s up with that? The policy at the Dealer’s Room should be to give us DEALS! Not charge $24 for something that takes $1 or so to make. And then try to say I’m getting 20 percent off. Hell…
