Anime Expo 2011: Day 2 and Day 3

This year’s motto: overcome regret with large amount of spending.

But at the end I was still fighting the constraints of time. Got to meet up with a long-time-no-see friend, which totally made this trip worthwhile. Which is cool, because this trip was already totally worth the while by end of day 2.

If there was one awesome thing about Day 2, it was noticing Masayoshi Tanaka and his willingness to sketch for us. The result was a lot of Anaru, a crying-face Menma with a Taiga on the side. Director Araki also got me a Busujima (I have to, after all, to save some face) and a Ranpha. It was an amazing opportunity.

Lucky vocaloid fans probably had just as much love from the horde of producers and artists signing things. I hear a plane got cancelled so a lot of the Miku troopers from Japan arrived at AX late. There was still a big turnout at the usual vocaloid events (like Nihongo de OK and the fan panels).

And then there was the ahegao double peace meme. (NSFW image link to give you an idea what that means.) You’re such a troll Bamboo, lol. Tho Dengeki Strikers is HYPE!

The days went by like a flurry. Maon Kurosaki got sick and canned an autograph session. She still end up doing a concert at the same day. I think Alexd caught her bug–a bunch of them were a row or two by the stage.

I ran between her concert, the meet the guest event (a really expensive proposition with lousy execution but proper venue and foods), and the panel I helped to run within the span of two hours. It was tough, but it made the day just go that much faster. Alter Fate Alter is definitely an attractive little thing, although my favorite was probably Mizuho’s acrylic case! LOL.

Scored a pair of Little Hands. Hey everyone reading this post: remember Japan is still recovering from the biggest earthquake it has experienced in a long while. The nuclear situation is still uncertain and those rural towns are still fully devastated. Do your part in charity this con season!

If there is any regret (and there probably always will be), is how I keep on missing out on some good post-con dinners with the guys! I didn’t hit the food trucks on day 3… Instead, Jack n’ Joes.

And my panel? It went well. There’s tons of room for improvement but I think we’re going to be fine. I met a ton of more new folks. Thank you for coming and saying hi.

And now, onward to the final leg of the journey.