Category Archives: Conventions and Concerts

November 2, 2012

JAM Project Wants You!

By omo

To go to their show in Baltimore tomorrow!

Sounded from the forums that the Otakon Music Fest is still on. The venue has power and didn’t get wet, so it is a go as long as the flights don’t cancel (I’m guessing they aren’t). The last I heard was that this isn’t going to be some huge sell-out crowd. The venue is not small, but obviously it’s a challenge to see how many real anison troopers would show up for a thing like this. The guest list, if you haven’t heard, includes also Aso Natsuko and Faylan, both I believe are performing in the US for the first time (if not North America in general). JAM Project has been around the globe a couple times so it’s good to see them in the USA again after their Latin America tour.

You can find all concert details here.

I assume people know who JAM Project is and I won’t go on about them, although this time Fukuyama isn’t coming because he isn’t cleared to fly due to his recent medical condition. I guess the timing just isn’t right, besides the hurricane.

This is kind of the one song I want to hear from Natsuko:

And maybe this:

Faylan is a little trickier. Clearly, it includes:

Here’s a clip from Connichi in DE this year. I guess this is what we can expect, although there will be a live band.

This song is pretty much at the top of my Faylan list:

Both Faylan and Natsuko have 2 solo albums if I recall correctly. Somehow Faylan just gets more tie-ins…

PS. Despite having power now, I’m still lacking in XCOM time. Maybe next week, when hopefully things will return to normal! This no internet thing is, as you would expect, a major bummer.

PPS. Calls? Did anyone said calls? I hope Paranda knows them because a lot of Natsuko’s stuff is written with that in mind, should be a good time.

Leave a comment | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

October 14, 2012

New York Comic Con 2012: Day 2, 3

By omo

Sort of a scattershot post to recap some stuff on NYCC Saturday and Sunday.

Yes on bkub. Got a Wolverine to go with that Deadpool I picked up last year. Maybe Cable next year? Or maybe Cyclops will be for better effect? For what it is worth, I managed to get everyone (I think?) at Ryo Moto’s booth to do a commission. You can look at the loop pic below for more details. Bkub’s (more like bee caaab amirite) stuff sold like hotcakes, and even his little poster thing. Charm volume 13 was there when I went to their table at about 1pm on Saturday and it was gone by 4pm. Too bad! I bought this other dude’s comic, because it was, well, not Touhou and was funny enough to make me laugh at least once. I think out of the new guys he was probably the most promising.

On Sunday, GSC gave away a bunch of the posters at their booth display. They were just blow-up photographs of some figures that are either popular or upcoming stuff. You had to play mass jan ken with, I believe, this person. My friend that I was with won a picture of Nendo Fate/Zero Saber on the motorcycle. It was…well. At least these were already framed, so it’s a great thing to get if you’re driving home.

Saturday was a lot of fun. We ended up the night with yakiniku with a bunch of people offline and online. I avoided the dealer room crowd mostly but ended up in there to say hi to this man, who ended up selling me some porn. I guess I owe Rinko that much.

Across the two days, I was able to hit some panel material–NISA, Crypton, and JManga. JManga brought over the mangaka of SoreMachi, which is kind of amazing if you think about it–it’s one of the best selling titles on JManga and that’s how it worked, and that is only because how the anime came out right around the time JManga launched. Or at least I’m guessing all this. Ishiguro-sensei is a trooper and there was a short line for his autograph session at JManga booth–another reason why I had to brave the exhibit hall on Saturday.

NISA had their usual spiel at the con, panel-wise. The new license for Denpa Onna to Senshun Otoko is hardly a surprise but the localization titling it “Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl” is just outrageously LOL. I mean, this is localizing it a little too much, but I’m kind of amused that they were able to pick the one meaning to the title that I would not have expected them to translate from. Too bad that localization cuts out the other readings.

Crypton’s panel is pretty chillax, and the footages from the various Miku live shows are definitely exciting stuff. Wish I can get as excited as these kids could. Also, always bring your sticks when you plan to go to a Crypton panel.

At the Moyoko Anno autograph session, I was standing around and talking to some guys who were done with their stuff and hanging out. Saturday, only about 35 people showed up to get her signature, so I wanted to see if I could get something after the fact.

I said hi to bros, and said bye to bros. It’s a good time, and I even made it home in time for dinner. Didn’t meet every single person I wanted to see, but that never happens at a con this size, I guess.

PS. This is purely speculation: If Miki is the template of so many contemporary blond bombshell characters, does this mean when asking for commission from people who works in the anime industry, is Miki the go-to girl?

2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom

October 13, 2012

New York Comic Con 2012: Day 0, 1

By omo

I blame XCOM–I’ll be blaming it all week long at least. I also blame my good fortunes for scoring a pair of tickets.

As per usual, I speed-browsed through NYCC on day 0, because there aren’t hallways full of people, just a reasonable amount of people. Just to bullet:

  • Really dig the GSC booth. They brought their “game” and the nendo hall of fame is quite the display. Also, the orange tote bags are tops. Took my money. Possibly my favorite booth at the con. Picked up Cheerful Rin/Saber combo, because that was the one that tempted me the most in the first go around. And hey, it’s for charity. Prices are reasonable.
  • I had the most fun chilling at Mangagamer’s booth. Go see them and don’t be afraid of all the porn. They’re nice folks, I think.
  • I think Bamco’s retro arcade is really neat, wish I could spend the time there and do stuff.
  • I really need to stake out what Sega is up to. Maybe Day 2.
  • Oh, those Queen’s Blade books are gorgeous, like those Sakuran volumes. I held back on buying Genshiken reboot #1 (next to Vertical is the Kodansha table, natch) because, well, there’s Amazon for that. The feeling of hard cover front-to-back full of 2D boobies, however, is something to behold in person that you don’t quite get from browsing online.
  • Bkub watch: I did not catch him today, but I saw a couple other duders Ryu Moto brought with him, and Ryu Moto himself. There are a couple of them with styles closer to bkub so I don’t know. Got a commission going. Will try to get more tomorrow, I enjoy this stuff.
  • Yuu Asakawa has a fancy dress, and, yeah, I guess that’s just how it goes. Would’ve brought her a present if I had my wits about me last night. Or any time this past week. Thanks XCOM.
  • Perhaps best for last: Ed over at Vertical wants you guys to go see Moyoco Anno. Especially her autograph session. Yeah you might have to wake up in 3 hours in order to line up to get them at NYCC Saturday morning, but fear not: go ask Ed at his booth and he can give you deets. Basically, let’s just say that Moyoco Anno will help you out if you really want it, and you can make it on time.

Was able to finally see/meet a bunch of people from Twitter. Hopefully more tomorrow.

I’m feeling really sorry for skipping out on a bunch of work related stuff, because of dayjob. And the game. And XCOM. Blame XCOM.

Food watch:

  • Tried the 5.50 Go Go Curry on Friday, it was packed, so we skipped to Bonchon instead.
  • Didn’t eat much at the stadium, but checked out some upstairs bar and the food was pretty delish, basic stuff and offering. The more authentic things they didn’t quite do well, but for a ktown hybrid lounge place, you can do much worse.

7 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts

October 8, 2012

New York Comic Con 2012: Day -3

By omo

Another year, another mess at the Javits center. I’m not a fan of this con in a lot of ways, although I do like a lot of things they do. You can tell this con is run by people who have the savvy and experience to pave the way of an interesting convention experience. But I think ultimately two big factor drives NYCC:

There is just nothing in the metro NY area that can satisfy in such a scale, and the location sucks.

Downtown LA, for example, is really no better. It’s kind of boring and it lacks a lot of the interesting things I enjoy LA for. It’s kind of unavoidable given its urban sprawl configuration. Manhattan is a different story, but the same mechanics play–there is just no place to put a convention center big enough for everyone and everything that is close to where all the attractions are. On the flip side, it’s not hard to flag a cab or even catch a bus from the Javits center. It just cost $30-40 to park for a day.

To some degree, I think for some reason I’m not a fan of this con has a lot to do with me rather than the con. Sure, I definitely can lament the death of NYAF and I do remember when there were great anime con content in NYC, and how that’s kind of not here anymore. Sure, I can whine about how much I hate the early bird method NYCC uses to give away autograph tickets. I think it’s terrible to make me get so little sleep, and keep me in a poor mood all day–and the people around me are more victimized than I am about it. Rather, I think by October I think I’m done with cons until next…oh, April? It’s easy to see how this October anime convention serves as the mark for the end of the con season/year/whatever, and by this point fatigue has long since set in. I mean, by next Monday I would’ve attended 5 (or 6 if you count 3 hours at AnimeNext) conventions in the space of ~6 months.

NYCC has an app. I hope it would be, at the very least, slightly more than useless when I’m at the con with its maxed out NYC-style cellular reception. Maybe enough people don’t have iPhone 5s yet so LTE will still be useful. Then again, I don’t know if you get any LTE inside the building.

Writing about this con is just kind of a downer. Maybe that is why each time I tried to, I ended up looking up places to eat with friends. NYC is a great city to eat at, and it has gotten better lately. This year there are a few new places that popped up, but most importantly Go Go Curry is having a $5.50 promo on their tonkatsu single-sized plates, which is a good eat at a very good price. Since midtown lunch is more of my beat, maybe I can drag some people to Taim mobile or somewhere outrageous (that’s a loooong walk). I don’t know, I’m on a small falafel kick. Other than that, maybe Chef Samir’s? Will people hound Tabata? Will more people even try out Bonchon? Of course, unless you’ve never had it before, Shake Shack is somewhere to stay clear of, or if you can’t make up your mind. Paranda-tested Schnippers will always be available, and it’s a pleasant fall-back. As far as I can tell, though, the closest Wafels & Dinges will still be across town, so that might be tough. If you don’t mind the walk or taxi fare, there are still more food options than I can count going up 9th Ave or into K-town, so it’s all good. Of course, once you hop in a taxi, there’s all sorts of places. Anyone up for this?

It might be a headache to wrangle a large party for dinner and all the stragglers and friend’s-friends; getting a reservation Saturday night at a nice place isn’t easy. Still, I prefer that to trying to move around in a massive dealer’s room shoulder-to-shoulder with 20,000 geeks any day of the week.

PS. Ever tried Uber? My Seattle-based CEO came visiting a few weeks ago and gawked at how nobody at the office has heard of Uber. “Because we work in Midtown, duh. Just look outside.” But if you live in some backwater place like Seattle or San Fran, a taxi hailing service like that can be handy, sure. Turns out even in NY it can be handy, because it was fronting the cab ride up to $25 last month. Now? It’s just a more expensive way to call a cab.

PPS. Hopefully all of this is enough to pry me from XCOM when this weekend rolls around. I know at least I will be short on sleep…

6 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom, XCOM Seiyuu Play

September 24, 2012

Gushing Introspection about Conventions

By omo

On second thought, this post is kind of embarrassing. Well, hopefully it’ll tickle all the N’s out there.

[First a bit about that picture. As far as I know Otakon is the only large anime convention that allows its attendees to select from a set of image badges every year. Reason being that it is extra work for the registration folks, slows the registration lines down, and cost more money–why would you do any of these things? I guess because it’s awesome? And I think it’s driving/driven by con badge culture. As a beneficiary of custom badges over the years (I probably show take a picture of that too) I can’t say I want Otakon’s choose-your-own-badge thing to ever go away. Also, at around 2003 they started doing the badges without lamination, which makes for a duller but more standard (and more importantly, faster) registration process/badges. Imagine that, laminated badges for everybody…]

I ask myself this question all the time at a con. Being at a con feels just so contrary to my nature that every time I find myself in that situation I ask why I’m at a con in the first place. But since I hit so many cons and thus have such moments on a regular basis, maybe I should change the question: When an anime con goer turns 30, does he become a magician?

Short of making this into a joke the truth is this fandom is aging and all my friends are not getting any younger. Some of us are married and/or have children. Others are settled with mortgages, ongoing job responsibilities, and having to walk that work-family balance. And then there’s me, who has gone to about 5 cons a year for the past 4  years. Anna might have started in 2002 and she went to her first because her friend asked her to go; my take is more of the person doing the inviting.

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2 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, English Language Modern Visual Fandom