Category Archives: Conventions and Concerts

January 10, 2013

Run, Con, Run

By omo

Chihaya Mi...er, plays football

If you ever read my con introspective posts and reports you might wonder just how much effort I expend at cons. Here’s a somewhat objective measurement.

Since early 2012 I’ve been towing around a Japanese 3DS. While all I play on it is New Love Plus, I also enjoy the built-in games gratis from Nintendo. This means I get that “shoot people’s face” game as well as the Streetpass minigames, which gets a boost via the coins you get by walking while the 3DS is suspended. That provides me with a count of how many steps I take every day once I get back to the hotel after a day at a con. I’m trusting the 3DS pedometer to be relatively accurately, and from my own experience, it is pretty good.  (And of course you want to carry your 3DS, in suspended mode, at a con. Because that’s where the magic of Streetpass happens.) Maybe it undercounts, according to some people online, but I’ve not read anything authoritative.

Here is Gizmodo’s blog post of CES 2013 as the reporters wore various personal devices that kept track how much energy they’ve expended. To sum it up, here are their most active day and how many steps they took:

Casey Chan: 14,839

Brent Rose:  15,170

Peter Ha: 15,440

As for me? The only one I have on record was:

Ax 2012: 23,159

I’ve taken it easy at cons, I have done cons where I got home I lost like 6 pounds because I power-walked all weekend long while averaging 2 meals a day. Both are fun, one is more painful than the other. I probably get more sleep than the average press guy at CES, because there’s less smooching to be done and I sure don’t have to bang up a billion posts every day. But that’s usually what it takes to do my itinerary. It’s also easy to see why at AX you’d walk that much, simply because the way the con is set up, and things in California are just more spread out versus the East coast cons I visit. I think AX2012 was also the one con that I’ve gotten more press-y than any other con, just out of the number of 3rd party obligations. Anyway, a lot of walking was to be had.

Off hand I’m pretty sure there was at least a one con that I got over 30k steps in a day. Oh well.

Do you walk nearly this much at an anime con? I guess it really depends on the venue–I mean if I walk around AnimeNext’s complex (the con center and the hotel) it might take 1500 steps. It’s not that big. It might be 3000 steps to circle LACC. But even for a large con a lot of people don’t do much other than to pace through the AA and the dealer’s room, and sit in some panels or screenings. It’s not exactly the most active sort of thing. But on the flip side that’s not what kids do at cons either, just old people. When’s the last time you were a part of a Caramelldansen train? (Dead meme is dead, almost.)

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

November 6, 2012

Otakon Music Fest 2012

By omo

So, Otakon and Lantis had a baby and after 3 months of anticipation, we were there to celebrate its birth.

JAM Project, the globe-trotting anime song promoters and epic arena rockers, headlined what seemed to be an usual Saturday night at the Ram’s Head Live, a fairly well-known concert venue in the Baltimore inner-harbor area. At least, to some locals who’ve been to the venue for various other acts, including some Otakon events in years past, Ram’s Head is located in an area of town that feels a little familiar. I get the feeling that wasn’t the cast for most at this concert.

Along with JAM Project, Lantis brought over Faylan and Aso Natsuko. That really fanned the flames for me. Why? Because they are while relatively novice anison acts, they are genuine solo anison artists with multiple solo albums. It’s easy to imagine “hey it would be pretty darn awesome to have Anisama ~Baltiport~” or some such nonsense. I get the feeling that was also what the various event organizers had in mind.

Fact is, the idea of the Otakon Music Fest started years ago; at least that’s when I first have heard of it. I didn’t know how long ago when the idea first found momentum nor did I know the amount of hard work, luck, pluck, chemical X, or whatever that was necessary to bring it about. Like lucky fans that were at the venue, we waited after we heard about it, for three months, paid some amount of monies, and enjoyed ourselves. Maybe it will grow into that epic all-star music festival some of us had in mind in the future.

The truth is, though, every journey still begins with just one step at a time, so the metaphorical baby has to have, I hope, its humble beginning. Or in business-speak, the experiment has to be a success and the show has to make money. While we were promised just a concert with the three acts, we were also promised (and sold) a VIP add-on of roughly $60, in order to make possible to get an autograph and some mingle time after the show. Did you know the show started about on time? This is on Japanese-time, this show.

Oh, before I forget, set list. I don’t know if I will walk it through blow-by-blow, but I’ll highlight the interesting parts. Note that there are most likely some inaccuracies.

Faylan batted first (this was subject to confusion throughout the afternoon: who went first?)

1. WHITE Justice
2. Realization
3. Dead End
4. Errand
5. Mind as Judgment

Then it was the totally-adorbs Natsuko Aso (henceforth Natchan…or Natcha~an or whatever)

1. More-more LOVERS!!
2. Everyday Sunshine Line
3. Eureka Baby 
4. Diamond Star
5. Perfect-area complete

Then it was Big Brothers and Sister JAM Project (after a 10-minute, Pocky-moderated break):

1. Crest of “Z’s”
2. Vanguard
3. Break Out
4. Hagane No Resistance
5. Garo ~SAVIOR IN THE DARK~
6. Rinbu Revolution (Masami Okui)
7. We Are! (Hiroshi Kitadani)
8. Yuusha-ou Tanjou! (Masaaki Endoh)
9. Cha-La Head-Cha-La (Hironobu Kageyama)
10. King Gainer Over / Dynamite Explosion (Yoshiki Fukuyama)
11. Transformers EVO.
12. VICTORY
13. GONG
14. ROCKS
15. Rescue Fire
16: EC-1: KI-ZU-NA
17. EC-2: SKILL

Yeah, only five each? That is shorter than JAM Project’s thing by almost 50% if not more, once you count the encore and the … long SKILL. I wasn’t too disappointed to be honest, partly because I was saving energy for JAM’s inevitably epic aerobic exercise, and they played most of my favorites. Not having Dark Side of the Light was kind of rough but man. I wish each of them would go another 2 more songs. Then again, I’m the kind of person who would go to a full show from either of them!

The crowd was not huge but they were energetic. And in some sense JAM Project’s East Coast fans might actually rival their South American fans in terms of loudness and intensity. For anison fans overseas, that is quite the exception. I arrived at around 3:30 and it was rowdy. JAM Project was doing their rehearsal at the time and the line busted out in songs, almost too loudly since we lined up in this narrow corridor. It’s safe to say Hurricane Sandy weeded out some of the lukewarm or simply non-committed types, but it’s hard to say many, if at any, of the people at this show were lukewarm or non-committed.

I have to kind of whine though (if I can’t whine on my blog where can I…oh wait)–lining up before the show is what they do in Japan, because you get to buy merch before it sells out. Lining up to go to the show in America is only something you do for huge acts in large arenas where it matters where you may end up sitting. A venue like Ram’s Head Live is at most 7-800 (maybe 1000?) and even at the back of the floor you can get a pretty intimate show. So it’s kind of annoying that I ended up going early and line up. On the flip side that gave me a good spot on the floor and I worked my way up to the 2nd row after Faylan’s set. So maybe I shouldn’t whine after all. Well, I probably would’ve been fine if I was relegated to jumping in the back. It just wouldn’t give me the nice photo ops that now I can share (at the end) nor the up-close view of Natchan’s high socks. Why do I like those? Sick otaku. Speaking of Natchan’s apparel, that hat, man. Nice. (Go to the end notes for some deets!)

Faylan dressed mostly casual and it only made her fiery self stand out just a little more. I’m kind of glad that her presentation is as plain as she appears to be, rather than the very…uh, extreme look she has in her promo material. She did pull a LiSA at some point on stage, and that got the crowd going. And by what I mean “pulled a Lisa,” well, hopefully you can get some photos from LiSA’s AX 2012 red carpet for what I mean.

JAM Project are in good form as before. I was close enough to see En-chan’s face getting more wrinkled, which was about as wrinkled as it was last time they were in town? Kageyama looked almost younger, man. I can’t really discern any difference between Dani now and 5 years ago. Makkun, well, according to at least one person, has put on weight. I guess that might be the case? It would explain why she was wearing a crab bib during SKILL’s epic chorus.

I guess, yes, the epic chorus. It was really the key piece missing from the 2008 concert. We did SKILL for maybe an extra 5-7 minutes, which included Dani pulling out a couple Crabby-chan plushies and throwing them around, play acting as if it was alive. Makkun put on a bib. And then Kageyama pulled out Faylan and Natchan for the final I CAN FLY part. It was a good time. It was…well, mini Anisama, circa. 2009. Only if Makkun and Faylan did Soul Refrain duet right then!

After SKILL we all dispersed, except then Jim spoke over the MC to have us line up and get our VIP badges. Which just means you get to line up to get your badge, and then line up again to get in an autograph line. It turns out the VIP thing is reduced to just getting an autograph, have a quick chat with the guests (people who went later had more talk time, I think), while my group and I hung around the bar and socialized. It was also interesting to see all the Lantis people doing whatever they were doing. After the autograph session the guests took a few Q&As, and president of Lantis gave a toast, and then it was the photo session.

Fukuyama was not present–he will be missed, but only a little, because they ended up Skyping him into his solo segment. There were some technical problems with it but it turned out hilariously entertaining anyway. Yeah, it was that kind of a crowd, for that kind of a dude.

All in all, the show itself is good. The only real downer is the very slow merch line. It is a problem two ways–first you kind of need the towel and that was the only way to get theirs unless you brought one (and someone I know did…). The second problem was that typically you can buy merch after the show. Except for most folks, it’s VIP time after the show and the merch was closed by the time autographing was done. That kind of sucked.

The merch booth had a lot of stuff for sale–both of the two albums from Faylan and Natchan were on sale, as with 4 JAM Project CDs, at about $40 a pop. Each artist brought a towel; Faylan had a t-shirt and a wrist band, and Natchan sold an orange hopi (only $35!) and something I forget. JAM Project brought a ton of stuff–chopstick, keychain/light combo pack, scrunchies, a “cutie kit”, playing cards, a couple t-shirts, and some other stuff I probably forgot. On the side, Otakon was selling a festival shirt where the proceeds go to charity.

That’s not the only places I spent money…well, we all had some drinks. Some of us had more than others, but $3 rum & coke? Woo.

My Natchan stock has gone up a lot. I saw some videos of her over the years (years, wow) and while she never struck me as a looker, there’s this natural cuteness she was able to extrude that you can better appreciate in real life. She’s a bit of an actress (well, she technically is I guess) and has more otaku cred than your average anison singer. Faylan, well, shoots straight and when she stumbled with English during her last MC, it was as moe as it gets.

Revisiting Jam Project (and seeing Makkun being semi-grumpy) always makes my day. Only if this could happen every year. Well, hopefully this is going to be the case–both Lantis President and Kageyama said something to that extent! Maybe we’ll celebrate year #2 next year!

PS. Photos. Shoddy but it’s all I can do. All you can do. Kagayake TRANSFO–oh.

PPS. I probably know a whole lot of you at the show, and I probably didn’t see all of you that I know. Well, I’m sure I’ll see you all soon.

PPPS. Natsuko Aso? Did you see her? Did you like her? Are you one of those people going to Japan end of this year? You can see Natchan at her Tokyo live at Shibuya O-East on December 27! Details all right here.

6 comments | posted in Conventions and Concerts, Modern Visual Culture, Seiyuu, Idol, Pop

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