Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 2 part 2

After the concert, we re-grouped with the guys already in the line-up for the Horie panel (apparently someone started lining up 4 hours ago to get them within the first 50 spots...). While I waited for Neko-tan and Magic Frog's return from their trip back to the car, Horie Yui and a few staff walked down the hall way roughly 2 metres away from us. I quickly pointed it out to the group. Ho-chan might had noticed the noises I was making and turned to look and smiled at me briefly. XD

She was being rather discrete, so there were ppl in the line-up (already wound around to the opposite side of the hall way by now) who didn't notice her at all and exclaimed their failure as fans after the fact.

I left the group once I confirmed meeting time with Neko-tan since we were going to different panels for the rest of the day, and then it was cosplayers photo time and shopping time! I got the Z Gundam New Translation movies (not available on Amazon.ca) and a book on all the characters from the 1st Gundam series. Was tempted to grab the Toradora vol.1 premium edition, but since vol.2 wasn't out yet and I would have to order from Right Stuf (not available in Canada again) anyway, I might as well order both at the same time to make the free shipping threshold for Canada. Almost snatched Eiyuu Densetsu VI: Sora no Kiseki Second Chapter but stopped myself at the last moment. It's unlikely that I'd be able to acquire the 1st and 3rd game of the trilogy, so it might left me hungrier than if I didn't play the 2nd game.

The Bandai plamo booth (Bluefin Distribution) was super awesome, and Kitamura was having an autograph session at the NIS booth. This time I had plenty of time if I wanted to line up, but I didn't like her enough to buy a signing board (US$5) as I didn't bring anything for her to sign in the first place. Apparently only one person out of our group got Kitamura's autograph at the end thanks to being there at the right time when Kitamura was taking picture of his itasha on the way out. Everyone else, including Neko-tan, failed at the regular autograph session.

Someone (CooRie? UR@N?) was performing at the MangaGamer booth when I entered the Exhibition Hall, so I checked with the staff and returned to the booth when it was Kuribayashi Minami's turn. I was in the first row a bit to the side near the speaker so I was pretty close to her and had great sound reception. Unfortunately the spot also made for bad video taking, so the 2-minute video I shot was somewhat harsh to the ears in the later part when a staff nudged me forward out of kindness to get a closer view.

It's such a rare opportunity to be able to see Kuribayashi Minami's live performance (this might had even been her 1st time outside Asia), but I was unable to stay for the last (two?) song because I needed to go to... (and bumped into Nabeshi on the way and took a picture of him XD)

[Eden of the East Panel]
...and they started late so I could have stayed for the whole mini-concert. orz

But I did get to watch a full episode of Eden of the East in English dub (since I likely wouldn't watch it dubbed on my Blu-ray), and it was not bad at all. It was also fun as I knew what's coming in the episode and anticipated the respective reaction from the audience. Apparently that's what the guests did as well in the back.

The guests for the panel were director Kamiyama Kenji, producer Ishii Tomohiko, and animation supervisor Nakamura Satoru. Kamiyama-san answered most of the questions while Ishii-san and Nakamura-san just added a few words here and there. I was moved as I listened to Kamiyama-san talking about the inspiration and motivation behind Eden of the East, and it made me like the series even more. I don't quite fit in the NEET category so I didn't feel as strongly that way, but I can understand why some NEETs would start to move after watching the series as per Kamiyama-san's testimony. I'm very eager to re-watch it on Blu-ray and also eagerly await the movies on discs.

One interesting thing I noticed at the panel was that the level of Japanese proficiency in the audience was considerably much lower than at other panels, especially compared to the seiyuu panels where pretty much everyone knew a bit of Japanese. Here, the reaction to the Eden of the East guests was minimal before the translators spoke, and the couple sitting beside me kept giving me weird looks for being able to understand directly.

[Aniplex Industry Panel]
Neko-tan, Magic Frog, and a few other guys went to the MELL concert, so I attended the Aniplex panel by myself after taking more pictures of cosplayers (super pleased to capture the Ulquiorra x Orihime couple! Best couple I saw at AX!). Since Gurren Lagann was all the rage during AX, the theme for the panel was "Who The Hell Do You Think I Am," after the famous Kamiya line "俺を誰だと思ってやがる！". The slide even had a silhouette of Kamiya's famous pose pointing toward the sky. XD

The panel itself was the usual industry pitch about upcoming releases, including Durarara! From what I've seen so far online, everything looks like the Z Gundam and Gurren Lagann movies again, which means it might not be available in Canada... （ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴

About half way through the panel, the Aniplex lady informed us that Konishi Katsuyuki just flew out of Narita airport at that moment. She listed all the events Konishi-san would attend at AX and the schedule, one of which was a special signing session at the Aniplex booth for the first 100 (or was it 50?) people who bought the limited edition of the 1st Gurren Lagann movie (the quota was quickly reached on the 1st day), and that we were encouraged to show up to show our support to Aniki.

I was planning to stay for the next panel, Mirai no Neiro - VOCALOID: The Sound of the Future, but Neko-tan and Magic Frog were beat and we decided to call it a day. Over supper in the restaurant (more like large night snack by now), Magic Frog learned the big announcement for the Vocaloid panel: Megumine Luka would be released in the States. That explained why Asakawa Yuu was a guest at AX!