ひとり吠え

今年果然沒什麼想見的guest
就にゃんこ先生而已

看了下schedule
除了にゃんこ先生以及ララア的女兒
然後UC的監督跟進撃的製作
只預定去幾個代理或動畫廠商的panel：NISA、Sentai、SUNRISE、DAISUKI
岡田麿里不幸跟ララア的女兒撞上，被我捨棄了
まあ、其實這次主要就是にゃんこ先生跟敗家而已 XD

最後一天打算去新海誠的言の葉の庭panel
不知道為什麼AX沒發表新海誠的消息
沒有廠商做後台所以不算guest of honour嗎…

目前還在取捨UC第六話跟青之劇場版要去看哪個
兩個排在同時間放，而且兩邊音樂都是澤野弘之
雖然UC第六話我已經有BD了，又是播放英文版
根據去年的經驗，其實英文版也不壞，算是機會看平常不會主動看的版本
之後照例會有英文版參與製作人員兼聲優的訪談
青之那邊則是劇場版BD還沒出來，所以會是初次收看

…姆，看來答案似乎出來了
剛才去翻地圖，UC不是在原本播放電影的hall，改到LP1
播放青之的房間沒去過所以不知道效果會如何
不過去年在LP1看Total Eclipse感覺音響沒有在hall看UC的時候好

所以決定去排青の祓魔師劇場版～
場地不到LP1一半大，競爭對手大概會爆多就是

ひとり吠え

終於有我想聽的guest了
梶浦只帶一個vocalist的話
Kalafina那時應該沒空所以不太可能
希望是貝田由里子或南里侑香 XD

---

雖然做成漫畫是比較容易懂
不過這類的我偏好直接看文章或研究報告
結果只有大略翻翻看左邊的名詞解説
不過エピローグ有全看
看到だいちさん最後那頁眼睛流汗了 T__T
提到ニコニコ動画那邊
想起我那幾天也很關注はやぶさ的消息
生放送也跑去看了
之前也追過幾天的あかつき跟イカロス的Twitter
後來懶就沒繼續了
看エピローグ才知道原來今年イカロス比我早將近三個禮拜開始冬眠 XD
預定是到春天
現在應該已經醒了吧～

MIKUNOPOLIS in LOS ANGELS -はじめまして、初音ミクです-

I know I'm absolutely horrible when it comes to tying loose threads and never even finished posting about my 1st AX experience. But I think this deserves a mention on its own, based on the blu-ray release (the actual concert review shall be posted when I get around to write about my AX experiences, if it happens).

First of all, the effect of the 3D projection really depends on the viewing angle. The four of us were at the back of the orchestra area and to the left, so while it was still 3D, it looked a little weak a lot of the times (but super clear when the character moved to the left).

Filmed performance, on the other hand, is usually centred with the occasional side cameras, so the blu-ray release looked much sharper than what we saw live. The only downside, in this case, is that the camera basically shot directly into the projecting lights located at centre stage and thus had reflections most of the time. To compensate for the reflections, clips filmed and projected unto the large screens in the theatre were sometimes shown instead, but these just look blurry on blu-ray (albeit they looked great on site for us).

The few Hatsune Miku concerts in Japan that I've seen so far all have ragged edges up-close. I was expecting the same for this one so we didn't want to sit too close to the front. But the close-up shots in the blu-ray show no ragged lines at all, thanks to the 3D models being created by 5pb. this time (not indicated in the end credit of the blu-ray, but Magic Frog got the info off tweeter before the concert). Compared to other Vocaloid concerts prior to Mikupolis, I have to say that the 5pb. mods were indeed better in every way than the Sega ones. According to the tweets Magic Frog was following at that time, even the Sega guy (CEO?) admitted the superior result after watching the concert and vowed to learn from 5pb.

Now if someone will just get the concert blu-ray licensed and make a R1 release... Even Neko-tan, who mostly just go for the R3 and sometimes R2 releases, is hoping to be able to buy it!

Before going to the concert, I told my friend that I was more going for experiencing the technology. Now, if Mikupolis is coming again (please skip the DANCEROID), count me in! XD

On a last note, I will try to pick up where I left off back in 2010 for the AX posts, when I have time... XD

マジで？

Kalafina was what prompted me to register for the AX this year. A week after the Kalafina news, Hatsune Miku was announced to be the 2nd concert performer. I bought the tickets for both concerts the next day.

Neko-tan was not convinced to pay to see a virtual concert and planned to wait for stand-by tickets with other friends. Until tonight.

According to an official tweet, there were fewer than 100 tickets left for the Hatsune Miku concert. Neko-tan plunged in. Another friend was too late. The event is now sold out.

I didn't know Hatsune Miku is this popular in North America... ( ﾟ ロ ﾟ )

Can't believe the Kalafina concert, to be held at a slightly smaller venue than the Miku one (way bigger sponsor behind her), isn't sold out yet. You people don't appreciate good musicians and performers (same with May'n/Nakajima Megumi/Kanno Yoko concert last year)...

いいKalafina、観に行かなイカ？

もちろん行くとも！ XD

Kalafina is only the 3rd guest announced so far. Hopefully there will be other ones I'd want to see.

Debating whether I want to line up for Kalafina's autograph, though, since I don't have anything suitable for them to sign. Signing boards are nice but mean a lot less. We'll see. If I manage to get something before or at the spot on Kalafina, I might want their autograph.

Maybe this means I'll be buying Arakawa Under the Bridge and Katanagatari at the Expo! :D

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!

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 2 part 1

I think I'm the only person in the group that watched Bleach, so needless to say everyone else went into the line-up for the Kitamura panel starting almost 2 hrs later. We also got a glimpse of the end of the line-up for the AKB48 panel outside and the AX staff preventing more ppl from lining up. I was genuinely surprised at the number of AKB48 fans on this side of the Pacific...

[Bleach Panel]
Since there's still time before the Bleach panel, I decided to walk around and take pictures of cosplayers as I didn't have much chance to the day before. When I got to the hall where the panel was to be held, there was no line-up. The majority of the people who would attend the panel were already inside the theatre watching the showing of Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo director's cut. I had already seen the respective episodes so I didn't feel like arriving early for it.

The panel itself started with a mini-performance by RSP before Morita entered the stage, followed by a Q&A session for Morita. One of the questions was asked by a Hitsugaya cosplayer who demanded to know why Ichigo wouldn't call him (Hitsugaya) by his captain title no matter how many times he asked Ichigo to, to which Morita just smiled and apologized politely, then proceeded to call him Toushirou. XD

The last corner of the panel was a room-wide rock-scissor-paper match against Morita to decide the lucky few for the rare Bleach goods Morita brought from Japan. I lost in the 2nd round. T__T

After the panel, I took more photos of cosplayers before peeking in the Kitamura panel. I sat there for a few minutes and heard (I was too far back to see her expression) Kitamura said the famous Yui line from Angel Beats! Unfortunately I hadn't watched Angel Beats! at this point so the reference was lost to me... Acoording to Neko-tan, even though Kitamura was there to promote Toradora, most of the questions were Angel Beats!-centric. Angel Beats! just finished airing in Japan the week before AX, too. XD

There was still time before the panel would end so I went to the Exhibition Hall and browsed around. There, lo and behold, was Horie Yui having an autograph session at the NIS booth! I didn't have anything for signing on hand and didn't really want to try my luck with the long line-up so I just looked from the side. Of course, no photos allowed. :x

Then I went back to the Kitamura panel and waited for Neko-tan and Magic Frog so we can go to the...

[May'n & Nakajima Megumi Concert]
ｷﾀｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ（°∀°）ｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ!!
This was what spurred me to flew across the continent to attend AX. I watched the Macross Frontier concert @ Budoukan before coming and, despite knowing that the scale and program would be far from comparable, had been anticipating anxiously for the AX concert. I wasn't hard core enough to buy glow sticks, but a lot of people at the concert did. There were three guys from Japan a few rows in front of us fully equipped with hoards of glow sticks, clothes wrapped around the neck, and the blue T-shirts from May'n's BIG★WAAAAAVE!! @ Budoukan concert. My first time seeing professional glow stick waving techniques in person. さすが職人技！　XD

The exceptional musical treat started off with "Welcome To My FanClub’s Night!" and May'n performed Sheryl's and her songs for the first 20 minutes or so. The speakers at Nokia Centre weren't the best and the stage was small (reduced to almost half the size with the grand piano there), but May'n vocal and dance prowess was evident. They sounded exactly like the CD's and more! The air she maintained while singing Macross Frontier songs was fitting to Sheryl's character, but she's just cute being herself during "May’n☆Space." I hadn't seen the Macross Frontier movie at this time so I didn't quite understand fully the different tones she used for "Universal Bunny", and only now realized that her dance moves were exactly the same as Sheryl in the movie! 生May'n最高！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

After May'n left and Nakajima took centre stage, you can tell ppl were still in the mood, but the number of glow sticks in the air decreased drastically, especially when she sang her own non-MF songs. 一気にテンション下がったって感じ。無理もない、こっちもそうだった... Her stage costume was fitting for the idol-wannabe character of Ranka but also kinda made her looked like a cosplayer for a Disney princess when young. The changed-lyric carrot song about her coming to the US was nice, though XD.

And the special secret guest...!! I kinda expected it to be that person, but actually seeing her was something else. 菅野よう子！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ ) The place went wild when Kanno-san appeared on stage as everyone clapped and screamed like crazy. Kanno-san performed on the piano for the next couple songs with Nakajima: アイモ, VOICES, 蒼のエーテル, 愛・おぼえていますか, ダイアモンド クレバス (acoustic duet version with May'n).

With Kanno-san's exit, the concert was coming to an end as May'n and Nakajima performed Lion and Triangular together. There was no encore, but it was still a satisfying closure. There were a few instances when Nakajima went off-key or couldn't get her voice up enough for the faster songs with May'n, but May'n alone made up for everything. 来てよかった。（つд｀）

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 1

[Gundam Panel]
Neko-tan and friends attended the opening ceremony but it partially conflicted with the Gundam Panel, so I just went straight to the Gundam Panel. While waiting in line to get into the room, there's a kid cosplaying as Gundam Exia. He could barely walk two steps before getting stopped for a photo. XD

The Gundam Panel was hosted by people from gundam.com, which I used to be a member of back since when SEED aired in Japan until Ben took it down (I wonder if there's still a ML for it somewhere?) I actually recognized the names as the people introduced themselves by their g.com handles, too.

They showed the trailer for the Gundam 00 movie (I was totally neta-ed since I haven't watched the series yet) but skipped the trailer for the 2nd instalment of Gundam UC since there's no good quality video source. Needless to say, Full Frontal was a popular name during the panel. XD

They went over some upcoming gunpla kits and spent a bit of time going over the various Gundam manga available in English. They mentioned a few Japanese lineups just to tease ppl, including Tony Takezaki Presents Gundam (awesomely hilarious!) and Gundam ACE. I happened to have a Zeta Gundam pencil board from Gundam ACE with me to use as a hand fan, but I resisted showing it when they were talking about the goodies that come with the magazine.

The Q&A session actually consisted of two parts, where the person gets to ask a question and gets asked a question, in either UC or AU categories, in return by the g.com ppl. If the person answers the trivia question correctly, he (there's no female in the Q&A line) wins a gunpla. One guy asked who the g.com ppl think is the best pilot. Eeeeeveryone in the room groaned at the question. One of the g.com ppl squealed in a fake girlie voice "Kira~" on purpose, but they decided to go with Char at the end, if I remembered it right.

[May'n Panel]
Unfortunately, because the rule this year was changed so that the room would be cleared before ppl can enter for the next panel, so I had to leave early to line up for the May'n Panel to be held in the same room right after. By then, the line had already winded around the hallway once and I lined up by the elevator door on the opposite side of the hallway.

And I spotted May'n earlier than anyone! XD She was discretely escorted by a camera guy and two other ppl into the elevator. The elevator was located right by a corner at the start of the hallway, so most people in the hallway never realized that May'n was even there for that ten seconds, including the people in the line around me. Then I found Neko-tan and co. who had much better spot in the line (within the first 50) and got in with them.

May'n was very cute as expected. The translator kinda mumbled so it's not easy to hear her sometimes. Plus she often left out sentences and translated quite a few instances wrong. Luckily, most of us in the group knew Japanese so we could ignore her most of the time. I was quite pleased to learn that May'n favourite song is Diamond Crevasse, which also happened to be my favourite Macross F song. A girl in the Q&A line asked May'n to sing the first line of Triangular with her, and even with just one line, May'n rocked the room. :D

There was a timed photo session (less than a minute) at the end of the panel. There's quite a big crowd and I was almost on the outer most edge, so I wasn't able to get a very clear shot of her. But I still managed to get two decent pictures considering the sucky quality of my camera. After picking up a ticket for the autograph from the staff at the exit, it's rushing to the Exhibition Hall where the autograph session was located.

[May'n's Autograph Session]
As expected, there's already a long line up by the time I got there. I first got in line where Neko-tan was, then spotted another guy from the group much further up the line and joined him instead as I had a tight schedule. People in the line were holding the item they wanted signed, and there's a lot of Macross F books and CDs. One guy saw my "Diamond Crevasse/Iteza Gogo Kyuuji Don't be late" single and asked to see it as he thought he had everything Macross F there was but had yet to see the single.

May'n's really cute up close, and her hand's small and soft, too. (ヘンタイみたい orz) Just as I was leaving the signing area, an older guy accompanying May'n came up to ask me where I got the single CD and if I ordered online. According to Neko-tan on our way back home, the single sold so well in Japan that it was out of stock everywhere for a period of time. Now mine's even more rare 'cause it's got May'n signature on the cover! XD

[Morita's Panel]
I ventured out into the sun after I got May'n autograph to attend Morita's Panel at the Nokia Plaza. That's right, it's outdoor. Morita dressed up as a shinigami and got the crowd high in no time. The main event for the panel was Morita's live voice-over performance for the scene in the 1st episode where Ichigo and Rukia formally introduced each other before Rukia stabbed Ichigo with her zanpakuto and transformed him into a shinigami. It's really awesome to hear Morita live as Ichigo beside calling out Bankai, and the selected scene was a nice one as that's where Ichigo's journey as a shinigami started.

Three pairs of Ichigo and Rukia were picked from the audience and invited on stage to voice-over the same scene. The first pair consisted of a Rukia cosplayer and a big guy. The Rukia cosplayer was extremely excited and was almost slurring when Morita interviewed the two. She actually blurted out the term "IchiRu", too. XD The 2nd pair consisted of a Yachiru cosplayer and another random guy, and the 3rd pair consisted of a Yoruichi cosplayer (I think, can't quite remember. She's the only to do the voice-over in Japanese as well.) and another random guy. When it's time for Morita to pick one person to present a prize, he went with the Rukia cosplayer at the end. She definitely wasn't the best, but she struggled the most and pulled it off at the end. And the wind played a trick on her and showed what's under the school uniform skirt when she was on stage.

After a short announcement from Morita that he detests piracy and wants everyone to watch it legally since Bleach will start streaming on Crunchy Roll, he ended the panel with the usual bankai (26sec, 19.31MB, MediaFire; first video I ever took with my camera) call. Then it's a mad dash for everyone to line up for Morita's autograph session!

(While waiting for the panel to start, I spotted Nabeshin exchanging business card with someone else before casually walking off scene by the side of the plaza. XD)

[Morita's Autograph Session]
This one didn't require a ticket so the line was insanely loooooooooong and had quite a bit of ppl that didn't go to Morita's panel to be in the line. Then, after two hours, with no more than a dozen ppl in front of me (probably over a hundred behind me; I never saw the end of the line), the_line_was_cut_off. Morita wanted to continue, but the staff wouldn't allow it and wanted to clear the room. The people in the front of the line argued and haggled with the staff, so finally it was decided that Morita would have a special hand-shake session for those who remained (staff had already spread the bad news and dispersed most of the crowd by now).

Roughly 50 of us filed quietly into the room and sat down, where Morita gave a short apologetic speech and thanked everyone. We were given 3 questions to ask as a group, then everyone lined up to shake Morita's hand before getting ushered out by the staff. There was a second autograph session for Morita the next day, but it coincided with the concert I mainly went to AX for, so I never got Morita's autograph in the end... But it's still worth the 2-hr wait to shake his hand! :D

Then I finally called Neko-tan back and re-grouped with them to leave. That's it for the 1st day!

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA

I've been wanting to write about my 1st experience at AX 2010 but kept procrastinating as usual. Since the next big anime season is close at hand, I figured now is a good time to upload the photos to conserve bandwidth for the next season. XD

All the guests photos and other miscellaneous pictures can be found here. Those are open for view because the guests are public figures (and the cosplayers album is locked for privacy).

Most of the photos are quite grainy because I had to do no-flash, and my cheapo camera ($50!) absolute sucks when there's insufficient lighting. I'm definitely getting a new camera if I'm going to AX again.

And here's the real test to see my memory retainment rate after almost three months.

Day 0

We hitched a ride after zoo from Neko-tan's friend who's also going to pick up the badge. We had completely lost faith in LA's bus system after the bus trip to the zoo.

We spotted an itasha in the underground parking featuring Mikoto from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (funny how I recognized her without ever watching the show or the series it spin-offed from). My 1st itasha spotting! :D

The line for the badge was expectedly long, from the back entrance to the back alley, winding around a few times. Quite a few cosplayers, but everyone's in the line up so I didn't even try taking photos. I had my book to occupy me so it wasn't too bad, but the scorching sun overhead was a different story. Everyone had much respect for a cosplayer dressed in a full plush suit (head to toe enclosed) as Akamaru from Naruto. There's an ice bar vendor that walked up and down the line selling the icy treats at 2/$10 or something outrageous like that.

It only took us less than 3 hours to get our badge and program guide, then another 20 minutes for the main event tickets. Apparently it's not as bad as once before where they lined up for 5 hours for the badge (back then, they didn't charge for the main events, but you had to line up for hours during the Expo to get the tickets). Last year, on the other hand, was a breeze as it was a far smaller crowd due to the lack of good guests.

I had sausage in pineapple sauce (didn't feel adventurous enough to try the sausage in chocolate sauce) and black sugar caramel shaved ice for dinner. XD