AX 2011: Consolidated Edition

For some reason I've been hearing the word "consolidate" a lot... So I'll use it too for my main Anime Expo post. Last year I wrote up everything in one post and it was looooonnngggg! This year there weren't as much events to describe, so maybe it'll be shorter if I do it in one post. There were some panels that I wasn't allowed to take pictures of and others that I was too lazy to take pictures of... So I'll have some photos that are not related while I'm telling my story... ^^;

Ah and that Gundam Unicorn is human-size. I thought it's a good start since the abbreviation on the shoulder spells out "Anime Expo" :P

Lots of Miku itasha. These ones are the Toyota Corolla ones and inside the Convention Center.

Let's see... Where to begin? The first day, 2 of my roommates at the hotel lined up to get our badges. We were afraid of 3 hour lines, so we got up at 5:30 in the morning and lined up by 6:30. The registration doesn't open until 8 am, but we got our badges by 8:30. Then it's another line to get concert tickets. I missed my chance to get Miku concert tickets, but with slightly overpriced ticket, I was able to sit with my friends.

First up was the Kalafina panel. The line was so long, that they had to move us downstairs and then lined up so we can go back upstairs... How silly... I've already seen Kalafina back in 2009 at Anime Boston, so I knew who they were and wasn't expecting to get an autograph again (though it would've been nice). Unfortunately I had to get to Sawashiro Miyuki panel line right after.

Danny Choo hosted the Sawashiro Miyuki panel and was trying hard to do translations for her ^^; Thankfully Miyuki also knows some English. She was awesome! I was glad to hear about her Puchiko role, how it was her first and she was only 13 years old (if I heard this correctly) when she did it. Afterwards we chased to the Exhibit Hall to get her autograph. A long line already started at the NIS America booth. Fortunately there was a bonus when you buy Arakawa Under the Bridge BD/DVD... Which is a priority ticket to get Miyuki's autograph! So I bought my way in :P I'll tell you this story in another post when I show off what I got signed.

This QAN-T Gundam look really good. Looks much better in person.

After that I had some free time and browsed the Exhibit Hall. So many things that I don't think I've seen every single booth due to the sheer number of them around there. I bought too many things on the first day. I've pretty much found everything I wanted on my wish list. Well, except for a new wallet...

ANA x Gundam

Later on we went to the Funimation panel where I was mostly bored and played with my 3DS because the amount of StreetPass there was unbelievable! I had over 250 StreetPasses over the weekend! StreetPass is basically exchanging Mii information with people who has 3DS. All the trailers for Funimation were dubs, so I pretty much ignored everything. It was nice to hear that B Gata H Kei has been licensed, though with an unfortunate title, "Yamada's First Time"... -_-

A really cool Gundam! Someone PLEASE tell me what this is and maybe I'll get it XD

And right after was the Danny Choo panel. I had to line up again for the panel. Though it was fine since I met Lene there along with Tsundelicious and Kurotsuki while I was there and also got Vince "Lionheart" to get ahead with us in line.

Danny's panel mirrored his recent post with additional examples. Not sure if I'll be changing everything I'm doing, but I am going to try... I still haven't really found my focus, which is still fine. My lack of focus is my focus. Which means I can try everything under the sun without losing focus... Right?

I missed these Mirai itasha the first time... Tsubasa had to tell me where they were XD

I met a lot more people before and after the panel. Ragnablade and CosplayShots introduced themselves to me after Soulfringe pointed me out to them before the panel started ^^; After the panel I immediately met Nekoconeco, PikaChika (whom I met last year but didn't properly introduce each other, lol), Ms. Geek, Gibson, Dancing Queen, and sorta briefly talked with Maridah. And also the ever present Jun aka TofuProd, lol.

And this is apparently Jun's car?

On the Saturday, it seemed strange that there wasn't much that I wanted to do during the day. So I ventured out to the Exhibit Hall again. This time I brought Helen along so I can show them to the people in the Obitsu booth ^^ I have to say that it was one of the most memorable moments this year at AX, even though it was brief. I also discovered Lene's Artist Alley booth and met the 2 Lesters, the Black Hole Stormtrooper variety and the Yuuichikun variety :P

And then finally it was time for the Kalafina concert at the Club Nokia... A much smaller venue this year compared to last year's concerts in Nokia Theater... And it was standing room only -_-  But it was still a great show! And get to hang out at the concert with Yakuri as well ^^

So many people... 50,000 over the weekend is the number I heard.

And then it was time for the Miku concert. There were people packing in the front way before the concert... We waited in the room for a bit, where I met Kitty_Pounce and Simply_Aroused ^_^ Then when we entered through the front of the stage, I saw the size of the screen that Miku was going to be on... So small... It did make look Miku more human size, but still we were far away and towards the left. So when Miku goes to the right of the screen, she fades away... Thankfully her playlist was different than the one from the Blu-Ray ^^ There were some new costumes as well. Unfortunately she didn't sing Melt nor Magnet... I was just a little bit disappointed even though it was a great concert.

Big crowd in front of the Nokia Theater before Mikunopolis

After the concert I met up with a few people and kinda drank a little ^^; I was really red, lol. I would say more, but what happens at Anime Expo on Saturday night stays at Anime Expo XD Ok, I can at least tell you that I met up with SouthernBelleCA to give her the order from Chun, courtesy of Lightning Sabre Courier (LOL). I also met Jeromaru again because apparently he's neighbours with SouthernBelle :D

On the Sunday was the L.A. CGM Nigh... Well Morning actually. It started at 11 AM... So off I go with Helen again and dropped her off with Mugi sitting on her lap beside Tsubasa's Sasara and CrimsonYukikaze's girl... whose name I forgot atm... Sorry!

So then I get to meet the DD group from CA as well... I met BerserkFuryZero again and someone that I've only met the first time there prior to talking on Twitter, MiuofStars.

There were just lines and lines of people waiting to meet with Danny, so I just hung out with Vince and Soulfringe, but later on we meet up with Lene's group as well. I also met someone new, Kupomatic, who was also at Lene's Artist Alley booth ^^ And I had to take a photo of the Black Hole Stormtrooper! Alas, the flash made the picture look a bit bad... I know where to find him. Is ok :P

I also met and got approached by a few new people too ^^ Let's see, I know I saw CoolMikeol because he said he'll be wearing Eiji cosplay. Then I also met ObiWanIvan with a Saber Lily DD and also JRenteria who's got an awesome hair! I thought it was a wig ^^; It was almost hard to keep track of everyone I met... I see why Danny encouraged business cards!

After the Culture Japan x Fakku Meet and Greet was the Maon Kurosaki concert. Which I did enjoy even though it was last minute choice for me. Unfortunately her song list was still too small, so even though everyone called for an encore, she came out again and apologized that (I assume) she doesn't have anything else to sing. Very short concert... And then later that night I went and watched The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya for the 5th time, but the first time for my friend. It was fun and annoying at the same time watching with the crowd. The one part where it was supposed to be a *gasp* moment ended up with people laughing because they didn't know what it meant... Time to rewatch Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody people! ANYHOO... Don't mind my ranting. I'm just a Suzumiya nut ^^;

On the last day was the Good Smile Company X NitroPlus+ panel. It was a lot of fun hearing about the beginnings of GSC and NitroPlus+. Lots of goodies were given away. We saw some gameplay video for the BRS game. Takanori Aki (GSC) and Kosaka Taiki (NitroPlus+) were great sport. They were surprised that we knew a lot of the stuff they were talking about. I am glad I owned the first NitroPlus+ game ever, Phantom of the Inferno. I was going to bring it to get it signed, but I forgot... It was also interesting that GSC started as a talent agency for seiyuu before. They didn't work out, but they found Max Factory and decided to represent them as a "talent agency". Great beginnings ^^

After that panel, I got autographs from both heads of the company and made my way to find special deals at the Exhibit room before it closes for the last time this year. I didn't go to the closing ceremony unfortunately... So after that it was just done ^^; Anyway... Here's a few more pics...

This one's for Chun. Something she created (the shirt) with Maridah Mirai ^^