Report of Anime Expo 2002
Note: Since this report is a recollection of what happened back then, some things might have been forgotten, but alas if I remember anything or realize something is in error, I will update this!
This AX would be the year when I had MULTIPLE costume changes. Just to give you a run through, I was Rabi~en~Rose on Thursday, Sailor Jupiter on Friday, Dorothy from Gundam Wing on Saturday morning, then Urd for the evening and Urd again on Sunday.
The place was once again the Long Beach convention center and time was the July 4th weekend.
To read about my weekend adventures, continue forth or click the day of your choice:
-Thursday- -Friday- -Saturday- -Sunday-
What was REALLY nice about this year was that it would be SomethingLulu’s FIRST AX. We were hoping she would have a nice time (and she sure did). This was also the year that DJ AKA was born! Our members are Sana-chan, SomethingLulu, HimuraKenshin23, Red Ryu Vicious, and I.
But anyways, our day started off by picking up our badges and then wondering whether we should go to opening ceremonies or not. HimuraKenshin23 and Red Ryu Vicious did, but we opted to go wait in the line to get in the exhibit hall PRIMARILY because we weren’t sure when tickets for Meet the Guests would start. We had such a fun time at last year’s and since the creator of KENSHIN, Nobuhiro Watsuki; was going to be there (along with the voice actress of Naga from Slayers), we figured it was best to find out ahead of time and get the tickets.
While waiting in that line (They wouldn’t open the dealers room till after opening ceremonies), we played cards (Mau anyone?) and met some new people and took pictures of passing cosplayers. When the line started moving, we made sure to buy our tickets for the Meet the Guests; while we were at it, we bought AX shirts. XD
The exhibit hall was smaller than last year’s, even though it was in the same convention center. For some reason they blocked off the other half of the convention center because, you guessed it, the Jehovist’s con was again next door to AX. I’m sure enough people complained so that we wouldn’t be interfering with them at all. And of course I didn’t see any this time during the con, but it was still nice having more exhibit hall space the previous year.
Cool highlights of the day were getting to hear a String duet, Ramen & Rice; play various anime and video game songs. They were REALLY, REALLY good, and I hope one day to play like that violinist (yes I do play the violin). Also I had the privilege of attending a panel about “Anime Clubs.” I actually had planned to go to this panel after reading about it on the Anime Expo website. I was president of my Anime Club back in high school and I wanted to find out what other successful clubs were doing in order to get more club involvement. I always liked being a part of the club, but the club was always small and fledging. I wanted to improve it; the panel gave me great tips and ideas on how to save my club in order for it to be the best that it could ever be (As a result the club did great my senior year in HS; for more information check out the SRHS Anime Club website).
After the panel, Sana-chan and SomethingLulu had retired to the hotel room, but I decided for the heck of it, I’d go to the Mamiko Noto panel. I only knew that Noto-san was a seiyuu in certain shows like X, Inuyasha, Ayashi No Ceres and Fruits Basket. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
What I got was a wonderful picture with Noto-san, had the pleasure of
speaking with her in Japanese (she told me my dice were SOOOOO big in her cute
Japanese), and was totally enamored on how cute she was! DarkVision attended the
panel with me and he had no clue about her either, but we were all impressed and
just gawking on how adorable she was.
I asked her in Japanese to say something in the voice of Rin from Inuyasha and
she compiled. Very, very adorable…funny thing was I haven’t even reached an
ep of Inuyasha yet where Rin appeared so I just assumed what she said sounded
like what Rin sounded like. (I have yet to finish all my subbed Inuyasha, I’m
getting to it ^_^)
Another fan kept going up and asking her questions. Since her panel wasn’t so heavily attended, he had that freedom to do so. But still, we could tell he was a total fan boy of her, and if he had the liberties he would marry her. 0_0
After the panel we checked out if any of our raffle tickets (since they hand em out before the beginning of every panel) earned us a chance to get an autograph. And by golly gee I was able to get one! Of course I couldn’t redeem it till Friday at a specified time. It was no biggie, I would just have to buy some merchandise related to her to get autographed. I was totally psyched!
But before I could go scourging the dealers’ hall for a prized piece of merchandise, I woke up early JUST to wait in line to get a good spot at Nobuhiro Watsuki’s panel. I’m a fan of Kenshin and I really wanted to meet the man behind the story. I knew I would get a better chance to at the Meet the Guest reception, but I still wanted the chance to be able to practice my Japanese.
We were lucky we got GREAT seats; not too many big heads in front of us and close to the front! The cutest thing was seeing two Kaoru cosplayers go up to the front and bow before him before going back to their seats (this was before the panel officially began).
When the panel DID begin, we noticed that it was a full house; and an uproarious sound came from the audience when Watsuki-sensei was introduced. He was such a nice and FUNNY guy! When I got the chance to ask him my question: “Kenshin no manga no kyarakutaa no nakade ichiban chikaku kanjiruno wa dore desu ka?;” translated, In the Kenshin manga, which is the number one character that you would relate with the most?
First of all, he complimented my Japanese; I humbled myself by saying how bad it was before sitting down. And to everyone’s laughing cheer, he said how Yahiko was the one he related to the most. He said that he was most like Yahiko when he was a child; looking at him sitting at the panel I had to wonder how, but I believed him as he related some experiences and that at Yahiko’s age, he wanted to be more of a man.
After the panel, we checked to see if any of us got sketches and or autographs. None of us got them, but we did get a ticket that allowed us to get an autograph if we waited in line. We could’ve either came back this day, or Saturday at the specified time. He would first do the people who won sketches and autographs and then if time permitted, allow people with our blue tickets autographs.
But before I could worry about that (I did have my Kenshin manga with me just incase), I headed back to the exhibit hall to find something for Noto-san to sign. Being the idiot I was, I bought a cel of Shippon; thinking it was Rin. (I really didn’t know much of Inuyasha at the time) Well I surely knew my mistake when I got there for an autograph because she looked at it and said “Kawaii Shippon ne!” I felt sooooo humiliated, but for all she knew, I just wanted that signed for no reason other than it was cool. So yes, I have a Shippon cel signed by a seiyuu who didn’t do Shippon. You can all kill me now.
Whatever, it was still cool she REMEMBERED me from Thursday. She was excited to see me and I was glad that I made that much of an impression on her. ^_^
After her autograph I headed towards the line for Watsuki’s autographs. They first did the won sketches first and Watsuki did the painstaking duty of doing them right on the spot; but like Watase-sama, these were NO simple sketches. On average his sketches took about ten to twelve minutes per person! There were ten sketch winners; multiply that by ten minutes and that took up the entire time for autographs! Essentially I waited in that line for nothing, it was kind of heartbreaking.
But I had to remind myself of Meet the Guest Reception later that night. I knew they wouldn’t allow autographs, but at least to meet him up close and personal would be enough.
And meet him I did, along with Noto-san again, (she just kept remarking how cute I was XD) and Maria Kawamura. She was sooooooo hilarious when I asked her to do the “Naga laugh.” I wasn’t the only one who asked during the table-hopping. Her voice was SOOOOO loud and SOOOOO much like Naga that it was frightening. It was even scarier that it was coming from such a cute, tiny women! I couldn’t believe it!
The reception was well attended, had great food, had great questions answered, and was a whole lot fun. This was also DarkVision’s first time attending something of the sort and he was glad because he met the creator of Ah My Goddess, his all-time favorite anime. He was jumping around like a pansy pretty much after that. The goon. XD
Knowing that we would have a big wake up morning time for Saturday (for masquerade tickets again), we got to bed early on Friday after we were done from Meet the Guests. By the time Saturday arose, we were in line waiting at about 4:30 am in the morning. 0_o Oy oy…
It was bad enough that I got separated from the Gundam group I was cosplaying with, so even after we got our tickets for the masquerade, I only saw a few Gundam cosplayers to take pics with (because my group retired to their hotel room after the line for extra Z’z). Nobody recognized me as Dorothy, save a few that later told me online they wished they had a picture of me. 0_o
Regardless, I knew that Saturday would be my last chance to see if could get an autograph from Watsuki-sensei. I still had my redeeming ticket, I got there early; and hopefully there would be a chance.
They started off by finishing the remaining sketches, but by the time that was done, there was only fifteen minutes left in the session. I was hoping and praying I’d get my autograph and I did. Apparently Watsuki wanted to give others the chance so he stayed an extra hr past his time to sign autographs for the waiting line.
So yes, I’m the proud owner of a signed copy of the Kenshin manga (Vol. 1)! I was sooooooo giddish, and Red Ryu Vicious and HimuraKenshin23 were sooooooo jealous because they’re even bigger Kenshin fans than me…even though I think I’m a big fan enough. ^_~
After that excursion I headed to dinner with the rest of my group before heading back to the hotel to take a somewhat shower and change into Urd. We basically hanged out in the plaza before they opened the doors for the masquerade. During that plaza “gathering” I took pictures of cosplayers, was witness to the AX duck (see gallery), and met some cool new con buddies! Con buddies are good thing. XD
When we entered the masquerade, Ramen and Rice were playing select anime and video game tunes. It was quite a treat and added to that professionalism of the show. When the show began, they had a high school band play selections from Final Fantasy and boy were THEYYYYY cooking. Heck I would’ve rather listened to them play all night than see cosplayers perform. But still, it was soooooooo much fun!
The MC was better this year, kept the show going, and almost killed the whole “Chair” concept. In terms of funny masquerade skits, there was only a few-of course, the quality of costumes improved. There were too many walk ons though, being my only complaint. ^_^
We weren’t treated to any guest appearances during the “intermission,” but we were again treated to the AMV winners! What great stuff! The best I’d say would be the “Total Waste of 6 mins and 28 secs…” or whatever the heck it was called! I never thought the series of Lain was funny, but that’s why I liked the series. This AMV put humor into a show I thought would NEVER be possible. Check it out if you have the time! ^_^
As with any masquerade, the winners were highly recognized, and deserving of the awards. We got out at about midnight, so it was funny seeing a clamor of cosplayers heading towards the hotels and the elevators. XD
After such a fun day, Sunday was once again anti-climatic. It’s a wonder I even stayed for half of the day just to cosplay and take more pictures (Granted I ran out of film DAH)! Well I did some last minute shopping and hanging out with friends, and evaluating the overall excitement of the convention.
We left early and were sooooooo glad we had a great time at the convention! It topped even last year’s to a certain degree…except for ONE thing: the lines…to get…into…the exhibit hall; I managed not to complain about it earlier because I only had a few chances to get into the exhibit hall, but because the fire marshal was complaining how there was a fire hazard just by having PEOPLE in the convention center, they had to severely limit the amount of people going into the exhibit hall. It sucked the most for first time AX goers because they had to wait in an enormous line for hours just to get into the exhibit hall! Thankfully I know that AX isn’t just about the exhibit hall, but about the people you meet and the other events that happen. Plus, I snuck in a few times using the elevator trick. Hey, they weren’t checking. XD
We heard rumors though upon leaving that they were changing the location. I thought, AGAIN?! Just when I got used to the Long Beach convention center, and in any case, it was better than the Disneyland Hotel! I was pretty sure it was because of the whole fire hazard situation…but there was actually more to that…and more to tell when AX 03 arrived….
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