anime-expo 'exclusive'
a n00b in 0t4KU L4ND
by jonathan on 07/24/2002 00:46:49 -0700
Thursday, July 4 2002
I woke up at 6:00 AM. I couldn’t get that much sleep as I was excited and nervous. (I’m that sad.) Wes and I drove to the Marriot Courtyard, our hotel. We checked in at like 7:30. Unfortunately, what my friend told me about the convention opening at 8:00 AM didn’t seem to be true. We got in line for the Opening Ceremonies anyways. Wes went to sleep in the line while I looked for my other friend Thanh and his high school buddies. I found them at like 9:00 AM. I chatted with them before returning to Wes, who was further along in the massive line for the ceremonies.
Opening ceremonies started late, which I was told is what to expect for every event at AX. (And it was indeed true.) I was entertained by two sisters playing a cello and violin though. They played various anime themes as well as several video game themes, mainly Final Fantasy stuff. It was fun trying to “name that tune” from only string instruments. My favorite was easily the Super Smash Brothers mix. Other than the music, opening ceremonies was pretty boring though I admit I didn’t stay for all of it.
The highlights of the show definitely came during the introductions of the guests of honor. The first two guests, Koichi Mashimo (director of .Hack//Sign and Noir) and Tsukasa Hojo (creator/manga artist for City Hunter, Cat’s Eye, and Angel Heart) sent in video tape presentations because they weren’t there.
Mashimo-san went around his studio, Bee-Train and filmed various employees. The reactions he got were hilarious. Many of the employees were surprised that they would be on camera and shown in America. The number one comment was easily “please watch .hack”. (No problem there; I think .hack will definitely have its fans when it’s released sometime next year.)
Hojo-san basically sent in a tongue-in-cheek video tape detailing his "work" and the people around him, who are involved in Raijin comics. Raijin is a "magazine" which premiered at the Expo. (More on that later.) Typical of the man who created City Hunter, his video had him scoping out Japanese women so he could draw manga better. I thoroughly enjoyed the extreme close up shots of the women. (Sumir's note: Good job, Jonathan. 2 extra credit points for scoping them out, -5 for not getting me pictures.)
After skipping out on the ending part of the ceremonies, I followed Wes’ friends to attend my first of many panels. The Read or Die panel assembled Masashi Ishihama (character designer), Hideyuki Kurata (creator and writer), and Koji Masunari (director). In other words, this was the panel to ask if you had any questions regarding Read or Die. I couldn’t come up with any good questions, but there were some crazy questions asked. One fan had apparently paid enough attention to notice that Nancy/Miss Deep fires her uzi only using one hand (left I think?) while her double uses her right hand. His gripe was that the left handed one was seen firing using her right hand. It reminded me of something that would get asked at a Star Trek convention. (Not that I've ever been to one!) It’s too bad the guy wasn’t wearing a Genius as Work T-shirt. What was even scarier was the panel’s answer. Basically, the panel maintained that someone who is left handed can train themselves to shoot with their right hand. Their alternate explanation was that it was simply an animation error. At least they can be honest. (So take whichever you wish to hear.)
When the panel ended I headed for the console gaming room because I wanted to sign up for some of the tournaments, namely Guilty Gear X, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Virtua Fighter 4. Of course, the room opened an hour later than it should have and the Guilty Gear X tournament started way later. The tournament lasted way too long, and I was frustrated by the lack of real PS2 controllers. We had to use those Mad Catz POS. Regardless, I didn’t do as well as I should have and wasted like 4 hours of my time. This pretty much convinced me not to show up for the Smash Bros. tourney as there were twice as many people signed up for that one. (I believe something like 80 people signed up.)
The day ended with me following Wes and his friends to Anime Singled Out. This was funny and entertaining for all the wrong reasons. Whenever a girl was up, something like 80 guys would rush the stage. Whenever a guy was up, girls needed coaching to get up there. The sad part is a lot of the girls on stage weren’t even legal; they were like 15 and 16. This resulted in a 20 year old guy pairing with a 15 year old girl. That relationship wouldn’t even be legal in Japan much less here. Still, all they had to do was hug and dance once, and they got prizes so I guess it’s not a big deal. I found the whole event hilarious. It also reinforced Wes’ statement that all girls like Rei more than Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion. (Gee, I wonder why.) (Sumir asks: Does it have anything to do with Shinji being a total wuss?)
It was during Anime Singled out that I got a picture with the crazy violent student from Battle Royale. It was definitely the highlight of my day, although eating a foot long sub at Subway later came close. It was my first (and last) meal of the day.
(Sumir says: Cool, Battle Royale; I've seen that POS. :-) Hey, what the hell is THIS? You didn't use a LENS FLARE to censor out your face?! Ohhh, you're gonna pay for this, you damn intern...!)