One thing I failed to mention about Day 2 was that I managed to spend a few minutes talking with the English producer of Rozen Maiden’s dub, whose name I’ve regrettably forgotten, down in the dealer’s hall. I often wonder about the folk who come by and talk with these execs in ways that sound like they were discussing the most recent DBZ power level theory on a message board or mailing list. I mean, it’s not like this guy in particular can influence the future of the story and those that can have their own vision, and will not listen to others concerning it. Then again, I suppose it could be considered a bit of a litmus test to see if the guy there knows or cares anything about the fans and their community and how much they love the series in question. In this case, I believe this man passed that particular test with flying colors. He seemed perfectly willing, capable, and knowledgeable while taking part in such brief discussions. For my own fact finding mission, I wanted to ask about Overture, possible influence on a third season, what the fuck were the Peach Pit girls thinking concerning the end of the Manga (it did end right? I didn’t just imagine what I saw, right?), what that would mean concerning a third season, and the removal of certain speech mannerisms that the dolls had.

Negotiations for Overture were in the works, he reported. Wasn’t too clear on how they were going to package it, considering the rest of the series is in that felt box, but they were in the process of trying to licensing it. The discussion I had with him on the third season flowed into a mutual bit of angst concerning how the manga ended. He wasn’t too thrilled with it, and neither was I. He hoped that the Peach Pit girls would do something to continue the manga and give the guys at Nomad and TBS something to work with, but that’s out of everyone’s hands. Still, he reflected, it’s not like the anime isn’t doing its own thing, more or less, and doing it pretty damn well. So it’s very possible they’ll just greenlight a third series with just a straight anime only story taking some bits from the manga where needed and creating a real ending…or so he hoped and that he’d have the sales figures over here to persuade them to that effect. Now the speech mannerisms, when I mentioned that, the first thing he shouted was, “DESU!” I nodded, and immediately gave him two more, to which he also nodded and our discussion turned a little more serious than it would with your average desu-nut on 4chan. Suiseseki became our prime example, mostly because hers is so famous, but also because hers represents a dichotomy that doesn’t quite have an analogy over here. Her speech is servile and overly polite, but what she’s saying is often pretty coarse and just straight mean. In the manga they get around this by having her end every phrase with “Yes!” or “,yes?” It keeps the polite manner of speech, but still allowing her to insult Jun every other sentence. The producer mentioned trying a number of fixes of this nature, up to and including keeping the ‘desu’ at the end of each sentence, but it just didn’t sound right when they did that. Personally I’d have given her more of a French accent and had her speak like the Merilvingian, but they went with something else, and that’s why you have Suiseseki talking with an almost valley girl mannerism in the dub. I’m not sure I can actually sanction such a decision myself. After this we had another guy walk up and begin another conversation that should really have been with Peach Pit. Still, even I joined in a bit, adding that everything from a certain point on was fan speculation up to and including an idea about Jun creating Jun Maidens some time in the future…which was so far into fan speculation that you were practically writing fanfiction at that point.

Seriously though, could you imagine Suiseseki going, “French is my favourite - fantastic language, especially to curse with. Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperies de connards d'enculés de ta mère. You see, it's like wiping your ass with silk, I love it!”

Onto day three.

I had a far easier time of getting up today than I did the day before, though I still procrastinated heavily. Honestly there wasn’t much pressing that I wanted to go to at the time, outside of taking cosplay pics. The only thing really going on that I was interested in that day was the AMV’s in the morning, the Masquerade, and the Geneon panel. It was to be a rather sedate day, and I was looking forward to it.

I really shouldn’t have stayed in bed as long as I did. Mayhem stuck around to hang out, and we barely made it into the Terrace theatre in time for the AMVs. We didn’t get exceptional seats, but they were good enough, though at a bit of an extreme angle for my tastes. The AMVs weren’t exceptional overall this year, but they didn’t outright suck either. Still, there were a couple that certainly fit into the exceptional category. Skittles was a fantastic use of Japanese rap, special effects, and the Haruhi anime. It was just so well blended and entertaining…one can’t help but watch it over and over. One of my personal favorites was the one that used footage from the “Oh! My Goddess!” movie and the song “Angels” by Within Temptation. I’m a sucker for AMG stuff though, and Navaash is correct about this one: It’s good, but it ends on a happy note…and the song is not a happy song. I also enjoyed the “Ghost in the Shell” AMV set to the tune of Björk’s song “Joga.” One thing I noticed was a lot more crossover and outright transposition between categories, especially in the AMV TV and Comedy categories. Still, it was fairly entertaining. Too bad it couldn’t have happened on the day it was supposed to.

First thing Mayhem and I did after the AMVs, was go over to con ops and see about the lost and found, and if that didn’t pan out, posting a reward for Naga. Unfortunately no one had turned her in, but they did tell us to write up a notice that they’d copy for us and we could post it at several of the tables where information is usually disseminated to the con goers. This was actually pretty helpful and straightforward, which was in sharp contrast to what had been going on for most of AX to date.

I’m going to break away from the narrative and actually talk about something bad that happened here in detail. I’m going to do so because it was actually someone else that came into con ops screaming about what happened, but even he didn’t know the extent of the situation. One of our fellow con goers came into con ops and he was pissed off beyond all measure of the word, and from what he was screaming about, he had every right to be. Considering how this con was going, I was actually chuckling about how someone else was blowing their top over this shit. Apparently this guy had bought, I think it was the second Haruhi DVD limited edition box (that thing was overpriced at the con, but you could get it early if you wanted it) with the understanding given to him by the folks at Bandai, he could get it signed by the VAs at that day and time.

The first problem with that, was that Anime Expo and Bandai (even after Bandai SAID they could) was not allowing people to get anything other than some free posters signed by the VAs. I’m going to say that this was complete and utter BULLSHIT! I have no idea what Anime Expo, Bandai, or whoever thought they were doing here, but this is without a doubt the stupidest goddamn thing I’ve ever heard of. If Anime Expo or some other powers that be are going to pull this shit, I would recommend to each and every person there that they just vacate the line. Vacate the line and boycott ALL other signing events.

From what I can tell, this guy didn’t even know about the problem above, which tells me they didn’t tell anyone about the signing restrictions until they were in line. This guy’s beef was line control, or should I say, lack thereof. Apparently Bandai didn’t plan for any line control and neither had Anime Expo. There was mass cutting, and the line was all over the goddamn place. Given Anime Expo’s track record at the con so far this year, it was not surprising to hear about a lacking of line control at this event. Disappointing, but not surprising. Apparently AX guys did show up, but too little, too late. I suppose it might have had something to do with the fact the autograph session was supposed to happen the previous day, but even so, that’s why we have people in charge…to mitigate the problems that arise from sudden needs to change the schedule (among other things). The other thing he screamed about was that only the first 100 or so people would even get their stuff signed.

Obviously he also didn’t get close enough to find out that Anime Expo staff was running people through the signing like an assembly line. Don’t talk to the guests, no shaking their hands, hell, don’t even look at them. You know what? Seriously, if you’re going to do this Anime Expo, don’t even bother bringing guests of honor here. You disrespect them and you disrespect the fans. We don’t come here for your bullshit, we came here to play, and that means to play with these wonderful and talented people who bring this genre to life. They come here for the very same reason…they want to play with those who appreciate their work so much. You’re killing that for everyone involved pulling shit like this. Eventually we’ll just quit coming to play in your sandbox.

I’ll say again, this guy was pissed. By the time we got done copying the notice we were about to distribute, he was screaming about wanting his money for the con back, and that this was it. He was leaving, and never coming to AX again. Can’t say as I blame him either; I expect a lot were thinking the same thing.

We made our way down into the dealer’s hall, noting that they’d terminated the one part they had opened for exiting individuals in yet another display of stupidity. We walked around taking pictures and trying to find a replacement for the Naga we had lost should we not find her again. Also on the list, at least mine, was trying to find a Suiseseki (or possibly a Barasuisho or Kirakishou) figure to complement the Tsugintou I had purchased the previous day…and maybe find a Hotaru or Tsugintou UFO catcher plush. All I can say is, I swear, you couldn’t kill someone for some of the older and/or more obscure series UFO catcher dolls. I found plenty of Bleach, Haruhi, and Naruto but God help you if you wanted Yakumo from School Rumble for example. As for my maiden quest, it came to naught…Tsugintou was sold out as was the smaller box of Suiseseki and Souseseki. There was a smattering of smaller Shinku’s at the booths here and there, but though I like the character she was pretty far down on my list. On my super extended list, I found that I wasn’t going to get Predaking or MP-04 (Masterpiece Optimus Prime with Trailer) without sacrificing a limb or two.

Around this time I got a text message from Gensao telling me there was a Rozen Maiden gathering at 2:00pm at the fountain outside the theatre. This left us with about an hour and a half to eat something, like we’d originally planned to do, and get over there. I had planned on cosplaying a bit today as well, so I figured I’d combine both plans. In retrospect it wasn’t the best idea in the universe. Attempting to find food turned out to be more difficult than we’d imagined. With all those congoers, everywhere we went was crowded, and traveling from one place to another was time consuming. Eventually we settled on an Irish Pub which served a damn good sammich. Finishing up with about twenty minutes to go, we headed back to the hotel room at a brisk pace, which turned out to be a worse idea when Mayhem’s already bad leg wound up getting considerably worse. He just told me to go on ahead and he’d catch up later. As for me, I decided on cosplaying the Dark Priest again rather than the Rogue. I figure next year I’ll get a mask and head scarf and cosplay the Dread Pirate Roberts.

I would like to point out that wearing a black wool monk outfit is a bad idea in the LA summer heat. I wasn’t the worst, however. When I got to the front of the theatre there were people fully covered in that black plastic vinyl stuff…I don’t know how they managed to survive. In any event, I arrived with a few minutes to spare and took a few photos, one of which is from a damn good story (in the manga, at least), called Claymore. It was rather humorous as she said I was the only person there who realized who she was, and from where I was looking she was a spot on match for Clare.

So after rushing around for the past hour or so and screwing up Mayhem’s leg in the process, I now wore something that is meant to attract and keep in heat…in the middle of the LA summer sun. This counts as one of the more bonehead ideas I’ve had…should have just gone as the Rogue. It’d been cooler in any event. Still, I did manage to rest a bit before the gathering started, which was fortunate for me as I wound up staying out there with the girls (and one lonely guy) for about an hour.

The gathering itself was really fun, taking pics (it goes on to page 21) of the individual Rozen Maiden cosplayers, groups of them, and then full on gathering shots was damn near the highlight of the convention. Everyone had a great time, regardless of how AX was going or how hard the sun beat down on us. The Maidens were quite popular, so jockeying to get shots was a bit difficult at times, but everyone was quite respectful and careful to try not to interfere with anyone else’s picture taking, though accidents did occasionally happen. Given the amount of people there, I’m actually surprised it didn’t happen more often than it did. The cosplayers themselves were having a blast, posing in shots that mirrored the anime and just straight character studies, both serious and fun. I think my favorite pic of the convention was a full gathering shot of them just relaxed and goofing off. I wish I could have stayed out there longer, but even some of the cosplayers were bailing out, and you can imagine how I was faring in that wool monk’s robe. So I bid them silent farewell and headed into the shade for a bit before heading up to the hotel room to change.

I suppose it was fortunate that I went away when I did, because it gave me enough time to get back into more normal clothing and go to the Geneon Producer’s panel. I found Navaash in the back of the panel listening intently and taking notes. For my own contribution to this panel, I walked up and asked a question that had been bugging me for awhile.

I wanted to know something about how they approached certain situations with properties they acquire. To build up to the question so they knew where I was coming from, I gave them the biggest example I knew of from Fate/Stay – Night. In this particular anime, most people know that during the Fate scenario upon which it is based, something very…questionable…oh Hell, I’ll just say it. Rin and Shirou are basically forced to fuck Sabre blind. There were a number of reasons for this, and though it was technically against Sabre’s will (it was certainly not something she had wanted to do), they did not force her…even she knew they’d all be dead if this didn’t happen. In the anime both the writer and the director showed a distinct lack of imagination and consistency concerning turning this event into a PG situation and handling the aftermath. During the situation the characters were talking about doing things, but their actions did not match their words, the dragon scene was both lame and badly CGed, and afterwards everyone acted like they really had screwed like minks in heat…which didn’t happen in the anime. The con goers at the panel were both chuckling and nodding in agreement as I explained what occurred. All this buildup was to ask the question, “When you have something so obviously screwed up in the anime, do you ever consider or have you ever, sent it back to the company and told them to fix this?”

The reply was a little long winded. Basically it amounted to not wanting to be held responsible for changing or even fixing something by either the fans or members of the production company might complain about. So if there was something so obviously fucked up, you blame the original production company and not Geneon. IE, plausible deniability. Don’t blame us, we’re just distributors. Blame the guys who fucked it up to begin with. Which I suppose tells me about how much they care about the quality of what they’re getting. They’re probably going to wind up licensing Zero no Tsukaima season 2 and wondering why it sells like shit (seriously, everything from about ep 7 on up is a complete waste of ink).

I hung around a bit longer, listened to some other questions, but I wanted to head out and take a few more pics before the masquerade started, browse the dealer’s hall, that sort of thing. There was plenty of time to kill and plenty to do. Even managed to get a decent supper at a place called King Fish where we had gone the last time we were at Long Beach several years ago. I recommend the place highly, especially the tea they had…that was excellent stuff.

The Masquerade was…strange to say the least; which seemed to be a bit of a theme for this year’s main events. Like the AMVs, it wasn’t the best Masquerade in the universe (that was 1999 and last year), but it was certainly watchable. What was strange about it was the seating. I had managed to get tickets to the event well before most anyone else using my hotel voucher. This put me right in the f’n front of the Masquerade. Being close is good, but being too close…that turned out to be a problem since I couldn’t even see anything above the stage. Or to be more accurate, my camera couldn’t. It was fortunate we had another set of tickets for slightly further back. We had been sent in early to acquire some for the group, and as before, they were giving out tickets to this event. We proceeded to use those…and found a mother and her children in them. I’m not about to tell a mother she can’t sit with her kids, but I found it very short sighted of her to get tickets in two rows. Since neither of us was that big of an asshole, we just moved up a couple of seats. Oddly enough there were nearly entire rows up front that didn’t have anyone in them at all. Asking the AX staff about it, they basically said, “Hey, if no one’s sitting there…just take the seat.” Which we did, but it made the whole affair of assigned seating at what was a major event…somewhat superfluous.

Again, the skits were fairly average for the most part, with a few winners scattered here and there. We had a few too many walk ons this year for my taste, but it wasn’t overly annoying. About the middle I had to change tapes which caused me to miss a few seconds of one of the skits…which pisses me off to no end. However, the highlight of the entire Masquerade had to have been the half time show.

It’s my opinion that it’s seriously messed up when the half time show of Pirates vs. Ninja was probably better than every single cosplay entry done by the attendees themselves. In a way that made up for the average quality of the Masquerade itself, but it was still rather kinda screwy. Regardless all participants in the Pirates vs. Ninja show went all out and should be commended. I’d buy them all drinks, but considering some of the participants were a band that did Pirate songs, I don’t know that I could afford it. I will have that up pretty soon, and I’m seriously considering making a special cut of just that part of the show.

After the judging, usually a rather large production is made of the winners getting their awards. Problem is, this year we were in the Arena…and time was getting short. Brian rattled off the awards nearly as fast as John Moschita Jr. talks, and we were shuffled out post haste.

I’m certainly one to complain, and I do believe the time has come to explain to the AX powers that be, that if this is going to be an issue, you need to plan to start your events just a couple of hours earlier. Just a suggestion…though that may be moot, all things considered.

I managed to take a few pics of some of the Masquerade attendees (continues to page 24) after the Masquerade, as well as some pics of the Pirates vs Ninjas crew. I really wanted a pic of the Senshi group that comes to this convention, but to be honest, they were quite smart in hiding for awhile and waiting for the crowd outside to dissipate. They’d have been mobbed otherwise, and rightly so…they still look damn good at this, and it’s a real treat to see their talent.

After that, it was time to crash. And yes, for all those that are wondering, I did shower nightly. Something that should be mandatory for all convention goers.

Day 4

There was only one thing on my mind on this day. The one thing I wanted more than anything else at this convention. I wanted to watch Transformers with a few thousand screaming yelling fans in a crowded theatre on a small screen with cheap sound. I wasn’t, however, going to be psychotic about it like a few of the other fans who would be lining up at 6:00 a.m. In fact, one of the first things I did was start packing all my gear and tossing it in my truck. We had planned to be checked out before check out time so we didn’t have to spend money for another day.

While a good idea in theory, I’m going to have to remember that in practice I should probably have taken time the night before to move some of my stuff down to the truck. It seemed like everyone else in that hotel had the same idea. I was forced to wait nearly thirty minutes at the elevator…mostly because I had nearly ALL my stuff, and walking down the stairs would have been suicidal. After that, it was only one or two more trips before everything was packed up. I only abandoned one thing, and that was the case of Gatorade I had brought. That big ass case of Costco water was gone…that’s how much we drank while there. I’ll have to remember that again next time…if I go next year.

I wanted to get some last minute pics in, and check out the deals in the dealer’s hall before heading over to the line for Transformers. I had been interviewed about it a couple days before, and was quite excited at the responses of the other interviewees concerning the anticipation level for this movie. Every indication was that this was going to be a once in a lifetime event. I would say this is the primary reason I came to this AX. The only problem is, they scheduled it at the same time as the Momoi concert…and this was woefully unfair to the poor girl not to mention the con goers. This movie should have been shown with nothing else going on in the Arena…or another place with a huge fuckin’ movie screen and lots and lots of seating.

After deciding that I’d wasted enough time taking pics and wandering the dealer’s hall, I made my way over to the theatre…and marveled grinning at the line. It was f’n huge! It warmed my black little heart to see that many people lining up for Transformers. I heard the count was somewhere in the area of three thousand, and I believe it.

I was actually content to take my place in line, or maybe find a couple of our friends and hang out with them. Mayhem, who had been with me a good portion of the morning, went, “Wait a second…I’m technically disabled!” which is true enough. The Staff Pro personnel actually let us through with a few others that had similar trouble, and we hung out on the stairs in front until it was time to start. I’d honestly recommend to anyone at these events who are disabled…go to the front and get inside early.

I’m going to do a minireport on the movie experience, but in summary: It was beyond good, beyond evil, and beyond my wildest imaginings. Everything I ever wanted it to be and then some. I was quite happy.

Before the movie started we received a call on Mayhem’s cell phone stating that his Naga had been found, and if the reward was still on for it. Hell, this day was getting better and better. We put up a $75 reward for it, and it looked like it got someone’s attention. I personally would have only asked for $20 for some food for recovering something like that for someone, but I find no fault in the guy taking the full reward; we offered and he accepted, simple as that.

So we got to recover Naga and watch Transformers. In the parking lot we even got a group shot of the old school Tenchi fans (and fanfic writers) for this year. All in all, this day was what the whole con should have been like. Sadly it was time to start wrapping it up.

I took Navaash to the airport, making a quick stop over at In & Out Burger since he had his heart set on going there at least once while in southern California. I hadn’t been there in awhile, and to be honest, I wanted to spend a little more time with the guy…I hadn’t seen him that often and I wanted to hang out with him a little while longer. Unlike previous years I wasn’t under the gun at all to be anywhere so I really wanted to enjoy this time as much as possible. Still, even this had to end, and bidding Navaash farewell at the airport, I headed back to Long Beach.

I got there with enough time to attend part of the closing ceremonies. I could feel a mixture of emotions in the air, though there was certainly a lessening of tension now that this was finally over. Then they announced the location of the next Anime Expo to a…forced bit of applause. The Los Angeles convention center…this couldn’t be good.

Outside the arena, after the closing ceremonies, I snapped a few last minute pics of some cosplayers, including a few of an adorable Sailor Saturn who was both cute and friendly. I enjoyed taking those pictures and I hope she found them to be acceptable. I also hope I wasn’t too big of a bother, and I thank her for humoring the request of this fanboy as well, heh. She seemed to be having fun, and after this convention, that was a rare sight indeed.

The whole group met up for probably only the second time that convention to get some dinner. Somehow it was decided that we’d go for Bubba Gump shrimp, and so we walked our asses right over there where we had some damn fine seafood before heading back to a friend’s to crash for the night. Oddly, though Mayhem and I got lost, we found a better way to our destination…something we’ll have to remember if we ever go back to Long Beach. Not that I believe we’ll ever head back there.

This is a bit of a tradition with the group, and it was the first time I’d had time to come with them. We all talked about the experience this year, watched some of the anime we acquired, and showed off some of our acquisitions. Also a few of us got very very drunk…of which I was certainly one. Gensao was going around taking video, so I’m pretty sure he got some embarrassing footage of myself in a highly inebriated state.

The following day it was time to say our farewells. We snapped a few quick pics of the whole lot of us, before loading our vehicles up and taking off. Most of the rest wanted to hit up an anime store and get some lunch. As for me, I was feeling pretty burnt, so I headed home.

I recall mentioning a statement concerning this convention coined on the Something Awful boards as this convention was going on. Anime Expo: We put the ‘uck’ in ‘Cluster Fuck.’ I’ve trolled through several fan boards and found similar statements. There were a lot of unhappy people this year for a variety of reasons; most of which can probably be summed up by the shear incompetence of the Anime Expo management staff and their complete unwillingness to accept they fucked up, and to fix their MANY problems.

Conversely there was a lot I was happy with, but those were short bursts of euphoria I would have gladly traded for an overall positive convention experience. I would say the fun I had at this convention was more in spite of the convention than because of the convention, and that is the most damning statement of all right there.

I may well not go to next year’s AX, but if I do it will most likely be to record a couple of events, and nothing more. It’s going to be at the L.A. Convention Center, which is, from several reports from people I trust, in the middle of a demilitarized zone with absolutely no hotels attached to it. It may be a big venue, but their logistical planning was complete and total ass concerning it. I get the feeling we’re going to see some bad shit next year. It scares the living Hell out of me to think of what may happen to one of those cute half dressed young girls if even half of what I’ve heard about the surrounding area is true.

Anime Expo fucked up royally this year. Every year has its problems that just using your common sense would have prevented, but this year they took everything that was messed up from previous years, added a few more things, and magnified it all several billion times. I would say to everyone who is thinking of going to Anime Expo next year to reevaluate your plans. Given their declining performance year after year, and their plan for next year, I can assume that the SPJA doesn’t have the convention attendees’ best interests at heart anymore. I’d call for an outright boycott of the convention if I figured it would do any good. I’m thinking AX is a done deal; it’s time to find another convention for one and all. There are certainly plenty to choose from. However, until the SPJA cleans up their act, get some people who know what they’re doing in charge, with the balls to do it, it’s time to quit going to that playground.

It’s becoming something that's just not fun anymore. And that's fucked up.