Otaku no Podcast » Conventions

Episode #0013 (Part 2) – Anime Expo 2010

Donald Burr — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:16:59 +0000

NOTE: This is a 2-part episode. Be sure and download both parts! (In particular, most iTunes installations are set to only download the latest episode if it detects more than one new episode is available.)

Here at long last is our Anime Expo 2010 review episode of doom. I bring you but a small sampling of the news that came out of the convention, as well as our famous Panel Discussions of Doom(TM) where we talked about AX, what we liked, what we didn’t like, and our thoughts on the event. We’ve also got an interview with Ejen Chuang of Cosplay in America who recently put out an awesome cosplay photography book. And, as always, we bring you the freshest, coolest anime picks.

Today’s Opening Music: “Lion,” Megumi Nakajima & May’n. One of the opening themes of the excellent anime Macross Frontier.

AX 2010 Coverage – ANN and Japanator.
AX 2010 Photo Galleries: ANN (cosplay, exhibit hall/around the con); Japanator (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6)
Cosplay in America

Our picks:

Me – Highschool of the Dead, Evangelion 1.11 – You are Not Alone (DVD, Blu-ray), Cosplay in America, K-ON! (will be released by Bandai)
Danny – Durarara!, Heroman
Michelle – Hetalia Axis Powers, Eden of the East (DVD, Blu-ray)

Evangelion

Funimation 2010, DVD, $16.89

Evangelion

Funimation 2010, Blu-ray, $18.40

Cosplay in America

Ejen Chuang. OptikNerve 2010, Hardcover, 272 pages, $40.00

Hetalia

Funimation Prod 2010, DVD, $25.99

Eden of the East

Funimation Prod 2010, DVD, $40.99

Eden of the East

Funimation Prod 2010, Blu-ray, $44.99

Episode #0013 – Anime Expo 2010

Donald Burr — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:34:20 +0000

Today’s Opening Music: “Lion,” Megumi Nakajima & May’n. One of the opening themes of the excellent anime Macross Frontier.

AX 2010 Coverage – ANN and Japanator.
AX 2010 Photo Galleries: ANN (cosplay, exhibit hall/around the con); Japanator (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6)
Cosplay in America

Our picks:

Evangelion

Funimation 2010, DVD, $16.89

Evangelion

Funimation 2010, Blu-ray, $18.40

Cosplay in America

Ejen Chuang. OptikNerve 2010, Hardcover, 272 pages, $40.00

Hetalia

Funimation Prod 2010, DVD, $25.99

Eden of the East

Funimation Prod 2010, DVD, $40.99

Eden of the East

Funimation Prod 2010, Blu-ray, $44.99

Otakon bans vuvuzelas; the world rejoices

Donald Burr — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:00:48 +0000

I really, really hate the vuvuzela. The noise that those cursed “instruments” make sounds to me like a cross between a pair of yaks mating, and a pair of yaks dying an excruciatingly painful death. As I wrote previously, those abominations were all over the LA Convention Center during Anime Expo, and it seemed to me that practically every few seconds, the center was filled with that abominable noise. Really distracting, and even worse, a potential medical liability for those especially close to the offensive noisemaker.

Now before you soccer (or football, as it’s known in places outside of the US) fans get your knickers in a bunch, fear not. I have absolutely no problem with the vuvuzela, in its proper context — i.e. during the World Cup. What I don’t agree with, however, is its use outside of said venue — more specifically, at Anime Expo (really, any anime convention). Because the correlation factor between anime conventions and the World Cup is precisely 0.00. (yes, even if you’re cosplaying as someone from Captain Tsubasa. There ain’t no vuvuzelas in that work…)

Well, great news for all you Baltimoreans: in a shocking display of sanity and common sense, Otakon has banned the vuvuzela. Their announcement on the matter is short and sweet:

Absolutely no vuvuzelas or similar loud noisemakers are permitted within Otakon. Vuvuzelas and other noisemakers within convention buildings are subject to confiscation. Blowing a vuvuzela or similar noisemaker may lead to ejection from the convention.

Finally, a voice of sanity! Good on you, Otakon.

Save $$$ on an Anime Expo 2011 4-day Pass — but only if you act quickly!

Donald Burr — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:02:02 +0000

Did you have so much fun at Anime Expo this year that you’ve resolved to definitely attend next year, come hell or high water? Or maybe you couldn’t make it this year because of financial reasons, but really want to try and go next year? Or maybe you’re a tightwad and want to try and save as much money as possible? (hey, gotta set aside as much as you can to buy anime after all…)

Well, if you act quickly, you can pre-register now for a full 4-day pass, for the amazingly low price of $45! Considering that this year’s regular pre-reg price for a 4-day pass was $75, and at-the-door pricing was a whopping $85, that’s quite a savings. But you only have until this Friday, July 9 to get this special pricing. So hurry up and reg, why don’tcha?! (Operators are standing by…)

Next year’s AX is sure to be even more awesome than usual, because it’s their 20th anniversary! Who knows what cool guests and other surprises they’ll pull out for this special occasion? I for one am dying to find out. The next 365 days are going to be unbearable…

And thus ends another Anime Expo… (Updated)

Donald Burr — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 05:41:00 +0000

I write this from our tiny hotel room at the Kawada, on the eve of AX Day 4, after an enforced 4 hour-ish nap. Anime Expo 2010 was another phenomenal event. Some among our panelists will disagree (and I’m sure they’ll elaborate during our inevitable Panel Review of Doom, which we’ll try to get to within the next week or two). Me, I still think AX has a place in the grand scheme of things, and I’ll keep on going. (But then again, I don’t mind the crowds, which I think is their main complaint with AX).

What I did have issue with is the sudden fee hikes. Pre-reg was a whopping $75 per this year, and while I don’t specifically recall last year’s pricing, I think that this year the increase was rather sharp and sudden. The general tone of the event was “nickel and dime.” People staying at con hotels were no longer given complimentary event tickets and were forced to purchase tickets to the events that they wanted to go to. They once again charged for shuttle service (although they did throw in free shuttle service as a last minute gesture to 4-day attendees, which I thought was a nice gesture.) The Meet the Guests reception tickets took a sharp increase ($50 as opposed to somewhere around $25-30 last year); I also hear that they cheaped out on the food. What did it for me was them charging $1.99 for the iPhone app. Good on them for making an iPhone app — and a fantastic app it was — as well as the SCHED system, which was quite usable from most other smartphones; but charging $1.99 for it along with all the other price hikes seemed a bit crass to me.

Speaking of shuttles, because of an incident that happened (more on that later) we were unable to use the shuttles for the majority of our stay; however according to friends, apparently the shuttles were once again running late fairly regularly. Also, honestly, some of those buses should really be put out to pasture. Seriously.

The staff, on the whole, was friendly and largely knew what they were doing; on those occasions when they didn’t, they went out of their way to work with us to find the solution to our problem. Their one weak point is still in the disabled services department. It was a challenge finding exactly where to go, and then trekking halfway across the convention center to get there. They should really integrate disabled services as part of the standard registration process. Also some staff were confused as to the meaning of the “priority access” badge inserts that us disabled attendees received. We were turned away from and/or denied priority seating at a few events because of this confusion. Fortunately once additional staffers who knew what was going on arrived, we were seated without further delay. I believe these may be the same as the “AX Premier” badges, so perhaps those people had trouble as well.

However, we did have issue with the convention center staff. Oh, the ones we interacted with were friendly enough. Our problem was that there just weren’t enough of them. Specifically security. This is thanks to some serious budget cuts at the LACC. As a result there was quite a bit of horsing around going on, which can be very dangerous, especially around stairs and elevators and the like. Sadly, this resulted in one of our panelists receiving a rather serious injury. Nothing permanent, thankfully, but it still involved a rather expensive and nasty trip to the hospital on the wrong side of town…

Another thing we had issue with… What the frak is it with the vuvuzelas? They were EVERYWHERE, and practically every 30 seconds I was hearing that most abhorrent noise that sounds like a cross between a pair of yaks in heat, and a pair of yaks dying an excruciatingly painful death. Super annoying! I seriously wanted to run up to every vuvuzela wielder, yank it out of their hands, and shove the thing… right up a very dark and personal space, if you catch my drift. This is frakkin’ Anime Expo, NOT the World Cup. And unless you’re cosplaying someone from Captain Tsubasa, they have no place here. Hell, even if you were cosplaying as someone from that series, I still think they’re inappropriate, because I don’t ever recall seeing them there. Gahhhh!!!!

This year marks the return of the Nokia Theater as the venue for the main events (AMV, Masquerade, and concerts). This was fantastic, as the Nokia Theater has excellent stadium-style sloped seating (makes taking pictures that much easier, less of a chance of someone’s head getting in your way), and their sound and video system is phenomenal. In 2008 (the last time Nokia Theater was used) we had some trouble with the staff not knowing at which events photography was allowed at — we were harassed for taking pictures at Masquerade. We also had trouble with getting disabled assistance and bag check. Not this year. The Nokia Center staff conducted themselves with professionalism and courtesy, and we weren’t hassled at all over photography or any other issue.

The events themselves were terrific. Each year I am constantly amazed at the creativity and talent of the AMV creators and the cosplayers. Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the AMVs — we arrived after registration and badge pickup were closed for the day; however they rescreened all the videos on Saturday, and barring a minor technical glitch or two, it went off smoothly. Masquerade also went smoothly, and actually started more or less on time (shocking, I know). This year, rather than that same old masquerade host (whose jokes were honestly getting a wee bit old) Masquerade was hosted by a trio of MC’s. They handled their job admirably, although the female MC was a bit ditzy for my taste

However, the highlight for me has to be Friday’s concert featuring Megumi Nakajima and May’n. Fans of Macross Frontier will know these two names; Megumi Nakajima is the voice actress who provided both the speaking and singing voices for Ranka Lee , and May’n provided the singing voice for Sheryl Nome. I recently had the pleasure of watching Frontier (I wrote about previously) and the music from this show really stood out in my mind. Seeing these two perform on stage was a real treat. They performed many of the songs featured in Frontier, including a really rousing rendition of “Lion” (my favorite opening theme from the series), a heartfelt acoustic version of “Diamond Crevasse,” and a truly moving performance of the haunting Vajra theme “Aimo.” Sadly we missed the first half of the concert, but the part we did see was incredible. Japanator has a great writeup, including some awesome pictures.

Oh yeah, there was that little matter of my two panels. They went off beautifully. Tech staff was extremely helpful and got us set up in a jiffy for both talks. And — THERE WERE PEOPLE!!! This especially shocked me at the 9 AM panel – with such an early schedule, on a Sunday morning, on lastday, and after a Saturday night’s drunken debauchery, I was expecting a rather miserable turnout. I was pleasantly surprised. There were at least 20 at the morning talk, and I’d say at least 50 at the afternoon talk. Everyone I talked to found the information extremely useful and they had some great questions. To those of you who attended, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The notes from the podcasting panel are already up; I’m still working on the photography panel notes (give me a few days – I still have to recover from AX) but they should be online by the end of the week.

What will probably take me a bit longer are pictures. I shot over 2,000 pictures around the convention and at Masquerade. (no, unfortunately I didn’t shoot OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAND…) Those will take quite a while to properly edit. In the meantime, Japanator has started posting some of theirs (and awesome ones at that), which you can feast your eyes on here and here. (EDIT 2010-07-05: And here, and here as well.) (EDIT 2010-07-06: Last two AX cosplay photo galleries from Japanator are finally up here and here.) ANN has their own cosplay photo gallery, as well as a gallery of photos taken in the exhibit hall (dealer’s room) and around various parts of the con in general.

What will also take me a fair amount of time to digest is the news coming out of AX. I simply did not have the energy to attend every panel I wanted to. As I get the time, and as the fog of tiredness gradually lifts from my brain, I’ll go through the news items and latest releases and blog about the ones that interest me, adding my own spin on things; but in the meantime you can feel free to check out ANN’s and Japanator’s coverage of all things AX.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll crawl back into my cave and hibernate for a few more months…

Make the most of your time at AX with these cool new scheduling tools

Donald Burr — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:46:03 +0000

When you look at your typical anime convention’s schedule, what do you do? Does your mind seize up with panic and indecision? Do you just say “screw it” and decide to “go with the flow” and just randomly drift between whatever events interest you? (One of my friends and co-hosts swears by this method and seems to have fun at whatever convention he goes to, so maybe it’d work for you too). Or do you whip out your maps, charts, and sextant, and begin plotting your convention course to military precision? Planning things down to the second isn’t necessarily the best idea either – there’s always things going on, events get changed/canceled, etc., so leaving some flexibility in your schedule is always a good idea. Still, being able to at least roughly sketch out what events you’re interested in seeing is helpful. What’s even more helpful is if you could share this information with your friends that you’re attending the convention with – after all, if several people are going to the same event, it would be easier (and perhaps more fun even) to group up with them. So yeah, having at least a basic plan of attack definitely helps. But dealing with paper schedules is such a pain. (besides, generally speaking, you don’t actually get the paper schedules until you’re actually at the convention, and it’s always a good idea to plan things out beforehand). Surely there must be some cool flashy Web 2.0 synergistic XML-based social networking-aware (insert various other random buzzwords here) tech tool to help you out with this?!

If you’re the proud owner of an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, well guess what, there’s an app for that. The new Anime Expo app, to be more precise. Armed with this app, you’ll have just about everything you’ll need to better navigate your way around the convention. Exhibitor listings and information; maps of the convention center, exhibit hall, and surrounding areas; the full programming schedule; listings of nearby businesses and restaurants; schedule updates and alerts; a “you are here” (location-based) feature to help you more easily meet up with friends; and fun little mini-games to pass the time while you’re in those Xbox Huge lines. The app is compatible with all mobile Apple devices, including the iPod touch and the iPad, and is available for $1.99 in the App Store. I will admit that their charging $1.99 for this app when they’re already charging for so many things at con seems a bit crass to me, but at least $1.99 isn’t too bad as things go.

What? You’re not part of the iCollective? No need to fret, because you’ve got SCHED. This Web-based tool will allow you to browse and search through the AX events schedule and mark down which events you’re interested in seeing. Once you’ve selected, you can either print out a paper-based schedule, or you can export your schedule to a variety of different formats (iCal, Outlook, Google Calendar, etc.). You can even link to your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts, and find out what events your friends will be attending. SCHED even has a mobile-friendly version which will allow you to use the site from your smartphone without the need to install any special software or apps (I’ve tested this on Android and it works beautifully; it is also said to work on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Palm Pre). Find out more or sign up (it’s free) here.

Heading up to FanimeCon… (and some Important Announcements!)

Donald Burr — Thu, 27 May 2010 07:28:43 +0000

Apologies for the radio silence, but between work (crazy busy with the added fun of rush deadlines, joy!), the Great Move, and FanimeCon, I’ve been a pretty busy boy. But, deities willing, I’ll be on my way to San Jose (do you know the way? ha!) tomorrow evening, and will be snaking my way through Reg Hell sometime Friday morning/early afternoon.

Naturally I’ll be blogging (as time, energy level, and bandwidth permits), and I’ll also once again activate the AudioBoo gateway, so you should be able to hear short audio updates as I find things that interest me enough to yak about ‘em. Those will come out on the podcast feed.

But more importantly, I have some announcements about my panel. First of all, I now know what room my podcasting panel will be in. (As a reminder, that’s scheduled for Sunday the 30th at high noon.) We’ll be in Panels 1 (Marriott Salon 1:2). So if you’ve ever wondered what this whole podcasting fuss is about, or wanted to know how I run this three-ring circus we call Otaku no Podcast, come on by!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!!! (or, as the great Steve Jobs would say, “…There is one more thing.”)

Thanks to some cancellations in the panels schedule, I will now be doing ANOTHER PANEL! Yes, you read correctly. My friend Dave and I will be presenting a panel, ”Con Photography: Shoot to Win!”, which is currently scheduled for Sunday May 30th from 9pm to 10pm in Panels 3 (Marriott Salon 4:6). Yes, as the title implies, we’ll be talking all about the tips and techniques that you can use to get those awesome cosplay shots. Whether you’re a total photography n00b or fancy yourself to be the next Ansel Adams, whether you own an uber-crappy point and shoot you picked up for 20 bucks at a Wal*Mart or a DSLR with more knobs and dials on it than the space shuttle, you’re sure to pick up some tips, techniques, and gear recommendations that are sure to improve your photography. (Or at the very least we’ll entertain you with our lame geek humor.)

One last thing: the full FanimeCon schedule is now online for your viewing pleasure. Now you might be asking “So what’s the best way of keeping up with those inevitable schedule changes that are bound to happen?” Well, FanimeCon has a Twitter account (which they actually use quite liberally throughout the con, for things such as schedule changes and event announcements). But if you have one of those newfangled cell phones that can surf the Intarwebs, then you’ll be thrilled to learn that FanimeCon has a spiffy mobile website version of their schedule. Just type in m.fanime.com in your phone’s web browser, and behold the marvels of modern technology. It even has a nifty search function. Schweet!

It’s officially official, part deux: Looks like I’ll be at Anime Expo as well!

Donald Burr — Sun, 16 May 2010 05:05:46 +0000

Looks like I’ll be pretty busy this summer. Not only will I be presenting a panel at FanimeCon, but today I found out that I will also be presenting not one, but TWO panels at Anime Expo!!

Anime Expo is, I would wager, one of the US’s largest anime conventions (44,000 attended in 2009), and is held every July 4 weekend in Southern California. This year’s event will be held Thursday-Sunday, July 1-4, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Unlike most fan-run anime conventions, AX (as the cool kids call it) is much more of an industry affair. Don’t get me wrong; you’ll still find plenty of traditional fan favorite events at AX (AMVs, masquerade, various fan-run panels and workshops, console and tabletop gaming, artist alley, etc.), not to mention a dealer’s room of epic proportions; however there is a decidedly industry-heavy focus to the live programming lineup. This is where you’ll see the industry heavyweights — Bandai, FUNimation, Tokyopop, et al — trotting out their latest offerings, and giving glimpses into their plans for the future. (There are also, I’m sure, quite a few “behind closed doors” industry meetings as well.) Keeping up with the news around AX time is difficult, what with all the announcements and press releases flying about. Many a hot property has had its world premiere in an AX film or video room — for example, at last year’s AX, FUNimation premiered the US release of Evangelion: 1.0 - You are (not) alone, the Eva reboot.

Unfortunately, this year’s AX is marred by controversy between the new management at AX’s parent organization and much of the convention staff, who resigned in protest, citing a long chain of grievances including excessive travel expenses (and other financial shenanigans), restructuring of the chain of command, inexperience with the anime industry and how to run a convention, unjust terminations of key staff positions, offending Guests of Honor and industry guests and refusing to honor their contracts, and heavy-handed censorship of staffers’ Internet postings. The other side naturally counters that their accusations are unjust, and all changes in staff, power structure, etc. were done to make AX and SPJA a more financially sound organization, and to increase attendance from both exhibitors/guests and attendees (whose growth has flatlined for the past few years). Which side is right? Well, one way or another, we’ll find out in a little less than two months.

Anyway, this year’s guest list does look pretty good, including such heavy-hitters as Shinichi “Nabeshin” Watanabe, Kenji Kamiyama, Toshihiro Kawamoto, and musical guests Sophia, MELL, and AKB48 (huh… Morning Musume last year, AKB48 this year… the circle is now complete??!). There are also rumors that legendary expatriate otaku Danny Choo himself will be there, no doubt promoting his latest anime-related project Chinka. Of course, there will also be your usual convention fare, including a truly awe-inspiring dealer’s room, artist’s alley, AMV contest, masquerade, console and tabletop gaming, and various and sundry panels and workshops.

AX hasn’t gone totally industry, however, as there are still quite a few fan-run panels and workshops in the lineup – and yours truly, as it turns out, will be running two of said workshops (yes, I’m finally getting to the point of this long-winded post!). ”Anime Podcasting for Beginners” is basically the same song and dance I’ll be giving at Fanimecon (with changes based on my experiences there). If you’ve ever wanted to start your own anime or manga related podcast but just weren’t sure how, then this is the workshop for you! According to the preliminary scheduling info I’ve been given, this fine event will take place on Sunday, July 4, from 9:00 AM-10:00 AM (sorry folks, I have no say in the matter), in LP3. My second panel, “Convention Photography 101: How To Get The Shot (and make it look easy!)” will help you if you’ve ever had that experience where you take a bunch of pictures at con, excitedly hurry home and load them on your computer, but are greeted with only pain and misery (and a bunch of blurry or sub-optimal shots). We’ll show you how you can get that great shot, whether you’re armed with a crappy point and shoot or a DSLR with more knobs and buttons on it than the space shuttle. If you think that sounds familiar, yes we did talk about it on the podcast. (Unfortunately my friend Dave who was my co-host on that episode won’t be able to make it to AX.) That workshop will also take place on Sunday the 4th, at 12:30, in WS1. (Note: this is a new room and time!) So if you’ll be in the LA area come July 4 weekend, come on down!

Pre-reg for AX as well as hotel registration is online at the AX website.

It’s officially official: Come see my panel @ FanimeCon!

Donald Burr — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:32:56 +0000

Well, those of you who have been particularly observant may have caught me making vague references to this on Twitter or Facebook, or on some of my past video podcasts. And if you were paying attention to last week’s audio episode, you almost certainly heard me announce this. Well, now it’s officially official: I will be putting on a workshop at FanimeCon!!

FanimeCon, to those of you not “in the know,” is a rather nice anime convention held in San Jose, CA, around Memorial Day weekend each year. Many moons ago, when I for a brief time lived in the Bay Area during my first (and, I am chagrined to say, rather unsuccessful) attempt at obtaining a higher education, I attended my first FanimeCon with my friend Charles (I remember seeing Iria: Zeiram the Animation – an anime most fans these days probably have never heard of – there when it was still fairly new – that’s how long ago it was). Unfortunately, because of having to move back home (remember, failed education?) I wasn’t able to return until last year when, on a whim (and thanks to some unused train tickets that were about to expire that I found while cleaning my desk), I decided to check it out. Boy was I glad I did, because man, has it grown! When I went in 2000, attendance was a paltry 2,300; the attendance at the 2008 show (the most recent data I was able to find) was a whopping 14,926. (No, I’m not gonna say it…) The 2009 show, which is the one I went to, felt even bigger than that – I’d say at least 20,000. That’s still less than a half of the mega-cons (Anime Expo 2009, for example, with 44,000 attendees), but still quite impressive by my book. Despite its growth, however, FanimeCon has still managed to remain a fun and worthwhile experience, and lacks the ‘tude that you sometimes see at the larger cons; as I noted in my review of last year’s event, it has that unique and rarely-seen mixture of big-con excitement and smaller-con friendliness and breadth of events. Not surprising, as they to this day bill themselves as a con run “by fans, for fans.”

This year’s FanimeCon is shaping up to be yet another awesome event, with guests such as musicians LM.C and Haruko Momoi (who totally rocked my socks off at last year’s FanimeCon – I’m so glad she’ll be returning!); Daisuke Ishiwatari, creator of the Guilty Gear franchise; Hiroyuki Yamaga, one of the founding members of a little anime studio called GAINAX; and many others. Aside from the usual con happenings (AMVs, Masquerade, a pretty happening dealer’s room, gaming, etc.), FanimeCon also features a refreshingly broad lineup of panels covering a wide range of topics, including cosplay, gaming, entertainment, gatherings and debate, how-to/demo, manga, webcomics, music, working in the industry, and many more.

Well, yours truly will be responsible for one such panel, and if you’ve ever wondered how I put together this little dog and pony show we call Otaku no Podcast, you might want to stop by. My workshop, “Anime Podcasting for n00bs” is currently scheduled for Sunday, November 30, at high noon. So far only the preliminary schedules have been drawn up, so this time and date may change; also, since it’s just a preliminary schedule, I don’t yet have a room assignment. I’ll definitely let you know when I find out more.

While I’m at con, I’ll also do my best to bring you some audio and video highlights from the event — and yes, I’ll actually try and get you some real interviews for a change! So be sure and keep an eye on the website and the podcast feed come Memorial Day weekend. Bandwidth and technology willing, I’ll be posting as much stuff as I can before collapsing in an exhausted quivering heap at the end of the day.

FanimeCon will be held on Memorial Day weekend, Friday-Monday May 28-31, at the San Jose Convention Center in downtown San Jose, CA. For more information, links to pre-register, etc., check out their website.

A Winner is You! Behold the Anime LA 2010 AMV and Masquerade Winners

Donald Burr — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:20:33 +0000

Behold, for here are the winners in the various divisions of both the Masquerade and AMV contests at Anime LA 2010. Congratulations goes out to everybody who participated in both contests – all entries this year were truly awesome.

AMV:

Action:

1st Place Judge – Alucard’s Sound of Madness
1st Place Audience – Some Ride it Ruff
2nd Place Judge – Rarity
2nd Place Audience – Dante Makes a Man out of Ryu

Drama:

1st Place Judge – Veni Vidi Vici
1st Place Audience – Tsubasa Falling
4th Place Audience – Ameno Tiara
Creator’s Choice – Guide Me

Comedy:

1st Place Audience & Judge – GoldenPants
2nd Place Audience – Ode to Cross Dressers
3rd Place Audience & Judge – Mean Woman Blues
Judge’s Favorite – It’s Tough to Be a Host

Pro:

1st Place Audience and Judge – Lord of the Anime
2nd Place Judge – Valhalla
2nd Place Audience – Standing Still
3rd Place Judge – You Know My Name
4th Place Audience – CityScape
Staff Pick – Diorama

Masquerade:

Best in Show: Workmanship
This is What You Give Me to Work With
Whitney Brown & Kiyoko Wakabayashi

Best in Show: Presentation
The Prince’s Tale
We’re Not Twins Cosplay

Workmanship Awards – Novice Division:

Technical Ingenuity Award
Evil Black Bunny Productions
Jeffrey Gerard

Excellence in Design
Romeo and Juliet’s Night at the Rose Ball
Laura Linnala

Honorable Mention for Detail
Dark Cloud 2
Robot Penguin

Honorable Mention for Armor & Leather Work
ia shake-zula of Anime Souffle
iakurosaki and DingSha

Best in Class
Soldier “A” Cosplay
Matt Wiseman & Amanda Avila

Workmanship Awards – Open Division:

Honorable Mention for Details
Wesley, Illyria, Gunn, and Spike from Angel
Li, Dawn, EJ, & Phil

Honorable Mention for Fabric Painting
Ahza Miracle
Cinthya Jeanneth Rmz

Armor and Wings and Jewelry, Oh My!
Do You Want to Date My Avatar?
Beth Hodgson & Jacob Hodgson

Perfection in Sewing
Good Enough Cosplay
Caistarrin T. Mystical

Obsession with Detail Award
Death by Sparkles
Garnet Runestar and Tenshi

Best in Class
The Prince’s Tale
Julia & Caitlin Doolittle

Presentation Awards – Novice Division:

Audience Favorite
Mangafreak 150 and Erin Chu
Mangafreak150 and Erin Chu

Honorable Mention for Performance
Fushigi Yuugi, The Mysterious Play
dot, Michi-chan, Melanie, Rin, Katie, & Britnay

Best Individual Performance
ia shake-zula of Anime Souffle
iakurosaki

Best Group Performance
Romeo and Juliet’s Night at the Rose Ball
Two and a Half Space Pirates

Presentation Awards – Open Division:

Audience Favorite
Ninja Stand-up Comedy
Mister Inu

Most Dramatic
Death by Sparkles
Garnet Runestar and Tenshi

Most Humorous
Do You Want to Date My Avatar?
Team Kaolinite

Best Individual Presentation
Good Enough Cosplay
Caistarrin T. Mystical

Otaku no Podcast » Conventions

Episode #0013 (Part 2) – Anime Expo 2010

Episode #0013 – Anime Expo 2010

Otakon bans vuvuzelas; the world rejoices

Absolutely no vuvuzelas or similar loud noisemakers are permitted within Otakon. Vuvuzelas and other noisemakers within convention buildings are subject to confiscation. Blowing a vuvuzela or similar noisemaker may lead to ejection from the convention.﻿

Save $$$ on an Anime Expo 2011 4-day Pass — but only if you act quickly!

And thus ends another Anime Expo… (Updated)

Make the most of your time at AX with these cool new scheduling tools

Heading up to FanimeCon… (and some Important Announcements!)

It’s officially official, part deux: Looks like I’ll be at Anime Expo as well!

It’s officially official: Come see my panel @ FanimeCon!

A Winner is You! Behold the Anime LA 2010 AMV and Masquerade Winners

Absolutely no vuvuzelas or similar loud noisemakers are permitted within Otakon. Vuvuzelas and other noisemakers within convention buildings are subject to confiscation. Blowing a vuvuzela or similar noisemaker may lead to ejection from the convention.