I hope to be in a well enough shape to record our inevitable PMX wrap-up podcast episode this weekend. And I’ve started finally ingesting the video and photos we took while at the show, and hope to have those posted over the next week or so as well. But in the meantime, I’ve started gathering up other peoples’ PMX-related postings, in particular photos and videos, and present them here for your enjoyment.

(Note: I will be constantly updating this post as I find more peoples’ photos and videos, so check back often! And if you know of any PMX 2011 photo and/or video posts that I don’t, please let us know so we can update this post.)

ChillyWillyTube’s PMX cosplay video
Mike Rollerson’s PMX 2011 Photos (Facebook) (Flickr)
Ani.me PMX Photo Studio photos (Facebook) (Flickr)

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Related posts:

1. Photos (and video!) from PMX 2010 (Updated)
2. PMX 2011 preliminary schedules are now up!
3. My PMX Livestream of Doom!

First things first: if you attended either of our workshops (podcasting and photography) and are looking for the notes pages for these, here they are: Photography notes, Podcasting notes.

Day 3 – the final day – of Anime LA was pretty low key. In fact I didn’t even make it to any panels. Most of the morning was spent getting much-needed rest, then frantically packing because we got up late and the hotel wasn’t granting late checkout, despite what one hotel person said to me last night when I asked. Then we waited for an hour or so before someone could come help us with our bags. I gather they had an Xbox Huge flood of people checking out at noon. Next time might I suggest that they do grant some late checkouts to some people; that way they can stagger the checkouts and not put too much load on the hotel staff.

Sunday was the most low-key day of them all, but there were still a fair number of people there. Every year, Anime LA has a special “theme day” on Sunday to try and lure people to the con who might otherwise leave after Saturday. This year’s theme was Japanese New Year. There were a few panels and workshops on various things related to Japanese New Years, which looked pretty cool.

I finally had a chance to make it to the dealer’s room. It was about the same size-wise as last year’s dealer’s room. Perhaps this is one way that the Anime LA staff manage the growth of the con. Lots of tables selling manga (whole walls of the stuff), along with character goods, plushies, a few weapons dealers, and figures (Figma, etc.). Seemed to me that there were more figures (and especially Figma type figures) this year than in years past. Maybe this is a precursor to dolls and doll parts/accessories starting to show up. (We think it’s only a matter of time.) One thing I did note however is that the guy who had a whole wall of DVD’s last year wasn’t there this year (at least I couldn’t find him). In fact I don’t recall seeing any DVDs for sale (if there were people selling DVDs, their displays were so small so as to blend in with the rest of the items for sale). Maybe this is another manifestation of the industry’s trend away from physical media. Which would be sad, because I for one still enjoy buying and watching DVDs and Blu-rays. Don’t get me wrong; streaming still has its place (and I do enjoy my Crunchyroll membership) but physical media shouldn’t be abandoned.

Artist’s Alley looked quite lively. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do anything other than quickly glance through the door. Pity, as I wanted to meet up with Cosplay in America again.

Overall Sunday as a whole definitely felt like a “relax-a-con.” Lots of people relaxing and socializing. More so than other days I thought. And a nice, relaxing end to yet another really nice Anime LA.

It’s amazing to me that, even at a smaller con like this, there was still way too much to see and do. Gaming, karaoke, fighting/martial arts/weapons demos, panels/workshops, concerts… I am also amazed, and glad, to see that, even in times of economic hardship such as we are in now, people (a lot of people, in fact) are still able to come to events like this and enjoy themselves — and that the organizers are able to successfully put on a large scale event such as this.

Of course we’ll be getting together soon to record our thoughts on Anime LA 2011. Expect that episode to hit the podcast feed within the next week or 2.

Finally, let’s talk winners. (Below the cut)

The AMV winners have been posted.  They are as follows:

Audience Favorite: Running Desperado
Best Produced: Curtain Call
Creators’ Choice: Crimson Rhapsody
Staff’s Pick: A Host’s “Special” Kind of Girl

I’ve updated the day 1 report with these, and I’m continuing to update that post as I find links to where you can view/download all the finalists.

And the Masquerade winners: (now we know why the judges took so long, there were over 9000 awards to give out )

Most Humorous Presentation Open and Props Award Workmanship - S Doki Doki Kawaii Academy Its not like I like you or anything cosplay
Best Song Routine Open and Best Stage Effects Workmanship Open - Sequin Moon
Best Group Performance Novice, Honorable Mention Workmanship Novice - Haru and the Baron
Best in Class Novice - World of Warcraft Alliance
Judges Workmanship Open - Ahza
Excellence Workmanship - A No Life King Cosplay Esther Blanchett
Honorable Mention Workmanship – Lulu
Best Design Interpretation Workmanship Novice - S Pokemon Panic The Sacred Tree
Best Individual Novice Presentation - Socal Host Club Special
Best in Show Overall - Kitties go Meow Broccoli goes Moo XD Cosplay DX
Best Walkon Novice, Most Beautiful Workmanship Novice - Sakura Hime
Most Beautiful Open - Hoshikage Foxy Lady
Judges Choice Performance, Best in Class Workmanship - Prince of Pick Up Lines Were Not Twins Cosplay
Best in Class Presentation Novice, Excellence in Workmanship Novice - Four Tail Kyuubi
Best Characterization Novice - The Deformed Diva
Best Characterization Open, Best in Class Workmanship Open - Jojos Fabulous Masquerade
Excellence Workmanship Novice - Sora and Riku
Excellence in Engineering Workmanship Open - Ultimecia
Best in Class Performance Open - Id Like To Move Your Castle

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Related posts:

1. A Winner is You! Behold the Anime LA 2010 AMV and Masquerade Winners
2. Anime Los Angeles Day 2 Report (Updated)
3. Anime Los Angeles Day 1 Report (Updated)

Well, Day 2 of Anime Los Angeles has ended.  There were definitely more people here today than yesterday.  I still could not begin to hazard a guess as to how many.  Last year’s Anime LA was capped at 3200 and I’d say that there were at least that many people here today.  Perhaps more.

The day started out on kind of a sour note for me.  It seems that there were some mix-ups regarding some of the cosplay gatherings.  At least I couldn’t find them at the times and places they were supposed to occur at. There were two in particular that I was really looking forward to, the Angel Beats! and K-ON! gatherings. According to Condroyd (which got its data from the cosplay.com forums) there was supposed to be an Angel Beats! gathering at 10:30 AM, and a K-ON! gathering at 2:30 PM, both on the pool deck.  But I was there at both times, and saw neither hide nor hair of them.  Very sad.  At least at the K-ON! gathering, K-ON! Violinist Dude showed up and serenaded us with renditions of “Don’t Say ‘lazy’” and other songs from the series.  So at least K-ON! was representin’.  Sort of.

After the failed Angel Beats! cosplay meet, I sat in on a panel titled “Buying anime and manga from Japan.” Unfortunately this did not live up to my expectations; it didn’t even come close.  It basically consisted of the panelist sitting in front of the room, mumbling out a few seemingly obvious places to go (Amazon.jp?  CDjapan? etc.) and picking the audience’s brain for ideas on other ideas of where and how to order products from Japan. The panel was informative all right, but mostly thanks to the great audience.  He promised to post the results of said brain-picking to his website.  Unfortunately I don’t have that information. I did manage to get up the energy to find him on google. See what I do for you guys?!  I was using my digital recorder at the time, so I thought I didn’t have to write it down.  Unfortunately the digital recorder was set to the wrong input channel, resulting in it recording about an hour’s worth of silence.  Oh well, like I said, you didn’t miss much.

The next session we went to, on the other hand, was like the polar opposite of the above.  Courtney Kraft, a journalist at G4 TV, gave a wonderful, dynamic, and informative panel on “How to Interact with Anime Industry Professionals.”  Not only was the panel immensely informative, but it was delivered in a clear, concise manner, and with plenty of humor and liveliness.  I’d say this was probably the best panel of the con so far. Fortunately, by this time, I had figured out that my digital recorder was set wrong, so I actually captured this session, which I will do a more in depth write up on later.

After a quick bite of lunch, I then headed into “Your First Trip to Japan,” presented by Helen McCarthy, Tim Eldred, Walter Amos and Todd Allis. A very informative panel – these folks have traveled in and around Japan many a time, and had a lot of knowledge to share. Plus they had pretty pictures. Alot of the information was stuff I already knew, either thanks to our trip to Japan in 2004, or through the TJX guys who talked about many times before on their show. But there was a lot of information I wasn’t aware of before today. Again, a writeup is forthcoming. Updated 1/9/11: Turns out that the guy that did the “Buying anime and manga from Japan” panel (whose name is Todd Allis) was also one of the presenters at this panel, and he had some really good information here, so I’m happy now. Also, it turns out that the convention staff didn’t provide him with a mic and sound system during his earlier panel, but at this one, they had a full sound setup going. Properly equipped, I could hear and understand him clearly.

And then it was time to prepare for and then deliver our podcasting workshop. Which… well, let’s just say it didn’t exactly go according to plan. A complete failure to get our Internet connection going scrubbed our Skype demo, and taking the time to try and get the Internet connection going caused me to start late, which meant that there wasn’t enough time to do the live demos and leave enough time for Q&A. Fortunately I had anticipated something ike this long ago, and had a second set of slides with static screenshots of how the audio editor, Skype, etc. look and work. I feel personally responsible for not being able to do a right and proper demo and for that I apologize. At least the audience seemed to still get some useful information from the panel. In fact, it turns out that one of the people attending the panel was a panelist on the Anime TV video podcast I wrote about earlier this year. It was bugging me all evening: I was sitting on stage and kept thinking “gee, that voice sounds awfully familiar…”

Unfortunately, in the process of getting dinner before masquerade, we learned of the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and this news cast a grim pall over the rest of the evening. Our hearts and sincere condolences go out to the congresswoman and her family, as well as the families of Federal Judge John Roll and the others killed and wounded in this horrific act.

We were a bit late to masquerade as a result, but fortunately they were a few minutes late themselves; the hotel had apparently forgotten to set up chairs in the back half of the room, and this needed to be done in order to provide enough seating to everyone. Still, they got started fairly quickly, and the event went off with only one minor lighting glitch. It sounds tired and old, but it still is true: the creativity and craftsmanship of the cosplayers continues to amaze us year after year. This year’s skits in particular were quite entertaining. Poor Beep is probably afraid that I’ll be pestering her with bad ninja stand-up comedy routines for months to come. All told, there were some 30-plus acts; quite a collection. Unfortunately we missed choice photographer seating, but I was still able to get a few good shots, which I will try and sort through and post before Anime LA 2012 rolls around.

During the halftime show, the lovely ladies and gents of the AniMaid Cafe entertained us with various dance numbers. They also announced the AMV winners during the masquerade halftime show, and replayed them for our enjoyment. Unfortunately I spazzed and didn’t have anything to write these down with.  I suppose they’re posted online somewhere by now but I’m too lazy and/or tired to look.  Tomorrow. I did however start finding some of the AMV’s on the org and have linked to them in the AMV list I presented in our day 1 report. I’ll continue to update these as more of the videos come online.

We also didn’t stick around to hear who won masquerade.  The judges were taking an inordinately long amount of time rendering a verdict.  Perhaps that says something about the quality of the costumes and acts this year. Who knows. Anyway, in addition to the AniMaid halftime show (which was excellent btw), they pretty much re-ran the entire AMV contest from last night.  We decided to leave after that, before Tadao-san launched into one of his corny stories.  I suppose the masquerade winners will be posted somewhere as well.  Again, too tired/lazy to look that up.  Tomorrow…

it is now 2 AM on Sunday morning and there is still lots of life in the con, judging by the noise level of the hotel. Part of me wishes I was out there among the masses, taking more cosplay photos or maybe even (gasp!) socializing with people. But my body didn’t like that idea one bit. Yes, I am having to face the fact that I ain’t no spring chicken any more. The phrase that I use pretty much every time a con comes around and I try and promise you guys some actual reporting, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” is turning out to apply more and more as the months and years go by. In any case, it’s time to drag these tired old bones off to bed. Tomorrow we head home, back to life, back to reality. Which means of course that we have to pack up all our crap and store it (either at the hotel desk or in the car) after checking out. A big ordeal. And maybe get a few last minute photos and maybe even some panels. Either way, Anime LA Day 2 was a bit of a mixed bag, but still fun overall. Oyasumi nasai.

Related posts:

1. Anime Los Angeles Day 1 Report (Updated)
2. Anime Los Angeles Day 3 Report
3. Anime LA Day 2 mid-day convention report

(Updated 11/20/2010) I’ve finally started working on my PMX 2010 photos, and they’re slowly trickling up to Flickr.  Check the photo gallery section on our website or visit our PMX 2010 Flickr set to check them out!

(Updated 11/21/2010) Otaku no Podcast co-host @msgeek93′s PMX 2010 Flickr gallery
(Updated 11/20/2010) LA Weekly’s PMX 2010 photo gallery and coverage of Innocent World and Baby the Stars Shine Bright (including pictures)
@patachu’s PMX 2010 photo gallery
PMX 2010 video from Cosplay in America
Japanator’s PMX 2010 Photo Gallery (part 1, part 2)
(Updated 11/17/2010) @jonno212′s PMX 2010 photo gallery
(Updated 11/17/2010) ani.me‘s PMX Photobooth (Day 1, Day 2, Flickr gallery)
(Updated 11/17/2010) @otakuforlife’s PMX write-up (comes to a somewhat different conclusion than I did, but at least they have pictures)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @cosplayvideos/ACparadise’s PMX 2010 CosFest Videos (be sure and check out all of them by clicking on their username on YouTube to access their YouTube channel)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @anirichie’s PMX 2010 highlights video (they promise more to come, so be sure and check back on their YouTube channel!)
(Updated 11/20/2010) @blackheavenfan’s PMX 2010 Facebook photo gallery
(Updated 11/20/2010) CatchKuma’s PMX 2010 photos
(Updated 11/20/2010) American Cosplay Snapshots’ PMX 2010 photos
(Updated 11/20/2010) AfterCon’s PMX 2010 highlights video
(Updated 12/04/2010) CNN’s report on Korean actor Jang-dong Gun’s appearance at PMX

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Related posts:

1. Photos from Comic-Con
2. Anime Expo 2009 photos on Flickr
3. The PMX 2011 Meta-Post of Doom!

Well, Day 2 of PMX has drawn to a close, and while there were definitely more people attending today (Saturday being the traditionally busiest day during a weekend con) the crowds were still manageable, although it was definitely more of a challenge navigating the hallways with the increased population.  I still couldn’t begin to hesitate at a guess as to the number of attendees; all I can say with reasonable certainty is that there were more people than yesterday.  Several thousand.  Perhaps even over 9000.  But, if so, then just barely.

It turns out LP 3, the room we were in yesterday, was not the typical room size.  There were definitely larger rooms.  LP2 looks like it could hold at least a hundred, maybe two.  And the main events rooms even more. This is good, and I didn’t see any events that were stuffed beyond capacity.  Even CosFest (their version of masquerade, a cosplay competition) was still workable space-wise.

I visited the dealer’s room and artist’s alley for the first time today.  The dealer’s room was definitely on the smallish side, about equivalent to what you would find at a smaller regional convention I’d say.  Something like Anime Los Angeles’ dealer’s room maybe 2 or 3 years ago, if you’re familiar with that.  They definitely had a reasonable selection of goods: anime and manga (saw some Xbox huge manga tables – that was impressive); character goods; lots of cosplay materials (costumes, acessories, etc.); and I even saw a vendor selling cels and sketches (genga/douga) – definitely gotta check back there tomorrow, when I’m not fully laden with A/V gear like a high-tech pack mule.  Artist’s Alley was quite lively as well, and of a respectable size – it felt actually larger than the dealer’s room.  There was a pretty good selection of artists offering a nice selection of goods and services.

The hotel is located in an area that’s fairly well stocked with restaurants and eateries of various types, all within reasonable walking distance.  In addition to the catered food available at the hotel (which was, surprisingly, not the worst I’ve seen price-wise, and was almost reasonable even), PMX also contracted with several food trucks to come and service the convention.  And this turned out to be quite a success – every time I checked, the lines were of epic proportions.  Next year I suggest that they employ a “tag team” approach – have two food trucks simultaneously on premises, to spread the load between the two (and offer people a choice of cuisines).

As I suspected in yesterday’s post, today brought a more even mix of cosplayers.  There were still quite a few Asian fashion/music/live action cosplayers, but they were balanced out by quite a few recognizable anime and video game characters.  And CosFest was practically dominated by anime – I only recall seeing one or two acts not strictly speaking related to anime.  As always, the creativity and talent of these cosplayers continues to amaze me.

Speaking of CosFest, it actually started more or less on time, although there was some confusion regarding seating the members of the press – we weren’t sure where we were supposed to wait, and were in fact let in a bit earlier than we should have, apparently.  The whole thing felt a bit disorganized.  Again, I can’t ding them too much for this, as some level of disorganization is bound to happen in any endeavor of this type.  However, us press folk did get choice seating – front row in fact – which really helped.  It ran pretty much without a hitch, and quickly at that – there were only a bit over a dozen acts (I believe either 16 or 18, definitely less than 20). The halftime show was provided courtesy of the Angel Heart cosplay troupe, who danced to some songs from Idolm@ster and probably one or two others I didn’t recognize; and singer Mikurin, who sang several songs that appeared to be related to each other along the common theme of the seasons in Japan.

During one of her monologues, Mikurin said something that really hit home with me.  I wish I could recall the exact quote (and unfortunately for whatever reason my recording of CosFest crapped out 30 minutes in, so this exchange didn’t make it onto the recording), but it went something like “We humans always worry that winter will never end, but we needn’t worry, because spring will always come.”  Those of you who know me in person know that I’ve been going through a lot of hardship lately, and have been really down emotionally as of late; her simple yet profound words really touched me and helped uplift my spirits.

We only attended one panel today, a general intro to ball joint (and vinyl) dolls and their care and maintenance.  Quite informative, and it was just fun seeing all the attendees and the wide variety of dolls they brought with them.  Panels definitely seem to me to not be the central focus of PMX.  Don’t get me wrong, I do not intend to diss any of the panel givers; the ones we attended were very well done, as were the rest of them that we didn’t attend I’m sure.  It’s just that there were quite a few holes in the panel schedule, and also the panel rooms served double duty as video screening rooms.  All of this, plus the general laid-back nature of the con, leads me to theorize that PMX is really more of a “kick back and relax and shoot the breeze with your friends and fellow con-goers” con, with a secondary focus on art and cosplay.  Which is absolutely 100% fine by me.  I was quite happy since this is the first time I’ve been at a con when I wasn’t constantly fretting ”OMG OMG I’m gonna miss something cool!!!” and could just take it in stride and “go with the flow.”  Conducive to this is the nice large lobby area replete with comfy chairs/couches and tables – a perfect place to meet up with people who share your particular interest.  One such meetup I attended was a doll meetup.  Again, seeing all the lovely dolls with their awesome costumes, and chatting with their humans, learing their backstories, etc. was fun.  We even got some attention from a pair of reporters from the LA Weekly, which really made our day.

Tomorrow is the final day of PMX, and being a Sunday, is usually the most laid-back day of a weekend con, so it should be pretty low key.  There are a few events I want to catch, plus making another blitz through the dealer’s room and artist’s alley.  And of course taking more pictures.  And then, sadly, back to life, back to reality for me.  PMX has definitely been fun, but in a different way than Anime LA, FanimeCon, AX, etc. (which were also fun, but like I said, fun in a different way).  Just goes to show you that there’s a con for everybody.

I more than likely won’t be able to post pictures tonight; first of all I’m almost falling asleep at the keyboard here, plus I took probably anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 photos at CosFest, and going through those will take some time.  Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day.  Stay tuned!  In the meantime though, you can check out the videos from today’s various livestreams.  I may livestream some more tomorrow; those will of course be announced on our Twitter, and you can tune into them on our shiny new Livestream page on otakunopodcast.com!

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Related posts:

1. PMX Day 1 Report
2. PMX Day 3 Report and Final Thoughts
3. Anime Los Angeles Day 3 Report

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)

Hentai PC dating-sim games at J-List

Related posts:

1. Episode #0013 – Anime Expo 2010
2. Episode #0017 – 2010 Year in Review, Anime Style – Part 2: Rebirth
3. Episode #0016 – 2010 Year in Review, Anime Style – Part 1: Death

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)

PC dating-sim games @ J-List

Related posts:

1. Episode #0013 (Part 2) – Anime Expo 2010
2. Episode #0017 – 2010 Year in Review, Anime Style – Part 2: Rebirth
3. “Anime Podcasting for Beginners” panel at Anime Expo 2010

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!

Related posts:

1. It’s officially official: Come see my panel @ FanimeCon!
2. Heads up! FanimeCon is this coming weekend!
3. FanimeCon 2011 Day 2 Report

Project 760 Productions, the group behind many otaku-centric events in the San Francisco Bay area including JTAF, is teaming up with Pop Japan Travel to offer you a chance to travel to Japan to attend the 2010 Tokyo International Anime Fair, one of the largest anime trade fairs in the world! You’ll get to take a sneak peek at the latest anime projects and series scheduled for the Spring and Summer TV seasons in Japan.

In addition, the tour will include visits to famous otaku landmarks, including Akihabara, the so-called “Electric Town,” a major shopping area for electronics and consumer goods, and now a hotbed of otaku activity, with many anime and manga shops, maid and cosplay cafés, and the like; Nakano Broadway, a ginormous building chock full of otaku-worthy shops — arcades, manga, anime, idol, music, toy, etc.; the Ghibli Museum, shrine of all things Studio Ghibli; a dinner at a cosplay café, a picnic by the sakura (cherry blossoms), a visit to an animation studio, and more!

This 9 day tour will take place between March 24 – April 1, and will run you $1,985, which includes all costs including round-trip airfare from Los Angeles, transportation, interpreters/tour guides, entrance fees, etc. You’ll also get a customized guidebook created exclusively for the tour. If you like, you can arrange your own travel plans to Japan, which drops the price to $1,360.

If there’s enough interest, they will also make several tour extensions available, including a tour of the port city of Yokohama and the history-filled city of Kamakura; and a tour of Studio Pierrot. (Tour extension is contingent on whether or not there is enough interest in it, and will incur an extra charge.)

Also, to commemorate the Studio Pierrot Tour, Pop Japan Travel is hosting a special contest through their YouTube channel. The fan that submits the best video with a question for Studio Pierrot will receive their choice of three books courtesy of Digital Manga, Inc. and will get to visit Studio Pierrot free if they take the tour. Winners will receive a PJT credit towards a future tour if they cannot attend the TAF tour. The contest concludes on February 14, 2010.

For more information, visit the Pop Japan Travel website or email popj...@gmail.com for more information. Mention Project 760 and get a $50 discount.

Better hurry – all applications are due by February 23, 2010

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

Related posts:

1. Pop Japan Travel makes its grand return with the Amazing All-Japan Alpha+Omega Adventure Tour!
2. Episode #0033 – The Japan Travel Extravaganza, Part 1
3. Episode #0034 – The Japan Travel Extravaganza, Part 2

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

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Related posts:

1. Anime Los Angeles Day 3 Report
2. Back from Anime LA
3. Episode #0013 – Anime Expo 2010

I”ll try and schedule a recording session with The Gang soon to record our A-LA recap podcast. Look for that in the next week or two. In the meantime, here are my initial impressions and thoughts. Anime LA, and the staff that runs it, continues to amaze me year after year. According to Chaz (the A-LA head honcho) this year’s attendance was just shy of 3,200, which, in this tough economic climate, is pretty amazing. I hear that some attendees came from places far outside of California, even. The Spoony Bards, this year’s musical guests of honor, came all the way from Indiana – Anime Los Angeles was their first appearance west of Chicago. Even more amazing is the fact that one of the Bards, who recently quit the band when she got married, rejoined the band especially for this appearance – and traveled here all the way from London, UK! One attendee even came from New Zealand! Anime LA is truly becoming a global phenomenon!

I definitely noticed the increased attendance, especially on Saturday (traditionally the busiest day). There was a certain buzz in the air; it had a certain energy to it that I normally only associate with much larger conventions. Even with the extra attendees, it didn’t feel crowded at all (except for Masquerade, which always feels crowded). It looks like A-LA will be able to stay at the LAX Airport Marriott for a while to come, which is good, because the hotel and facilities are really quite nice. Decent convention room rate, easily accessible from most modes of transportation, and a reasonable selection of nearby food.

Anime LA bills itself as one of the friendliest fan-run conventions out there, and I believe them. Every time I interacted with their staff (or saw others interacting with them), they were kind, courteous, and truly helpful. I didn’t detect a hint of the “attitude” that can often be found at larger conventions, or those that take themselves too seriously. The events (or at least the ones I attended) were well-staffed and it looked like they had enough people.

There were, I felt, a decent selection of events, including some that go beyond typical anime-related topics. (I don’t have a schedule handy, but the ones that come to mind are the Japanese calligraphy workshops, martial arts demos, handicrafts, Japanese ghosts and demons, and Tadao-san’s Japanese sword demo, which, sadly, I was unable to attend.) I’m always in favor of having events at conventions that go beyond typical anime fandom and explore other aspects of Japanese life and culture. One of my favorites were the food workshops (Sushi, fried foods, etc.) that Anime Expo featured several years ago.

The (always excellent) program guide and pocket schedule did a pretty good job of laying out the schedule of events and describing what they were all about. However there were a few that were described in vague terms, or even not described at all — for example, “Egg Samurai” — I’m still not quite sure what that was about… Also I was very pleased that A-LA posted a draft event schedule before the convention – for those of us obsessive types, it really helps us begin to plan out our convention time. However it might have been nice to have that up at least a week, maybe even two, before the convention – the extra time would really help those who are traveling from out of area and may not necessarily be traveling with a computer and Internet connection. I realize that sometimes it’s hard to nail things down until the bitter end, but even a rough preliminary schedule is better than nothing.

They did a pretty good job of communicating event and schedule changes. Changes were indicated on signboards outside each room, plus they also published a daily newsletter (the Shinbunshi) with scheduling changes as well as other items of note. These were fairly liberally scattered around the convention area, and were hard to miss. One thing I’d like to see for the future is for them to start using social media such as Twitter and Facebook. We are living in the age of social media, and almost any cell phone these days can access it ubiquitously, making it an excellent way of staying in touch wherever you are. FanimeCon stands in my mind as the “gold standard” in this department. Their Twitter account was extremely active both before and during con, with frequent updates when schedules changed, and they also sent out reminders of when certain “big ticket” events (concerts, Masquerade, etc.) were to start. With FanimeCon’s Twitter loaded on my phone, I almost never had to consult their pocket program guide. They also used it to remind people before con of certain important dates (pre-reg closing date, hotel reservation, etc.).

The guest list was pretty impressive for a small/fan-run convention. (unfortunately for a convention of this type it’s difficult to get those “big draw” guests, Japanese guests of honor, etc.) They had a pretty good musical selection. I got to see some of the Spoony Bards’ Sunday concert and they were pretty awesome; they played a nice selection of anime and video game music that had me nodding and thinking to myself “Oh yeah, I remember that one…” They also entertained the crowd lined up for Masquerade during the long interminable wait to get seated. I was also surprised to see the beginnings of industry support for A-LA; for example this year FUNimation chose Anime LA for an advance screening of their latest title, RIN ~ Daughters of Mnemosyne. (Unfortunately I was unable to attend)

I really hate to overuse it, but Masquerade can only be described as “awesome.” There were 29 entries consisting of a total of 76 people, and the costumes and routines continue to amaze. There are truly some talented people out there! As I recall it didn’t start too late, and there were only a few minor technical glitches (which are pretty much par for the course in an event such as this).

AMV, on the other hand, was, I hate to say, made of fail. I wrote about this previously so go read that post if you haven’t seen it already. However, none of the problems (I think) were the fault of the staff – they were all technical issues which, perhaps in hindsight, could have been avoided, but may not have been easily anticipated. My recommendations that I wrote about still stand, and hopefully they will take steps similar to the ones I outlined to make next year’s AMV contest a success. (They did replay all AMVs the next day, without a hitch, and the audience was invited to cast ballots for the Pro category that was skipped during the actual AMV contest.)

(I’ll post a list of AMV and masquerade winners shortly. Unfortunately not all of the AMVs have made it online yet.)

The dealers’ room and artists’ alley were impressive, and definitely felt bigger than last year, and most of the traditional vendors you see at dealers rooms were well represented. For one thing, they actually had some decent DVD vendors. Yay! I picked up some good deals on some stuff I was looking for. Of course, I’ll be reviewing my purchases for Otaku no Podcast. They also had several cosplay-related sellers, weapons sellers, character goods, etc. And it looked like artists’ alley was doing some good business – every time I looked in on it it was always pretty packed.

The video screening rooms had a decent selection of titles and genres. Support came from FUNimation, Nozomi Entertainment/The Right Stuf International, Bandai Entertainment, AnimEigo, Central Park Media (apparently this support came from beyond the grave — creepy!), Section 23 Films, Sentai Filmworks, Viz Media and Media Blasters. They also featured certain “Dealer’s Choice” titles, which, presumably, were whatever the dealers in the dealers’ room wanted to promote sales of. One thing I really liked was that they had big bright LCD screens outside of each viewing room showing the name of the title being played and what looked like example scenes from the various anime that they were showing. Really nice touch there. They also split the titles fairly equally between dub and sub, which prevented the holy war to end all holy wars from occurring.

I am once again thoroughly impressed with Anime LA. It’s the little con that could, and is showing no signs of letting up on its growth. It serves as proof that, even in these times of economic hardship, anime conventions are still needed, and are still viable. My congratulations to the staff and volunteers for yet another enjoyable year of Anime LA.

I’ve got about 1500 photos to go through, edit/retouch, and post; I’ll try and get to that by this weekend. I’ve also got about half an hour of video that I’ll edit down into a highlights reel and post soon.

Gothic & Lolita Products, magazine subscriptions from Japan

Related posts:

1. A Winner is You! Behold the Anime LA 2010 AMV and Masquerade Winners
2. Anime Los Angeles Day 3 Report
3. Anime Los Angeles Day 2 Report (Updated)

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Related posts:

1. Photos from Comic-Con
2. Photos (and video!) from PMX 2010 (Updated)
3. Episode #0025 – Anime Expo 2011 Interviews – Peter Payne of J-List

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Related posts:

1. San Diego Comic-Con is Here!
2. Anime Expo 2009 photos on Flickr
3. Episode #0008 – San Diego Comic-Con 2009

In case you didn’t know (and count yourself among the lucky few if not), “kigurumi” cosplay is a particular subgenre of cosplay, which can best be described as “mascot cosplay.” Basically, the cosplayer dresses up in a full bodysuit styled after their favorite anime character or whatever — including a fully-detailed, properly proportioned (according to the given character’s design) character mask. Yes, a mask. With huge, non-moving anime eyes. And when the guy (for it will undoubtedly be a guy wearing these costumes) speaks, his (doubtless high and squeaky) otaku voice will be coming, somewhat muffled, from behind this huge character mask with the dead eyes.

shudder

If you are morbidly curious (or have a sado-massochistic complex), check out the above links for some truly disturbing pictures.

Fortunately this subgenre is not very popular especially here in the States. Of all the anime conventions I’ve been to, I only saw one kigurumi cosplayer, at last year’s Anime Los Angeles. (I did not see that person again this year, though that doesn’t necessarily mean that he wasn’t there at all.)

Basically my advice to you would be this: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!!

This has been a public service announcement brought to you by Otaku no Podcast. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

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