The Once Mighty PMX

By William Hong

The Pacific Media Expo, started in 2005 by Anime Expo co-founder Mike Tatsugawa, was intended to be an alternative to traditional anime conventions. Instead of focusing exclusively on anime and manga, PMX's mission was to be a venue for the (then) rising popularity of J-pop and J-rock in America. The first PMX got off to a rocking start featuring Nami Tamaki and T.M. Revolution concerts. While PMX didn’t market itself as an anime con, it attracted the same crowd and vendors. Unfortunately, PMX has diminished in size and scope with each passing year, gradually moving from the massive Anaheim Convention Center to this year's location, the much smaller Hilton Pasadena. 

This year's PMX was headlined by South Korean actor Jang Dong-gun, director Sngmoo Lee, animator Hiromi Kato, and various J-fashion designers. This year's newest programming addition was the Starlight Fashion Festival, a mini-carnival for lolitas to play carnival games, mingle, and have their pictures taken with fashion designer Yumi Fujiwara. For those looking for a low key way to pass time, there were the Pocky and Sake tasting stations: for a small fee, the stations provided a wide variety of Pocky and sake in a secluded part of the hotel. There was also a small room devoted to a fashion boutique. Towards the end of Saturday evening there was a swap meet, where fans sold and bartered their goods, both new and used.

Inviting the ever popular Kogi Taco, Nom Nom, Dim Sum food trucks to sell food in front of the hotel was an inspired idea, especially considering there aren't many local eateries within walking distance. The only caveat was the long lines, with some having to wait as long as two hours for their not so fast food. Probably not the best way to spend your time at a con, but still an interesting experience for those wanting a taste of LA's ever popular food truck scene.

Saturday's great turnout, an eclectic blend of anime cosplayers, steampunk cosplayers, and lolitas, was somewhat marred by a lack of programming outside of the CosFest and the Starlight Fashion Festival. It was a bit odd that the more prominent panels, such as the Nom Nom Truck panel and Jang Dong-gun's Warrior's Way panel, were held on Sunday, typically a day that fans attend the least. 

Aside from the sparse and uneven programming schedule, the biggest drawback was the venue itself. The Hilton Pasadena is not a good venue for an anime con. The hotel's narrow walkways felt almost claustrophobic on Saturday.  The large crowds mixed with the narrow hallways made it difficult to navigate.  The lack of open air spaces meant fewer places for photographers to take quality photos and less space for cosplayers to have gatherings. The room reserved for the CosFest, PMX's masquerade, was way too small to accommodate the crowd. The lack of an arcade/console gaming room was also disappointing; it would have helped considerably during the long downtime between events. 

While the Pacific Media Expo doesn't quite live up to its encompassing namesake with its emphasis still on East Asian entertainment (the one exception this year was the Bad Filipino film panel), it’s still a worthwhile con for those interested in East Asian pop culture and fashion. Even more so if you're interested in lolita fashion; it's unlikely you'll find bigger gathering of lolitas on the West Coast.  With more and more conventions popping up each year (many of which are barely distinguishable from one another), it's admirable that PMX strives to distinguish itself with unique guests and programming.  Now if only there was more of the latter.

Third time’s the charm

Saboten-con 2010

By Frenchie of the Aftercon Staff

With another successful year, Saboten-con really raises the bar for local Anime conventions. The convention is happy to announce its third year with a lot of special events and panels that the first Saboten in 2008 couldn’t compare to! Guests like Yaya Han and local artists such as Armand Villavert definitely bring pride into coming to the convention, not to mention some more local artists and rising Japanese fashion designers alike. And unlike the first Saboten-con, this year’s convention line-up brought in some brand new events, such as the Vocaloid Café!

Despite the third time changing locations, the Hilton Squaw Peak is definitely quite the place to see! It looks like it’s situated in a really expensive part of town, that everything has to be decorated from top to bottom!

Given the description of this sign, I can’t imagine the amount of otaku that can squeeze in an elevator when there’s a fire. Let’s not get into the stereotypical size of otaku, now.

If you still have a copy of your programming schedule, look at it. Does the policy have “Saboten-con” written on it? Nope, because it was recycled from “Con-nichiwa”?!

So the first panel I observed was “How to Make Furry Heads”. Vaporeon is still pretty naked from the neck down. But, I spy an Archanine head in the distance!

As I walk into the Dealer’s Hall/Artist Alley, this is what I saw. The half-naked guy wasn’t the first person that got my attention. Can anyone guess who it is?

This was probably one of the cutest things I saw from the Artist Alley. That round little guy in the bottom corner, he’s only about 1.5”x1.5” for $2! I know it’s irresistibly cute, but really?

I’m glad that more vendors decide to sell food and beverages to accommodate the average budget of an otaku, because the tiny food court in the lobby definitely wasn’t cheap nor were the restaurants that were nearby.

Here is a table of a fellow friend of mine. He’s super wise as to catch the popularity of Pokemon kicking up again and decided to base his art around these cute and cuddly little creatures.

This came from another friend’s table. I was minding my own business when a gentleman walked up to me and spilled the most horrible pick-up line about zombies. I dare not say it as it just makes me vomit. But, I took a pretty good photo of this terrorizing beauty!

One of my favorite characters, Totoro. The artist that drew this really knows how to make girls say “Aww” with that extra spark in their eyes that all those single guys want. I’m not saying to be jealous, guys. Furry creatures aren’t the only things that grab our attention.

This is part of Cake Shop’s adorable table! I always pass by their table with admiration for the designer, Chi. She definitely has quite a talent with Japanese Fashion and it’s shown throw her line of clothing in the J-Fashion Show.

Seriously, what are we promoting nowadays? Crack wouldn’t be cheap if somebody were to pirate their anime, now would it?

There’s so many internet memes that I don’t know about, maybe that’s a good thing?

Amiko is just too cool. I was blown away by her radiating awesomeness which is, her dancing

After the dance, I saw this little fellow. Caution: Subject is smaller than is appeared to be.

Shirley is sporting a really nice Japanese Punk Rock outfit. I bet a lot of guys were looking her way!

This is one of my favorite designs from Mikoto, Captain Hook.

Somehow, her outfit really caught my eye. It’s probably because of the Halloween-theme well mixed in with the design.

I believe this is Larxy’s 2^nd J-Fashion show as far as her designs go. There’s definitely something with her designs that stand out from everybody else, besides the mouth-covering. She’s really rocking out the Japanese flag, though. This is Japanese fashion, after all.

My favorite of Cake Shop’s designs. I think this combines a lot of her style and originality up to this point. It’s very cute in a simple way that I think a lot of people can easily wear.

After the show, I decided to finally hit the unknown part of the hotel, where the dance and console gaming room can be found.

A friend of mine, who’s now a member of The Elevens, Perfect Math Class, or whatever the name is for their band. All we know is that their band is pretty good!

It was a nice day to play Anime Singled Out. The bad side, we tried to keep it rated PG-13 because of the time it was held this year. Well well well, it looks like the Joker got stumped in the final round trying to decide who he wants to choose as the winner. It wasn’t the contestant from the first round, unfortunately.

This has got to be the best Asian Lily cosplayer I have ever seen! She wasn’t as tall as she is, but I bet she can pack a punch.

The Vocaloid café members. I wonder how long it took them to make their outfits. It looks a little bit like Visual Kei, no?

The great thing about the previous picture is that you know which ones are guys. If you like girly looking guys, stare away at these backsides!

Complimentary massage at the gaming room even though you may give him a tip.

Just before the rave, I caught up with these two and their scary looking contacts. I’m glad they’re not their real eyes, too.

The rave was really happening on the lower level of the building, but the smell definitely wasn’t.

To top the night off, a beautiful view from the balcony before I got the munchies.

I definitely noticed a trend within all the Saboten-cons in Arizona. More policies were enforced, because a lot of youngsters are starting to join the Anime community. As for the people that have been engaged hardcore for all 3 years, it can be an experience that’s either dying down because of age, or still enjoyable because of who you surround yourself with. But from looking at these pictures, a lot of people seem to have fun all around and these pictures truly capture the essence of the con experience! Personally, I don’t see my record of going to Anime cons as a long and tedious one. This year’s Saboten-con made me realize why this industry is still going strong in Arizona. To put it simply, it’s popular! So let’s have another strong year for Saboten-con 2011!

 Morning Musume Concert at Anime Expo 2009

Morning Musume Concert

The hype for the Morning Musume concert was definitely there even before the convention started. With the Hello! Project group making and debuting their first US single with Anime Expo, anyone can tell this was a massive effort to push one of the most popular pop-star groups in Japan to America. Their new song as well as Anime Expo 2009's theme song, 3-2-1 Breaking Out, fuses Morning Musume's energetic smiles with some hip cuteness as their music video shows.

Since the group was made of nine cute Japanese girls, they had their shares of attention from the fanboys of the convention. The concert hall was filled to capacity with more than 200 people waiting in the stand-by line for tickets.

Make no mistake. These are nine hard working girls. From singing to dancing to maintaining the performance as a unit is hard work. By the end, one can assume they were tired by you would never see it on their faces. There is always a smile and the energy never goes away.

 

The venue itself was terrible. Last year, Shoko Nakagawa performed in the Nokia Theater with comfortable seats and a decent view of the stage with a raised slanted floor. This year, Anime Expo, for whatever reason, decided to host the concert in a regular exhibit hall in the convention center. Not only were the seating and acoustics terrible, the stage was cramped. The pop band's performance was directed only toward the middle section of the floor because of the small stage. It could have been a grand performance but it turned out to have a feel of an intimate venue except that it wasn't intimate for 80% of us. The audience at the sides and the back can only rely on the big screen to watch the girls.

Morning Musume did their set including two of their past hits. Renai Revolution and Love Machine. The faces of the audience lit up as the group performed. Sychronized dancing along with girly gestures and poses made it a concert to remember.

The concert did come to end in an almost anti-climatic way. The head staff from Japanfiles came out to announce the winners for the music video contest along with special guest, Hangry, from Hangry & Angry. Although the videos were creative, there was too much talking and lag to end such an energetic concert. It was almost boring as another producer from Japan came out to speak. Morning Musume performed 3-2-1 Breaking Out one more time before exiting the stage. There was no encore.

Overall, a chance to see Morning Musume was a delight in itself. We have seen their DVDs and video clips of their shows, and they were awesome. Of course, they have had better venues as well. But not bad, to see this group of talented girls at the cost of an Anime Expo badge compared what it might be in Japan. We hope you didn't miss out on the chance to see them. Otherwise, you'll have to catch them in Japan. And think of the airfare!

 

 

 

Aftercon Interviews m.o.v.e. at ACen 2009.

We are reposting this interview since most of our reports was not transferred over to the new Aftercon website.

ARTIST: m.o.v.e
GENRE: Japanese pop
STYLES: J-pop, Dance-pop, Rap, Techno, Eurobeat

Few Japanese artists have ridden the noughties global anime boom as hard as m.o.v.e. With anime soundtracks increasingly being used as a vehicle to launch Japanese artists overseas, the three-piece dance-pop group has been involved several tie-ups, the most high profile of which have been providing the theme songs to the anime series and movie of the same name, “Initial D.” m.o.v.e are made up of songwriter/producer t-kimura, vocalist yuri and rapper motsu. Too “rap” to be labeled J-pop and too “J-pop” to be considered an authentic rap act, a typical m.o.v.e song, if there is such a thing, pits yuri’s high-pitched vocals against t-kimura’s techno-rock backing and will often feature a cameo from MC motsu, rapped in a mixture of English and Japanese. 


**********************************************************



This year at Anime Central 2009, M.O.V.E. was the main musical guest. After performing a concert, hosting Q&A panels and signing autographs, these Japanese guests took some time to give Aftercon a quick one-on-one in interview. And of course, much thanks to Avex Entertainment Inc. for the opportunity to interview M.O.V.E.



Aftercon: Thank you for being here. I really enjoyed the concert the other night and hope to see many more. The word “move” is very general for an action word. What does the word “M.O.V.E.” mean to each of you?

Motsu: The word means it just keeps moving. It’s non-stop.
Yuri: I feel the same way.



Aftercon: Now, many of us fans in America know you through Initial D, a street racing anime. Are you a fan of street car racing?

Motsu: Yes. I really like to watch street racing. Being a music artist, I can get some good seats that allow me to see some good racing. It’s exciting because when I drive, I like to drive slowly.



Aftercon: What is your dream car?

Yuri: I like the Escalade. I like it because of its shape. I like everything but mainly its box type shape.
Motsu: My favorite is a red RX-7 FD because I got to drive one when I was at an anime promotion. I really liked it.



Aftercon: Do you have a Playstation Network ID for the Initial D video game?

Motsu: It is Motsu. However, it’s a D-3 rank which is low. But I drive a red RX-7 FD!



Aftercon: In Initial D, there was a RX-7 FD, but it was yellow. What is your favorite Initial D song that you have created?

Motsu: Blast My Desire. Though we don’t do it at our concerts, I really like the song.
Yuri: Dogfight is my favorite.



Aftercon: Speaking of anime, what is your favorite anime?

Motsu: Urusei Yatsura is one that I like. Besides Initial D, of course.
Yuri: Lupin.



Aftercon: We heard you were releasing a new album with anime covers. What anime can we expect a song from?

Motsu: We are doing a cover from Evangelion.



Aftercon: What is a good place to go in Japan?

Yuri: Odaiba!
Motsu: My house. Please don’t ding dong ditch me. Do you know that game?



Aftercon: I don’t believe I do…

Motsu: You ring the doorbell and run. Please don’t do that.



Aftercon: Who was someone you admired growing up?

Motsu: Ultraman!
Yuri: A singing duo called Pink Lady.



Aftercon: I see… the Japanese pop music group from the 1970s – 1980s. What hobbies do you have?

Motsu: I make t-shirts. And I have a clothing line that is set to come out next year. I really enjoy designing and making shirts.
Yuri: I like to shop.



Aftercon: I would like to ask a hard question. What is one question that you would like to be asked in an interview?

Motsu: That’s a really hard question! I don’t know.
Yuri: A while back, I was doing volunteer work for abandon dogs. We made some sort of shelter for those dogs and then found homes for them. We also made bracelets and promoted the cause. Right now, there is a big pet boom so the amount of abandoned dogs is increasing. I am very impressed by the volunteers. I would like to be asked these types of questions about the volunteering and working for a good cause. 



Aftercon: What did you do in Chicago when you were not performing or signing autographs at Anime Central 2009?

Yuri: We went to a karaoke bar and everyone was singing.
Motsu: In Japan, everyone sings. In America, no one wants to sing, and it is fun getting them to sing. Once you get them singing, they won’t stop though.



Aftercon: Did you go to any other events or panels at Anime Central 2009?

Yuri: We saw Vic [Mignogna] perform in his concert. We also performed with him for a bit.



Aftercon: Do you have a message to the American fans before we end the interview?

Yuri: Yes. I absolutely loved being here, and I’m glad to have seen everyone.
Motsu: I want to increase my English skills so I can create more songs in English so we can have a better connection with all of you.



Aftercon: Thank you so much for your time. Please have a safe journey home and come back to America soon. Thank you to Avex Entertainment Inc. as well.

 Anime Expo 2010 – In Retrospect

 Fifth time has gone sublime!

Celebrating Phoenix Comicon’s 5^th Year

By Frenchie

            It’s been quite a journey from the Mesa Convention Center to the large Phoenix Convention Center. Numerous amounts of stuff have changed since then and I’m happy to say that I have observed a few major ones, especially the attendee count. It started from what seemed like a small local gathering to a mini-version of Anime Expo! The final number of attendees is said to be just under 14,000, more than what was expected and definitely double to that of last year’s con! From what I’ve seen in the programming guide, there was lots of stuff planned for American and Japanese comic fans alike. The program is split to cater to each genre as well as divided among the Convention Center and the Hyatt. In my opinion, it’s a little confusing. But once you get used to the long trip back and forth, it’s definitely not a problem at all!

Thursday

A major con to Thursday was that there wasn’t any programming for the Japanese comic fans at all at the convention center. I pretty much walked in, got my badge, and walked out; although, I did have the intention of checking out the anime rave. However, I didn’t hear too much talk of it, because some people were still using the day to finish their cosplays. I’m sure that there were a bunch of people that caught it in time to get a few good dances in. So technically, my adventures didn’t really start until Friday. The only interesting thing I saw were bunches of Rocky Horror cosplayers that were celebrating the film just outside the convention center, asking for directions to the Hyatt and parading around the front doors. From that point, I definitely started experiencing the con jitters!

Friday

By this time, all if not most of the attendees have been out of school. This ultimately meant that the con is expected to be packed from beginning to the end! And surely enough, once I got to the con grounds, there was a long line for pre-registered guests! I was quickly blown away by people lining up outside the doors, initially thinking it was for an autograph session. There was actually a line for autographs which formed a snake around the convention building. After I got through the crowd and the security, my adventure began!

The first panel I went to was called “How to become a hardcore cosplayer” run by Kelleher Kelsey. This panel got really technical, from the kind of fabric to use, to how to make large props. I learned quite a bit from this panel, even though I consider cosplay as a hobby opposed to a real time career. Other things that were discussed included buying patterns for your cosplay design, creating logos, styling and managing wigs, storing cosplays, as well as make-up advice for the cosplay perfectionist. There were a few things that I took away from the panel, and that was styling and caring for wigs. By this time, I’ve made a handful of cosplays myself and I wonder how hardcore cosplayers store their cosplays, whether they have a separate closet for them, for a storage bin to store them in the garage. In my opinion, the panelist was fairly knowledgeable of the sub-topics of cosplay. I’ve seen her around the con scene and it’s really evident that she’s a pro that’s willing to share her tips and tricks.

After that, I dashed about 3 doors down to the Yukata competition. Unfortunately, word didn’t get out soon enough getting a good number of contestants going. There were only 5, including myself. But in the end, we all had fun dancing around in our yukatas, describing them, and answering questions the audience had about our individual yukatas. Luckily, each contestant got a prize for entering. Hopefully, we will have a much better turn out next year, yes?

Right after that, I swung next door in time to catch the Super Sentai Time panel. If you don’t know what Super Sentai or Kamen Rider is, it is basically the Power Rangers, only Japanese. The panel was fully packed with hardcore Super Sentai fans and they went on rants that the host was literally a little irritated that they’re spoiling a lot of the good parts for those who don’t watch the series. But on the other hand, Panda Cubed got a good amount of time to discuss the toys that feature Kamen Rider. Comparable to the American society’s version of collecting toy cars, figurines is one of the biggest selling items to be imported from Japan, besides Gundam models. Over all, I thought this was one of the most interesting panels that I’ve been to at the con so far.

My next adventure was to the J-Fashion Show. I decided to go classic and wear a red and white lolita. Just like previous years, the most popular genres of fashion displayed are lolita and Japanese rock or punk. It makes me wonder how long the trend will change, if it ever does. The show was slightly different as far as settings go, leaving some people to stand or sit around the far back of the room without any chairs. With the music being lead by DJ Piccasio Piccasio, Chi’s models started the show off by walking behind this cherry blossom room separator. Once again, everyone walked out in style, despite the nervousness I get when I talk to my neighbors in line backstage. Overall, everyone did a really good job on their costumes. The only thing I have to criticize is the punctuality of the event. I know that we all say people are fashionably late; but hey, if people want to see you in your outfit, you gotta make it on time so people can see more of it, right?

Friday night’s dance featured a circus theme. To be honest, I give the people to think of these themes a lot of credit, because there are only so many to chose from, and people can only keep up with so much from these themes. I pretty much stayed for most of the dance, and it was pretty roomy inside, so I didn’t have a hard time worrying about getting Otaku sweat all over myself. Then, I saw Amiko sporting a lion tamer’s outfit and I was quickly blown away by how long she could dance with those killer white boots on. The caged go-go dancers kind of mesmerized some of the guys that passed by and I was lucky that I wasn’t one of them. But I’m sure that the attention they get is nothing more than just admiration for the theme. When I left the dance, I came out with my own sweat and a thirst larger than a camel’s, which means it was a-okay!

Saturday

I didn’t think Saturday was going to be as eventful as Friday, frankly. Then again, people don’t have school or work on the weekends and the event list proved me wrong! I started off by going to the Steampunk fashion show in my own original steampunk outfit. I didn’t enter, because I wanted to take pictures of people’s fabulous ensembles, and there were quite a variety of them! The room got full in less time than it did at the J-Fashion Show; and I could see that happening, because there wasn’t any actual show for the Steampunk crowd and it was growing rapidly in AZ. So in a way, the diversity of fashion does go beyond lolita and punk. For those who don’t know what Steampunk is, it is basically the style of clothing you see in movies like Wild Wild West, and maybe even in videogames like Final Fantasy IX, where the center of it is a dusty, antique kind of look. At the end of the show, I was very impressed by how much people are really getting into the style and making it a trend again.

After the show ended, I headed over to another show, the J-Fashion Trunk Show. A “Trunk Show” is basically a show where designers are present to showcase their items and have the opportunity to buy them. I thought that each designer was fairly unique, although I couldn’t tell some of the outfits were theirs. But hey, these ladies are amateurs and it’s hard to sell your individuality. The one thing I will criticize about the event is how fast the models were walking. Some of my neighbors couldn’t get a good shot of some outfits that they didn’t want to buy, so they never bought them. Since they were walking so fast, the Q & A session came pretty quick as well. I didn’t stick around for it, because I was getting hungry. But I do applaud the 5 designers for their talent: Diana, Chi, Alyssa Joyce, V, Mary. I hope some if not one of their outfits were bought.

It wasn’t that hard to find a quick chow in Downtown Phoenix; and it was the weekend, so everyone’s out in the town. After eating, I walked into the AMV room to catch what kinds of videos there were this year. A lot of them were comedy, and I know that comedy is the hardest thing to create, because you have to appeal to your audience. But, there were also some dramatic ones and action-packed ones. There was this one video where it features a list of things that you could click on, and these things seemed like an impossible mash-up of music and anime, that I found interesting and comical. There was also a video featuring a Christina Aguilera song that played for a video that featured women-dominated anime in a futuristic world, which was pretty awesome! So I stuck around the AMV room until it was time for Aftercon to shine in a back-to-back session of Asians in America and Anime Singled Out.

Asians in America was just as interesting as I thought it would be. At Con-nichiwa, most people were throwing out silly questions like “Can Asians levitate” or “Do you know kung-fu?” But here, I actually liked the range of questions that people were asking, like “Are there are negative influences on you as an Asian person?” or, “How can Americans reinforce better study habits?” I remembered a few more touchy subjects, like homosexuality in the Asian culture. We all had a lot to say, and we tried to make everybody understand that the different kinds of Asian also look at each other differently, just like Americans; but, we are looked at the same way in the Western world. We got to share how our parents rewarded us for good grades, and for me, it was food. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, but my parents are excellent cooks! For the others, they were either rewarded with money, or a big congratulation. Either way, the room was pretty filled this time as there were more attendees at this con, compared to others. Can’t wait until the next one!

To top the night off, people remained in their seats for Anime Singled Out. Our lucky contestants this time were Brandon and Amiko, who wore matching outfits for the night’s dance! The best part of Amiko’s round was bringing back our beloved Hope Esteim. He definitely deserves a second chance at love. It was too bad that everybody else lost to Hope, but we had some pretty clever answers for the lighting round. When it was Brandon’s turn, I couldn’t help but wonder why does he look like a panda? Anyhow, Brandon got a good group of ladies and guys who are willing to take him out and show him a good time! Even our very own Mailorder and Justin tried to steal his heart. But, Justin failed to lure him in with his cutie girl voice. In the end, we all had a pretty good time watching people win some and lose some. But in all seriousness, I think it was a test of wit to see who would be more appealing to the contestant.

As I was walking out of the panel room, Amiko announced the night’s dance: Black Rock Shooters, or something like that. Remember what I said about the dance themes getting weird? Well, when I think of Black Rock Shooters, I think of fireworks going out inside the dance hall until everyone’s on the floor. I never really found out what it is until I went. So, it’s basically an animation by Ryo Huke and while I was watching it, it ended up being a fan-made video with Miku’s voice in the background. I’m still at a loss about Vocaloids, but I hope I’m keeping their names right at least. During the dance, it got hotter and hotter. Yet, people wanted to stay inside and dance to the 200 BPM music until their hearts collapsed, or something. I called it a night after the DJ decided to go even faster with the pace. It’s not my cup of tea to dance like I’m having a seizure, so I’ll just leave the rest of the crowd to spas out until 2 AM.

Sunday

With all the excitement that went on for the past two days, I needed to catch up on some sleep. What better day to sleep in, than Sunday, right? I couldn’t sleep in for too long, because I had to get to the Lolita Tea Party.

It was Amiko’s turn to host her own Lolita Tea Party, and for the theme, she decided on a teddy bear theme. It was perfect, because everyone has a bunch of teddy bears that they wouldn’t mind bringing to play with! Brandon also decided to join us in an Aristocrat get-up, with his own girly shoes. The timeslot was divided into segments for eating and playing, while socializing in the middle. The downside was there was a fee for going into the tea party, $5. Since the hotel is hosting the party and that they’re picky about outside food, they decided to profit from us either way. But hey, it does cost a little money to have fun anyway, right? In knowing this, Amiko decided to have a lot of games to help stretch everyone’s money, including an egg hunt, a teddy bear dress-up, and of course, musical chairs. I decided to have a little munch, and what the hotel had to offer were pastries like brownies and muffins, yogurt cups, fresh fruit, hot tea, and juice. I wasn’t expecting a full meal, and I didn’t have breakfast yet; so it worked itself out in the end.

Last but not least, Aftercon’s “How to Date a Con Girl” panel. I ran into a good friend on the way there, and he told me that some of his friends didn’t like how they started the panel, that’s why he’s outside. I decided to walk in anyways and bring him along, just to show that it’s probably not what he thinks. Surely enough, the panel had its ups and downs, with a few good comments and a few heated discussions. The part that I just caught up on was “Don’t be the Girl/Guy” and I heard a few good ones:

“Don’t be the guy that dates me just to be with my friend”

“Don’t be the guy that forgets my birthday”

“Don’t be the guy that dates me because he pities me”

“Don’t be the girl that dates me solely for food”

“Don’t be the girl that dates me because of my stereotype”

“Don’t be the girl that dates me for my money”

I must say though, this panel did put guys and girls on the spotlight. The message Aftercon wanted to put out there was to just be you. I kind of agree with that, but I also disagree. I think that statement assumes that everyone’s brave. In reality, that isn’t the case; and I think everyone knew that. That’s why they were at the panel, right? I think the appropriate way of saying it is to not have any fright. All the panelists at PCC could be this and that, but all of them weren’t afraid of getting out there to share their ideals, just like Aftercon, and just like me as I write this report.

At the end of the panel, besides thinking of what to eat, I also realized how big Aftercon is becoming. I know, it’s already been awhile since we moved to the new site. I also saw how busy people are, that they hardly have time to go online anymore. One thing about conventions is that you get to hang out with friends that you haven’t seen in awhile. It’s like a cycle until the next convention comes around!

5/31/2010

Aftercon Staff had a chance at Phoenix Comicon 2010 to interview Mike McFarland who is a voice actor, director and producer. And he gave us some pretty good insights on different things. Here is what he had to say to Aftercon. :)

You've done directing, acting, and script writing. This is not something that everyone can do. How has this experience doing all three effected all three parts?

I think they help to make each of the other ones stronger. From having an understanding of the writing, it comes into play of the directing, the directing comes into play of the producing, the producing helps all the other ones happen. The don't necessarily go hand in hand, because you can have some person do it, and some person do the other job, but it definitely helps me knowing all three jobs to help all three along in a project I'm working on.

You're first voice acting job was in '97 with Funimation with your first role being Master Roshi and you also said that it was your favorite role. Is that still your favorite role?

It's probably my favorite role, theres other roles that have cool aspects about them, but that's a character that's a lot of fun that I've been doing for a long time, so it's hard for him not to be my favorite; he's a lot of fun.

Is there any specific role that you felt a real attachment to?

I felt an attachment to Havoc, for whatever reason. Once I start working with a character, I become more and more attached to them. Havoc from Fullmetal Alchemist was like that. Just a sense of attachment for the things that he goes through and his loyalty to others.

Do you have a number one tip for striving voice actors?

It is a voice acting job, so my number one tip is to take as much acting classes as possible and have as much acting experience as possible. It comes very much before the voice itself.

If someone wanted to try their hand at anime voice acting, they should take every job related to voice, weather it's radio, or anything that uses their voice, not just anime. They should have a portfolio or resume before they try anime?

It's good to have a broad range of study, and the voice work is important. But the acting thing is the most important, like theater work, and improv is something I highly suggest because it kind of forces you to make decisions, pick characters, and go without having a lot of prep time and a lot of second guess situations.  

What did you do before becoming a director and voice actor?

I was already doing some professional acting in the Dallas area, then commercial work, film work, and things like that. I went to college mostly to study music. I ended up with a BFA in music with the concentration on business and a minor in theater, because my actor bug was rekindled in college. I did a lot of acting when I was in elementary and middle school and I let it go through high school and early college. I was rejuvenated in it towards the middle of college.

Would you say it's never too late to act again?

It's never too late. I think you should always be prepared when you do it. I think for some reason it comes across as a job where you wake up one day like "I'm gonna do that. I want a job now." There's training required; theres a whole bunch of other things required than just the desire to do so. As long as those things are kept in mind, you can start any time.

Is there room for new voice actors to show up to work for Funimation, for example.

Absolutely. They're always needed. The thing is, as I said before, it's hard to find an interested actor thats got the training and the ability to do the job and whatever else and that also happens to live an hour or two hours, at the most, from where the studio is. With the exception of Stephanie Sheh who has come to work with me before, and Johnny Bosch, and people like that that fly in and also years of experience at other places. We have auditions for new shows. Whenever theres a new show that pops up, pretty much guaranteed, that theres a few people that have never been in anything before that get into the audition process. And even if they're not right for something on that show, if they had a quality that the director liked, he'll make note of them and recommend them to other people, like, "I didn't have anything for him. But you need to hear this guy, he's really good."

Would you say relocation is very important if we want to take this seriously. Something like moving to Texas or southern California?

If you want to work in anime voice overs, then yes. Vancouver and Los Angeles and the Dallas area seem to be the leaders in that market right now. Theres still some done in New York and some other places, but three previously named ones seem to the most.

How do you feel about Case Closed?

I love Case Closed. I got to be one of the first directors on that and I think its a really awesome show. At the time that we worked on it, it was during the last regime of folks that no longer work with Funimation, and they, plus the original Japanese license holder put in the new requests for the name changes and whatever else. That was one of the door, where Mitsuhiko was Mitch and things like that. But despite all those changes, I love the characters and I loved the English cast that we had, I though that they were fun.

Taking into consideration that for voice acting, you have to change even your breathing to match that of the characters, would you say this is more difficult than on camera acting?

It's just a different kind of acting. Every different type of performance has its own advantages and disadvantages as far as the level of difficulty over another one. Like for some folks its harder to do comedy than drama. Theres a big difference in the performance level of a manic play versus a huge children's theater play, or a musical or doing a commercial voice over versus doing an anime voice over, or doing an on camera film role versus something else. You kind of just have to use your little tool kit of acting skills and see which one best suits that particular point and time.

How do you feel about the current state of the anime industry in America right now? Do you think its growing, is it shrinking, or is it staying where it's at? And what can the fans do to help expand it?

Its kind of strange as far as my view point of it, because I can only see it from myself. I'm as busy nor or busier now than I've been ever. But I keep reading about it not being as good as it used to be as far as the state of the industry. I don't doubt that at all, but its one of those things, not necessarily like its traffic and I can't do anything about it, but its very much like I have assignments, I have work, I have whatever else and that keeps me so busy that I don't get to see the global view of what's going on. I do know that as far as fans and how they can help is support the product, buy the product out there if you're interested in it, you have to show it with your wallet and not just by cosplaying or by saying, "Hey that's cool."

How do you feel about the fan subbing community? Do you think they're hurting the industry?

There's all sorts of plus' and minus' on that. But I think that in this current day and age, there is enough legal sanctioned versions of subtitled anime that you don't need fan subbing. There's always some sort of gauge of where there's this many hits, or this many downloads, so therefore it's a popular show. But now we have shows that are simulcast. Like Brotherhood, for instance. It's either at the same day or a few hours after the original broadcast, and it has official translation from the license holder in North America, and it's out online. How much sooner could you possibly need it? And we also have a translation that's been approved by the people who made it. So we've got to the point where we don't really need fan subbing.

I noticed that a lot of Funimation titles end up on Adult Swim, is there a certain contract agreement or is it just that they like Funimation titles?

I'm not sure what it is about them or how that ends up happening. But I'm always grateful. I always love it that something ends up on Adult Swim or on Cartoon Network. But there's not necessarily a "You always have to take shows from us," or anything like that. I think initially back in the days of Dragon Ball Z, that helped build some relationships. But now if we have something, we have people to talk to that we've worked with before.

Thank you very much for your time, Mike.

This report has been moved and reposted from the old Aftercon Website*

 Animeland Tucon 2009 ReviewJuly 31st - August 2nd, 2009
Tucson, Arizona

This time, Anime Tucon has come back bigger than before. Moving to a new hotel with a bigger venue, the convention seems to look like it might take off in a big way in the next few years. Back again is local Japanese band, Toybox, who gave an extraordinary performance to the attendees. Also in attendance was rapper, Random, who opened for the band. Throughout the three days, there were various panels including AMV, how to draw, yaoi panel, etc. There was also a Masquerade and Cosplay Chess.

Looking back at last year, this convention is a good place to hang out with friends. The close proximity of all of the events gave it an intimate atmosphere. The place of choice to relax and have some fun was the gaming room run by AZHP. From DDR to BlazBlue, the gaming room was the place to be. Tournaments were constantly being held but a lot of open consoles were there for free gameplay as well. Our podcast host, David, took first place in the BlazBlue tournament. Our other host, Gackto, took third place.

The concert performance of Random was refreshing. Rapping to some video game music and freestyling with anime reference really pleased the crowd. One can see the crowd jumping and dancing to the music. Afterwards, Toybox played their set. A mosh pit was started in the middle of the crowd as the excitement peaked. The songs by Toybox were catchy and the audience rocked out with the band. After the concert, everyone lined up to get autographs. 

One of the older members of Aftercon, Rain, won the craftsmanship award for the Masquerade while Squirrely, another Aftercon member, won best of show. Throughout the convention, cosplayers were everywhere. Having the events all inside the same building was a smart move by the convention staff since it was the middle of summer in Arizona. Throughout the day, people were playing various games such as a Red Light, Green Light.

Overall, Animeland Tucon has a bright future since its Tucson, Arizona’s first anime convention. If it gets big enough, more people from up north in the Phoenix area may attend. But one thing this convention does offer is another option for con goers in the area that is perfectly time in between the other conventions. For those of us that love conventions, it is a perfect summer getaway.

Our newest staff, The Maylan, compiled an Animeland Tucon 2009 video of the Aftercon Crew for all of us! Please enjoy the video and song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLvVXQ-F07Q

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Hello, Con-nichiwa!

Tucson, Arizona

Official Aftercon Report by Frenchie

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to one of these “otaku” conventions, since Saboten-con actually. But it gave me quite an excitement to know that the same people who run Saboten-con and Phoenix Cactus Comicon wanted to expand their horizons and hit the ex-capital of Arizona, Tucson. In my opinion, it was a great idea to shift the fun away from the metro area and to reach out to people who have probably been driving up to Phoenix for 92% of Arizona’s anime conventions. Now, it’s time to give them a big break! That’s one pro for the con, so far. Another one is the turnout: There were just over 1000 attendees which ultimately meant a super huge turn-out for a con that’s in its first year at a small location. It’s like an accident on the I-10, it could get very crowded and we all go through there to do different kinds of things such as run panels, sell their work in the Artist Alley, volunteer in the gaming room, etc., but in the end, it’s all good!

Friday

I didn’t get to the convention until late in the afternoon, so I missed out on some great panels such as Defense Against Fanboys/girls, Japanese the fun way, and the Tekken 6 tournament. However! I did get a chance to catch the J-Fashion Show in its entirety. Being the first time in charge of a show, Chi (or Song) welcomes both new and familiar J-Fashion styles. Such as these:

This looks like a Cyber Fashion outfit, but I could be wrong. These two really stuck out to me, because it’s not Lolita (no offense to the millions of Lolita wearers, I don’t contradict myself, for most of the time at least). These two also won an award I believe, and it’s not surprising seeing as how their use of color and texture is very unique yet it goes together really well. This is definitely something people would wear to a Japanese rave, the ones where people go to until 7 in the morning and scramble to get to work right after it’s done.

Here’s another outfit that stuck out:

I can’t stress how pretty her outfit is, especially with the parasol to top it all off with. There was just a slight problem with the show. The models weren’t struggling to balance on the platform from what I observed, but the platform was either a bit too high, or the first two rows of the audience were a bit too close to see the models’ petticoats (and what-not) under their skirts. But hey, it’s not like I was looking, most of the first row was hogged by men who drooled the entire time that it hurt for me to see the volunteers sweep the mixture of sweat and drool off of the floor. Moving on to the host herself, Chi:

I’ve seen her around the J-Fashion scene here in Arizona for probably the longest time now, and it’s really neat to see her designs progress and become more intricate yet stylish. Of course, she always dresses to impress, but so did her models:

She’s really giving her outfit some attitude. All you need to do is attach some studded leather belts, necklaces, aviation shades, and we’re good to go! But in all seriousness, I was very happy that there were a lot of people who participated in the J-Fashion show. It was definitely unexpected, but it’s all the more reason for me to look forward to a second one.

Alright, so the show ended at around 8pm and the only other thing that was going on was the Zombie Make-up 101 panel, which I didn’t go to. I figured it’d be nice to have that tutorial fresh on my mind for Halloween, or just go out on a limb and actually eat somebody for real. But instead I decided to kill time until The Elevens and Toybox performed.

This is what I pretty much saw when I was up close and personal with the band while they were performing cover songs with random anime backgrounds. But don’t worry; I’m not going to think of them as anything more than just thunder thighs. So currently, the group consists of Gackto, Mailorder, Jesus, Justin, and Karu. They had a nice crowd going and sometime during their concert, there were people forming train lines and getting into crashes and such. I got worried, but it was entertaining to see. The cutest part was probably when Mailorder and Karu did a duo together. I could barely hear them over the screaming otaku whirling around the circle in the center of the room, but people cheered on for them anyway! I have to give these guys a lot of credit for how far they got with only so many resources. Plus, you have to take practice time into account. You can say that they opened for Toybox, because they were supposed to play first. The Elevens’ performance consisted of song such as “Helicopter” and “Rewrite” and had a projector showing anime such as FLCL and One Piece. Overall, the concert got the crowd going and seeing as how it was getting late for some people, it was tiny. But if you’re in a band, it’s tough to get a nice crowd to listen to your stuff. Props to them!

Toybox has got to be one of the most iconic Japanese bands in the anime scene in Arizona. They’ve performed at the Aftercon Con as well as Matsuri, so by now they’ve got a really huge fan base full of girls taking their pictures (or at least Yohei’s) with their sticker-filled cellphones. They performed some old songs and some new ones, from “Kids Don’t Cry” to “Kotae” and from what I’ve observed, when the volunteers moved the barricade-like chairs out of the crowd’s way, lots of girls started bouncing up and down like they won a million dollars. But they had to stop and take a break somehow, until the band started playing “Run.” That’s when the otakus seriously started running around the room like a bee’s chasing them. It’s officially a con when people start running around senselessly, right?

After the Toybox’s performance, the DJ started setting up for the dance. At that point, I was starving and in search of food like a Munchlax. So the food definitely won me over the dance, sad to say. But hey, at least I got a good doze of the con’s craziness for the day, and it’s only day one! Plus from what I’ve heard, it was “ok,” meaning it was less crowded. Although the DJ had some good tunes, people were just getting ready to start on Saturday, which was expected to be packed…

Saturday

…and boy, was it packed! I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and say that a lot of the 1003 total who went, went on Saturday. Could I blame them? Nope, Friday was still technically a school day and Saturday’s schedule looked like it was filled with a lot more interesting panels and events unlike Friday, in my humble opinion. We have to admit, Friday was just a little taste of the chaos on Saturday.

After having a quick breakfast on-the-go, I made it just in time to Aftercon’s first panel: Anime Singled Out. I was surprised enough as it is to wake up late and rush over to the convention; I was even more shocked to find out that I was a contestant, along with David. Gackto seemed like he was more than prepared to start the panel, but we had a small problem: Not enough participants. On my way through the hall to the panel room, I knew I heard an Asian dude serenading some people passing by to join the game. I’m sure glad we got enough people by the time we had to start the panel.

David was up first and he definitely got the crowd going with his responses to questions like “Sasuke or Naruto?” In the end, he got paired up with a girl that cosplayed from Vocaloid, although I’m not sure which character she is exactly. When it was my turn, I was in for it. However, it would have been boring if it wasn’t for one person: Panda. She was adorable and the moment she walked in was very random too! Unfortunately, when I kicked her out of one of my questions, I used my golden ticket to bring her back just to kick her off again on the next question. I felt pretty bad, but at least she got a chance to play the game as a contestant. We also got a chance to get rid of the piles of whatever that Gackto brought. In the end, I could tell that everyone had their share of laughs, whether it was at David, Gackto, or awkward little me. By the way, I hope everyone knew the disclaimer about the ratings of our questions. I know they imply a lot of “other” things and some questions seemed loaded. But was it really necessary to waste the first few minutes of our panel to mention them? Not really.

Right after the Aftercon panel, I felt like I could seriously eat a whole cow! So I did! Unfortunately, I had to miss out on the “How to date a con girl/guy” panel. But hey, I was dying, and I’m sure the con dating scene will survive without me. I read on the forums that this panel was close to being named the best panel at the con. The panel that won was actually the one that I went to: Kawaii Polymer Clay Jewelry. After Singled Out, I headed to the hotel’s restaurant, whose name I forgot. They had a really nice selection of sandwiches, including a very delicious ham and Swiss on rye bread with just a hint of mayonnaise. I don’t know why, but most people thought it would be expensive to order from the restaurant, but it actually wasn’t. The sandwich cost me about $6 and that included a salad appetizer. Instead, people fell for the marketing trick of buying from that convenient vendor in the middle of the main lobby, selling water for about $2, and pretzels for even more! I could go on a rant about saving money at cons, but let’s move on to the clay panel!

There weren’t really that many people when I walked in after having a scrumptious sandwich, and the panel was very well-organized. This panel definitely deserves to win the best panel award! As I sat down, there were some handouts with really fun tips and websites to go to. The room was organized so that members of the audience could sit at the two front tables to make their own polymer clay jewelry. The host (whose name I forgot), really knew her stuff, that it made me want to make a few little trinkets myself. The downside to this panel was that it was 2 hours long. But on the plus side, you get to walk away with a nice piece of bling!

Right after watching one heck of a crafty panel, I walked on over to another crafty panel: Paper Crafting 101 & Gundam. The panel really got my attention, because paper crafting is so simple and you get really cute figurines in the end. The downside to paper crafting is how much time it takes to make some of the really intricate figures. There’s a life-size Link paper figure that took a few weeks to finish, down to the very last detail. It was pretty incredible, which really showed the person’s determination. I’m going to personally put this panel on my top 3 best panels, because it also included audience participation. Everyone got a chance to make their own paper figurines. The choices were Mario, Eva, Simon, or Lelouche:

The nice gentleman that was hosting the panel started paper crafting about 3 months ago and he’s already making some pretty complicated things such as this:

But! His real hobby is Gundam! He brought a ton of boxes of his Gundam figurines to show to the audience:

While he was setting them up, he was showing us the openings of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny on the projector screen. I couldn’t help but notice that his entire interface is in Japanese. That was when he explained himself. He lived in Japan for about a year or two and came across Gundam modeling while he was there. Gundams in Japan is a very huge hobby, that’s why they are very cheap over there. Unfortunately for us, Gundams are pretty expensive, because they have to be ordered and shipped over here. Plus, it’s not as big of a hobby as it is in Japan. Think of it as their version of Legos. Then again, Japan probably has something just like it, if not better…But there it is!

Ever since my yummy sandwich, I probably sat through 4 hours of amazing time, which lead me to take a little break. As I was walking around the con grounds, I stumbled upon the Café Moe Concert. I only took a quick glance and got a chance to see Amiko perform. It’s really amazing how one idea can get a lot of people involved in the community. I remember when it first started at Saboten-con 2008. The objectives kind of faltered, but everyone had a good time overall. Now, it’s formed into this little club of maids and butlers that serve you! If you want to be a part of it, you’ll have to listen to your masters and do (almost) everything they say (not in that way, perverts). They’ll have a good time only if you do!

Lingering around the entire con didn’t take too much time, since it was held inside a hotel. So I thought I’d snag a tour of the vendor room/artist alley. Even though it’s a tiny room with businesses on the outer ring and artists in the inner ring, there were quite a ton of interesting things to check out. Of course, if you already have a few things that you bought from a vendor from awhile back, it’s probably not the best idea to splurge your money here. These businesses brought a lot of nifty items like Heartless hats, Ichigo pins, down to cosplay items like Sora’s keyblade. It wasn’t so much of the vendors that took me by surprise, but it was the Artist Alley. A majority of them are women who are selling fashion items, fan art, or both! Even Chi has her own table and quite a number of people stopped by to check out her latest and greatest in J-Fashion. Our very own Glady also showcased her works! People like her really are dedicated to the anime community, because they’re taking Japanese pop culture another step and pursuing art; and to show their art takes lots of guts and sweat!

Alright, alright. After I found amazement and awe in the vendor’s hall, I decided to check out the gaming room. There were actually two, since one is reserved for tournament purposes. AZHP really organized their layout, because I remember a few cons turned out to be horrible because of relocation of tournaments, which caused everyone to run late. There were a good amount of people stopping inside the gaming room. It’s not only that Con-nichiwa was a small con, but diverting the casual gaming room from the tournament room really helped out a lot. Otherwise, we’d be packed in one room like a can of (smelly) sardines. No offense, but the gaming room was pretty notorious for what we call, “Gamer Funk”. AZHP learned their lesson by bringing the Febreeze, so that was a huge sigh of relief.

A couple hours of lingering around the vendor’s hall and gaming room caused me to have my craving for Italian food. Watching this one guy play Mario at the Smash tournament didn’t really help it, either. So I searched outside of the con grounds and found a really neat pizza place near U of A. It’s a local place, so its name was pretty forgettable. Anyways, let’s fast-forward to the actual convention:

The masquerade ended up being a big hit, despite not having a full house. Yuki came onto the stage and while he was talking, a few videos were playing in the two screens on both sides of the stage. It looked like videos taken from past AMV contests, and they were seriously funny! I remember a Haruhi video, where she and everybody else were on these space shuttles, firing laser beams at each other while epic music was playing in the background. Everybody became sad when Yuki renounced his position as the host. However, David and Gackto were there to entertain us all! There were quite a few interesting acts, such as The Little Mermaid and the cutest little girl that I’ve ever seen being carried by the loveliest anime male to ever exist: Dark! There was also a really unique steampunk couple that came onto the stage and it got everyone oo-ing and aah-ing at their shininess and antiquity. Even though the masquerade was shorter than expected, everyone really couldn’t wait to dash off to the dance and just shake off the days’ excitement and have fun!

Sunday

You’d probably expect my entry for Sunday to be really short. Well, it is; but not as short as Friday. As the convention comes to a close, there were still lots of things to see and do! If you woke up bright and early having so much late night fun at the dance, you probably didn’t make it to the Anime/Video Game Confessional panel. Just like me! Although, I really wanted to see how many people haven’t seen some of the most popular anime and video games. I’ll admit that I haven’t seen Bleach and Naruto in its entirety. Actually, I can figure out what their stories are about by just looking at the many Bleach and Naruto cosplayers interact at cons. Let’s not think of it as an insult, more like an interesting way of knowing the story. Plus, it just shows how popular the anime is. I bet the same goes with videogames like Call of Duty and Blazblue. Anyhow, onto some other panels!

Aftercon’s Asians in America panel was alright, to be honest. The downturn is that some people were pretty far away that we couldn’t hear them. Come on guys, we don’t bite, at least not hard. Like I mentioned about the Singled Out panel, there is the disclaimer about personal insults. Except in our case, we’re the minority in the room, so insults are the pride of our panel! There were some interesting things that came up, once we got past all the questions about the secrets of ninjas and how to kill them. Some people asked about things from Asians in the dating scene to wanna-be Asians and how Asians view them. Each time we do this panel, a lot of the same things come up. Yet, people’s interest in the topic becomes slightly different. The numbers of Asians in America continue to grow until eventually, America is a fully diverse country. The same thing could be said about Americans living in Asia. We talked about certain Westerners that are becoming more popular among the Asian culture, such as kick boxer Bob Sapp. Our equivalent would be John Cho or Jet Li, maybe even Rain. Then we came to the conclusion about Asian culture coming over here just as much as American culture going over there, which explains why Gackto was playing some K-Pop music videos…then he played Plants vs. Zombies to conclude our panel.

Sometime after the panel, there was free Ramen! Well actually, if you enter Ramen Warrior, you’ll be getting lots of free Ramen until you’re booted off. Luckily, nobody threw up at the conveniently placed trash can right next to the stage. Once it got closer to finals, people had little to no time to digest their Ramen from previous rounds. But, that’s what it takes to be a Ramen Warrior! For the finals, it was down to Yuki and another gentleman. Guess who won? Of course, Yuki! He won a really nice The Wallflower DVD, which he didn’t even know what to do with, considering the fact that it’s a chick anime. But the fierce competition was pretty nice to watch, on the other hand.

I just noticed that Sunday is filled with a lot of Asian-oriented panels. After Ramen Warrior, some of the con attendees got a chance to play with swords at the Basic Swordsmanship panel. I didn’t really partake in this panel, because it looked pretty dangerous. I know those swords aren’t as sharp as they seem, because they’re made of wood. But, I can’t handle long slender things (no sexual reference implied, really). Overall, the panel was pretty fun to watch, it was also really informative. The host really wanted people to be active and be knowledgeable of ancient Japan. This is a con of Japanese pop culture, right?

Finally, it’s not a convention until you see a “nice” crossplay:

That is all for the official Con-nichiwa Aftercon Report! I'm Frenchie, and you can add me as a friend or send me a message on any questions.

Sakuracon 2010: Wendy Powell Interview

Wendy has been a professional voice actress for Funimation Entertainment and Okratron 5000 for over 7 years. She is probably most well known for a little villain named "Envy" on Fullmetal Alchemist. She was most recently in a new role in Claymorewhere she plays the character Ilene. Her most challanging role this year was the role of IKU in Shirguri...you need to watch it to know why! Wendy is also known for smaller parts in which she usually dies a most painful death. Some of her credits include: Emi in Baki the Grappler, Amick in Blue Gender, the Fever Demon in Shin Chan, Kyo's mother inFruits Basket, and Kasuga in Negima, Paula "Lady Death" In Trinity Blood. She has also voiced characters in Kitty Grade, Case Closed, Yu Yu Hakusho, Peach Girl,xxxHolic, One Piece, Galaxy Railways, Tsubasa,Gunslinger Girl, Moon Phase, Glass Fleet, and many others. Video Game credits include Spikeout, Fullmetal Alchemist, Curse of the Crimson, and Broken Angel. 

Which character can you relate to the most?

 Envy. All of us have envy ingrained in us. Not everyone can say they can relate to sins such as lust or gluttony—or sloth, if you’re a workaholic! Anyway, it’s a very relatable sin. Everyone can relate to envy.

Do you have any other things you do besides voice acting?

I’m also a florist that deals with floral design. I own a company called Frilly Flowers. I also enjoy the designing side of theater. I’m going to school to be a teacher as well. Specifically, I want to be a middle school teacher.

Do you ever encounter any difficulties within voice acting as a career?

Not having a constant, stable paycheck is draining at times. I have such a niche voice, too. I may be only able to voice 2 to 4 out of 30 characters offered in a series, for example. I have an extremely identifiable voice and a limited range. In a way, theater is easier for me. Anime is limited. Youth-oriented, pre-pubescent, high-pitched voices aren’t for me, but there are a lot of characters like that. I was well suited for Envy, though. I still have those niche parts, which I’m glad for.

You do plays, right? What kind of plays did you work on and what was your last role?

I used to do almost exclusively comedy. Right now I’m at the perfect age for theater. I can’t be home to do theater because of conventions, though. My last role was the evil stepmother in Cinderella. I built the character around the voice.

Any plays you would recommend?

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hollywood Arms, Raisin in the Sun, House of Blue Leaves… These plays serve as great reading material, too.

I hear the anime industry is changing. Do you have any observations on that?

I really don’t know.  Funimation is acquiring properties left and right and has lots of stuff going to TV. Straight-to-DVD is still nice, but not quite as exciting. Adult swim has lately not been picking up anime. However, Brotherhood was picked up, and I’m excited for that. Most of the stuff I’ve been in was picked up.

Any shows that you enjoyed working on that you wished more people watched?

Claymore was fun to work on. It has rough and tough girls. I loved the strong female warriors. Ilena was a character I chose for her physicality. I love the way she looked. With her and Claire, I think of Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke. Unfortunately, it was not picked up and it’s not doing well as I wish it could.

Was there any character that was difficult to voice for?

Envy is difficult. I honestly don’t take good care of my voice. As for difficult characters, you just plough through it! Envy has lots of fluctuation. It’s feminine yet with a sound of masculinity. It’s all over the charts. Envy has a temper and involves a lot of yelling.

Also, my role in Shigurui was painfully hard to record. It was very emotional. It’s a very violent and sexual show.

What anime are you watching right now?

At the moment, I don’t watch anything but Brotherhood. I watch it as the audience watches it. I like following along with the audience. I don’t tend to read all the scripts in advance, because if you know too much in advance, then your delivery is not as spontaneous as it’s supposed to be.

Do you ever get emotionally involved with a character you’re working on?

Part of you is brought into every character… You fall in love with a character and then you break up once the series is over. With Fullmetal Alchemist, I was lucky. I’m attached to the characters. It’s been six years, and I get to revisit Envy again.

When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?

I’ve always known I’d want to teach eventually. I love working with kids. The middle school group is perfect. I know how awkward they feel. They’re at an awkward stage in their lives. Theater catches them. They are the most awkward kids in the building, but in essence, the most real ones.

What do you think of Sakuracon?

This is my second time at Sakuracon. It’s one of the best cons I’ve been to. The cosplayers that stick out to me are the Sgt. Frog ones…and the Trinity Blood cosplayers! I think they should be working as costume designers and making a living. They’re very good.

Have you ever thought of cosplaying?

I’ve never thought of cosplaying. It’s not for me. I like set design and props, though. I like analyzing the script to the core and taking from it ideas for all the props. I don’t like building things, but instead taking things from the script to design and bring props out from the page.

What shows are you excited about that you’re working on?

I’m excited about three shows at the moment. Of course I’m excited about Brotherhood.

What other cons are you planning on attending? Any you’re particularly excited about?

(laughs and takes out schedule) One in Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Wisconsin…ACEN, Colossal Con in Ohio—which will feature the Brotherhood cast. Tulsa, Alabama, England, Vegas, Denver… There’s quite a few more. All of this is because of Brotherhood.

I don’t have a day off. (laughs) I’m excited about Hawaii and my birthday.

Our time is up. Any last words?

Someday, I want to settle down and have a family. So far, I’ve been at Funimation for eleven years, and I’m thankful to them for my time there.

Thank you so much for your time, Wendy.

Once again, Sakuracon proves again that it can be the big con where things do go right. Now I'm not saying that everything went right but I haven't experienced or heard any major complaints. From guests to panels to concerts, Sakuracon had it all. Plus there were a variety of places to eat and a fish market just right down the street.

Food is a wonderful thing and Sakuracon had it or had it around the area. At the convention center, there was a burrito shop with 4.99 burritos and they were huge! Not to mention, there were two Subways there too with $6 footlongs. And a delicious crepe shop! Across the street was a Cheesecake Factory and down the street was a fish market, a shopping mall filled with crepe, boba and Asian cuisine stores in the food court, and a favorite place of Aftercon staff called Redfin. It's a sushi restaurant with fresh sushi and great taste that doesn't compare to those Americanized sushi places. We also went to a conveyor belt sushi called Blue Sushi right across the street but it was a little expensive for conveyor belt sushi.

At the convention, we interviewed Wendy Powell and Luci Christian, voice actors for various anime like Full Metal Alchemist, Princess Tutu and One Piece. Look for the separate interviews in the Aftercon Reports section! Other guests that were there include Brina Palencia, Troy Baker, Vic Mignona, Dazzle Vision, High and Mighty Color, etc. but we didn't get to interview them.

On Friday, we mostly took pictures of cosplayers and handed out Aftercon cards. We went to the voice actor forum where all of the voice actors talked and answered questions from the audience and for some reason, Troy Baker did not show up. He didn't show up for his press conference either, and we were really looking forward to seeing him since we are the biggest Persona 4 fans. In case you are wondering, he is the voice of Kanji in the game. Then we catched a few episodes of He is My Master in the video viewing rooms. It was one of those harem anime... Sort of. But it seemed funny. Then it was more cosplayer photos before the dance. You can check out our Sakuracon 2010 photos here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSDUFNLoUE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGOagUSAjGM

The dance was filled with attendees that were energized by the music. The DJs really brought out the spirit of people, and the dances is comparing to the awesome dances we experience at Anime Central. Definitely better than Anime Expo dances! Congo lines were the rage and so were dance circles, and we even saw an Ace Ventura cosplayer in the midst of all of the chaos.

On Saturday, we were mostly busy with the interviews with Wendy Powell and Luci Christian. Then we took a few more photos and prepared for the Dazzle Vision, High and Mighty Color concert.

We took some great quality photos and video of the bands! Dazzle Vision did a good job opening for High and Mighty Color, but they seemed generic although the female lead singer can scream like a hard metal vocalist. She had some good growls! The band to see was High and Mighty Color who has done theme songs for Gundam Seed and Bleach. With the new vocalist, Halca, they performed new material and old hits exactly as they sounded when Maki, the previous lead singer, was in the band. The concert was great and the crowd was pumped. Every song was full of energy and brought back memories of the early days of Bleach and Gundam Seed. The band did a really fantastic job but it did seem a little empty. Having seen High and Mighty Color four times in Japan and at Anime Central, this concert lacked the energy of Maki. Maki provided that cuteness, unique voice and the energetic stage performance during their shows, and although Halca did a wonderful job replicating the sound, she performed with a rebel, hard rock, and serious demeanor. Not that it matters since most attendees were seeing their first High and Mighty Color concert and couldn't tell the difference.

After the concert, it was time for autographs. People waited in line for over two hours for High and Mighty Color autographs. Our staff managed to get a picture of Dazzle Vision.

There was another dance and we attended an event called The Walk Off. It was more like a dance off where guys dance for female judges. However it lack organization and the room setup was not that great. While we hopped in and out of the dance, we kept passing out Aftercon cards. The arcade and gaming room were still open since it was a 24 hour convention and we went there once in a while.

On Sunday, there was little time to do anything as we prepared to leave. We hung around the dealers room which had some good merchandise and then headed to the fish market. For lunch, we went to Redfin. Then it was back to the dealers room before heading out to the airport. We also had an Aftercon panel but it was scheduled as the last panel of the day which we couldn't attend due to our flight schedule. We hope no one showed up! We couldn't get the time for the panel changed so officially there was an Aftercon panel but technically, there wasn't one.

In the end, we did a lot of work. We got over 100 new members from Sakuracon on the website and two interviews done. And we enjoy some Japanese music in the front row and had some great food. This was a good and highly recommended convention for anyone on the West Coast. Please leave comments on things that we have may missed, things that you disagree with, or just anything. :)

Redfin: 50 cent fried shrimp heads!

July 31st - August 2nd, 2009

          Saboten-con returns for its 2^nd successful year and it definitely brought about a lot of changes. First off, the location of Saboten-con is at the Hilton Phoenix, East Mesa. A majority of the con-goers live in the East valley, so commuting wasn’t so much of a problem. However, West valley residents got a chance to stay at the hotel and stroll around the area. The beautifully constructed booklets came with a convenient map that listed all the nearby restaurants and venues, for those who like to wander around like in an RPG. Another change was the addition of Twitter. Now, many con-goers could get fresh updates of what’s going on through their website. There are a ton of other new and exciting things at this year’s Saboten-con, including some panels that sparked a lot of people’s interest throughout the Halloween weekend!

      Aftercon was very fortunate to snatch two time slots on the first day for the Anime Singled Out and Asian in America panel. Three of our very own members, Chris Dante, Amiko and EliteSasuke were our two contestants for the panel, and the turnout was very successful. With a packed room full of anime lovers eager to win their hearts, only one could win. EliteSasuke had an impressive amount of women (and possibly men) trying to win his interest at heart:

      “Well, I did enjoy the fact that I knew a lot of people were behind me because the audience suddenly got way smaller. I wish I could have come up with some more witty responses, but all the good ones had already been said. The girl, who did win while I was in the chair, was pretty adorable despite how young she looked. Having this been my first time with Anime Singled Out, I really enjoyed it and look forward to a time I can do it again.”

      We were very happy to see lots of people involved not only in the panel, but ultimately in the Anime convention community, seeing as how many more people are coming and enjoying themselves.

      Aftercon’s fun didn’t stop there, though. Lots of people headed to a room close from our previous panel for our “Asians in America” panel. This year, we’ve added a little twist of fun to the panel: Our very own Tarayaki decided to show everyone a demonstration on how to make Onigiri, which is basically a rice ball. She took the time and liberty to make some sushi rice, bring some seaweed and seasonings to the panel. We also had a little contest to see who can make the best Onigiri. 3 random people from the audience were picked and one lucky girl got away with the cutest looking Onigiri of them all. As far as the Q&A portion, the panel consisted of Jai it up, Frenchie, Gackto, Disposable Assassin, and David. Our fearless leader, Gackto, sits in the middle of it all:

      “We answered questions to a standing room only crowd. And we taught the audience how to make Onigiri thanks to Tara. We even had them come up and make some for themselves. Once again, our time was up and we had to end it.”

      A good amount of heated discussions arose as far as disproving or promoting stereotypes go. Lots of topics ranged from using our race as an excuse to fight, to trips that we’ve taken or wanted to take. Hopefully the panel was invigorating, informative, and entertaining, of course. Until the next Asian in America panel, we’ll keep coming up with more fresh ideas for the audience!

      Just two hours after the Asian in America panel, a similar panel struck the con community: How to Spot a Fake Asian. It was quite an interesting panel, because it seemed to just invoke a sense of humor in anybody, Asian or non-Asian. The panel consisted of a PowerPoint Presentation illuminated with pictures and a very enthusiastic host, dressed in a military outfit, talking to everyone as if we were on a mission in the Amazon. Justin comments:

      “’How to spot a fake Asian’ was a pretty funny panel…I thought a lot of it was pointless, they were just describing what a weeaboo (Wapanese person) practically is.”

      There were a lot of technical terms to describe people who wanted to be Asian, particularly Japanese. Then, there were terms used to describe those who are Asian, but act like the stereotypes given to them by non-Asians. Although this isn’t an urban dictionary, it’s better to refer to a friend about these terms used to describe “fake” Asians. Or if you were at the panel, they gave a beautiful demonstration and audience interaction on how to avoid these “fake” Asians. Overall, the presentation was well-balanced if not more entertaining to some extent.

      Also happening on the first day was the 2^nd annual J-Fashion Show! There were several ups and downs to this one. Kaela points one of them out:

      “It was a tad of a bummer that we couldn't do one run-through on the stage before going on, but I completely understand. Other than that, I thought the fashion show was pretty coordinated and awesome-tastic!”

      All if not most of the models had little to no chance of practicing their runway poses and walks. However, our very own Larxy volunteered to do hair and make-up for models that needed a complete makeover, or maybe just a little up-do. She definitely deserved a lot of credit for her willingness and for her creativity, because all the models had rocking hairstyles!

      Miss Deep was happy to host another successful year of the J-Fashion Show. Although there weren’t as many entries as expected, that gave way to the diversity of genres showcased in the show. Of course, there was the typical Gothic Lolita style and J-Rock style. However, there were several unique styles such as “Wamono” and a fusion of Punk and Lolita. At the beginning of the show, Chi showcases her latest designs first, with Amiko being one of her special models. Then, once a new song track started, the models busted out all that they’ve got! Many models walked out in anxiety and worry from tripping on the stage to their facial expressions. But nevertheless, all of them walked back with a rush of excitement on their faces, like a new-found fame!

      Just soon after the Fashion Show was over, Cosplay Prom was there to begin the nightlife of Saboten-con! Cosplay Prom is a brand new event and the attire is what it says in the name, formal Cosplay! Many people basked in the light of the doorway, wearing their cosplay-inspired attire, coupled off as they walked through the doors of the Pavon room. Of course, there was a desk to buy your date a boutonnière or a corsage from a variety of vibrant colors! The event coordinators really outdid themselves for this event, because the room was glowing and beautifully decorated. From the clean white table cloths covered in rose petals and orange-flamed candles, to the glowing silver sprinkles that traces your path to the dance floor; Cosplay Prom was the place to be. And just like any other school prom, there was a competition held to vote on the Cosplay Prom King and Queen, and they would go out onto the dance floor as everyone watches them dance in amazement. Although the place was heavily, but elegantly decorated, many people seemed to have been intimidated to dance to anime-themed songs for an event as formal as Prom. Photobooths were also available to capture everybody’s memories. The turnout seemed to be really successful and it’s a sure win to be on the itinerary for next year’s Saboten!

      After Cosplay Prom, Sabo’s nightlife didn’t end there just yet! There was also the usual dance that’s held at the end of a good-lived con day. Friday night’s dance theme was “Streets of Japan,” where people would wear Japanese street clothing and go to dances, just like typical clubs in Tokyo. Then, Saturday’s dance theme was “Halloweentown,” which is self-explanatory in the title. Kaela shares her words with us again, as she was caught as one of the dancers up on stage:

      “The dances were fun. Courtney did an amazing spin for 3 hours on Saturday night! It stinks that the dancers were a little understaffed, but that's alright; we made do. The dances emptied out pretty quickly for some reason though, not sure why. I would appreciate if the dances ended at midnight and started earlier, because by the time the dances end around 2 AM, I was just beat. Overall though, I give it super thumbs up!”

      Dances were regulated by security, who tries to keep everybody inside the dance or their hotel room. They could be found walking around the hotel premises, making small talk with attendees to see if they’re up past their curfew. The problem with last year’s Saboten-con was the curfew laws. Many attendees were still under 18 year of age, and lots of problems arise because of that. Minors could be caught walking outside in the streets, trying to get something to eat, or something along those lines. The committee made it clear to have parents or guardians watching over their children during afterhours. However, the safest way to go about it is to stay within the hotel’s proximity. They also underlined this in their program, because Mesa is also known to have lots of crimes caused by minors. The thing to remember, be careful and take responsibility!

      As soon as the Saturday started, everyone was on their feet, especially in the gaming room, where most of the valley’s gamers gather to play in tournaments or just for fun and laughs! Jai was a very careful and watchful eye as he and a few other AZHP members monitor the gaming room floor:

      “The gaming rooms was good as usual, the only gripe I thought people had was that some of the tournaments were being held in separate rooms that was a pretty good distance from the gaming room itself. Otherwise, the gaming room was good. It had a decent variety of games and DDR, people always enjoy DDR.”

      Indeed, many people enjoyed DDR, because there was a set of metal dance pads that people could play on as opposed to a soft mat. Many people were also able to bring their own joysticks to play in tournaments or in free play. Games offered included the newly released Tekken 6, Soul Calibur 4, Street Fighter 4, Naruto, Typing of the Dead, IIDX, even PC games like Warcraft. The possibilities were endless! The amount of room for gaming, as Jai has said, was very minimal.

      Originating from the first Saboten-con, the maid café, or “Café Moe” is back once again! Our very own Amiko has been very well involved with the Café Moe community here in the valley, and she’s done it all! Here’s her insight of the action:

      “As a member of Cafe Moe, I thought that the maid cafe for Saboten Con ran pretty smoothly. Of course there were some hiccups in the beginning, but nothing that could have slowed us down. I enjoyed seeing the many masters that came in to participate and play games with us maids. Their enthusiasm kept us maids going and the smiles on all their faces were amazing! I can't wait to do it again.”

      For one of the Anime Fests at Atomic Comics, she and a friend held a bake sale in order to provide funds for the club. She even baked the cupcakes herself! She and the other maids and butlers took part in dances in order to entertain their customers, or “masters.” Everyone that bought a ticket to get in got to take a good helping of pastries to fill their bellies as well as entertainment such as dancing and singing from the maids and butlers. Lots of these people worked really hard outside of their schoolwork and perhaps their job, to make this Café a great success! The idea of a Maid Café was widely accepted by many con-attendees here, that it’s no doubt it will be coming back for a third year at the next Saboten!

      Saturday night’s highlight was the masquerade! It was definitely a sight to see as Paris took part in the pre-judging process:

      “The judging this year was incredible; all the judges had a lot of experience so they definitely knew what they were doing. They made it really fair by deciding who won what award. I personally loved working with Alice Munroe and Yaya, they were fantastic judges and very experienced. Without them, the masquerade wouldn't have been half as good!”

      As for the show itself, here is what she also had to say:

      “The masquerade was very well coordinated, the skits were great, the costumes were fantastic and the MC was great too! Unfortunately, I didn't see the half time show but I heard that was really well done and funny! The room for the masquerade was quite small, which is probably why there was a cutoff for how many people could get in, but overall it was fine! Many of the contestants were there getting judged on their cosplays, so I wish I could have seen more skits! All the contestants did very well, whether it was their cosplays/craftsmanship or a skit! People really try harder nowadays to win!”

      Indeed, many people have tried harder not only in the making of their costumes, but their skits as well. Luckily, many people captured videos of the masquerade and are available on Youtube.com! Lots of amazing costumes and skits have come about and made judging very hard for the judges. I’m not going to ruin the surprise on this report, so you’ll just have to watch the videos for yourself! All I could dish is that the room was packed with attendees with the room being large enough as it is; which is a very positive feedback for the Saboten committee! Hopefully, next year’s will be filled with lots of half-time game shows and more unforgettable skits by Kira and Dustin!

      Once Sunday came around, lots of people were bummed out that it’s almost over. But, it wasn’t over yet! Sunday was also a good time to go to cosplay gatherings and catch some awesome photos of cosplayers in the delightful Sunday sun. Opeth gives us an insight of the Code Geass gathering, which was one of the best photoshoot gatherings at the con:

      “It was an excellent gathering/photoshoot. There was a cosplayer for just about every character in the series and there was almost no overlap in terms of the cosplay outfits worn in the group. There was pizza at the end of the gathering... mostly for C.C. but she was nice enough to share.”

      Other gatherings included Axis Powers Hetalia, Bleach, Naruto, there was even a J-Rock gathering group! It was very exciting to see a lot more gatherings springing up at this year’s Saboten-con and I hope the tradition continues.

      Even though Sunday was a good day to have a cosplay gathering, most people decided to just wear their cosplays and walk around. For Geoff, however, this weekend was no-cosplay and so he shares his cosplay expertise with what he’s observed:

      “A lot of the cosplays that I saw at Saboten-con were quite interesting. Whether it be the half dead Sora in the corner or the Christmas Town Sora, Shawn was sporting. Everyone seemed to have a feel for Halloween and a way to mix that feel into their cosplays. It was fun seeing your favorite characters in ways you had never seen them before.”

      Cosplaying definitely took a lot of time for people of different ranges of skill. There are also some extreme cases where people can change up to 8 outfits in a whole day! Think about it, that’s one costume for every 2 hours of a day in the convention! Crazy!

      Whether you’re a hardcore cosplayer or prefer to watch others cosplay, the Artist Alley and Dealer’s Room was definitely the place to find more trinkets for your collection of anime, manga, cosplay props, candy, Ramune, etc.

      Lots of people were found lingering among the Artist Alley or Dealer’s Room, trying to scrounge up what they can get before the convention finally closes. There were lots of aspiring and starving artists who really wanted to showcase their talent. Surprisingly enough, lots of people who showed up sold Lolita or punk-based items, including Larxy’s Dictator Fantasyland line was surely a stop to make!

      Well, there you have it! Saboten brought back the heat and excitement in the con community and with much more people attending, we’re anticipating for an even better one next year! Whether you like to be in the spotlight, or prefer to stand among the crowd and witness the greatness of convention life, Saboten-con is definitely high on the must-go list for its variety of panels and thoughtful committee.

 Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 1

http://www.hulu.com/watch/70427/fullmetal-alchemist-brotherhood-fullmetal-alchemist

Enjoy!