AnimeNEXT 2012: Moe (萌え) and Loathing In New Jersey

"Wait! We Can't Stop Here, It's Zubat Country."

...too mainstream for Hipster Pikachu

I've got convention burn-out. I've been to four anime cons in the last six months. Between the years 2003-2006, I went to four cons total.

I really don't know why I decided to become a "con-whore," and I believe it is time to stop. Time to skip Otakon, and look to Anime USA, maybe by then I'll have a few more anime cover songs under my belt.

 Let's get down to brass tacks. How much for the alpaca? 

I really did not set out to get black-out drunk at this convention; but I did buy a bottle of 151 before hand. I had my younger brother by my side, taking pictures and driving me around. He had to remind me every few seconds about how much I smelled like booze and about creepy I was. I pretty much cosplayed Komugi Nakahara (Nurse Witch Komugi) all weekend because I am too fat to fit into my Madoka costume.

Posing with ninja, at a terrible spot outside the artist alley

If you've never been to AnimeNEXT before, I can describe it simply as a "cosplayer's convention." People spend most of the time "outside," there are many "scenic" spots for photo-shoots, and a few outside specific events (cosplay soccer, dunk tank, etc.)

Scenic, beautiful Jersey... I'm waiting for the Toxic Avenger to jump out of the pond and mug me.

I ended up missing out on the concert on Friday. It's a long story. I only caught the tail-end of the Masquerade, so yeah this is a pretty crappy con report. Burlesque show? Missed it. Dance party/rave? I fell asleep like the old man that I am. I didn't even realize that Hitomi Himekawa performed at the dance party until I saw pictures after the fact; but at least I got to see her perform at karaoke. I missed the Berryz Kobo concert while picking up one of my roommates at New Brunswick station. I did randomly stumble into a panel room on Sunday where IchiP! and Paradise Peach were dancing, which was a present surprise, since I was just dehydrated and incoherent by Sunday afternoon.

I didn't even see this Hit Girl, until I looked through the pictures my brother took.

 Shoot it! Not yet, I want to study it's habits.
This might be the best costume I've seen. Ever.

What kind of rat bastard psychotic would play that song right now, at this moment?
Nurse Witch Komugi tunes all weekend.

Overall. I had a great time, as I do at any convention I've gone to.

 

Zenkaikon 2012: Miyu's convention report

Okay, I really shouldn't be writing about my Zenkaikon experience on a Sunday afternoon, since I'm ripe with post-convention depression. Zenkaikon 2012 was only a two day con this year, and since it got started at 3pm on Friday, it was kind of actually only a one-and-half-day con, so I feel like the con was finishing up as it was getting started. I came into this con a little nervous after seeing the "convention map." It was basically two big "trade show" rooms, and a couple of smaller "panel" rooms off to the side. One of the larger show rooms was the dealer's room/artist alley, which got closed off after 6pm on Friday and 8pm on Saturday, basically condensing everything into the one main room, where the concerts/raves were. Needless to say, sound bleed was not only an issue, but was expected. The good news however, was that the wide open space seemed to work to an advantage that the room never got too crowded. Even the rave had an "openness" to it, which seemed to minimize the likelihood that you'd be forced to smell other people's "con funk."

I didn't take many pictures. This was at 2pm on Friday
before the convention started. Note the wide open space;
it never really got too crowded in here which worked to
the convention's advantage.

Aside from the line for people who did not preregister, there was never really a "wait" to do anything. No dealer's room line. No lines for concerts or events. Plenty of space to sit. Since the majority of the "happenings" were in two big rooms, you really could do "everything," or at least bounce in-and-out of events if you didn't want to commit to one thing for too long, which is essentially what I did.

Half the fun of a convention is the fun you make for yourself. People were constantly "hanging out" outside the convention center and dancing and making their own fun. There was a steampunk violinist and an accordion player walking around on Friday, and Nate and I did a "renegade performance" on Saturday night as Yuki Yuki Yasumi (I'd really love to see some of those pics). The weather was perfect for "fooling around," and my favorite moments of the con were just standing outside and meeting people.

Here I am with one of the many "Homestuck" cosplay groups
enjoying the perfect weather.

Outside of the convention my friends and I ate some pretty good meals. Saturday we made the mistake of eating (or should I say over-eating) at Max and Erma's, a burger place in the convention-area complex by the Oaks Regal. It was a truly awesome 10 oz. burger and I had to carry that "food baby" around with me the entire rest of the convention. The night before we over-indulged at the Bob Evan's right next to the Hampton hotel in which we were staying.

Anyway, as for the convention itself:

Artist Alley/ Dealer's Room

I spent a lot of time (and of course money) in the dealer's room/artist alley. It was a well-balanced dealer's room which had a little bit of everything. I constantly had to walk through it to see my friends who had an artist table, which meant I was making impulse buys the entire convention, none of which I regret, except maybe the $5 melon pan. I ended up with a new anime bath towel (Heaven's Lost Property), anime bag (Heaven's Lost Property), a really really soft Totoro pillow, some figurine from some game/eroge that I didn't recognize, and my first ever piece of My Little Ponies merchandise, a Twilight Sparkle shirt (I guess I'm out of the Brony closet now).

Cosplay:

In the hotel without my wig. My arms are getting
too big for "crossplay." We were joking that I
should paint myself green and do a Hulk-schoolgirl-type
mash up.

Generally, there was more cosplay on the full day, Saturday than on Friday. I debuted my "incomplete" Nurse Witch Komugi costume. It was missing the jewelry, name tag, and stockings (I'm glad I didn't have them actually, it would have gotten too hot).

"Wait until they get a load of me." Here I am freaking out all the "normals" at  Max and Ermas., in my magical nurse costume.

I also went without the shoe covers, since they wouldn't fit. I made the mistake of wearing these "santa boots" (which were slippers) on Friday and the convention center floor tore up my feet. Friday, I did my standard short-sleeved fuku, with a wig that was just a lot of parts put together. I was a mess, but that didn't stop people from wanting pictures :).

Full body of my Komugi work-in progress costume.

Nate, of course, wore his steampunk work-in-progress costume, which just gets better and better as he continues to add to it.

Steampunk and Asahi Black (Kuronama).

Events/rooms/panels:

My favorite time at the convention might have been on Saturday night during the rave when the game room cleared out enough that you could basically get a spot on any game without a wait. I played Street Fighter vs. Tekken for the first time, and got to try out a good deal of the characters. The game room never seemed too crowded, but I felt it was lacking in "niche" tittles (No SHMUPS, fighting games that weren't mainstream, etc.) However, it covered "most" of the bases for current "competitive" games. 

The concerts and the raves were, well, "unavoidable," since they filled the main-event room with music. This was not necessarily a bad thing, since I enjoyed the acts and the DJs; but if you were in, say, the game room, you were basically at the concert or the rave too. 

I only got to access two panels late on Saturday night. One was a crossplay panel (surprise suprise), which for some reason was 21+, even though there really wasn't anything "adult" about it (unless you count "binding," the guy didn't go into any details about "tucking," so I don't see how it was "adult."

The other was the hentai panel right after it. I walked right in on it while they were showing some Yaoi, and didn't stick around because some of us were tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. It was probably one of the funnier hentai panels I've "stumbled into." 

There were a number of things I didn't get a chance to do. I didn't get a chance to table top game with my artist friends, or sit in and watch the karaoke contest, which I chose to sit out of this year. I did get to meet the winner out in the parking lot and we jammed "Eyes On Me" (Faye Wong) which was random and fun (even though I forgot some of the chord changes on  my ukulele). I missed the masquerade too, which seems to be a trend for me. I also missed the fashion show.

Overall, it was a fun convention that seemed to attract a good number people, but it wasn't over-crowded. Zenkaikon bills itself as being a family friendly convention, and I met a bunch of "moms" bringing their younger kids to a con for the first time. One mom was talking to me about how her daughter was dressed as "Sealand" from Hetalia and how she got to go up on stage during the panel. It's nice to see some "new blood" at the conventions, and Zenkaikon this year was definitely a good atmosphere for first-timers. The small size of the space made it impossible to get lost, unlike some of the larger "maze" conventions that attract 20,000 or so plus people.

I did feel "old" at times, since the rave was all younger people. At least it was a good crowd that didn't start any problems that some raves have been notorious for.

Granted two days was too short, but the location next year in Lancaster seems to be promising. There is a promo video already up on you tube hyping the new location. I'm already excited!

Anime Boston 2012

Wow, I really don't know what to say about this convention. It's really hard to rate this convention, since I was there for one reason, Haruko Momoi. All could have gone to shit and it wouldn't have mattered, as long as I got to meet Haruko and see her concert. Both happened, and I kind of forgot what else went on.

No, I didn't dress like Komugi.
The costume arrived one day late.

I have to say, it was my first time in Boston, and it's a really cool city. I would have liked to have spent more time up there to do non-convention stuff like see architecture and try out more food.

The location of the convention itself, the Hynes, is basically situated inside a shopping mall. Yeah, a freaking mall, so the convention takes over the whole mall. Everyone is in costume walking around the food court. People who are not there for the anime convention must be like, "WTF is going on?" Especially when confronted by magical "BROLITAS" like myself, six and a half foot tall Sailor Moon crossplayers, and guys with 12 foot Cloud Strife swords.

As you can probably guess, I took the train up because I hate to drive, and I've heard horror stories about driving in Boston. I love trains anyway, I just wish they were more like the ones in Japan (comfortable and you can drink alcohol on them).

I was lucky enough to meet up with some friends and split a room. However, since they didn't arrive on Thursday, I had a night to myself to hit the hotel gym/pool and explore town. I should have looked for a microbrewery. I ended up drinking random Sam Adams and Harpoon because that's what they've got up there.

The city of Boston does not shy away from expressing it's hatred of New York sports teams (especially the Yankees). I thought this was hilarious. I'm a Philly guy, and down here you can't walk into a store and buy an "I hate NY" t-shirt, but it is commonplace to do so in Boston. I met and hung out with this crazy Celtics fan all weekend who happens to be from Brooklyn. He probably spent more money on Jeremy Lin, and "I hate NY" t-shirts than on anime stuff in the dealer's room. It was pretty awesome!

The view from my hotel room at night. Pretty baller.

I managed to eat the worst pizza in my entire life up in Boston, and I got yelled at for it because apparently, Boston pizza is supposed to be great. So, I guess my friends and I just picked the wrong joint. I seemed to make a few poor food choices over the weekend, not trusting my better instincts. Plus, mall food was always "just right there" outside the convention center exit.

Friday: I really didn't do much. The big thing was getting in line for the Ito and Momoi concerts, and I managed to get in about the third row which was pretty cool. Ito did a few songs on acoustic guitar, which caught me off guard. They were actually my favorite part of her set. Momoi did not have her key-tar, but I'll forgive her (LOL). She did a good number of covers (from Slayers, Haruhi, etc) in addition to originals. She didn't do too many songs from games, but she did stuff from Komugi, Seto no Hanayome, and Kujibiki Unbalance. Both were hour and a half sets, which was nice.

Best shot I could get on a cell phone camera of Haruko Momoi.
At the concert.

  Saturday, the focus was on hitting up the autograph rooms, where I got to meet Momoi, which I still cannot believe happened. I know this sounds strange, but to me, Momoi is what The Beatles are to most musicians. She is one of my number one influences and favorite artist of all time, so just standing in front of her was completely surreal. She doesn't know English, and I froze up and could only say one-word things like "Shiawase" and "Arigatou" in Japanese.



I did remember the words to "Daikirai Anata Ga" however, which I got to play for her on ukulele for 8 bars.
She song the background vocals with me; it was easily the best day of my life.

Yes, She signed my uke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg!

Just watching Haruko sign things was amazing. She signs her name HUGE, and writes all over everything! She drew all over my ukulele, which was AWESOME! The guy behind me had an art book with a two page spread and she wrote all big on both pages.

She has a method to signing things. In addition to her name, she dates everything and if there is a character in the picture, she'll write the character's name too (on my picture of her in Komugi cosplay, she wrote "Komugi-chan").

I've never been a wait in like for autographs kind of guy, but it was so worth it. I missed Ito's session, even though I had a CD booklet ready for her to sign.



Saturday night I missed the Bad Anime Bad panel, unfortunately, but did manage to make it to "hentai dubbing." I spent the remaining time in places like the dealer's room, karaoke, and game room.

From the Kanako Ito concert

Overall, it was a lot of fun. Boston is a big con, like Otakon, and while I've found lately that I have more fun at smaller/mid-sized conventions than I do at the big ones, I felt a more intimate atmosphere with Anime Boston than I have with some of the other larger east-coast conventions.

I'd definitely do Boston again.

Yes, I know it's been a while since I've posted any updates. I was going to review Anime USA back in November, and well, it's a little late for that now (kind of). Anyway, I am happy to report that I am very busy with Yuki Yuki Yasumi preparing to put out new music and play a lot of shows!

Within the next week marketing materials for our "spring tour" will be announced, as well as a new "acoustic" EP with 6 songs. This EP will be available for download online "somewhere" in about a couple of weeks. CDs will be available at our shows, which will be posted soon. Our April 13th show at the Fire in Philly is already up on our reverbnation page.  We've got new merchandise available on the reverbnation page as well. More designs to follow soon.

As far as the second full-length Yuki album is concerned (titled: Tsundere), it should be finished up/ready for release in a couple months (no date announced yet). I have also recorded 4 new songs and confirmed artwork for an album TBA, which will be the third Yuki Yuki Yasumi full length LP.

Asides from music, I am attending two anime conventions the next couple months (Anime Boston and Zenkaikon), so I won't be lazy and I'll actually write reviews this time :)

Here's a shot from the last show we played at Molly Magure's on Halloween (I know so long ago).  Yeah I'm wearing a trash-picked wedding dress. Sugoi!

Zenkaikon 2011: A Very Late Blog

Zenkaikon 2011 (Zenkaikon V), what is there to say? It was the first convention where the alcohol was gone by Friday afternoon. I stayed at the Raddison, where they insisted on giving me Decaf coffee packets everyday. It mixed well with the Tequila, but I never quite got my caffeine fix the entire weekend. For some odd reason I dyed my hair black/purple Thursday night and turned a bunch of the hotel towels pink. That was a lot of fun. I went to the King of Prussia mall with the intention of eating at 5 guys, but didn't make it past one of the Chinese food stands.

Noodles in Black bean sauce, traditionally eaten by single people on
April 14th, Black Day. I shared these with a friend the Thursday
before the convention. By the end of the convention,
I could not look at an instant noodle/ramen packet.

I don't quite remember what went on on Friday. Open karaoke didn't start until 8pm, so I wandered around, and helped my friends Joey Dangerous,  and Ann Siri at their tables in the artist alley. I pretty much hung out at their table most of the convention talking to people passing by.

Loot from Friday: I bought a lot more stuff on Saturday
and Sunday. The big haul was that K-ON! bath towel!

The dealer's room was better than I expected. I did not expect to spend a lot of money, but this year's dealer's room/artist alley at Zenkaikon was on par with Otakon (just on a smaller scale). There was a little bit of everything, and I could have spend much more money than I did.

Friday night I hit up karaoke, which is run by the Anime Jam Session people, DJ. Ranma, and Kuro Usagi. They've been doing a good job of running the karaoke since I starting going to Zenkaikon. I ended up singing "All You Need is Love" from "Magic Night Rayearth." I found this cool You Tube Chanel, that has all the Saturday karaoke (Including me in the contest).

After karaoke, I got corralled into the 18+ line, and lead into a room with a Yuri panel. Honestly, I would have had more fan if it was a Yaoi panel (watching rabid fan girls gush over pretty boys making out with each other is much more entertaining to watch). Everyone basically talked about their favorite series that had Yuri overtones (but no actual Yuri). The panelist asked me for a series, I mentioned Kodomo no Jikan, and no one in the room knew what the hell I was talking about.

A Soul Eater cosplay group. Soul Eater and Pokemon were
among some of the most popular cosplays I saw.

On Saturday, I had a series of mishaps while making my way to the Anime Jam Session panel. I couldn't walk five feet without someone wanting a picture of me or running into someone who knew me from past Otakon conventions. I had to hit up a bathroom and didn't get to the panel until a half-hour later. Afterwards, I hit the dealer's room again, spent more money, and hung out with random people, including one of my classmates who was stalking various members of Rose Noire, who I missed out on even though they played two concerts.

After doing the karaoke contest, I tried to hunt down my friends to show off my shinny trophy, so I did a few victory laps, and ran into Joey and Ann. We went to gaming room, and played a table top game.

Schoolgirls vs. Predator: I bought this
raver wig on a whim; it is made out
Chinese finger traps. I couldn't stop playing
with it and getting my fingers stuck. 

The table top gaming room was really cool. There were a lot of donated games laying out that anyone could try out. Joey and Ann wanted to try out Witch's Brew, since they were considering buying it but wanted to try it out first, so we took like an hour time out to play. If Joey didn't have to work his table, he probably would have spent most of his time playing Magic Cards.

Eventually, I made my was to the fan parodies. There was a new one this year, made by the "This is Otakudom and STEAM the Movie people," called Fanboy Soze vs. The Reanimators of the Otakulypse. It was a high-quality parody of Akira. I highly recomend it, and I assume it will be showing at other conventions.

Saturday night, I ended up at a Hentai panel and at a Go Nagai panel. I ended up leaving the Hentai panel to go to the Go Nagai panel, which only had my friend, one other woman, and myself in attendance.

Sunday: I spent more money. Bought a pink cosplay wig. From that point on, I had a bunch of people taping me on the back asking me if I was a girl. I guess I kind of "passed" from behind... LOL.

Sunday: I added a wig to my piece-meal
non-specific schoolgirl crossplay.
The Mokona bag/plushies make the
costume.

Overall, it was the most fun I've had at an anime convention, since the last one I attended (Otakon 2010).