Dunkin Donuts = miko��s breakfast...but pics first

We woke up late, but it didn't really matter since the first panel I wanted to go to was at 2pm.... Our first mission: breakfast. I put on my Kikyo miko outfit and we headed to the 'food court' area to look for something to eat. In the lawn area near the Embassy, I got stopped for pics with various Inuyasha characters. It was fun...I shot a Kagome and even an Inuyasha. ^.^

Kikyo's revenge ^-^

I got you Inuyasha!

There was a Kingdom Hearts mini-shoot nearby and I grabbed some awesome Sora/Riku/shadows shots. We continued on our way to breakfast, stopping every once in while for pics. (I even got assaulted by Inuyasha's mother.... 'How dare you pin my son to a tree!?!' lol ^.^) We finally settled on Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Nothing better for a modern day miko than an egg and sausage sandwich with yummy orange juice.... ^-^

Panelathon

Afterwards, we headed to the dealer's room for some more shopping. It was nearing 2pm so I left the girls and headed over to the Sakuishi panel (the creator of BECK.) Unfortunately, I wanted to get a Japanese manga for him to sign...but they didn't sell the one I wanted. On the way to the panel, I got stopped by some really cute cosplayers, a Kikyo, Ranma and Sakura (Naruto.) Since we all wore red, we took some pics together (P-chan showed up and grabbed a few shots. ^-^) They soon drew me into a convo about the pros and cons of sub/dub anime. After extracting myself from the group, I caught up with P-chan near the front of the room.

The panel itself was interesting: the types of manga Sakuishi-san created all drew from his interests: BECK being about music. Of course, someone asked what was Sakuishi-san's fav. American band. I think he said the 'Red Hot Chili Peppers'. ^^;

Sometime between this panel and the next, Pearl-chan joined us. The 'Fullmetal Supershow' had all the FMA voices (from the signing the day before) as well as Mike Sinterniklaas (Leo/FMA.) Some highlights of the panel were:

~ Vic showing an awesome FMA AMV someone made to his song 'Nothing I Won't Give'. youtube clip

~ Each of them saying something that their character would never say: youtube clip
Riza: Does this belt match these shoes?
Lust: Gosh, that puppy is just so cute. O.o
Ed: C'mon brother, we have to defeat...Shredder? ^^;
Winry: Gosh, does this tubetop make me look fat? I'm so weak and not strong....

~ Recite a line from the series/or say something they might say:
Lust: I'm a sooo sexy. ^.^ youtube clip
Edward: *insert chibi rant here*

~ Vic saying his 'Roy Mustang is dead sexy...." line ^-^ youtube clip

Poor Pearl, I think she nearly went deaf with all my screams...gomen.... ^^; My fav moment has got to be when Vic did a super emotional line from an episode early in the series..... *sniff* youtube clip Of course, we can't forget about the proposals that were made to Vic by two fangirls. ^-^ Vic��s responses were, 'I told you already, I have to ask my mother!' and 'She said I can't marry anyone with pink hair.' ^^; (Obviously, the fangirl was cosplaying with pink hair. lol My hair is all natural...maybe I have chance? ^-^;) Too funny....

Beep, beep, beep....

The next panel was a dubbing workshop held by Toshifumi Yoshida-san and Caitlin Glass. There were two others at the panel that worked with the sound equipment. Caitlin went over the dubbing process as well as explained some dubbing methods (differences based on studios.) *takes notes* The Funimation studios use a 'beep method' (not a technical term ^^;) that basically means that the voice actor hears 3 beeps and he/she is suppose to start speaking at the imaginary 4th beep. Another method is having the Japanese voice play in the headset at the same time the voice actor speaks. The sound engineer can move the voices around, change pitch and work with the director to make sure the 'flaps' (mouth movement) is matching up with the words. (Not to mention the director listens to the way the voice is suppose to sound, the tone of the words, expressions...etc....) Caitlin also went over the casting process.... Apparently, accents are not really needed in voice acting since everyone is supposed to have a Mid-American voice...with no accents. Accents only come into play when a character (in the Japanese version) came from another area and spoke with a certain tone. Then, the directors would choose accordingly. Later, some of the fans got to dub a scene from Inuyasha (when Naraku was getting creamed. ^.^) I thought the guy who did Inuyasha was the best out of all of the voices. He even did the attack in Japanese though everything else was in English. ^-^ When he first asked if he could do the attack in Japanese, Toshifumi-san said that they��ll be dire consequences if he butchers the attack. There was no problem since the guy was just awesome. ^-^

At the end of the panel, I got up and spoke with Toshifumi-san. I gave him a box of pocky and he signed my pic of Maetel from Galaxy Express 999. ^-^ Such a wonderful classic.... He told me he hadn't eaten yet and started digging in to the pocky. Maybe I should've treated him to a few drinks since its common knowledge that Toshifumi-san is quite a sociable drinker. He is so nice...maybe next time. ^.^

FMA Extras: The movie is here!

Simply titled 'FMA extras', I wasn't expecting much but was happily surprised with a short 'making of' with the voice actors talking about the series and upcoming movie. ^-^ The NA version of the movie is coming out in September of this year! *dances with joy* I can't wait.... After the ��making of��, we saw a few minutes of the beginning of the movie as well as the trailer (for the umpteenth time at the con. ^-^) It was totally awesome and I loved every moment of it. I hope the ��making of�� will be on a dvd.... I definitely will get the entire series once they come out in boxsets instead of $40-50 for a tin and a dvd with soundtrack. (Not that bad in pricing...but me and everyone else want the entire thing. ^-^) P-chan and Pearl-chan watched the preview of the movie with me. We told each other that once we have time, I'll show them the movie. ^-^ At the end of the panel, we headed back to the hotel and then Outback from some dinner.

Magical Musical Masquerade

After the dinner break (with the waiter complimenting me on my wonderful Kikyo cosplay, *grins* ^_^) we headed back to the con center for the Masquerade. We missed several acts, but came at the perfect time for the best skit of the night: an Utena cosplay. It started with the flashback prince and princess dancing, and Utena, Anthy and duelists appeared. I don't know if the group performing was the same one as the EGL Bible cosplay last year...but they had the same clothing transformation technique mid-skit. The swordfight was aesthetically pleasing and of course the kiss with Utena and Anthy at the end was fantastic.... It was totally awesome! youtube clip The choreography and music was beautiful. (I'm so glad that they made it a requirement for everything to be prerecorded. Although some of the voices were still difficult to hear...at least we were given the chance to try to understand what the people on stage were saying. ^^;)

Other awesome skits were:
~ 3 characters from Prince of Tennis dancing to 'Seishun Amigo' by 'Shuji to Akira (the little one was sooo cute ^-^) youtube clip

~ American Idol...Fullmoon style

~ Clip from FMA movie...that ends differently.... ^^;

~ Characters from FMA spazzing with Riza and Roy having a 'moment' together (dancing.... ^^;) youtube clip

Unfortunately, we missed a Kingdom Hearts skit with a full cast WITH Mickey Mouse in Organization robes. O.o That was so cool.... There were other favs but all I will say is speak softly and carry a large fan..... *whap* ^-^;

The very last act turns out to be a surprise porposal...from one otaku to another. ^_^

She said yes.... ^.^

The winning amvs were shown during the intermission and the winners for the hall cosplay and masquerade were announced after that. I didn't win *sigh* but it was my first competition and I had fun joining in the excitement. The Utena crew won 'Best in Show'. 'Red Couch Cosplay' won second place and the FMA skit (mentioned above) won third place.

Jesus and the Batmobile ^-^

Heading back to the hotel after the masq, we found a batmobile parked in front of the Embassy. O.o I don't know why it was there or who it belong to (Batman?!? ^^;) but everyone was having too much fun sitting in the car and taking pics of it. ^-^ At the insistence of the crowd, two cosplayers were called to sit in the car: Catwoman and then Jesus. (Apparently, there was more than one cosplaying Jesus that weekend. ^-^) I think people liked the idea of Jesus sitting in the batmobile more than Catwoman. Now we know...Jesus is THE MAN. ^-^V

The lights are sooo pretty....

Back at the hotel room, we caught the last half of Fullmetal Alchemist on Cartoon Network...ironically, it was my (and many other's) fav, episode 13: 'Flame vs. Fullmetal.' ^-^ P-chan and I changed and headed back out to the con center for the dance, pulling Pearl-chan along with us. ^.^ As expected in an anime con, trance music was blasting and everyone was dancing and raving to DJ Skylab. P-chan and I danced while Pearl watched the ravers and breakdancers from the side. It was pretty cool and even Jesus was raving up a storm. ^-^ Halfway through the dance, someone gave us two glowsticks. o.O I'm not much of a raver, but P-chan and I tried (though she is so much better at it then me.) Oh yeah, even though it was super late, there was this really young kid (cosplaying a kid from FMA ^-^) who raved really well. Kawaii! O.O Anyone who wanted a pic asked the mother who was standing at the side. That mother is pretty cool. ^.^ Wish I got some pics, but I left my camera at the hotel.

We stayed until the rave ended (2am?) and headed back to the room. After a shower, I climbed into bed and slept like a log. -.-Zzz