bad hair beginnings

I woke up with my bangs sticking up which is very, very bad since I wasn't wearing a wig that day. >.< I ended up washing my hair again in order to be able to get it blowdried straight and have a reasonable hair. After showering, I went to a nearby bakery and bought bread for breakfast. After eating the bread, I got dressed. I put on everything except my headpiece since I didn't want to knock into the ceiling of the car. (I ended up trying to put it on in the car anyway, but the results were crappy, so I took off the head piece afterall.)

back to shopping...or lack thereof

At the con center, I headed straight for the bathroom to put on the hairpiece. The one that I saw at my first AnimeNEXT (um...transgendered dressed as Human Luna) was in there and she complimented me on my cosplay. *blush* She was wearing a chinese styled dress and her legs are gorgeous as always. ^.^

My first stop was the Bandai booth where I got a ticket for the Gurren Lagann VA signing at 3pm. I ran around the Dealer's Room for a looong while, but couldn't find anything I wanted to buy from Junjou Romantica and Loveless. >.< However, I did bump into Team Osaka again and grabbed their pic. They were wearing the outfits from their Code Geass WCS performance! O.O I bumped into someone I met from NYCC and Otakon this year and we chose a spot and sat down. Then Kuro Usagi appeared, whom I met at AnimeNEXT this year. We had some fun chatting for a bit while I waited for Diana-chan.

reunions and funny moments

Diana-chan appeared with her brother! *hugs* Haven't seen him in such a loooong time...and now he is a doctor! Still haven't changed a bit. Expensive camera in one hand, he complains about getting an even better one. ^^; After Diana-chan turned into Doraemon, we took a quick round of the Dealer's room, thoroughly losing track of him. However, we found out later that he went ahead to see Uncle Yo (otaku comedian) where we went to join up. lol No matter how often I hear his jokes, Uncle Yo is always funny. ^.^ Of course, he changes the jokes bit by bit.

Uncle Yo opening ~ all about Death Note

While we were watchin the show, some others showed up, all from my old church. The girl in a wa-Lolita outift! Kawaii! *hugs* BTW, I won't describe Uncle Yo's jokes since it won't be funny anyway. ^.^

signage and half panels

~Veronica Taylor

~Rachel Lillis

After the show, I headed for the autograph signing for Mandy Bonhomme (Juri, Utena,) Rachel Lillis (Utena, Utena,) Lisa Ortiz (Deedit, Record of Loddess War) and Veronica Taylor (Botan, Yu Yu Hakusho.) Mandy signed my Juri pic, Rachel signed by Utena pic and my Gravitation vol. 3 dvd as the VA for Ayaka Usami, Lisa signed my Deedlit pic and my Shiori (Utena) pic and Veronica signed by fanart pic of Keiko, Botan and Yukina...since she was the voice of all three in the Yu Yu Hakusho movie as well as the OVA special. ^.^ Of course, I presented everyone with pocky: Brazilian pudding and regular chocolate. ^.^

It was not 3pm yet, but I went to the Bandai booth for the signing for Kyle Herbert (Kamina, Gurren Lagann,) Steve Blum (Leeron, Gurren Lagann,) and Tony Oliver (Director, Gurren Lagann.) They had a one item per person per autograph policy...which meant that if you have something for them to sign, then you can't get the poster. (That's how all the Bandai signings work.) However, I show one of the staff my FMA pic with various autographs, asked really nicely if I can have both the poster and the pic signed...and they said no. *sad face* And then they said yes. O.O Of course, I thanked them profusively. Kyle signed the FMA picture as the VA of Falman. Steve saw the pic and signed as Den's VA. (O.o I didn't know that....) Of course, I provided the three VAs with Men's Pocky. ^.^

The Amano Yoshitaka-san panel was well underway when I arrived. Flashing my press badge, I quietly made my way to the front rows. Leahy was also the interpreter for this panel. Amano-san spoke about how Kikuchi-sensei never knows how long his stories are, so some pictures that were suppose to be in one volume end up being in later volumes. Amano-san is also working on a Shinjuku project that takes place in the near future which involves the yakuza, various other 'unsavory' characters and subterranean monsters. o.O When asked if Amano-san will have another exhibition like the one in 1999...he commented that he would like another one. Fangirl: Please, please, please! Amano: *nods* Please! *crowd laughs* When he receives a project, he listens to what they (the creators) want and start drawing lots of sketches. He chooses 5-6 sketches and shows them to the creator to get feedback before drawing some more. But he doesn't do as much sketches anymore and at times, the 'rough sketches' is the finish product. He also gets his inspirations from places he has been...not just the atmosphere of the place, but also things (fruits/vegetables/objects) that are not found in Japan. One night he was sketching an onion.... o.O

The giveaway at the end of the panel was 4-5 t-shirts. The way to get into the giveaway is to praise him...to say something complimentry out loud. ^.^ My fav line was a guy saying that Amano-san's work makes him feel as if he is dreaming even when he is wide awake. Awww.... Several ppl mention that Amano-san insprired them to become artists. Fangirl: I went to art school because of you. *laughs* My other fav line was a guy stated that Amano-san made sure that Final Fantasy is never final. lol At the end...everyone who complimented him played jun-ken-po against Amano-san. O.O Good thing I didn't join in...since I would have lost anyway. ^^;

clip 1 ~ clip 2 ~ clip 3 ~ clip 4 ~ clip 5 ~ clip 6 ~ clip 7 ~ clip 8 ~ clip 9

I bumped into animemiz and crew in the back as well as Doraemon and bro and the awesome Haruhi from AnimeNEXT. I was asked to sit with a my dress in a circle around me by a photographer...which prompt a whole crew of photographers. *flashes of cameras* My cutest photographer is this little girl who took a loooooong time to take a picture. But I waited for her of course. ^.^ Kawaii! After my photo op, we rested near the Voltaire perforance. Then I dragged Doraemon and bro to the end of Voice Actors and the City panel which was another VA Q&A panel. There was the usual 'how to be a VA' questions and the usual 'be an actor first' answers. ^^; Tom Wayland provided interesting piece of advice: don't send fandubs to directors and studios...since they're basically using licensed material. *takes notes* Don't move around too much since it doesn't really make your voice do much. Another note is that it's okay to be shy...but you can't be shy when you're being recorded.

They noted that VAs don't earn alot and many have 'day jobs'...as well as 'night jobs'. lol There was some background production info thrown around as well. When asking Mike Sinterniklaas about the cartoon 'Kappa Mikey', it's confirmed that tv productions prefer doing reruns if fans don't ask for more (and is satisfied with what is out there already) since buying more seasons is pricy. ('Spongebob' anyone? ^^; Diana-chan?) When asked about taking parts of anime in a different direction, Tom Wayland brought up Descendents of Darkness which was about 'gay detectives' lol and gushoshin who were spirits depicted as birds aka. 'undead chickens'. Wayland had an epiphany that they shouldn't sound like chickens but had someone who sounded like Barry White voice them which was what they ended up with. Hahahahaha.... Some ADR directors don't want their VAs to practice their voices at home since they sometimes have a different direction with how they want the voice to be as well as a different direction they want to take the story.

At a fan's request, Rachael Lillis did a line for Misty from Pokemon while Veronica Taylor did a line for Ash Ketchum. *fangirl squeal* I totally love the original VAs for the series. ^.^

the Scottish Japanese play

Mmmm...Japanese and Shakespeare together. Never thought of it, but it's an interesting combo. Shogun Macbeth consisted of a team of actors that had three different performances...only one of which I faintly recognized from the play. ^^; The first was a series of katana exercises, second was the appearance of the three hags and the third was a sword fight between three people. It was awesome watching them in action...though I barely understood what was going on. ^^;

chaos before the masquerade

Already, a line was forming for the masquerade. I met up with Haruhi (from before) and received instructions for a surprise at the masquerade. Shhh...no hints until then. ^.^ All of a sudden, Suzaku from the Code Geass group that was performing...fainted. It was the same Suzaku from last year's performance (about the uniforms which I totally loved) and she was nervous about their WCS entry. Haruhi who was a friend of hers told us that she didn't eat much but just had a banana before she fainted. Paramedics and a stretcher was brought out...but she was sitting up as she was brought into the performance hall...so we assume that she was okay. (Of course she was...but more about the performance later.)

I left Doraemon and crew and headed for the press/VIP line where I found 801megane and animemiz before they let us in.

died and went to masquerade heaven

Before the masquerade began, I gave 801megane and animemiz the 411 on WCS and all that it entails. We chatted with the other press people around me and I grabbed some shots of some of the awesome cosplays. What made this masquerade amazing (besides the high level of craftsmanship of the cosplays)...is the pre-masquerade performances. Tanaka Rie (Lacus Clyne, Gundam Seed) held a mini concert. O.O Coming out in pink ears and a tail, she opened with 'Emotion' from Gundam Seed, followed by 'Let Me Be With You' with an occasional 'Chii!' from Chobits and then 'Shizuka na Yoru ni' again from Gundam Seed. Kawaii! She even cooed at Uncle Yo who was the MC at this event. I think everyone was in love by the end of the mini-concert. ^.^

My fav skits in the order they appeared:

Coconut Bubble Sex - Won Judge's Award. Himawari and Sakura liven things up.
Not Spoiled - Best novice performance. Truly a simple skit but a wonderful beginning to their masquerade career. Everyone takes after L....
We Got the Beat - Won Judge's Award. Beatmania skit! Yay!
Be Careful What You Wish For - Watanuki may not want to leave Yuko.... ^.^
What To Do on a Date - Won best performance. One of my fav! The lights were dimmed on purpose...and then you see anti-Sora...and anti-Roxas. Love in the making!
Manliest of Men vs Pink Haired Superstar - If you seen the masquerade last year, there was a singathon performance between Shuichi and Lacus. Now...it's Shuichi and Kamina. Let the battle begin!
Side Effects May Occur - Won judge's award. Yuko is a doctor? lol
Memories - Best craftsmanship. If you love TRC and has seen all the pictures, this skit makes them come to life. Awwwww.... A simple but fav skit.
Magical Feelings - Won TWO judge's awards. Beautiful Ah My Goddess skit.
Friendship and Rivalry - Won judge's award. Bittersweet...a gentleness in Rozen Maiden.

Stand apart from the rest...
Shoot for Top Shoot for it All ~ another vid - Won Best in Show and Runners up for WCS. Amazing skit. Second to last skit. There were 40+ ppl in the audience involved in a single part...including me. We were sworn to secrecy that we were involved and all that it entails...and I didn't even get to see it before we did what we did. You can't see us (since we're in the audience,) but the effect of the skit is there. They were determined to win, tried last year and this year and got Runners Up both times. I hope they don't give up because they're awesome. *applause*
Gift of Luck - WCS winner! When I saw this, the first thing that came to mind was: this was WCS material...and it was. Amazingly beautiful in detail of costume and story.

After the last skit, Team Osaka appeared. They did their performance from WCS and it was AMAZING. It was awesome on the computer and it was breathtaking in person. The style of their Code Geass cosplays is a take on visual kei...and it was so beautiful. Check the vids for more info since I can't describe it since it's just that awesome. No wonder they won third place. *bows to their awesomeness.*

Team Osaka - 2008 WCS Third place winner. Names: Yui is Lelouch and Mino is Suzaku. No. Other. Words.

There was a proposal at the end which was the 'last skit of the evening'...staged or planned I have no idea. In the interim (while waiting for the judges to make their decision,) Uncle Yo and another guy had a debate over the greatest evil: Anime or Video Games (with Uncle Yo arguing against video games.) Uncle Yo won the debate hands down...but that's because he is a professional comedian...and he won at jun-ken-po. ^.^

Uncle Yo also spoke with Renee, one half of Team USA 2008 (Sonya, the other half is recovering from...a hangover? ^^;) She spoke about Japan, the competition and recommended that all WCS teams should bring an iron. *takes notes* They also discussed that the rules changed that all competitors have to be in teams of two. Last year, when the group first entered the competition at NYAF '07, they were allowed to be teams of 3 with full knowledge that only 2 could go to WCS. So the rules changed after them. ^.^ Fuu, the third in their MKR group stepped on stage (in Code Geass cosplay) for a short word and even did a bit of the dance from last year. Yay! BTW, throughout the entire evening, they advertised the fashion show of 'Baby, The Stars Shine Bright' at 12:15 in the room. The MCs were prompted to repeat this and so they did. Over and over and over again. >.< If we could throw pocky at them we would've. *dies*

another end of a wonderful day

After the masquerade ended, there was a big photo op moment and I caught the Yuko and Sakura from 'Side Effects May Occur'. After taking pics with them, the staff started kicking everyone out. My car service was outside waiting patiently so I headed out. Found out later that Doraemon missed the masquerade since she couldn't get into the room. >.< Wonder if her bro and others in her crew got in....

Back at GL's house, I showered as she ordered pizza. I gave some details of the day and she played some Harvest Moon (and disliked it immensely since she is a casual gamer...and usually plays action games ^^;) while I prepared for the next day. After packing everything, I slept like a log.