Pacific Media Expo a convention dedicated to delivering Asian pop-culture to American shores, in its first year. PMX celebrated its first year by bringing in stars, movies, anime as well as anime creators. the following guest appearances and performances were led by; legendary idol Takanori Nishikawa also known as T.M Revolution (Heart of Sword; Rurouni Kenshin and Invoke; Kidou senshi gundam seed), rising pop princess Nami Tamaki (Believe&Realize; Gundam Seed), Mangaka creators: Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun and Gungrave), Daisuke Moriyama (Chrno Crusade) Character designers: Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Ninja Scroll) and Shino Masanori (Gungrave, Gundam Wing) And special appearances by Chinese Visual Kei band Silver Ash as well as Indies solo artist and former Due le Quartz member, Miyavi.

Needless to say that PMX has been expected to be one of the biggest cons to debut in the west coast, with top rate names to appear for the first time(and second) in the U.S Fans came in swarming from everywhere, from the far east coast to neighbors all the way from the islands of Japan.

With all the hyped up excitement, there was still some inevitable problems that were just beyond control. With the announcement weeks before PMX that Indies J-Rocker has cancelled his tour for the U.S as well as Silver Ash's due to visa problems. But the coordinators of PMX refused to let many (angry) fans down and brought forth yet another Visual-Kei band- Psycho Le Cemu, O-dai accompanied by Secret Secret.

The long awaited weekend was kicked off on Friday night with a exclusive concert by TM Revolution, also with Nami Tamaki who will be opening for him. Many loyal fans flew in from practically everywhere. People of various ages and gender were there to experience their idols live performances. TMR's offical Turbo fan club as expected followed him all the way to America. Dressed in their orange attires they sure did attract quite a number of stares, but with Turbo there, BRIGADE was also there. BRIGADE may not have been as big of attraction as Turbo was, but Buff's attempt to cosplay Albiero sure did stir up some stares, and even bought BRIGADE our 15 seconds of fame from J!-ENT.

It was rather disappointing to see that the tickets didn't sell out, and as a result days before the concert PMX coordinators reduced the concert ticket prices to as low as $5 to $20, compared to before it was $25-$40.

Around 6 pm Anaheim Convention Center opened its doors to the long line of awaiting fans who, in less than seconds filled in the convention hall. Some, taking detours to the near by Tofu Records booth, some just lurked around gathering with friends. During the wait for the concert to start, spectators were entertained by numerous episodes from Gundam SEED which aired in cartoon network a month earlier, as well as promotional videos from both T.M.Revolution and Nami Tamaki.

Finally, a little after 8 pm, the doors closed, the lights dimmed, mist and fog filled the stage. Lights exploded accompanied by powerful music. Topping it all off with the appearance of the pop princess sweet heart, Nami Tamaki who was dressed in a elegant black attire and shinny jewelry which connected to her wrist and neck. After performing a set of 6 songs which included: Believe, High School Queen, Complete, Realize and Shinning star, a wonderful energetic performance with a small break between each singing and dancing. It was rather charming seeing her perform live and help promote herself overseas at such a young point in her career.

After a short intermission of at least 15 minutes or so, the lights once again dimmed out and there, the real fun began. Opening up his act with albiero which was met with loud yelling of fans which enveloped concert hall. Dressed in brown tattered robes made to imitate Star War's Jedi's and bandaged pants (pants which seriously looked covered in bandages) Most of the songs sang by TMR during his concert came from his new album Seventh Heaven with the exception of Invoke, Meteor and his encore Yoake Mae {Heart of Sword}. The lighting was just well done, and on either sides of the stage were monitors which focused mainly on the stars, and also along with the performances of Believe, Realize, Invoke, Meteor as well as Heart of Sword clips from each anime joined in.

The following day, the day of the convention. For many unfortunate procrastinators who didn't pay in advance for their admission (like me) they had to stay in line for almost hours to get to registration. You were then, required to dash of to the hotel to catch the opening ceremonies as well as to catch a glimpse of Takanori himself who made a small speech.
An hour or so, before the exhibit hall doors opened, outside were a throng of group cosplayers, from anime to games to Elegant Gothic Lolita which were everywhere. As we all anxious photographers armed with endless rolls of film. Personally speaking the exhibit hall was quite a disappointment. Big names such as Geneon/Pioneer weren't present but ADV as well as Bandai manage to set up games and booths. Most booths however were quite small.

Despite the small quality of booths, quantity didn't exactly rule as well. There were several exhibits of cars which seems rather pathetic. They featured a Scion, a modified Lancer Evolution and a Subaru WRX Sti.

Around 1:30 Nami Tamaki signing session was in progress, those who bought a CD from Tofu Records were given the choice of getting a free singing pass with either TMR or Nami Tamaki. Tamaki's singing session was hasty and speedy, much faster compared to Takanori Nishikawa's which supposedly was only for 30 mins but expended to at the most 3 hours, with all the lines crowding the whole floor.
Personally, I was disappointed at the fact that we weren't allowed to have personal photos with the stars, however, they did made each autograph personalized. With your named written in English or in Japanese (for those whose names are in Japanese).

Before each autograph signing for the artists there was a panel held which was open to everyone to attend. Surprisingly the panel for TMR and Nami Tamaki was rather quiet, nothing unexpected came up. Just the usual questions concerning their future plans, fashion and some personal questions.

For other activities:
There were trivia game shows, scavenger hunts, charity auctions as well as singled out game shows ^^;; Singled Out is a game where the audience gets a chance to "date" any of the contestants where they are paired up based on their likes and dislikes.

Aside from the car show there was also a wrestling match held in the exhibit hall. A Initial D the arcade challenge, as well as DDR, capcom vs. SNk2. time crisis and Beat Mania 2DX. Karaoke contests as well as Cosplay judging were also a must. There was also a special screening of Battle Royale 2 as well as other anime's.

Before the first day was over, visual-kei band Psycho le cemu was to do a concert at the very same place TMR held his previous concert. Club members of PLC were given special privileges seats up front, as other seating can be held for a premium ticket holder, and so on and so forth.

I guess you could pretty much say, most of the fun and excitement took place in the first day, although the next two days to follow would mostly consist of the mangaka's and anime artist's turn for the fame.

In conclusion, PMX was actually fun, and that the PMX staffers and coordinators deserved to be thanked for all their hard work despite the fatalities they encountered. Hopefully, they'll all be back next year and this time, much more prepared. ^_~