Report: GONZO (Digimation) FESTA (03.13.05)

[dokool]

So a while ago, I came across this page when it had an application for something called Gonzo FESTA. Not quite knowing what it was about but vaguely knowing it was something neat and exclusive, I filled out the application and promptly forgot about it.

A week ago, I got an email from Gonzo in Japanese. A quick parse through Babelfish told me that I had been accepted and that the email was my golden ticket.

So, yesterday (Sunday) morning, I woke up at about 10AM, showered, and hit the road for Shinjuku. At about 11:20 (40 minutes before they were handing out tickets) I got to the place and saw that dozens of people (I'd later find out 176) were standing in line. I found my spot at the top of some stairs and waited.

At 12, the line started moving. When I got to the registration table, I showed them my email and they asked for my name. It certainly wasn't hard to find, as I was the only foreigner signed up. After that, they gave me a printed-out admission ticket - #177, which told us that the doors would open for the event at 1:30PM and to come back 10 minutes beforehand.

Outside, people milled around for a bit, checked ticket numbers with each other, then went to grab food or whatever. I noticed a stapled stack of white papers lying on the ground where one of Gonzo's press crews had recently been standing. It appeared to be an outline of the Festa, right down to the amount of time spent on each section. I pocketed it, of course. I showed it to my roommate this morning and he says that it even has jokes that the MCs apparently said.

At 1:30, they started to admit people in the order of ticket numbers. One of the photographers asked to take my picture, mainly b/c I was the only foreigner there. Inside, security was checking bags and then everyone went straight to the auditorium to claim a seat. On each chair was a Gonzo bag with various flyers and postcards for their new shows, as well as an application for a Gonzo credit card (MasterCard, in case you were wondering) and a catalogue for Cospa. After I claimed my seat I went back to the lobby. Cospa and Gonzo had tables set up selling various merch. Gonzo's big pushes were Samurai 7, Gankutsuo, and SunaBouzu. They even had a real-life SunaBouzu in full costume, fake shotgun and all. I managed to get a couple pictures of him (and the costumes around him) before a staffer told me (contrary to what another staffer had told me) that no cameras were allowed, so I had to check it. But at least they weren't assholes about it and left the memory card alone.

So, in the auditorium as we were waiting, Gonzo's video crew (the same two-person crew whom I believe dropped the outline outside) asked if they could interview me. And... I choked. It's hard enough to talk in Japanese when you've only been learning it for a few months, but on camera? Yeah. They were asking me about voice actors, though, which ones I liked. I told them I couldn't name names, but that I (and many American fans) tend to prefer Japanese voice actors over Americans. My flustered-ness much amused the two women sitting next to me, and I actually chatted with them for a bit about Last Exile and Bleach.

When the clock struck 2:30 and the event began. It started with a video retrospective of the last couple years - Macross, Last Exile, Samurai 7, SunaBouzu, Gankutsuo, Peacemaker Kuragome were all featured. Then the two MCs came out. It's at this point that I should mention I have no idea who these people are, at least by name. However the program has the info most likely, so I'll parse it later.

This entire thing was basically a really, really organized industry panel - They introduced two or three VAs/staffers of a particular show, brought them out, interviewed them, showed footage of the show, asked them more questions, then thanked them. Here's the highlights:


-<b>Basilisk</b> - Old school character designs, high-intensity action sequences. We only got to see one fight (Male lead, who has a way with those razor-sharp strings that people in Naruto love to use, against this guy whose gait and posture is akin to a black widow and can spit out a glue-like substance from his mouth) and a bit of the female lead, but it certainly left everyone in suspense. Staff Present: 1 Producer, 2 VAs

-<b>Trinity Blood</b> - What looks to be a combination of Hellsing (vampires!) and Last Exile (Really, really pretty CGI). Didn't take for me. I fell in and out of conciousness over the course of the first episode. Staff Present: 2 VAs

-<b>Kaliedo Star</b> - They had two producers on stage (one wearing a red KS windbreaker, the other blue) to talk about a new OVA. No footage, but they gave away prizes, including two posters autographed by the seiyuu and 6 tickets to some big Kaliedo Star event. #179 got one of the posters. So close!

-<b>Speed Grapher</b> - This was their big push. Staff present were 3 producers, the character designer, and a grossly underage girl whom I believe is a VA wearing a skirt that defied gravity. The show looks great - Solid character designs and plenty of the good ole' ultraviolence with a healthy dose of sex appeal thrown in. One of the scenes they showed is ripped more or less from Eyes Wide Shut - people gathering at a club, wearing robes and masks, some fat naked guy on this altar as a goddess descends to the stage, except that our hero is there and takes a photo of her. For some reason or another she kisses him instead of the aforementioned fat guy. This causes no small amount of aggrivation on the part of the people in charge, except when they come to get him, he takes a picture with the same camera and they explode. The music for the outro credits of this highlight reel was "Girls On Film" by Duran Duran.


Anyway, it was very interesting to observe this event. The VAs got <b>huge</b> cheers and everyone laughed at their jokes, but otherwise the audience was very quiet and respectful. No squealing fangirls! There didn't appear to be any autograph sessions or anything along those lines either, and several fans left gifts with Gonzo staffers to pass onto the seiyuu.

Overall, very interesting experience, and I definately await Gonzo's new lineup with anticipation.


-DOKool

[angelx03]

Best animated GIF EVER!

And yes, Speed Grapher does look interesting.