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NYC ANIME CONVENTION!!!!!! [my experience in NYC and at my first anime convention]
2002-09-04 02:34:11
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG......
Ok... *does calming routine* ...
This past weekend starting Saturday morning my parents and I went to NYC for vacation to see Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, and a bunch of other sites (Trinity & St. Patricks Church, Rockafellar Center, etc...). We were staying at the Marriott Marquis hotel on 45th and Broadway. We were all already in awe of the city's size (last time we were there I was 4 yrs. old) and we finally arrive at the Marriott hotel. It was huge and the architecture of the inside was somewhat breathtaking. At the ground floor my parents and I were told to check in at the lobby. Like the noobies we were, we took the escalator. As I arrived on the 4th floor I noticed a little sign and a fair amount of people walking around. I looked at the sign for some time and finally read what it said. It said "Anime Expo - from Saturday to Monday". I nearly yelled with joy right there! I'd never been to an anime convention and had always wanted to go to one. Not only did I get to go to one, but it was one of the newest and largest convnetions in the United States!!!!!
Finally, coming back to reality and the realization that this wasn't a dream, I looked around myself. I saw people....people like me, and they were everywhere. Everyone either had a anime costume or a anime t-shirt. Why I hadn't noticed this before was definately an oddity. Next I inquired several people as to what the details were. Then I went to buy my pass for Sunday. I couldn't go on Saturday because my parents and I were seeing Ground Zero and a few other things. I got my pass along with some other stuff they give you (free magazines/manga and a convention guide), went to find my room, and then set out to go to Ground Zero with my parents.
Initally, we'd been advised not to take the subways. However, the city has supposedly dropped in crime dramatically and the subways were the most efficient way to get around. So, we (my parents and I) took the subway train N down to Ground Zero. The observatory for Ground Zero had been temporarily taken down, but we still got to see its current condition. It basically looks like 2 similar large sqaure holes side by site. It's very hard to imagine that there were two 110 story buildings standing in those places. I attempted to imagine it all; the buildings and the events that lead to their downfall. With all the controversy of what the memorial should be I thought of what I would do to remember the catasrophy. I would preserve one of the "footprints", making it accessable for all to see and even to walk down into. Withing that area I'd display the flags of all the countries that lost people to the tradegy and perhaps mount some sort of structure, statue, or list of names in the middle of the pit. In the second "footprint" I think it would be best to rebuild on it (not as high though). I think that it is advantageous to future generations and respectfull to those who perished to have such a memorial, but it is also respectful and meaningful to rebuild upon the land in which we were attacked. It says, "we will not forget, nor will we faulter as cowards". The memorial is a scar and scars bear memories. The new building shows that we are a very resilient people, not easily defeated.
After leaving Ground Zero, we headed off toward a subway to take us to China Town. We found out that the best way to get to China Town from our location was to take line 1 to Canal St. and transfer to a different line to arrive at our destination. When we got to the Canal St. stop, I stood up early and walked to the train exit door as it opened. I exited and walked about five feet and then turned around to see the train door close in front my parents before they could exit. I was more surprised than anything and just waved goodbye to them. Then I boarded the next #1 train and exited off at the next stop in hopes that my parents were waiting there. The weren't there and so I returned to the Marriott hotel to see if they had come back. They weren't there either and eventually I found out that they had got off at the stop after Canal St., but had circled back to Canal to see if I was waiting there. I met up with them around 3pm or so that day. However, inbetween I had some lunch and checked out the schedule for the Anime Convention. I saw that I would miss the Anime Music Video showings for Saturday and also that I missed the artist Yoko Kanno. I was very very dismayed at missing Yoko Kanno and it was too late to really make a $25 ticket worthwile unless I really wanted to see the AMV showings. My exhausting (partly due to my 1.5 hrs of sleep the night before) caught up with me and made the final deceision.
Waking up at 10AM, Sunday morning(after sleeping for 14 hrs.) I finally arrived at the convention around 11AM. First things first, I went to the merchandise section, which took up pretty much an entire floor. I entered the room and just stood there for nearly half a minute. In front of me was a huge room filled with rows and rows of booths selling all various anime products. There was anime music playing from several different places and anime movies being shown here and there. Already the room was filled with lots of otaku from various origins. I browsed all the rows several times picking up free handouts and talking to the vendors. I was so dazzled I nearly ran into several people; some of whom were as dazzled as I. After some of the effect had worn off I realized that most of what was being sold was videos and manga. Not only that, a fair amount of the manga and some of the videos were in japanese. I had expected there to be more apparel, dolls, wallscrolls, and trinkets being sold, but there were only a few boothes that had them. Most of the prices were pretty steep so I decided not to get any videos or manga being that I could just get them online for 2/3 the price. All I ended up buying was a Angelic Layer wallscroll (something I couldn't find on the net) and a Ryoko key chain. I was actually a tad perturbed that there wasn't a larger selection of anime t-shirts. After a few more laps around the booths I left the merchandise section to get a bite to eat.
Afterwards I returned and visited one of the guest meeting sessions. The guest I found out was the creator of Gundam, whose autograph I got later on Monday night at the Marriott bar (I was exstatic). I then attended the last of the Pioneer meeting, during of which I asked about the U.S. release date for Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OVA3. The representative for Pioneer replied that there was no information on the subject. After that I went to one of the anime viewing areas. To explain, during the entire convention (24 hrs. a day) they had new anime being showed in 3 different rooms. I saw the last bit of a very good anime I can't recall at the moment. I then stayed for episodes 4-6 of Hellsing which was increadibly fun to watch with 250 other people. Afterwards I met my parents to have dinner at The View. The View is a restaraunt at the top of the Marriott Marquis that spins around so as to give the diners a view of all of Manhattan. It's quite a view too being that its 86 stories high. Afterwards, I returned to the convention.
I went directly to the Cosplay after dinner. I arrived with lots of time to spare, but there were two rather large lines to get in. After I seated myself, armed with a camera and 3 tons of adrenaline, I awaited the start of the show. The host of the show was a 50 year-old man of asian descent who had near perfect English speaking skills with somewhat of a British accent and British wit. He was an excellent host. He was well dressed, well mannered, and kept the Cosplay running as smooth as could be. Actually, he kindof reminded me of Walter from Hellsing. The Cosplay itself was very interesting. From what I understood, anyone could enter as long as you had a anime related costume. The entries ranged from 1 to as many as 8 people. The person(s) would either just walk out on the stage to show their costume while their handpicked music played or they would have a short skit. A couple skits stuck in my mind. One was the first entry done by 7 or 8 twelve-year-olds dressed up as Trigun characters. They had a short, but well done skit. I was amazed at how well done it was and at how calm they were given their age. The other skit that stuck in my mind as well as probably most every other guy there was entry 51. I may actually have pictures of this entry, but here's an explanation of it. An increadibly fine looking lady dressed up as the character Aeris from Final Fanatasy 7 walks out onto the stage and puts up a portrait up of Cloud from FF7 while a rap song is played (which I can't recall) that talks about two women fighting over a guy. Next, yet another fine lady walks out dressed up as Tifa from FF7. Both show claim to the portrait and dance/fight over it. After a minute of this a guy dressed as Sephiroth dances out on the stage (dancing not as well as the ladies, but damn well for a guy). It was hillarious, amazing, and increadibly well done. One of the best parts of it was that at the end of the song, Tifa grabs Aeris and kisses her. Everyone in the audience ofcourse goes crazy. Oddly enough, this entry only got a runner-up award, which is good, but I thought they deserved better. A person dressed as Jenova won one of the Best Costume awards. Her outfit was quite amazing. One of the best plays went to a girl who did a ballad in a Card Captor costume. Best over-all went to 6 girls dressed up in Clow Card costumes (from CCS). Their costumes were fairly elaborate, but I thought their play was not increadibly well thoughtout or executed. While we were waiting for the judges to pick these winners, the awards for the best AMVs and their videos were shown. This was nice stroke of luck being that I had missed the AMV showing the night before. The Cosplay finally ended around 11pm or so. Afterwards I wandered around for a bit and finally ended up at the karaoke room perhaps a half an hour later.
I sat down not knowing what to expect (once again). All the songs sung were anime songs and the room averaged from 25-50 people until it closed around 1AM. A few of the singers were actually quite good. One of them was an American 11-year-old girl who sang a number of Rurounii Kenshin songs perfectly and beautifully in Japanese. I was absolutely amazed; as amazed as when I saw the last entry in the Cosplay which was an asian girl who soloed a song. The little girl (the 11-yr.-old) wasn't in front of 600 people, but she still had a bit of pressure. Even I sang a song. I picked Rain, by Yoko Kanno being that its original version was in English. Two other picked "Call Me, Call Me" by Kanno, which was done fairly well. I hadn't actually heard that song since I had heard it in the Cowboy Bebop anime and found myself singing along during the entire song. One of the better singers specialized in Sailor Moon songs and another (the guy who was running the karaoke) was best at Tenchi Muyo songs. It was a great way to end such a blissfull day of anime splendor. I felt at such comfort with all of the anime-goers there it was sad to see them all leave Monday afternoon.
Monday I saw the Statue of Liberty and the musical Les Miserables. Les Miserables was absolutely magnificient and took away some of my saddness that the Anime Expo had ended. I'm still amazed at my luck that the place and time of my NYC trip was the exact same time as this Anime Expo. My experience in NYC is one that I will never forget and forever shall cherish. -
Onegai Teacher....
2002-08-09 20:03:25
hmmmm, what ta say. I'm nearly depressed, nearly happy. I think one thing is true. Don't watch Onegai Teacher in 2 days or less. All I feel like doing right now is crying. I think the only other anime that was harder to watch may have been Evangelion. Don't get me wrong, the anime isn't completely sad or happy. It's just that it pulls you both ways and it's a bit more of a roller coaster than I had anticipated. The only anime i've seen that could rival OT in that sort of drama is Angelic Layer. There were times during AL where I wanted to bawl my eyes out. OT was a bit hokey now and then, but oh my was it powerful. One of the episodes (I won't say which) felt like being at the top of a drop in a roller coaster. You knew where it was going, but not entirely sure how bad it would be. I'm glad the series turned out as it did. I thought it would end that way as well, but the producer kept deviating from the path. Damn, that was a rough rough.....but great series. I'm unsure where it will stand in my favorites. I'm not too sure I want to watch it again, but that may change with time. Based soley on its power and the impression it had on me OT deserves to atleast be in my top 10; but where?
If anyone happens to read this and felt the same way about OT I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. It's animes like OT that makes me glad there are animes like Inu Yasha and Hikaru no Go which are generally happy and don't throw you around all the time. I'm still trying to recover from OT, although I think it'll take longer than a couple hours.
Anyone who hasn't seen OT yet, I suggest you take a box of tissues with you when you do. I didn't actually cry, but that's probably because of two things. Mainly, I've noone to cry with and secondly, I'm a guy and it's hard for me to be androgynous sometimes. .. *sniff* - summer days 2002-07-23 16:42:15 damn it's hot out here. I live in indiana and went golfing yesterday. I only did 9 holes, but after which I was dehydrated (& we had a fair amount of water) and I got burnt. It had to be nearly 100 degrees with a humidity that was above 80%. That all aside, I played one of my best games in 2 years. For my second game this year I shot +9 on the nine holes with one birdie on a long par 3 and two pars. I wonder if I could do better under less harsh conditions. I think it was even too hot for most of the bugs, becuase there weren't any misquitoes. There were, however, armies of bees. They were like another hazard on the fairways. I'm curious as to whether there are any animes about golfing. I'll have to look into that. Watching golf on TV is usually as boring as watching Martha Stewart cook, but and anime about golf would be fun I think.
- new look... 2002-07-01 14:05:46 ooooh, AMV.org has a new look. I like I like. A little color definately helps.
- an AMV.org server... 2002-05-27 14:30:13 I think it's an excellent idea if the price is right. Hence, I will pay to be a member. AMVs are my favorite anime media, even above the animes themselves. Hell if I'll ever pay for Yahoo games, but I will pay for this. AMV.org is a great community and a useful tool to bring such artistic beauty to the world. I'd prefer not giving people names based on how much they contribute though. However, I do think that those who contribute the most should be recognized. If this plan does begin, then I think this site ought to be re-modeled a bit. I do enjoy it's efficient capabilities from being so lightweight, but I'd guess that the majority of people who use it have systems and connecitons that could handle a bit more. I'd like to see more oranization, functionality, user-interaction, and color. In general it's a lot to ask and It won't effect my membership, but I don't think it's too much to ask from a loyal member.
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