The Finals!!!
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Revised 12/01: The Media page has been redone to provide space saving real media files. Not all the old media files were converted, but they will remain listed as available by very special request... |
Finally, the Finals... with great performances after great performances, the judges were finally able to narrow down the 45 karaoke contest entries to SEVEN! Five individuals and two groups... I do not envy their positions because everyone was tremendous! (See what judge Ryan had to say at the bottom of the semi-finals page)
Onward to the finals!!
The finals started off with a bang as last year's winner TJ Zhao performed her finals entry from last year: Waratte Pon. Not only did she come dressed for the part, as Shorty from the game "Bust a Move", she brought her friends along as Freida and Heat!!
With an open invitation to anyone who would like to dance with them, this was one rousing performance.See part of their performance
AX2000 Karaoke Finalist:
May Llaguno performing Eyes on Me, the ending theme to the game "Final Fantasy VIII".
First of all I would just like to say that I was more surprised that I made it into the Final Round. I was however nervous to sing first and to the song "Eyes On Me" when someone sang that before I did. Anyways I'll chose other songs for next time so watch for that.
- I'm 19 and I've been an anime fan eveer since I saw Bishoujo Senshi Sailor
Moon and DragonBall. My Favorite Series has to be Sakura Wars (hint: my
songs) and a dozen others (Sailor Moon, Rurouni Kenshin, Tenchi Muyo!,
Shoujo Kakume Utena, Recca no Hono etc.) and my Favorite Character is of
course Sakura Shinguuji but I also like many more (mainly bishonens: Weiss
Kreuz, The G-Wing Boys, The Suzaku Seven, etc. and many girl characters like
Ryoko, Utena, Usagi, etc). I'm a computer junkie and spend most of my time
online (my sceen name is "MaevenM" and I also go by Maeve Maruki). I also
like to draw anime characters and even my own characters. And of course I
love to sing and listen to anime songs.- I'm glad that the Karaoke Contest wass alot of fun and I hope to sing other songs again at next years AX. Thanks. ^_^x oro!
AX2000 Karaoke First Place Winner:
Yaya Han performing Ultra Relax, the second season opening theme to Kodomo no Omocha.
Hi, my name is Yaya, on the net, I use "Angel Lain" though. I'm 20 years old, and right now a freelance-manga-artist. I can call myself that, because I have published a manga before, hehehe. ^_^ (Webmaster note: Trust me she's good, she had stuff in the art exhibit hall and EVERYTHING went to auction...)
I'm married (aww :b) and live in Arizona right now. I've been a manga/anime-fan, since I was little, because I grew up partly in China. Right now, I enjoy cosplaying, singing, and of course, art, the most. I'm not even going to start counting down my favorite series, songs etc. I'm also a huge J-Music-fan. The first time, I competed in a karaoke-contest was in Germany, where I lived for almost 10 years. It was I think 5 years ago... I won it, and got a TV O_O' (hint hint AX) as the prize. Wohoo.
Last year, I was also in the AX-karaoke-contest.
It was my first "anime-karaoke-contest", and even though I had fun, it was very stressful too.
I made it into the semi-finalist-round.
(She was good back then too, I was there to see her perform Watashi no tamagoyaki and Idol Talk)This year, to my own surprise, I got 1st place in the contest... I practiced a lot, but didn't enter to win. I just wanted to make it into the last round, so I could perform all 3 songs I have prepared. I saw the entire thing as a chance to perform. It was very fun, I enjoyed this years contest much more, because I was less nervous.
None of my friends were with me, when the winners were called.
We all didn't think I would win, because the other entrants were such wonderful performers.
My God, Miss Vela, what a voice...
And Miss Diana "Kou", you were charming everyone up there, I was absolutely amazed at your stage-presence.
I bow deeply to the winners of the group-competition ("Athena" & "Naveed")... you two should go pro!I want to thank all, who came and saw us perform, the patient judges, and the hard-working staff. It's a great honor for me, to be the winner of the 2000-contest. I only wish I could enter next year (lol). (Type type type... phew! All done :b)
See part of her performance
AX2000 Karaoke Finalist:
Hyde Onna (Cynthia Davila) performing Get Along, the opening theme to "Slayers".
Here are some profile type stuff about the third finalist...
- Age: 22
- Hometown: Hermosillo, Mexico
- Fav series: Rurouni Kenshin, Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
- Fav char: Kaoru Kamiya from Rurouni Kenshin - "Keeeeshiiiiin!!"
- Fav song: Niji (Her semi-finals entry)
- Fav j-pop artist: L'arc en Ciel (surprise :b) and Glay
- Something kinda interesting: I saw a live performance video of "Niji" about 60 times as part of the preparation for my semifinal performance, because it was suppose to be a kind of tribute to Hyde from L'arc en Ciel.
- Something very bad: I never practiced my final performance... not even once... I didn't think I could ever make it to the finals.
- Plans for next time: Practice another song, leave Niji as my final song.
- Karaoke experience: This was my 3rd time competing in the AX Karaoke Contest, and I almost didn't even make it into the semifinals!!
AX2000 Karaoke Finalist:
Diana "Kou" performing Koi no Sousamou, an insert song to "Ojousama Sousamou".
Ahh megami-sama! I actually made Finals. Surprised myself, but hey, I'm not taking it for granted. I'm glad I was included in the number of truly talented performers, and i wish everyone had won. Competition was tough, but everyone did a superb job!
Now for the 'profile' stuff...I'm 18 years of age, residing somewhere in quaint Southern California.
My favorite anime are Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, Shin Seiki Evangelion and Shoujo Kakumei Utena.
My favorite characters of all time are Seiya Kou (no doh ^_^;;), Tenou Haruka, Tenjou Utena and Ayanami Rei. I know it seems pretty basic, but hey! They're so darn lovable.
As for favorite songs, anime-wise, there are *way* too many to name. I guess that's all for me for now... I'll be back for next year's karaoke and punching even harder! See you all then!
AX2000 Karaoke First Runner-Up (Group):
Goddess Girls (John Shin, Yuhki Fukusumi, Philip Kim) performing Breeze, the opening theme to "Slayers Try".
Visit The AX Goddess Girls Official Fan Site from the links page... (Goddess Girls' AVI's!)
This year was a blast! Our first time at AX Karaoke and we made it to the finals! We can't really say we practiced as much as everyone else did but we had one hell of a time! First off, we want to thank all girls wearing skirts. Trust us ladies, we know how you feel and what its like to be hooted at. Those guys have no sense of respect or dignity for today's modern woman (Hoping this gets us some points with the lady readers out there). Yuhki's dress was so skimpy, we doubt some girls would wear it. As for John, damn! with those love handles, dear God! Any girl with common sense would have told him to wear a mumu (Phil and Yuhki). Screw you guys! It's phat to be fat! I had the best butt at expo (John)!! |
  
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Well, any who, the Goddess Girls will definitely be back next year with aspirations for 2nd place, that way we can go on to the next year. (yeah right, we're just covering up so it's okay to lose... ^_^). We Goddess Girls would also like to thank Duo-kun for making the AX karaoke fan site [shameless self-promotion for not editing this out :b] It's about time the hard workers at karaoke got recognized. Well, I suppose that's it. Have a great year everyone and we'll all have more fun at AX Millenium.
AX2000 Karaoke First Runner-Up:
Alincia Vela performing Jama wa Sasenai, the ending theme to "Slayers Next".
Hi its Alincia! I'm 15 and I live in West Sacramento in California. My fav char so far is Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, but my fav anime series has to be Blue Seed ^_^ Oh my favorite song is Forever Love from Clamp's X (which she did a stunning rendition of for her preliminaries).
Thanks a lot, it was so much fun at the karaoke competition!
Hey, the whole convention was a blast!!
My family and I plan to go every year from now on!! Thanks again! (We hope to hear more from you in future expo's)
AX2000 Karaoke First Place Winners (Group):
Silver Night ("Naveed" & "Athena") performing Lullaby - Yasashiku Dakasete, the ending theme to "Magic Knight Rayearth".
First of all, all the contestants were amazing. I haven't really done many karaoke contests but the few I've seen and attended were nothing like this. No one did absolutely horrible. I have to send out a pat on the back to everyone in the singles competition because that was grueling competition. I think that they all did so well the judges must have really had to nit pick to narrow it down. (That is never fun for a judge to do btw)
Yaya, you are amazing and I loved your second song ^.~ And to the Goddess Girls, you guys were so entertaining. "Naveed" and I thought for sure you'd beat us. Thanks for the hugs from both the Goddess Girls and AX Sailor Scout Street Boys. ^.^ To the AX Sailor Scout Street Boys, you sing well, you dance well, keep up the good work! Also a thank you goes out to our friend Devi that helped us with our choreography and to Diana who helped us with our singing! And of course a HUGE thank you goes out to the Karaoke staff (and Duo-kun the webmaster of the karaoke site ^.~ [blush]) for all their hard work that made the contest run so smoothly and made it such an enjoyable event, then made it available online ^.^
"Athena" is 21 this month [July], and a student at ASU, studying computer engineering and web design. I have no idea what my favorite animes are, there are way too many to count. Bleh I don't like talking about myself ^^;;
"Naveed" is 18 and going to ASU her first semester in the fall. Her favorite anime is Rurouni Kenshin (shameless self promotion: Hitokiri Haven) and just about anything drawn by CLAMP.
Both "Athena" and "Naveed" live in AZ. Hey O.o;; Yaya-san lives here too! ^_~
See part of their performance
And so the finals come to an end... You can already see the place settings above, but I think everyone is a winner (especially the audience). A big THANK YOU to ALL the contestants as well as the diligent AX Karaoke Staff!
Here's what happened while the final scores were being tabulated....
Here Hong Kwon came out to give a little history of the karaoke contest, give thanks and applaud the efforts and dedication of all the contestants, give thanks and introduce the AX Karaoke Staff.... (Sorry, it's 2:36am and I'm too lazy to transcript his speech :b)
But after all that's said and done, he gives thanks to the hardest working member of the AX Karaoke Staff, Stella Kim... and so dedicated a song, Sanbunnoichi no Junjou na Kanjou from Rurouni Kenshin (ED).
Oh did I mention she's his girlfriend? This was such a touching moment... O.O''
I hope Stella doesn't send her killer bunnies after me for putting this picture up :b
"Shaft... Shaft... Shaft... Shaft..."
-- Another Shaft moment (left), brought to you by Luke...
And everyone, this is Erin (right: she was in the prelims) and she NEVER misses an invitation to dance "on-stage" ^_^;;
I couldn't resist putting in another shot of Tommy in his Card Captor Sakura outfit...
In costume and all, he started the opening theme of CCS Catch You Catch Me, then led half the audience through the refrain... erk, you can hear MY voice during the chorus...
Hey look, four of my friends actually showed up to watch the finals (okay so there's only 3 of them in the shot... the angle on that camera is only so wide ya know...)
And yes, I know the picture is tiny... but any bigger/clearer and I might not live to see the next AX ^_^;;Oh, did I mention they, including the audience, were singing the English Pokemon theme song?? ... followed by the Digimon theme song :b
And the winners are...
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"Athena" and "Naveed"!! 
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 Yaya Han!! (She was slightly surprised ^_^) |
THE END...
Sorry, no pics of the awards ceremony...I was home and half asleep by then :b
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If you have any comments, please mail me at: duo_kun_2000@yahoo.com |