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| Introducing... |
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THE MC'S
Dominque Nguyen, aka DOM! (left)
doing the Kakushi headband thing from Naruto...
and
Luke Gottlieb (right)
spiffy as always for semis/finals...
(Yes I like the word "spiffy", leave me alone ^^;;)
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THE JUDGES!
- Jonathan Osborne
... has been a voice actor for 3 years, mostly as a "wallop receptor", that means that Jonathan has been killed in many many anime
- Jon Shin
... from Otaku Generation, previous year's group winner, who is still wearing all his clothes which is a good thing
- Senior staffers/judges, Evelyn Yu and Tommy Pedrini
... they have experience in judging and will keep the other judges in line in case they try to do something stupid
- Joey Carbone
... a music composer/producer who was introduced with a HUGE list of credits, both anime related and for the American music industry
- Kumiko Hakibara
... aspiring voice actress and voice acting student from Japan
And... special thanks to Eileen (not pictured), AX translator for the Japanese judges...
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Luke: "And here's H0-Con, to sing their semi-final's song for us had they made it into the semi's" (they were first alternates)
Mikey: "If you see anything of mine, I'm really really sorry because this skirt isn't mine..." (I guess that means he has skirts of his own o_O")
Anyway, heres: MiniMoni, Jan-Ken-pyon! by um... MiniMoni
Dom: "Thank you very much H0-Con for providing such a fine opening for a finer show, remember folks anime expo karaoke, full of dignity since... .... ..... never"
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| The Semi-Finals! |
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- Semi-finalist: Veronica Grijalva
- Song Entry:
- Ultra Relax
Kodomo no Omocha (OP)
- Quote: "Scary!"
For those who couldn't tell which was her prelim's performance, she was the chocobo!
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Stalling...
Dom: "It's what all nervous comedy is based off on..."
... but while they were stalling, I got a shot of those two nameless LP VTech people
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- Semi-finalist: "Soundsoft Elvy"
- Song Entry:
- Moonlight Party
Bust-a-Move 2 (Kelly's Stage Song)
- Quote: "I was a little nervous from the performance, but I really got into it after the audience seemed to enjoy it."
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- Semi-finalist: Alice Chiao
- Song Entry:
- Be My Angel
Angelic Layer (OP)
- Quote: "Hi, everyone! I'm really nervous - does it show? There are so many great singles this year too. Please ganbatte!"
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- Semi-finalist: Victoria Erica
- Song Entry:
- I Wanna Be Loved By You
Shiina Ringo (JRock)
- Quote: "Wow! I wasn't expecting to be in the semi-finals! Karaoke is all for fun. I grew up with it... those voice lessons paid off!"
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- Group Semi-finalist: Fushigi Yume
AKA: Megumi, Jo-chan, Shampoo, Daina
- Song Entry:
- Bust-a-Groove
Bust-a-Groove (Kitty-N Stage Song)
- Quote: "Our thoughts for using the song was to display our talents not only by vocals, but by dancing as well. To our disappointment the equipment and sound did not work the way we wanted them to. But our goal was to have fun, and we did!"
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- Semi-finalist: Chocolate
AKA: Jennifer Smith
- Song Entry:
- Save Me
Initial D (Insert)
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- Semi-finalist: Nanakaoru
AKA: Cynthia Davila
- Song Entry:
- Hybrid Rainbow
FLCL (Insert)
- Quote: "Um... that's not the end of the song!" T_T Hehehe... this was a very interesting semis experience for me, what with getting to do my song all over again because of *technical difficulties* *lol*. Good thing I love Hybrid Rainbow, so I didn't mind, plus many say it sounded better the second time around! how's THAT for luck?? XD So I think a special thanks is in order, to Luke and all the technical staff for being so nice and patient and understanding ^^.
This song was dedicated to my dad, for being cool enough to lend me the money I needed to make it to AX for the fifth time, and to this contest for the fourth time (gah... I should think about retiring *lol).
(Here's a sample of the portion that was cut off the first time through, she practiced those two high notes for a long time...)
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- Semi-finalist: Duo
- Song Entry:
- Mokona-ondo de pupupu no pu
Magic Knight Rayearth (Image)
- Quote: "Here's some advice for future contestants. You sound NOTHING like how you normally sound when you perform unless you practice WITH a mic. Egads, I didn't realize how icky I sounded til I watched the tape again :P"
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- Semi-finalist: Whitney Richardson
- Song Entry:
- One Half
Rurouni Kenshin (OP)
- Quote: "Contest is ran just fine, the schedule conflicts with Music Vid Contest kind of sucks though..."
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- Group Semi-finalist: Nightscape
AKA: "Naveed" & "Athena"
- Song Entry:
- Onegai Cupid
CLAMP Gakuen Housou-bu ("Midnight Asuka-chan Neru" Radio Drama ED)
- Athena: "I love this song!"
- Naveed: "Heh heh, see you next year."
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- Group Semi-finalist: USA Musume
AKA: Tiffany-Marie Austin, Kimi Pasamonte, Kimberly Gruenke
- Song Entry:
- Chu! Natsu Party
San Nin Matsuri (JPop)
- Quote: "Yay! It was fun!"
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- Semi-finalist: Randy Bautista
- Song Entry:
- Natural Playboy
Bust-a-Move (Hiro's Stage Song)
- Quote: "What can I say? Bust-a-Groove kicks ass."
(What is it about stripping that judges love so much?)
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- Group Semi-finalist: Otaku in Crime
AKA: Alicia Matheson, Marie Anello, Trisha Hopkins, Alie Gibbons
- Song Entry:
- Messiah
Angel Sanctuary (OP)
- Quote: "We so enjoyed being a part of all this, figuring out the harmonies, working out the choreography, doing each others' make-up... Everything was so wonderful and fun! We hope we scared you. :) Duo-kun & Mokona rock our world! :D"
(A-no... yeah, we rock :P Anyhoo so did they, here's part of this stunning dramatic performance)
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- Group Semi-finalist: Sherry Weng & Stephanie Yanez
- Song Entry:
- Anata to ireba
Card Captor Sakura (Sakura & Tomoyo Image)
- Quote: "Hi I'm Sherry... / and I'm Stephanie... / and we're bringing you tonight... / your dose of cuteness..."
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- Semi-finalist: Jennifer Chan
- Song Entry:
- First Love
Utada Hikaru (JPop)
- Quote: "Maybe show the names of upcoming contestants on the TV? Don't know how easily that's accomplished. Thanks!"
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One of the judges went out of the room for a sec so Dom was told to "dance"... And even though they didn't have their leaves with them (thank god -_-;;) here's the much anticipated and much abridged version of Yatta!
Dom: "Fine, we'll do the dance with pants on... but it's just not the same"
Henry & Dom
G... R... double E... N... LEAVES!
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- Semi-finalist: Catherine St-Onge
- Song Entry:
- Tokimeki no doukasen
Fushigi Yuugi (ED)
- Quote: "I WAS SO NERVOUS!!!! ^_^" hehehe..."
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| End of Semis Randomness |
That concludes the semi-finals round...
Luke: Normally at this point in the competition we have group winner from the previous year perform. However, I've been told by Jon that they didn't have adequate time to prepare, but I don't think they need to prepare, what do you think? Get up here Jon...
Jon: Well basically ah um... (music plays)... hold on hold on... (music continues to play) wait, stop the music please...
Jon: Basically we had some complications with one of our members (music plays) one of our guys are in summer school (music continues to play)
Luke: We just want you to sing
Audience: SING!
Jon: I don't even know what song this is... come up here guys
(As with all Otagen performances... screen caps don't do it justice. So here it is! Let's me just say that when you're filming, it's the freakiest thing to hear a disembodied seductive MALE voice go "Hey Duo-kun..." behind you. I will get you for this Phil... mark my words!! _-_,,)
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Um... there are a couple more pics I haven't put up yet.. including the promised yaoi-moment -_-"
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| And the Finalists are... |
(in alphabetical order)
- Individuals:
- Randy Bautista
- Alice Chiao
- Cynthia Davila
- Veronica Grijalva
- "Soundsoft Elvy"
- Catherine St-Onge
- Groups:
- Otaku in Crime
- USA Musume
- Sherry Weng & Stephanie Yanez
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On to the Finals...
ps I don't know if anyone noticed... but how is it that only 11 individuals performed when there were 12 semi-finalists?? I'm too lazy to figure out who the no-show was, but wasn't one of the semi-finals alternates suppose to go? I know Elizabeth and Jaimy were in the room at the time? But anyway, what's past is past...
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