Booths, bags and tons of cool stuff

Similar to when Comiket took over the Big Sight, the train station were filled with posters of new series. One of which I'm looking forward to (as is Pearl-chan) is Pandora Hearts.

The event opened at 10 am and I agreed to meet up with the girl from the yaoi forums and her classmate at 11:30. There are no lines at all and we got our tickets (1000 yen each) quickly and got in. I was right to surmise that this was an exhibition hall...because that's what it was. As mentioned before, there were some performances, introductions by companies...but that was at the main stage where you needed tickets (and I'm assuming more money) in order to get in. So we skipped that. Booths had events too...but you needed some looking around to catch them. Alas...I missed the Hetalia event.

Like at all conventions, there was alot of giving out of paper and bags. I collected quite a bit. I couldn't get the FMA bag or the Conan bag, but ended up with a Naruto one. They were very large and durable.

Besides some of the booths selling stuff, there was an area that was like a mini-dealer's room. There were even rilezu for sale...except they were the series that I want to buy. (Loveless and Junjou please!) As a whole though, this too concentrated on selling stuff as it is promoting all that is new.

Professional cosplays

For those that don't know, attendees of these events do not cosplay. The only cosplayers that are there are those hired by the companies. Hence, 'professional cosplays' which adorn the booths are as much part of the booths themselves.

Ai no Kusabi = bondage love

I found the Ai no Kusabi booth. They were selling some stuff which I can't remember right now...because my eyes fell immediately to the postcards. A mini-poster and 5 postcard set with an extra postcard of Riki all tied up with Iason behind him....500 yen. O.O I don't remember why I didn't buy it...I think it was because I was stunned but thankfully my friend did and I got to see the goodies from her. *drools*

The initial pic of Iason and Riki was not a good pic of Iason at all. If you remember, I mentioned that I wasn't happy with his character design. Thankfully, it's just that pic. Looking at the other cards, I'm happy to say that Iason looks as hot as ever. *gives pocky to character designers* 13 episode OVA...I can't wait! My BL friend and I were discussing that hopefully...hopefully...they'll give the story a happy ending and they won't have to die like that. I don't them to have a 'last kiss'...I want their kiss to go on and do more.... ^^;

Junjou Romantica...the trading card game!

Yes, they can even make a TCG out of BL. I don't know what they are competing over or how the fight is going to be...but JR has a game now. ^^; They were giving out a card at the booth, but they weren't from JR. It's actually another series which I don't know yet. Cute guys though.

Running about for Conan

The first thing I noticed was that a bunch of kids had Detective Conan paper with ink stamps on it. Obviously, I wanted to join in the game but I didn't realize until much later at the DC booth what was going on. The stamp event requires the participants (kids and me) to go to 5 different booths (including the big DC one) and get stamps on their paper. Obviously, it was a huge promotion for the upcoming movie, Detective Conan: The Raven Chaser that will air in theaters on April 18. Alas, at 5000 yen a ticket and my inability to follow Conan's deductions with my very minimal Japanese, I'm forgoing the movie and waiting for subs. The 13th movie in the series will feature the Black Organization and is rumored to be the last...but no substancial news to support that yet.

I didn't get the paper until I wandered all over the room until I hit the DC booth (with the giant Conan balloon overhead.) My friends followed me around as I got the rest of the stamps before returning to the booth with the paper complete. You drew a color ball from a box. I got yellow which was a constellation prize of a Conan paper mask. ^^; Oh well, it was fun anyway. (BTW, we get a 6th stamp for completion which we could choose. 2 different ones of just Conan, one of Kaito Kid...I chose the one with Shinichi and Ran going OK! ^-^

There were other stamp events. In order to promote the new Gurren Lagann movie, people needed 9 stamps from various booths. The prize was a clear file which is of course a very good prize. But my friends and I were too tired to run around so we gave up. ^^;

Fullmetal Alchemist Brothers

New cast, new title...Fullmetal Alchemist Brothers. The animation looks as awesome as ever. The booth itself is the doors of 'Truth' opened. With a transmutation circle on the ground the walls display pics and info about the characters. I want the four posters for my wall. *drools* They had the FMA dvd boxset on display which looks so awesome...I really REALLY hope Funimation is into re-releasing FMA because I WANT IT SO MUCH! *cries*

There was a long white sheet for ppl to leave their messages. The only thing that could come to mind was...AlxEd.... So I ended up not writing anything. Of course, I got pics of my friend's awesome Japanese. ^-^ 'FMA daisuki!' (In kana and kanji of course.)

Since it was the Aniplex booth, other series dvds were on display as well. The Kuroshitsuji dvds look good as do the Vampire Knight dvds and cds. Why are the packages so pretty? *_*

USA at TAF

Turning a corner, I was surprised to see...an Otakon booth. o.O One of the people manning the booth is none other then the Japanese dude that always interpret at Otakon with a cowboy hat and ukelele(sp?) in tow. Sugoi.... Yay for Otakon in Japan. ^^;

There has always been aot of animation from other countries at TAF. There was a booth for Taiwanese animation, a Hungarian animation booth (showing clips of President Bush satire animation ^^;) and even a large Chinese animation booth showing a CG movie...with English voices. (I didn't get that.... ^^;) Of course, we have American animation as well. Spongebob Squarepants isn't only big in the US, it's pretty big here too.

Leaving TAF for other things

After spinning around the room a few times (which btw took only half the west hall space then Comiket,) we decided to leave for lunch. Ramen was our choice of the day and it came in a large bowl. o.O Itadakimasu! Miso ramen FTW!

We circled about the convention center a bit, taking in the scenery before choosing our next destination: the ferris wheel. There is two main ones in Japan that I want to hit, one of them is in Yokohoma and the other one is in Odaiba. With the others leading, we went on our way. Afterall, Palette Town is within walking distance of the Big Sight.

Continue to part 2 of the day....