TAL'S POINT OF VIEW!
MY AnimeNEXT 2003 STORY OF A MEMORY
Despite the fact it has been almost 2 years since my friends and I attended this con and now as I presently and writing, I have decided to make a report, or rather highlights of it because A) it was my first anime convention and B) I just posted one for AN05 and it wouldn’t before if I didn’t do one for AN03. Enjoy! Oh and gomen, ish not in chronological order…
Adventure: First Anime Convention – AnimeNEXT 2003!
Destination: Rye Brook, NY – Very far way from Queens!
The Adventurers- Kyle (Birthday Boy :3), Joshua, Brian, Christian,
Marlina, Sam, Sue (was suppose to come…ARG.), Me. (forgive me if I
forgot someone)
Date: I dunno sometime in October 2003 before Halloween, uh on Saturday,
the second day of the con.
One of my best friends, Kyle (formally known as Vash Da Stampede on my first website) took me and a couple of friends and relatives to an anime convention for his birthday party. In the beginning, it was a rocky start. We met up in front of our grade school (that we have all now graduated from ^^). We packed inside the van like sardines (especially when we picked up Christian, Kyle’s older cuz, later, Can you imagine he had to sit on the floor of the car?! How that is possible, I do not know…) Due to lack of communication, Sue was left behind T___T Her best friend, Marlina, and I felt like crap for abandoning her. So the car ride was a bit miserable, but not unbearable because of the stupidity and funny-ness of our friends. I remember sharing a seat with someone, but I can’t remember who.
So after almost an hour, we arrived. We literally fell out of the van in a
clump, thanking God for the free air. We were greeted by many beautiful
costumes:
- Kingdom Hearts Sora Halloween (girl w/o wig)
- Final Fantasy X Wedding Yuna (and a real bride with her entourage
behind her XD ironic)
- An amazing Red Link from the Zelda series
- Kingdom Hearts Evil/ Dark Riku
- A large Sailor Moon Group
We somehow found the artist gallery, and saw some amazing drawings. Memorable
art stuff:
- Beautifully cell colored picture of Inuyasha and Kagome sharing a
kiss. On Inuyasha’s side the scenery is Feudal Japan, and Kagome’s side is
Modern Japan. Where the two lovers met is by the Bone Eater’s Well and where the
two sceneries mesh and blend beautifully together.
- A Trogdor pic for a lot of $ XD
Christian believed he could have done a better job than most of the artist while Marlina contemplated how she could have made some good money. Oh well. While everyone else tried to sneak a peak at some hentai (eewwwiee lolz. It was just for a dare), I waved a happy hiya to Ayami (plug suit) from Evangelion (I know I spelled that wrong… ;__;) and a awesome Legos from Trigun who almost poked my eye out (if I was taller) with the sword things on his shoulder armor. They were both staring at my friends thinking “uhhhhh….”
Walking in the hallway we passed by a sake drinking contest, but only for 21 years or older otakus. We were 12-13-14. Kyle, Joshua, and Brian sighed heavily.
We got lost (while finding a bathroom) then ran into the magna library, but we felt left out because it was too quiet and we were hella loud.
Afterwards, we stumbled into a Blue Seed screening? Then wanted to watch a Read or Die showing, but it wouldn’t start :( Again, we grew impatient and loud. On my way out I saw a Final Fantasy X-2 Yuna. Then a volunteer at the “Kiss the Ein” booth, holding a plushie of Ein from CowBoBeBop dressed as Lenne. This amazed me because the game details weren’t even out yet.
After making our way through the herds of Inuyashas (even a baby one!), Kagomes, Kougas, Sangos, Mirkous, and being almost stabbed to death along with Marlina by someon’s black metal angel wings, we found ourselves at the Video Game Room. A few of us (Sam verus Me, Brian verus Marlina) played Dance Dance Revolution (they had the cruddy soft mats and I also sucked horribly back then) while other started at these two players, one in a scary trance and the other dancing real while like he memorized it, player what I learned later to be called Para Para Paradise.
Again into the hallway… We tried to get into the Cosplay Room. Marlina scratched on the door like a small injured animal and a lady with blue hair and black wigs yelled at us and scared us away.
Then, we somehow appeared at the Dealer’s Room. All I bought was some Final Fantasy X-2 and three pins: Final Fantasy VIII’s Griever (sorta like Squally-kun’s!), Vash from Trigun, and Sesshomaru from Inuyasha for my sis. Stuff was expensive there 0__0 I wanted Squall’s necklace set, comes with a gunblade pendant if you wanna change it with the Griever/ Lionhead that is on the original necklace, but it was $40! Kyle promised he would buy it for me but never did -___- Before we left, Kyle and Marlina wanted to buy swords (but you needed to be 18+ to buy the ones with blades. Kyle already bought the bokken/ bamboo sword for $10). When the dealer asked for ID Marlina was so scared she started to cry, and Kyle did a ninja stealth thing and disappeared. Brian bought an Ein plushie (like the one at the “Kiss the Ein” booth) for $12. Girls chased him for 2 floors. He offered to give it to me for a hella belated b-day present before Mr. and Mrs. Y dropped me off, but I said it was okie. He vowed to give it to me one day.
Sadly the most memorable experience: In the Dealer’s Room, while me, Marlina, Sam, Kyle, and Christian were looking at pins. The lucky bums Brian and Joshua were looking at cell phone black lights or something. I remember it all now, so horrific. We were just looking at pins, just innocent kids I swear. We never did anything wrong… All of a sudden we hear Christian casually say “Hey, look at that ^^” So naturally we look. OMG. After we saw what we saw, me and Sam ducked behind Marlina who pushed Kyle toward what we saw while Christian laughed like the devil. We saw…A MAN CAMMY (STREET FIGHTER – GREEN BODY SUIT-ISH VERSION WITH STOCKINGS AND BRAIDED PIGTAILS) Now, with all do respect, I have seen some amazing crossplays by guys, but holy crap from above, this has scarred and traumatized little children. Whenever this topic comes up we just look at our feet and shudder at the memory, no exaggeration. For Gawd’s sake the man was like 7ft tall, wearing a green body suit that hugged like it was skin, and lemme tell ya, didn’t look a thing close to feminine (mebe the fact, but I was too shocked to see it). Mebe it didn’t look so bad, but from my point of view it really did. I'm sure the dude isn't mean or evil or anything though, despite his "revealing" costume ^^;;
There was probably more, but I forget. Time passes us by so fast. What can I say about my first con? It was hella fun with my friends, but I missed Sue so much. Also, there were hardly any Final Fantasy characters unlike Otakon. Sorry for no photos! Mebe I will take pics of the goodies later? Oh wellz... Hope you enjoyed my story report though ^^
