Okay... Where to begin? First of all, I believe this was the perfect con for me to
attend. I was a con virgin, and this is only the second AnimeFest to ever be
held... It's new, I was new... A good combination. Anyway. On the whole, it
wasn't all that well organized. Schedule changes occurred every two minutes,
sometimes making events move to three or four different rooms before it was all
settled. Series/movies being viewed in the Video Rooms were often not what was
scheduled. Maybe that happens everywhere, but it was a major problem if you're
obsessed with planning every minute of your day during special occasions. Like
I can be. ^_^
Cool highlights: After forcing us to play in the hallways for two days,
the con people finally relented and allowed the Workshop room to be converted
into a DDR lounge during it's closed hours. Much better, let me tell ya. And
the DDR version they had was soooo awesome! It was a computer program that had
all versions of DDR and a special "Anime Mix" that had been created
just for cons. Nothing is cooler than dancing to "Cruel Angel's
Thesis" or the ending song to Chobits. But it was freakishly difficult.
O_o Me and my four-foot skills (on a good day, might I add) simply couldn't
keep up.
During the cosplay on Sunday night, a group dressed as characters from
a few different shows (the two important ones were Relena and Heero from Gundam Wing) were scheduled
to do a dance as their skit. However, the music was lost and all their plans
were destroyed. Heero stepped forward, grabbed the mic, and said he had to do
something to save the performance. Sooo... He got down on one knee and proposed
to the girl playing Relena! In front of everyone! And, the proud geeks that
they are, announced later that they would be married at A-Kon next year. Very
cool. Freaky, but cool. ^_^
Meeting the voice actors was beyond awesome. Especially the voice of
Duo/Piccolo/Wolverine Scott McNeil and Kirby Morrow, the voice of Trowa and
many, many others. Those two made me believe that Canadians are the coolest
people on the entire planet. ^_^ They were both absolutely hilarious. Got their
autographs (along with those of Monica Rial, Christopher Patton, and
Michael Coleman), and even got chocolate from Kirby and Chris. ^_^
But the absolute highlight of meeting the VA's was Scott. Oh. My. God. My
friend Insei and I ran into him the night before after the art auction ended
around 1:30 am (did I mention he gave me a dollar so I could bid on a piece of
art? ^_^) and asked him to sign an autograph for us. He searched for a pen but
couldn't find one. We were upset. v_v To our grand surprise, we found out while
standing in line at around noon the next day to get signatures from the other
four VA's I mentioned before that Scott had called the social-director at 3 am
and requested that she track us down so he could give us a private autograph
session! We waited around for a little over an hour and then he appeared, took
some pictures with us, gave out several hugs and kisses, signed Insei's badge
and my Duo poster that I had bought just for the occasion, and made us promise
to come next year.
... Yes, I'm officially starstruck. That guy was beyond awesome.
Going into the
dealer room the first thing was probably the worst decision I ever made. With a
little over $100 burning a hole in my pocket, I was automatically swept away in
a sea of giddy delight when I saw all the incredible things available for
purchase. Fortunately, I restrained myself and only bought two $5 posters (one
of the female Ranma cast, and one of most of the main Tenchi girls [no Kiyone!
;_;]), a Slayers Try wall scroll, three $4 Fushigi Yuugi prints, two 75-cent
trading cards (one of the Suzaku Seishi and Miaka, one of Touya from Ayashi no Ceres)
the limited-edition Duo poster I mentioned before, and a Chichiri pin. Well,
not mentioning the two boxes of Pocky, the Flower's Kiss Candy, and the box of
tiny chocolate-and-cookie burgers. ^_^ But I had to eat something! Couldn't pay
$20 for a pizza twice a day, ya know. =P
I sat in for a game of Anime Match Game... Oh, how I wish I would've been bold
enough to hold up my hand to be a contestant! v_v I got pretty much all the
questions right... Could've won Excel Saga, Arc the Lad, and Nadia. Baaaaaaaah.
But the game was still awesome to watch. The panelists were absolutely
hilarious. ^_^ One duo refused to choose any answer other than "chocolate
babies." Sick, but oddly amusing...
Also incredible was the guy who set up his computer in the middle of the hall
and was playing a zillion anime music videos. Some of them were incredibly
funny. Like "Satan is my Master" as sung by Usagi/Serena. ^_^ And
"Tainted Donuts," a mix of Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. And
"Troops," a comical spoof of "Cops" starring Storm Troopers
and telling the true story of Luke's aunt and uncle's deaths/disappearances
(plus a scene of poor Tom Servo being stolen by Jawas ^_^). Or "Pretty Fly
for a White Guy" starring Tuxedo Kamen, Vash, and Carrot. But my absolute
favorite was "Five-Hundred Miles" with Ryoga. I swear that song was
written for him. Simply incredible. There were singing contests and yelling
contests during these video sessions where the best person got a free CD with
videos burned on it. Wooo! ... Didn't get one though. v_v
Mmm... That's about all for the cool highlights section. On to the reviews!
For better
or worse, here's the list of all the anime I sat through for more than five
minutes. ^_^ There were a few others I glimpsed, but didn't stick around long
enough to review them properly.
Final Fantasy Unlimited
Silent Mobius
I'm Gonna Be An Angel!
Hikaru no Go
Tenchi Muyo! GPX
Excel Saga
Parasite Eve (okay, so it's a live-action movie... shoot me. =P)
Final Fantasy Unlimited: Meh. Honestly, I only sat through one episode
before getting up and walking out. The premise didn't seem all that
interesting, and the animation style simply wasn't to my taste. Hard to take
the bad guy seriously when he's basically got a teapot for a head. But I will
give that episode a rating: *1/2 out of ***** stars.
Silent Mobius: I love the manga... I honestly do. But the anime... Agh.
I don't like how everything is focused on Katsumi. If you ask me, Kiddy and
Lebia are a lot more interesting... but those two get no development in the
episodes of SM I saw. They were all about Katsumi. A bad choice. Plus, even
though their noses are rather sharp and long in the manga, it just seemed
ten-times worse on screen. And instead of focusing on the story and getting
into it, the show seemed to invite ridicule from the audience... At least,
that's what happened in my case. Insei and I, with some help from the room
supervisor, basically MSTied every episode that came on until we began getting
complaints from people behind us. So, as much as I'd like to give this show a
high rating... It can only receive, at best... ** stars from me.
I'm Gonna Be an Angel!: ... *bangs her head repeatedly against the desk*
... I don't even want to remember that this anime exists. Another show that
simply invited ridicule. And I'd be cruel not to accept the invitation! Noelle,
the main character, is the most annoying girl to ever exist on this planet. The
entire cast is filled with idiots and lame villains. Yuusuke is almost
interesting... but not quite enough to allow me to tolerate Noelle. Lord
Dispel, the main villain, is laughable. The bad guys who appear to kidnap
Noelle in the episodes cannot be taken seriously and are much worse and less
interesting than even the Sailor Moon monsters. The only two characters that
were even halfway interesting were Silky and the mysterious blue-haired bish
with the Book of Chaos... Too bad not much of them is seen in the first four
episodes. Though quirky and cute and possibly enjoyable for those with half a
brain... I found Tenshi ni Narumon! to be the most annoying show I've ever
seen. It even tops Appleseed and Fist of the North Star on my list of least
favorites. 1/2 a star simply because I can't give it a zero.
Hikaru no Go: I thought this show would bore me to tears. What could
possibly be interesting about a series based on the exploits of a boy trying to
learn a Japanese board game that I don't even know how to play? Quite a lot,
strangely. The characters are cute and interesting, the story (though rather
bland) is presented well and actually makes you cheer for Hikaru during his
matches. The character designs are charming, but maybe I'm just obsessed
because Hikaru reminded me of Yugi Motou in a weird way. ^_^ Only four episodes
were available for viewing (as far as I know), but I would love to pick up the
rest at some point. My strangest pick for possible "Best of Show." ****
stars
Tenchi Muyo! GPX: There are two ways to look at this show. If you consider it all on its own and try not to think of it as a "Tenchi" series,
it's actually quite good. Only one show actually made me laugh more (well, on
its own, that is... not including the way my friend and I cracked each other up
during SM and Angel!). The characters draw you in almost immediately, the
situations Yamada (the main character) gets into are classic physical comedy
that is always funny, and the always-important-female-love-interests are
sexy/cute/fun. There were only five episodes available, so I don't know how the
story is going to turn out in the end... But for now, it is beyond confusing.
Kai and his sister are related to Tenchi in some manner that I'm not aware of,
Yamada refers to Tenchi as "sempai" to show respect but it's never
clear exactly what their relationship is, there's another sexy space pirate
named "Ryoko" (poor imitation... blah), and all sorts of other
things. No idea where this show is going. Now. If you look at it as a
"Tenchi" series, things change. The complete lack of Tenchi and his
adorable/sexy harem of girls automatically makes my opinion sink. There are two
girls who look like Mihoshi, but I don't think either of them is her. You only
get a brief silhouette cameo of Ryoko as she steals Yamada’s cake... There's a
wannabe rivalry between two girls that is classic Ryoko/Ayeka shtick, but the
lovely Jurai princess is nowhere to be seen. Neither is her sister, or Washu...
Basically, the show only seems to use the Galaxy Police and the Jurai kingdom
because of convenience. Annoying. But maybe there'll be more tie-ins later
on... There better be. But, until I have further evidence, this show will have
to be given a ***-star rating.
Excel Saga: ... Oh. My. God. This is easily the most hilarious show at
the entire con. I stayed up until 3 am watching it, and I do not regret a
single moment. Excel makes you breathless just listening to her persistent
rambling! The voice acting is almost perfect. The opening song is awesome, the
ending song is sick and twisted yet terribly, terribly funny. And everything
between was pure comic genius. Especially episode 4 "Love Puny." I
nearly died from laughing too much. Seriously. Oh my God. I want this series
more than any other at this moment. Pure uncivilized satire of every anime cliché
known to man. Nothing is sacred. Not even the glory of Maetel escapes ridicule.
This show is perfection and my pick for "Best in Show." *****
stars.
Parasite Eve: Horrid. Terrible. Overdramatic. Empty. Pointless. Stupid.
Only good for MSTing. The actors were beyond melodramatic (my favorite scene
being one of a nurse screaming while she burns and then pausing to take a
breath before resuming her screams… all without moving one inch), and the story
was totally warped. Not once trace of the video game (which I believe has a
very good story) could be found in the movie. Well, except for the whole
mitochondria-going-out-of-control thing. Other than that... zilch. No monsters,
no Aya, no intriguing bits, no grand final battle against the evil Eve... Nada.
The way the world is saved in the movie (which I won't spoil for those of you
who are dumb enough to watch it) is pathetically lame and boring. If I hadn't
been making fun of it, I probably would've fallen asleep. ... I still think
Eve/Kiyomi was merely trying to destroy mankind because they were cruel enough
to erase her nipples. Maybe if I'd read
the book (since the story of the movie apparently follows that of the book
rather closely) it would've been a better movie for me... But based on the
knowledge I have and my own personal movie tastes, it wasn't that great. Eh.
Perhaps I'm too much of a sucker for comic relief/action in my romance
movies... 'Cause, when you get down to it, that's all the PE movie was... A
pure, bland, sci-fi romance. * star simply
because nothing can get as low of a rating as Tenshi ni Narumon.