Well, I waited 30 minutes in line for registration. Spent some time in the dealers' room before I headed off to see some anime. The only show I saw that day was Trigun, episodes 1 and 2. I really wanted to see Trigun for a while now and I was ecstatic to see it. I found the episodes to be quite humorous and, yes, I adored Vash. There's just something about his character that even I found endearing. I enjoyed the flow of things and I liked the animation. It was a show I'm glad to have caught. It is in my intentions to see the entire series whether I buy it or not. So after seeing that, I head over to watch Koto Colorado perform (also to get a good seat for the opening ceremonies). The music is so pretty. I just enjoyed listening to the sounds. Last year, their final song was a surprise and it ended up incorporating the theme song of Sailormoon (I'm not sure if the whole song was from Sailormoon or not). So, this year I was getting prepped to see if I could figure the song out. However, I'm not very good at identifying anime songs. So I listen and I can't figure it out. So I'm spacing out a bit when part of the song seems familiar and my mind just provides me with lyrics right out of the blue. I figured out the song. It was almost done when I finally figured it out. But, I'm pretty sure they were playing 'Eyes on Me' from Final Fantasy 8. So that was cool.
Opening Ceremonies: Y'know, this convention is just what we needed after everything that has passed. We began with the 'Star Spangled Banner' and such, just for that little reminder. Then they got to introducing the guests. We lost a lot of guests, but there were still many who made it out (and we love them for it!). So it was pretty cool seeing a bunch of familiar faces. Then they introduced Scott McNeil and everybody went crazy. I mean, this guy is so awesome. I was in awe and all, but these people were acting like the crazy fanboys and fangirls (mostly girls) that they are. It's amazing how much power he has over 90% of the crowd just by saying, "plushie." He threw a couple of Duo Maxwell keychain plushies. The one girl who caught it near me acted like a girl who just touched a member of NSYNC. Face it, the man is a star. Doing voices such as duo, Piccolo, Captain Harlock and others outside of anime will do that to you. So the ceremonies went on without a hitch and all was good. Us Powerpuff Girl fans also got to make ourselves known seeing as how Cynthia Hands came to the convention (she writes Little Golden Books, which apparently feature our crime fighting gals). So that was really cool. The ceremony ended and now came the panel.
American Voice Actors' Panel: Okay, last year I didn't go to any panel. I was new and I spent most of my time safely in the confines of the dealers' room and the video rooms. So this year I decided to attend a panel (and, yes, the fact that Scott McNeal was there did sorta contribute to it…sorta. Actually, there was nothing showing that I wanted to really see, so I stayed around). The guys were so laid back and funny. Tristan MacAvery is such a funny and outstanding man. Scott McNeil is just too weird and admits that if it weren't for voice acting, he'd be in an institution somewhere J. Oh yeah, the plushies made their return. Taliesin Jaffe is a funny guy who really enjoys his life and those evil roles he's done. Also all the guys are lazy and don't really want to do any real work outside of voice acting or directing (in Jaffe's case). Keith Burgess came by later, but we didn't get that much from him. The questions that were asked ranged from the relatively tame "which role did you enjoy the most?" to the weird with how would they react to a hentai situation. Some funny ones were if they did any female voices (yes, some of them did. McNeil does a well known one-too bad I can't remember it. It's American). I also enjoyed the question of what they thought about seeing their characters involved in a shonen-ai fics. The guys' answers were too funny. Scott McNeil was obviously gonna be the one most of the yaoi/shonen-ai fans wanted to hear from because, as the voice of Duo, how could you not know what's going on with your character in stories? His answer didn't fail. First, he asked what that was and he said he knew nothing about him and Heero. So, obviously, he knew what's been going on. He recalled a fanart he received from a fan that just stunned him. He even gave the best line with, "Heero's treated me very well!" Tristan MacAvery dared us to tell him if anyone has seen Gendou with anybody! Some actually have! Scary… Another amusing question dealt with out-takes and each guy recalled some funny things they've encountered at work. Jaffe and MacAvery shared with us the 'infamous blooper' at the end of episode 26 if Neon Genesis Evangelion where, I guess, the voice actor for Shinji asked them to let the tapes roll at and he starts asking all these questions and he keeps going and going. It was entertaining. The guys also talked about interesting fan encounters. Tristan MacAvery had a humorous one dealing with this ultra-caffeinated soda called 'Bawls' (sp.?) and a fan encounter. Nothing happened; but the soda was blue (put that together) and the fan saying, "suck my bawls" is rather ambiguous (not!) if you don't know what's going on-which none of us did (including MacAvery). Needless to say, the sexual references were flying around the room and the PG-13 rating was close to being broken. The last question I can remember was somebody asking whom the guys preferred "Asuka/Shinji" or "Rei/Shinji"? The answers were "Asuka/Shinji" -Burgess, skip McNeil because he wasn't in Neon Genesis Evangelion, "Asuka/Shinji" -MacAvery, and "Kaworu/Shinji" Jaffe (much to the delight of the Y/SA fans). So that was an interesting panel.
Karaoke: the last event I saw before I left was karaoke. I only saw 4 people perform. They were all good and did a nice job. I don't know what the first girl sang, but she did a good job singing it. The second person sang 'Moonlight Densetsu' (sp.?) from Sailormoon. She really did a good job. Lots of people knew the words and mouthed along. The Panther Comics guys were dancing around and having fun. The third person was a guy who decided to sing Pokèmon. That was pretty funny and had people dancing. The last person I saw sang 'Information High' from Macross Plus (an awesome song). The room was partying. Then I left after she finished.
So that was day one! Hours of sleep: 7 (12am-7am) that's really good at a convention!