Okay, it is over. 5 days filled of Anime and fun and Cosplay and Music Videos and spending money in the dealer's room and it is finally over. I have decided that conventions are addictive in nature, and now I can't wait for Fanime 2002 or AX 2002. If I had the money, I would be going to Anime North or Anime-Iowa or Otakon...if I had the money. So what follows is a day by day, moment by moment account of AX 2001 and it includes PICTURES! Yes, that is why it took me so long to do this entry, I am including pictures for an in-depth detailed look at Anime Expo 2001 - celebrating 10 years of conventioning. So, without any further delay, let's begin.
Day 1
July 4, 2001
Cue the day of departure. Cue my family leaving for their own vacation an hour before I left, leaving me to lock up the house. 7:00 AM and I am groggy as they are saying good-bye. By the time I can see straight, have showered, and the car is loaded...7:30 and I was supposed to be at Sarah's at 8:00. And I still had to gas up! I think I found a faster way to her house by way of 50 mph down Cirby way, but you know...some times such risks are needed. ;) So anyway, I was exactly right on time to her house. And that was when all the fun began. (Well, if you can call the drive on highway 5 "fun" .... all you Cali people know what I am talking about.) We left at a nice and early 8:00 am and were on the 5 about 8:20 or so, right on schedule.
From there, we made really good time. And I mean REALLY good time. Sarah said I was doing 120 on Highway 5 ay one point. I still stand by the fact I was doing only 110. Now I know some people are going to say "ONLY?!" but it does make a difference, honest! All in all though, the drive was very uneventful and we stopped in Kettleman City for lunch. I don't know how many people have ever taken the 5 north OR south, but for any large distance, Kettleman City is the major stopping point. We stopped for about 45 minutes for a good meal, and we on the road again. When all was said and done, we were in Long Beach by 2:30, which is a total of six and a half hours. That also includes a gas stop and lunch in Kettleman. I do believe the total was over 300 miles. We shall say 320 -- which makes my average speed: about 49 mph. See? I couldn't possibly be going 120 for a while, it just couldn't be possible. ;)
When we arrived at the hotel, I checked in for the entire group and got the key cards. While we were throwing our stuff in the room, we met the people who would be staying next door to us: a son and his mother who came all the way out here from New Mexico. Oh, and the son was about 24 I might add. ;) See, people of all ages can appreciate Anime. ^_^ He said his mom was waiting in line though, and that we were more than welcome to join them for registration. Hey, a chance to do registration before the convention even begins! Can't beat that, can ya? About an hour later, Sarah and I had our badges and were back at the hotel room. It was maybe 3:30, and we didn't have to call our parents to say we arrived safely until 5:00, so we did what any other teenager would do under the circumstances -- sleep.
Sheyne, Yoshi, and Matt were the next to arrive that evening, about 7:00 to be more exact. Sarah and I just chilled and killed time until they got there, and when they did, we got them registered, and by then it was 7:30 and Bijon, Garrett, and Jessica also got there. When EVERYTHING was said and done and everyone was registered, it was about 9 and we were all very hungry. A quick walk (quick defined as a 20 minute walk) down the street to McDonalds and we were set for the night, ready for the big convention ahead. All this and it is only day one!
Day 2
July 5, 2001
So what time do you get up to start an anime convention? 8:00 of course, and that is for the BIGGEST thing of all: our first trip to the Dealer's Room. How cracy is this? I mean, we stand in line for 2 hours so that we can spend money? Well, we did...and 8 hours later (yes, we spent six hours in the Dealer's Room that day) we all emerged totally exausted. We sat down outside and just rested, occasionally taking pictures of people who were doing cosplay. While sitting, we also went over our loot. After the first day, here is what everyone came out with:
Jakob: Mononoke Hime Wallscroll, Iria Wallscroll, FLCL: Addict (original sound track), After War Gundam X poster (40 dollar poster for 5 bucks), and all the free stuff everyone was handing out inlcuding keychains, postcards, manga, and AD Vision was even giving away t-shirts on occasion.
Sheyne: Angel Sanctuary Wallscroll, 10 drawings from a dealer who is at every convention selling them, all the free stuff, and a few things from Urban Vision regarding Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, the much anticipated sequel.
Sarah: a drawing of Deedlit (Record of the Lodoss War) from the guy Sheyne got her pics from, and a $50 Japanese dress that is a silk/polyester blend that changes from silver to blue to purple in the light.
Bijon: a whole bunch of Wallscrolls, and then DVDs he took...er...borrowed...er...stole. :(
Garrett: the Magic Knights Rayearth original soundtrack, a few Wallscrolls, and that was it.
Jessica: Easily the cutest purchase, a Vash pillow from the guy who sold all the drawings. The best part was, she got it for $10 less than the marked price. It was SO cute! She also got a few Trigun Wallscrolls, although she couldn't find the one with Wolfwood that she wanted.
Matt: I think he got out the cheapest, with only a Lupin action figure running him $15. Yep, that was IT! Oh, and notice how I mentioned above it was our FIRST trip to the dealer room? As we go in there again and again throughout the Expo, I will list what was gotten in the same fashion. ~_^ Our next stop, now that it was about 4 in the afternoon was to go to the Hyatt so that we could see some of the cosplay that was going on. It was there that I saw someone I didn't think of seeing. Let me first reference a previous convention post and you will see what I mean:
I couldn't believe it, a Sara clone! It was Sara, only with a little more meat to her but the same hair, same attitude, everything. I was beside myself and unable to believe it. I showed Aurora the picture, and she was just as mistified. For a brief moment, I felt a part of me wretched loose from my soul because deep down I knew Sara really was gone for good. I then saw her boyfriend. Of course she had a boyfriend, who could be that attractive and not have one? Let luck have it's way and it be the awesome Vash with the sweet costume that put everyone to shame. So there they were, Hara Hana Haruko and Vash. I think I still have a few pieces of soul left on the Dealer Room floor there.
It was her again. No, not her, but him as well! I really dodn't believe it, and I figured neither of them would remember me from Fanime. The Vash was there again, same outfit and everything, but his girlfriend was dressed as Chun-Li. (Ed- yes, she made a good Chun-Li, so don't ask.) I took their picture again (maybe start a collection?) and then the Vash recognised me. He asked me what I was doing this far south, and we were introduced. Sheyne and the others seemed to vanish into the background as I got to talking with him. Turns out his name is CJ, and really his story is much like mine in how he got into Anime. Namely: g/f shoving it in his face and him going "wow, this IS cool!" Her name is ... (those who know me know my luck with this name) Sera. That makes 12 S(e/a)ra(h)s total that I know now! Oy! So anyway, we talked for a good hour to an hour and a half about all sorts of things and at one point we got to talking abouot cosplay. CJ's group consisted of him, 1 other guy, and three girls. All three girls were dressed as Chun-Li in order to have the different colors of outfits. I pointed out that there were three of them, and Chun-Li had about 7 different outfits. Sera nodded and seemed to get an evil grin on her face. I looked immediately to CJ for an explanation. He only smiled and pointed out that there were 2 other people coming, but that still left two outfits to fill. If it came to it, the other guy was going to wear one, and someone needed to wear the other.
I think I just about died on the spot there. There was NO way I was going to do that. Sera screwed with my mind a bit more and then said no, because I wouldn't be able to fit into the boots anyway. A bit more laughs and such, and then one of the other Chun-Li's came over. She was introduced and her name I found out was Terra. Just to clear things up in pics, Sera is in the purple, Terra in the red. I dunno why, but Terra pulled Sera aside (Ed- enough era's, PLEASE!) and they talked for a bit, giving CJ and I time to chit-chat about just random things. By the time they had returned, CJ and I moved to a couch in the Hyatt lobby and were sitting. Sera sat on CJ, and Terra sat next to me, putting me between her and the others. I really didn't get the "why" to it until a bit later in the convention. So we sat there and talked for a bit, and made plans to meet the next day: Friday. Finally, I saw Sheyne and the others leaving, so I had to say goodbye for now. Before I left though, CJ asked for my cell number, should something come up and we couldn't meet. I got their room number so I could call for the same reason, and we parted ways. By now, the time was 8pm. No food all day...it was seriously time to eat. The place: Carls' Junior this time. We then retired to the hotel room and made preperations for day two of the convention...
Day 3
July 6, 2001
Sheyne, Matt, Garret, and Bijon went at 6:00 am to go stand in line for tickets, which let the rest of us sleep in for a few hours extra. When we did awake, we watched some Anime (Cowboy Bebop) and got ready for a long day ahead of us. The tickets Sheyne and the others were getting were for the Music Video Contest that night, which was scheduled to end at midnight. Regardless of the huge day ahead of us, we set out for the Westin first, where we did some cosplay picture taking. About an hour later, we swung through the convention center (yep, stopped by the dealers room) and went over to the Hyatt. Our destination was by 1pm to be upstairs at the Viz panel, so we could find out, purely for club purposes, who to contact in order to obtain the rights to show anime at our club meetings. The panel did have other perks, such as Viz announcing bringing "Bastard" Manga over to the American Market. Yay Bastard. ;) After that it was time for anothr trip into the Dealer's Room for some wandering.
Jakob: Nada
Sarah: Zip
Sheyne: Cowboy Bebop Original Soundtrack (OST) 1 and a few posters.
Bijon: Zero that he brought. Note: We tried and tried to shake him of that filtching habbit of his to no avail.
Yoshi: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust apparel -- hat and a shirt.
Jessica: Nada
Garrett: Zilch So really, most of us came unscathed out of the Dealer's room on Friday. 2 trips down, 2 to go. I looked at my watch and saw it was time for me to go meet CJ and such before the Music Video Contest. When I got back to the Hyatt, there was Sera and CJ, only Sera was wearing her FLCL costume, which I may add with slight amusement, was an almost exact replica. Granted that I DO love Hara Hana from FLCL and Sera looked wayyyyyyy too much like Sara, but it was still a costume that kicked butt. ... HONEST! big 'ole blush So anyway, Sera was still pressing for the Jakob version of Chun-Li, which I still refused. In retrospect, I might have only because I think Terra would have loved playing dress-up. (Ed- Kat, it was not what you think. I mean, if YOU had the chance to dress me up, you would try and take the chance, wouldn't you? :P) So after declining several times, the conversation moved to the Music Video Contest and that was when we saw the time and made a run for the MVCs.
The music videos that night were seriously awesome. I won't touch on it too much, because details would be lost without actually seeing the music video. In short, some of the best were in the (naturally) humor category. For example, a parody of Van Halen's "Right Now" dealing with things like "Right Now ... (insert phrase here)". One of the best (runner up) was Offspring's "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" which involved Tuxedo Mask, Vash the Stampeede, and Carrot. That was a riot. And the absolute winner: Spike from Cowboy Bebop chasing after Vash the Stampeede from Trigun. PERFECT blend of animations...it was beautiful. The name of it is "Tainted Donuts" and really, if anyone could ever come across it, it would be much appreciated as I simply loved the technical work for it. I got a chance to mock CJ, Sera, and Terra, as they were on the 3rd level and I was down in the orchestra. I saw them come in up there and waved. Sera stuck out her tongue, CJ gave me a mock dirty look and Terra turned arround and I didn't see her for most of the music videos. Finally, towards the end of the contest, I felt a chin on my shoulder and Terra's voice saying "so, who's gonna win?" I screamed and jumped which sent everyone else into hysterics. She had apparently been sitting there the entire time without telling me, but everyone else knew and never even did so much as a double take to let me know. How cruel! Granted now, by this point, Terra and Sera both knew I had a gf, so really it was more of a "lets flirt and fuck with his mind" sort of thing. Which I suppose is okay up until I get the living tar scared out of me. When the MVC's were over, I went up and bickered with CJ about letting Terra do that and then we all said goodnight and I retreated with Sheyne and the others to the hotel room.
Only to be up in 3 hours to be getting tickets for the next event...
Day 4
July 7, 2001
The alarm went off at a nice and early 5:00 am. I think Sarah finally shook me awake about 5:30 or so. It was either that or Yoshi's threat of using water, I honestly don't remember which. So anyway, we trampsed out to the Long Beach Convention Center to stand in line until 9:00 am when they started handing out ticketts. I know this is going to sound crazy, but at 6:00 am when we got there, there were already about 200 people or so ahead of us. It was then when the first excitement of the morning began. Anime Expo staff didn't show up until about 8:00 or so, and then they made an announcement that had it not been quicky corrected would have likely ended in one dead staff member. Remember, by 8:00 there are about 800 people in line.
"It is AX's policy not to recognise any fan created line, and the location of this line is incorrect and therefore this is not an actual line."
[lots of really upset grumbling.]
"We are going to have to ask you to relocate to the Terrace Theater for tickets."
[WAY more grumbling...people getting pissed and asking for blood.]
"... [said rapidly] but because you were here so early we are going to move you to the front of the line in the order you arrived." They were actually going to move the line! How absolutely fucking (excuse my language) absurd! They honestly expected to move 800 people from one point to another, in the same order they arrived, without any complications? They must be totally insane or they must be just really illogical, and to this day I am not sure which. So just how did they do this? Well, there were spools of orange caution tape they had in excess, so they ran it from one end of the line to the other, and then had everyone hold onto the line. To prevent cutting and such, the equasion was simple: no tape, no ticket. And so we marched, essentially chained to the orange tape that bound us to our hours of waiting so they would not be all for naught. We finally (45 minutes later) made it around the corner, up 3 flights of stairs, and with the cheap tape only breaking a half dozen times at various places. I was one of the breaks, so I held the tape (one piece in each hand) as we walked the last hundred yards or so. Slowly but surely though, we all filed into the switchbacks they set up so that we could line up as they wanted us to.
And that was when the sprinkers went off. And if you thought the AX staff was going to be dead meat before, everyone had settled down in order to wait, dragged out precious Manga, Graphic Novels, and Laptops, and then the sprinklers came on. I quickly grabbed an empty bottle and jammed it over the nearest sprinkler. Other people had the same idea at about the same time, and so half of them were capped almost instantly. A few of us went and capped the rest, and someone even used a Red Bul Energy Drink. I knew they were useful for something. Anyway, with each sprinkler that was capped a cheer went up. At the time I thought it was cool to be making people happy like that, but ultimately, I wondered if they were cheering because they were too dense to think of doing it themselves. Kinda makes ya wonder though, doesn't it? I think the line started finally moving some time around 9:30. It was just a thought I had in passing the day before about Yoshi and Jessica, but when they were napping together they looked SO cute.
Yes, I took a picture. ;) They were both pouring over Manga earlier too, and they kept looking at each other when the other one wasn't looking. Once again, let me restate: SO cute! We finally got our tickets, and unfortunately, we didn't see CJ and such to let the into line until after we had tickets. I guess his group of 7 were late risers, because they were WAY in the back and (you guessed it) WAY up on the third floor again. I didn't mock this time though, I swear! Between tickets and masquerade there was sleep, sleep, oh and a lot of sleep. Those of us that got 3 hours, then functioned for another 6 before crashing fell asleep some time before noon and drifted in and out of sleep until about 4 o'clock or so, when we finally decided we needed to do something. So we fired up Bijon's computer and watched some anime until about 5:00. by then, Sheyne and everyone came back, so we all got dinner and then headed over to "various programming", which was a fancy name for a room that just showed random Anime all day. About 8:00 or so we got in line to get into the Terrace Theatre for the masquerade. The masquerade was kinda a flop though. Mostly because there were only 50 acts and it seemed that every one of them had an urge to break out into song. gag There is nothing worse thank Lip-sync. ... correction, nothing worse than people singing the anime songs. ... correction, nothing worse than people singing anime songs while dancing. ... correction, nothing worse than FIFTY people singing anime songs while dancing. I could go on about this, but I have already corrected my correction that corrected my original correction, so I don't think I really have the nerve (or sanity) to layer it any further. ;) So, I suppose it really wasn't worth that really long wait in line after all. It is one of those things you don't miss though, so I know if I hadn't gone I would have regretted it.
Probably the best part had to be at the begining. The Starlight foundation paid for a young boy to come to Anime Expo all the way from Clevland. I guess we are pretty popular. ;) Anyway, so here is the basics of what happened. There was an award presentation and they had the boy come up, and the emcee started talking about how Anime was a tight community. He then said Bandai had put together 2 box sets for him, which were then presented. Not to be outdone though, the emcee decided to add what all the other companies did. AD Vision added a bunch of DVDs, Viz had some Graphic Novels, Pioneer had the Tenchi Muyo cast bring out the box set for that, which was his favorite Anime of all time, and everyone went in to provide him with a DVD player! I swear, the kid walked out with more than we could ever wish for. And we were all chanting his name at the end. Standing ovation and all. It was honestly something magical, and even now, looking back on it, I feel myself get slightly choked up. I think it is the coolest thing that a kid wanted to come to a convention for his one wish. And even cooler that without ANY PROMPTING WHATSOEVER the other companies pitched in to give the kid something he would never forget. That made going to the masquerade worth every minute I spent standing in the early morning sun for tickets worthwhile.
Day 5
July 8, 2001
This was it...the last day of the convention, and we all had every intention of making it count. First stop: cosplay photos. The cosplay fashion show was today, providing a chance for everyone to get pictures they missed from the night before. There was a photo frenzy, so Sarah and I left early to get out Anime personas drawn. A quick trip to Artist's Alley and $10 later, they were done. Kawaii, eh? ;) After that, it was into the Dealer's Room. Why go in on the last day of the convention? Simple enough: whatever isn't sold is carried back to the store, so the more you sell, the less time you are going to be spending loading. Thus, the "lighten the load" sales began. Here is where everyone finished off their collections of stuff. When we were done in the dealer's room, here was everything plus the total damage done to our pocketbooks:
Jakob: Wallscrolls - FLCL, Mononoke Hime, Battle Angel, Angel Sanctuary, Iria. Posters - After War Gundam X, Gundam 0083 Promotional Poster. Art - none. CDs - FLCL. Clothing - Anime Expo 2001 shirt. Misc - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust keychain, various postcards. Total Damage: $74.00
Sarah: Wallscrolls - none. Posters - none. Art - drawing of Deedlit. CDs - none. Clothing - Japanese Dress. Misc - none. Total Damage: $59.00
Sheyne: Wallscrolls - Magic Knights Rayearth, X/1999. Posters - 3, one was X the movie. Art - 10 drawings total. CDs - MKR, X the Movie (OST). Clothing - Red Dress from Sakura Wars. Misc - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust keychain and poster, Sakura doll. Total Damage: $161.00
Bijon: Wallscrolls - Dunno, he was proud of 12 of 'em though, so that sounds good. Posters - none. Art - none. CDs - Kenshin OST. Clothing - AX 2001 shirt. Misc - I can't count these because he didn't buy them, but TONS of DVDs and a box set. :( Total Damage: $147.00 Should be: $547.00+
Jessica: Wallscrolls - Magic Knights Rayearth (MKR). Posters - none. Art - Vash on a pillow ($80, biggest spend of Expo), 5 drawings of various Anime. CDs - MKR OST, 3 J-rock CDs. Clothing - none. Misc - none. Total Damage: $158.00
Garrett: Wallscrolls - none. Posters - none. Art - 10 drawings of varios Anime. CDs - none. Clothing - AX 2001 shirt. Misc - 2 DVDs, a few Mangas and Graphic novels. Total Damage: $135.00
Yoshi: Wallscrolls - none. Posters - none. Art - 15 drawings, mostly from newer series. CDs - none. Clothing - none. Misc - I dunno, but he claims about $60 went there. Total Damage: $120.00
Matt: Wallscrolls - none. Posters - none. Art - none. CDs - none. Clothing - none. Misc - Lupin the 3rd doll. Total Damage: $23.00 and winner for least spent And there you have it...the biggest spender being Sheyne when it should have been Bijon, and Matt being the luckiest to avoid losing money to various Anime dealers. :) All in all, I would say we made out pretty good, eh?
And...should anyone ever read this: NO I AM NOT GOING AS CHUN-LI. ~_^
A quick call to our parents to say we were on our way home, and it was time for the drive. Honestly, I think that was the most nerve-wracking drive I ever had in my life. I may as well detail the events as they unfolded. First off, traffic on the 405 coming out of Long Beach is NOT good on a Sunday afternoon. It didn't help any that this particular Sunday was also at then end of the 4th of July weekend. Cue traffic craziness. I think I had to slam my breaks a good 8 or so times just in LA because of people cutting across 4 lanes at once. That was a pleasant way to start. So finally, we made our way onto the 5 and managed to travel for about 4 hours total when we were in the left hand lane and saw a cloud of smoke.
Out of the cloud of smoke came a ghostriding bike.
I didn't stop to put two and two together and quickly pulled into the median strip and flew out of the car. My instincts took over and I sprinted over to where the biker lay. He was part of a cycle gang and the group was helping by keeping him shaded and such. All my Eagle Scout training kicked in, and I quickly told someone to get some blankets to elevate his legs, and to keep him as still as possible. I dunno why, but everyone listened. That is another thing about humans I find interesting. The more someone doesn't know what to do, the more willing they are to be told. I found this usefull and had someone call 911 and someone else had people help divert traffic. Thankfully the man was wearing a helmet, because without it we would have had road pizza with his brains. I shit you not, the helmet really did save his life because he went over his handlebars and to the side. I nursed his wounds with wet cloth and such, and got him calm and such, and someone else finally took over so I could resume looking for any signs of broken bones. Thankfully, I could not see anything other than road rash, and when the paramedics arrived, they confirmed it. About an hour later, after being interviewed by the CHP and such, we retreated to the car and resumed our trip. By the time I calmed, the addrenaline was gone, and I just felt wasted. I mean COMPLETELY drained of energy. I kept my spirits high though and continued the slow trek home.
What made the trip even slower was idiots who felt a need to be three cars ahead of you. When everyone was working to pass a semi, some jerk would cut over to the right hand lane, speed up as much as possible, and try and cut back in, causing everyone to stop in the middle of the freeway. What is this compulsion to try and gain a few cars?! Doesn't it occur to them that we are all going slow because we are waiting for the SLOWEST CAR to pass the semi? Do they think they pass it any faster? Most the time everyone bands together and won't let the guy in and he drops back about 12 places. That is justic being done. Except when they are asses and litterally swerve towards another car and force them off the road. That happened only once, and I think it jarred Sarah from her sleep. So that was the 5, all the way home. Thankfully, there wasn't much else excitement. There was a certain satisfaction in being home though. We arrived at Sarah's house at 8:00 pm that day.
Exactly 4.5 days since we left.
And what a 4.5 days those were.
In response to "Anime Expo Report":
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