Japan 2012 - Day 1

1^st official day started early with breakfast in the hotel restaurant.... 800 yen for buffet style... not bad. Japanese food was made better than the western food.

After that it was off to Ikebukuro Sunshine City and the Macross exhibit there.... lots of people from all ages, Macross is a multi-generational thing after all. A few cosplayers here and there, the exhibit had a greater focus on Frontier than the other Macross properties. Bought a few things in the store.. some film strips, a mug, and an artbook, and had a "ranka" drink in the cafe, where there was also some karaoke and a wall where people could wish Ranka a happy birthday, as her birthday was yesterday (sunday).

After that walked around Sunshine City for a bit, there was a Tiger and Bunny exhibit apparently inside Namjatown.... which looks like a ginormous money pit so decided against that (for now)... spent money at the UFO catchers nearby (another money pit) and got a wild tiger keychain for my efforts...

after that it was off to Shibuya to check out another smaller Macross gallery... more on that in a second.

Exiting shibuya station there was a group promoting a movie of some sort near the Hachiko statue... story of Hachiko being the dog that always waited for its master in front of the station. Also there was some girl singing in front of the station as well, she was singing a medley of her songs, which would stop after a minute or so leaving her hanging.... made me think of idolm@aster... but she needs a new producer lol. No information on who she was either, shame though cause she had some talent.

Anyway, made my way through Shibuya crossing, and eventually to the Parco gallery where the other Macross exhibit was. This one was smaller and more focused on the older Macross series, with lots of original artwork, rough sketches, and a Zentradi-Japanese dictionary. There was also a small area for "collaborations" which featured a piece by Haruhi character designer Noizi Ito. (no pictures allowed though). More merch was available which was the same as the other exhibit, overwhelmingly Frontier.

Heading back to Shibuya station there were various trucks driving around promoting bands.... one of which was Exile's girls unit.... too many girls in too many groups makes you think every decent looking girl on the train is part of some group lol.

After that went back to the hotel, but not before looking at the shops in Shinagawa station... where the Suica card is your friend :P Accepted at all the in station shops. First full day in the books.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151593282100612.847343.522485611&type=1&l=da6f8a1fca

Japan Trip 2012 -- travel day.

Well, travel day was somewhat uneventful... Disney plane was in Seattle before I left, got a tad excited about that. Both flights from Seattle to LA and LA to Tokyo arrived early, so that was a plus. Had a migraine in between flights, managed to sleep it off on the way to Tokyo.... when I woke up there was a sticker on my seat.. something along the lines of "you were sleeping when we were serving food"... shoulda taken a picture.

Anyway, arrived in Tokyo without a problem, currency exchange though was a pain...only because the rate wasn't great. Ended up taking the JR Narita Express to Shinagawa station, they have a deal where you can buy round trip if your stay is less than 14 days, and they load up a suica card as well which you can use on JR and other various stations and stores.

Got to Shinagawa station.. then from there I was kinda stuck.... I hadn't acutally printed off a map of where my hotel was >.<

Went to info booth and they managed to point me in the right direction *note to self... lol.

Transfered to another line, one stop over, got off, bit of a walk to the hotel.... and managed to get there. I should mention that its 23 celcius and sunny.

After resting for a bit went out to explore the neighbourhood... lots of konbini and hole in the wall restaurants. Then back to the hotel off to bed.

Pics!  Not that many and out of order....
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151590449285612.846976.522485611&type=1&l=1c203c259f

Sakuracon 2012 - Aniplex Panel

The Aniplex Panel started with trailers for a number of their shows including Baccano!, Blue Exorcist, Durarara, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and others. Pre-orders were available at the Aniplex booth "Booth 333"for Madoka Vol 2 and Fate/Zero Vol 1. which was repeated many times by Aniplex staff. Aniplex also announced that the OP theme singer for Fate/Zero, LiSa, would be appearing at AX and that Aniplex would be bringing her 4 CD's stateside including debut single single oath sign, Lover “S”MiLE, in both a regular and CD/BD and Letters to U. At the moment I could see her in a concert in conjunction with someone else (maybe Kalafina, who did the 2nd OP to Fate/Zero).

Fate/Zero is also simulcasting in 8 languages (!) on nico nico... a surprising feat of engineering.... translating, especially given that the episodes are up only a half hour after the show airs in Japan
Aniplex would screen the first 2 eps of Fate/Zero season 2 the day after (Sat), with ep 15 being a Sakura-con exclusive.

Aniplex also announced a DVD boxset for Garden of Sinners and a re-release of Oreimo (don't ask me to type the full title).

They ended with announcing Bakemonogatari for release on dvd/blu ray and Niseimonogatari on streaming channels on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Crackle.

They also listed a website http://www.aniplexusa.com/watch where you can see all of their titles and formats available.... pretty handy list and surprisingly large, of course some of these were picked up for localization by other companies before Aniplex got into the business of doing it on their own.

Aniplex ended their panel with a raffle for various Madoka and Fate/Zero prizes.

Sakuracon 2012 - Day 3 and pics

So day 3 started with the small press Q & A with Gen Urobuchi, Atsuhiro Iwakami, Katsushi Ota, followed with the Final Fantasy Fight Tournament... and then a bunch of milling about before closing ceremonies.

Full reports on everything to come throughout the week.

and now links to pics!:

Day 1: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151480650585612.835721.522485611&type=1&l=5b9dbc81f7

Day 2: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151484179175612.836238.522485611&type=3&l=b55faf2b79

Day 3: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151488169225612.836964.522485611&type=3&l=30ccd3ffd1

Stereopony concert: http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y150/CruzMissile/Stereopony%20concert/

Sakuracon 2012

Day 2:

Sakuracon day 2..... caught the end of the Morita Voice actor panel, then madoka panel, stereopony Q & A, Fate/zero screening of ep 13, 14, 15, then Q&A and autograph session.... sunday press Q & A with urobuchi, ota and iwakami early in the morning.....

sunday morning:

Press Q&A w/ Gen Urobuchi, Katsushi Ota, and Atsuhiro Iwakami Sun. Morning @Sakuracon 2012. PM me Q's!

Sakuracon 2012

Hey Folks!

I'm at sakuracon this weekend, look out for updates and such things throughout the weekend.

Sakuracon Day 1. couldn't get to sleep after getting to seattle. picked up badge at 8am. back to bed and finally got to con at 1. Kawajiri panel, followed by aniplex, fate/zero and madoka Q & A, morita panel, and stereopony concert.