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| Dun dun da da da dan! |
Woke up early and gathered the last few things we needed such as a hug and kiss from my daughter, we set off for Anime Expo 2012. A five-hour car trip from good ol' Vegas to L.A. and a extremely smooth check-in at our hotel helped keep us pumped. We decided to take the walk down to the convention hall for registration. (10-11am-ish) After seeing sights such as the increased amount of homeless in L.A. and the extremely large "Dark Knight Rises" add on the side of a hotel - We made it to the convention hall.. but alas, the con was over-ran... by the X-games. They took up an entire side of the convention center including the Nokia theater area. At first this seemed like a minor inconvenience will eventually become a little more annoying then I'd like them to be.
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| Ignoring the weapon isn't hard to do, right? |
Then moments later, we where there. In the long line for registration. This is the first year we came as early as we did (Almost 3 hours before it opened) and the line was already long enough. Fortunately, we got a nice spot in the shade. After a 3 hour camp-out where we met (Props out to you Shonen Vegas peeps), hi-fived, fist-bumped, and street passed (Thank you everyone for the billions of puzzle pieces.) and joked about the wait period - it's finally happened. Registration was open! This was definitely the smoothest registration process I've ever had at Anime Expo. We got the usual stuff - 4-day pass, lanyard, badge holder, bag, a guide, and a couple of random things that didn't mean to much. After about an hour of walking around the convention center checking out the area we headed back to the hotel. On the way back to the hotel, we also found out the Bus system for AX was running. Oh well, I could use all the walking I can get. ^^; Back to the hotel to rest, bathe, and swim before...
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| Maximum Photo Op! |
Day 1
Well rested and no longer smelling of travel and sweat we headed down to the convention center via bus. As usual, the bus to the convention center is filled with fellow cosplayers and anime lovers. The problem is now a days it feels more like getting on a bus for school then on a bus with potential friends. You have the big guys who take up two seats, the good looking girl who over-all is a bitch and won't let you sit next to her, the loud-obnoxious guy who is bragging about something or other, and then everyone else. Con-goers have definitely changed in the last few years. Makes me feel old.
Once at the convention hall we decided to tour around a little before heading to our first event that I was eagerly anticipating.
After waiting in line with some very friendly con-goers who were the around the same age as my Fiance and myself (Yay, friends!) we finally were lead into a room with two large projection TVs and a stage with a few chairs and tables. On the left set a young women who was the MC of the event, and to the right sat an older man who was there for translations. After a few minutes of chit-chat they finally introduced Mr. Ryo Horikawa. He was as skinny as I remembered from the pictures I've seen of him. He had a very active personality and a charming smile - Hard to tell this guy's the voice of Goku's eternal rival.
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| Left: Host, Middle: Horikawa, Right: Awkward Translator. |
With a line of people forming to ask him question, Horikawa went from sitting behind the table to dancing down to the flood so he could shake the hands of each of the questioners. His English was good enough to where he didn't need his translator to speak for him, just translate the questions. There where alot of requests to repeat lines, some of which took him a little while to remember as he originally recorded some of them a while ago. One cosplayer requested a picture with the seiyuu and after a long chat with AX officials he replied with a happy and quick "It's Okay!" One of my favorite moments was when he started talking about how him and the voice actor for Yamucha, Tohru Furuya, used to go out to eat after recordings and how they where close friends. Tohru Furuya appeared a couple years back at Anime Expo for those who want to play connect-the-voice-actors. After the panel was completed he introduced an Emanga presentation and then the raffle for autographs were posted - unfortunately, I was not a winner.
Despite the fact that I didn't get a chance for an autograph, it was an absolute pleasure being at the Ryo Horikawa panel. He was smart, kind, and very amusing. I hope to meet him again one day but for now, I can check him off my Seiyuu Bingo Book.
After the panel we decided to meet back up with Joe and take a quick peek at the Exhibit Hall to plan our upcoming purchases. My first great find of the con was a "Partially Assembled" Gundam 00 Riser 1/100 that asked to for an offer. After checking for each framewire and confirming that the only thing assembled was the base, I offered $20 in cash for it and got it. Fantastic! From there we headed back to the hotel room for a relaxing end to our day and to meet up with the rest of our group.
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| .. can't seem to find the rest of my pictures, so enjoy a dancing NightOwl II. |
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Later on this week please look forward to my review of Anime Expo Days 2, 3, and 4. This will include our complete adventures in the Exhibit Hall, adventures with some late night dating games, some of the interesting cosplayer changes in the last few years, and of course - the top 5 I loved and 5 I hated AX2012 list.
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