So, as some of you may have noticed, I was away from the studio for a good 5 days or so to hit Anime Expo 2010~!

It's been about 6 years since I had last attended and BOY have things changed. It's the 2nd (or 3rd?) year at the Los Angeles Convention Center and that entire area has really developed over the past 6 years. New theaters, new restaurants, new everything. o_o; I got lost too many times to count. I think I only got my bearings on the last day. :O

So here's the run down of my days in attendance!

- Day One -

I was recruited to help out the American Cosplay Paradise with press coverage of the Mano Erina event taking place at Club Nokia (not associated with AX, but an event taking place in the same area). It was a smaller event, with a private press conference and an open screening of her new movie, Kai-Ki: Tales of Terror from Tokyo. We were treated to a mini concert of her singing "Uchi e Kaerou ~ Going Home" (in both Japanese and English) and her hit single "Sekai wa Summer Party".

We were also invited to a VIP "mixer" of sorts in the upper area where some of the more mainstream press had an opportunity to speak with her on camera. Here you see Stu, the head of TokyoPop's new venture -- "America's Greatest Otaku" TV show, interviewing Erina in Japanese. :D

We left shortly after, without an autograph, but funny enough, spotted her outside a few minutes later in "civilian" clothing roaming around the convention area with her management! (Sorry. No photos.)

Next up? The AKB48 concert.

This was actually my main reason for attending... since I missed Morning Musume last year. XD;

No photos or videos of the event, I'm afraid, but I had excellent seats -- 2 rows from the front with all the serious fans. It was pretty intense. Next to me, Stephanie had brought her slew of glow sticks while Nelson and Kimi cheered behind us. XD;

The concert was fantastic -- it started a little late, but the girls put on an amazing show! I think my list of favorites have shuffled around a bit after seeing them in person. :3

Unfortunately, this ends my AX report about AKB48 as I had no luck at any of their signings and was not able to hit their panel either. I had to work.

- Day 2 -

I started off Day 2 early as I was also recruited to assist ACP with their Eden of the East promotion as a roaming Selecao.

If you were lucky enough to catch me on shift, I had the orange card that could be traded in for a really spiffy East of Eden T-shirt. :3

I also hit the TokyoPop Industry Panel on behalf of Deb Aoki, the manga writer for about.com. They talked about all the upcoming releases and projects in the works (including the above mentioned "America's Greatest Otaku".

Also scheduled on Friday was the May'n x Nakajima Megumi concert at the Nokia Theater. I was further back, but in the center section flanked by friends Caroline and Lisa. :D

Unfortunately, no pictures or video. AX was pretty strict about the whole thing.

BUT! The best thing about the concert? Yoko Kanno was the surprise guest!! She came out in the middle of NakaMegu's set to accompany her on the piano for a trio of songs. It was truly the highlight of the con for me. ;;__;;! I literally started weeping when she came out. It was so touching!

My Friday ended with a rather large tweet-up at Katsu-ya (an up-scale Japanese restaurant around Nokia Live... ya. $32 for 4 sushi. T_T;). BUT! I met a lot of really cool bloggers and media peeps from the area!

We ended up sitting and chatting over food and drink (water for me~~~) for hours about everything from manga, the art of blogging, random spottings, rumors, and more. XD;

- Day 3 -

Another day I woke up super early to check out the con. I finally had my first chance to check out the dealer's room and say hello to some of the fellow exhibitors from Fanime. :D

I also hit half of Christina Strain's (colorist for Marvel) Photoshop panel and then ran to the OEL (Original English Language) Manga Panel held in the convention hall theater on behalf of Deb (so she could hit the Hiroe Rei panel).

Pretty interesting stuff about what the industry is looking for in terms of submissions/portfolio review. Nothing terribly new as far as I could tell, but informative.

Also, friends had set up a surprise dinner party in Little Tokyo for a mutual friend. But long story short, she never showed up... so we had an awesome izakaya dinner at Honda-ya anyway. XD

And this was the highlight of the evening:

LOL.

- Day 4 -

The day how I wish I could have slept in. XD;

Yes, he is wearing a towel and underwear. You'd have to watch Eden of the East to understand. LOL!

Got up early again and hit the dealer's room for the FUNimation promotion and meet up with friends in the Artists Alley and in the dealer's room. Which include:

The Fat Rabbit Farm

Mr. Toast!

... and PMBQ, Spicy Brown, gem2niki, Konoe S., Peter S. Beagle (Last Unicorn anyone?), and a few others that escape my memory at this time. o_o;

It's hard to imagine that I'm probably going to see a good number of them in just a couple weeks for San Diego Comic Con too! Yeee!

So that's pretty much the entire weekend of AX wrapped-up in a nut-shell! Much thanks to Wayne, Henry, Stephanie, Kimi, Nelson, Caroline, Lisa, Kate, Chris, Nicole, Konoe, Nancy, Deb and roommates Chas, Saku, and Jessie for making it a great weekend!