Finally, our hosts and guests of honor arrive, to considerably less
applause than they might have garnered under other circumstances.
Steve Bennett announces that, as promised at AI98, anime is poised
to take over the world! Waitaminnit... that's a WB series...
<dryly> *Brain*power'd?
Which reminds me... I mentioned that Amanda isn't here. As it so
happens, Steve sends her greetings, but she claims to be up to her
lips in work for WB. Kami alone knows what she's doing for 'em...
Steve's not elaborating - he's worried about saying too much.
I'd hope it's voice work, but...who knows?
Noel Burns, the man behind the con, won't comment on her absence,
but he does point out that AI is 'on probation'. The hotel's never
hosted a convention before, and if they aren't happy with our
behaviour, well...
Whoops. Consider that plan screwed... ^_^
Time to find out what was worth ditching the opening ceremonies
for. The dealers' room seems more full than last year, but maybe
it's just a smaller room. It's definately promising... especially
when one of the first vendors is a T-shirt artist willing to (among
other things) make roadkill out of any Pokemon you choose.
X_x Oh, that's just *lovely*...
On the subject of Pokemon, I'm coming up with another good
reason to not bring Dan-chan along. I don't think I could stand
all the "want this" "want that" that I just *know* I'd be hearing
all the time we'd be in there. Good grief, the Pokemon *have*
taken over.
<evil grin> Gotta catch 'em all.
(For what it's worth, we were planning to go as Tamari and Key,
the Metal Stand-Up Comic. Tamari would give Key as big an intro
as possible, whereupon Key would begin a knock-knock joke. Upon
the audience's reply: "Who's there?" Key's face would fall, and she
would dejectedly say, "oh. you have heard this one before. Key is
sorry." and walk offstage. End of skit.)
O_o That...would have been scary. And helluva funny.
miracle we got out at all. But get out we did, to some low-rent
Chinese-Mexican place (you try and figure out that combination.
Taco lo Mein? Fried Rice Enchilada?
"Hey, 'Natsu-chan... you're a Tetris whiz... think you can handle
*this* game?" Something called Puzzle Fighter... and for whatever
reason, I suspect we're among the last to know anything about it.
Waah, puzzle fighter....I *still* haven't gotten to play that... ;_;
..I finally get a crack at Magical Knights Rayearth. So *this* is
what Libby and Lurker have been talking about, hm? I'd best get
to reading about it, now...
You like, ne? ^_^
Now that I think of it, I could murder a portobello mushroom
with goat cheese just about now...
O_o
Hey, it's past midnight, and I'm tired... you expect me to make
*sense*?
We don't expect you to make sense the rest of the time, Ucchan. ^_- (Just
kidding, just kidding! Ack! Not the spatula! x_x Itai...)
Still, why let our slow start stop us? After grabbing a couple of
donuts and whatnot from the nearly vacant con suite, we decide to
drop in on Fancy Lala... okay, we just wandered by the video rooms
and that's the one that looked interesting. Cute and silly enough,
but what really got my attention was the last episode that showed,
involving a magic pen that brought whatever it drew into reality
(although living things would not come to life until they were
bathed in moonlight). I wasn't the only one finding the premise
familiar, and I wound up leaving the room with several folks that
I had to assure that yes, Pencils was still in progress...
<starry-eyed> You mean people still actually *care*? Sugeeee....
It's still early, so the dealers' room isn't open yet. Not that it's
boring outside; we run into a girl done up in a "Shadow Skills"
costume (yes, that's the anime that the TCAMS showed last year
at their MSTing party - the three of us agreed that the dubbing on
that show was completely ridiculous), and a U of I student from
Japan who was rather startled at our custom-made "Okonomi-yaki
Ucchan" delivery uniforms.
Heh...
A few card games later, we're back in the dealers' room, still
debating about that T-shirt artist's stuff. Now he's got one with
Little Caesar uttering 'Pika! Pika!' instead of 'Pizza! Pizza!' like
he usually does... and yes, that's a Pikachu instead of a pizza on
his spear. Not the sort of thing to take home to the kiddies.
That's....disturbing.
I do wind up sitting through a very silly episode (are there other
kinds?) of Sailormoon S. So when I come up to the room to get
Are there other kinds? You better believe it. The last 10 eps or so of
Sailormoon S...are dead serious.
Richard is hard-selling this series: "In my modest opinion, this is
the best-ever... not just best-ever anime, but the story..." (sorry
if I miss of bit of what you were saying, Rich) Even my kunoichi
is sold on it. So are a ton of others... the room is absolutely
packed by the time the video starts up. Lucky that we'd been
here already, so we got good seats. I almost feel sorry for
Aro-sensei, as he had a panel sceduled for this same time, but
if everyone's in *here* watching *this*, well... once again, he's
not gonna get the crowd he probably deserves.
Kare-Kano is making a huge splash...I've had it recommended to me seven or
eight times over (in fact, I'm waiting for my copy of the first volume to
come in as we speak)...it's probably going to be *the* hot property of
2000.
One problem with H&HC, though, that I had to point out: as good as
it is, it's almost *too* good. What kind of fanfiction can you make
out of a series with writing like this? Richard agreed wholeheartedly.
Still, one doesn't have to make fanfiction out of every series one
knows and enjoys, ne? (Am I one to talk, what with all the obscure
series I've worked with?)
Heh. I don't exactly see a lot of Kodocha fanfiction running around, and
it's among the more popular unsung anime series...
We wash up and prepare to head off for dinner. Konatsu wants to
see if we can hook up with some others, and as it so happens, we
run into Richard and Lara again. They're not going to the banquet
The infamous, ubiquitous duo, Now Playing at a Con Near You (tm). :)
looks like AnimeFest drew more writers this year than AI. There's
some discussion about writing longhand versus typing straight to
the computer, and a bit about writing drunk... and you know, it
might explain certain things...
Wot, it explains Mike Loader? :)
This year�s pinata, a giant Pikachu, is also offered up for auction.
Pika pika! ^_^
Richard doesn�t bid on it this year, but the bidding once again runs
up to $60 even without his assistance. This year, also, a bokken is
provided for the winning bidder, rather than having to provide one�s
own. The doomed Pokemon is strung up just outside the program
rooms by the hotel staff. I manage to ask the lucky winner if she
knows and can recite the Team Rocket slogan before attacking
Pikachu; all I get in reply is a shrug.
Damn, pity I wasn't there...I coulda done it plus the voices. ;_;
(Err...why are you looking at me like that? o.o;;)
She steps up to the unfortunate rodent and takes aim. There is a
thunderous smack as the bokken connects with Pikachu�s nose and
splits the poor Pokemon apart.
Somewhere in another dimension, Ash Ketchum weeps.
Who wouldn't? ;_;
Back in this dimension, one of the AI staffers pops the crown of
Pikachu�s severed head on his own like a hat and does a little jig.
Definately not a scene for the kiddies to be watching.
<nods solemnly> Pika-screwed.
rowdy, and so we needed to keep things toned down. Besides,
not all their neighbors were con-goers this year: in fact, one room
nearby had a couple on their honeymoon (honeymooning in Cedar
Rapids? You�re kidding...). Granted, we wouldn�t be keeping them
awake, but I suppose it�s gotta be disconcerting to be hearing all
that laughter next door when you�re trying to be romantic.
Talk about your sex comedies...
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