PANEL MADNESS - belated AnimeNEXT journal

Hi!  I’m Dan Green!  Wait, no, sorry, wrong script.  *papers rustle*  Ah, here we go!  *ahem*

AnimeNEXT 2010:  another first for me.  First time in New Jersey for any length of time (going to Cape May one afternoon when I was 15 doesn’t count), first time at AnimeNEXT, first time I got to GO TO PANELS, and first time debuting a costume that I don’t think anyone has ever seen before.  Yes, remember my Super Special Secret Costume that I swore Birde to silence about?  That’s right!  Presenting YAMI NO TUTU!  Yep, I cosplayed Yami in a tutu.  Prepare to be scarred for life.  


Peeps who went:

Me (Hikari-Katana) as Yami no Tutu
Birde (birdewilliams) as Yami Bakura and Hikari Marik
Foxglove (:devlarran-deenele-kin:) as Jareth, the Goblin King
Sith William (Birde’s little brother) as Seto Freakin’ Kaiba (accept no substitutes)


Peeps we met:

Charles Dunbar, anime anthropologist (www.studyofanime.com)
Kirbopher
Kroze
Alternate Universe Yugi
BL (no, not Boy Love, but I forget exactly what her nickname stands for)
Birde’s Fan Girl (I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name!)
excelladon
MelodiousRoseDuelist
sakurablossm512

(DISCLAIMER:  I’m sure there were a bunch of other people we met, but I am horrible with names and faces, so if I met you/saw you and didn’t catch your name or alias, please forgive me for neglecting to mention you.)


Peeps we met…again:

Little Kuriboh (NotKroze)
Alpha (HieadEnna)

Sorry, no Mic-derp-a-derp this time.  ^_^





The drive to New Jersey on Thursday afternoon seemed rather long, considering that it actually isn’t too far away, distance-wise.  It’s about a three-hour drive.  The traffic wasn’t too bad, although, once we got into New Jersey itself, the people became insane.  You know all those rants or jokes people throw around about how bad and aggressive Jersey drivers are?  Well, they’re all true.  I had no less than thirteen heart attacks while we were looking for our hotel.  Thank goodness Birde is a decent driver and Tantrum is a small car, otherwise we might have ended our convention experience before it even began.  Seriously, most of those people on the road used their horns rather than their breaks!

We stopped at a restaurant in the middle of the highway (seriously, there’s, like, a strip of food places where the median should be) because we were starving.  Well, Birde and Billy and Fox were starving.  Me, I eat like a bird when I got to a con, mostly because my stomach has a tendency to reject food that it is not familiar with and/or is good for you.

After eating, we found our hotel, which, sadly, I cannot recall the name to.  (It wasn’t the Ramada, I can tell you that, but still, very comfortable!)  We also drove by the Garden State Exhibit Center to see how the con was laid out.  This was the first time we’d been to a con that spanned multiple buildings.  It’s a majorly huge complex, but luckily most of the panels were confined to two large buildings right next to each other (One of which was the DoubleTree Hotel where many of the guests, including Martin, stayed) and a third across the street was for the video showings.  Once Birde had gotten her bearings, we drove back to the hotel, checked in, and collapsed.     

FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2010:

Friday morning we clambered into our costumes.  Birde went as Bakura the first day, I think (can’t recall if she went as Marik on any of the other days or not), Billy went as Seto Kaiba all three days, Fox went as Jareth (complete with a brand new wig) all three days, and I went three days as Yami Yugi…in a tutu.  This was the first time I’d put on the entire costume, and I was a little nervous about how it was going to turn out or if it would even be comfortable to wear.  I got lucky; it was awesome-looking AND very, very comfortable.  And pretending to be a masculine-sounding guy while wearing such a girly outfit really amused me.  The only hard part was riding down to the con.  Ever trying riding in a tiny car with hair that sticks out about five feet in every direction?  It makes your neck cramp.  But, once we got to the con…

Let’s just say that I have never been the center of attention before.  I’m used to fading into the background, or being part of a group shot simply because, hey, my costume happens to fit in with the group.  I have NEVER been called out for pictures simply on the merit of my own costume before.  Never.  It was…well, really different.  I liked it and I was happy to see how happy other people were to see me in costume.  I got so many, “OMG it’s Yami in a tutu!  You made my day!”  

Our first panel of the day was the “Big Bald Broadcast” at 1pm.  I had no idea who or what this was, but Martin (Little Kuriboh) was going to be there, along with Kroze and Kirbopher, so we had to check it out.  (Yes, the con started out like a repeat of Kami-con with much stalking of Martin & Co.)  I think the BBB is a podcast, but I could be wrong.  (Sorry, I don’t keep up on these kinds of things!)  I was really surprised to hear that Kirbopher’s favorite childhood movie was The Thief and the Cobbler.  I thought no one else but me had seen that as I child.  If you haven’t seen it, do.  It’s like, Disney animation on crack but way cooler.  The story is really sweet too.  

After the “Big Bald Broadcast,” Birde and Billy went with Martin & Co. while Fox and I decided to split off and see some panels.  I’d decided that I was going to get my feet wet and try roaming around an anime convention without the protection of a group.  While my experiences at Otakon and Kami-con while in a group were fun, I also noticed that a lot of time was spent standing around talking, deciding what to do, and eating at places away from the convention.  Which is fun, but I can do that away from a convention, and while at a con, there are opportunities to do things that you just can’t do or find anywhere else.  So, Fox and I went to “A Workshop in Manga Storytelling.”  We got in a little early, sat down with several other people, and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally, a staff member came and told us that the panelist had unexpectedly canceled.  Some of the people started trying to make up their own panel on the fly, but Fox and I decided that we should go find another panel to go to.  

We wandered downstairs to “Inside the Lives of Con-going Otaku.”  We only caught the tail end of the panel, but what we did hear was interesting.  The panelist was sharing shories of his experiences at various anime conventions and we got to fill out a survey on “con funk” (apparently that is the stench that is famous at cons.  So famous that I’d never heard of it before.  What?  My nose is almost completely dead.  I very rarely smell anything unless it is extraordinarily powerful and right under my nose, if you’ll pardon the pun.)  Once the panel was over, Fox and I stayed behind a little bit talking to the panelist, Charles Dunbar, an anthropologist who studies anime.  As far as I know, he’s the only one in the US, possibly the only one in the Western Hemisphere.  (When I heard that, my brain went, “Where were you when I was trying to write my senior thesis?!”)  Charles said he had other panels all throughout the con, and Fox and I said we’d try to come to the others since this one was so interesting and we were sorry that we’d only caught the last part of it.  

Charles had to run, and there was a Yu-Gi-Oh! photoshoot taking place outside at the Red Pier.  It took us a little while to find it, and once there, we really didn’t do much.  (Honestly, I dislike massive group photoshoots.  People stand around talking moe than they take pictures, and if you have somewhere else you need to be, but still want to be present in the group shot, this puts you in an interesting, and frustrating, predicament.  Or maybe I’m just impatient.)  I don’t think I ever ended up in the group photoshoot.  Or, if I did, Birde still has the pictures, so I don’t know about it.  But some people did take individual pictures of me, so that made me happy.    

Once the shoot dispersed, Fox and I went to “Kimono: Allure, Fashion, and History.”  This panel talked about….you guessed it, kimonos!  It talked about the evolution of the kimono, how the different sleeve lengths of a kimono tell you about the person’s rank and station, when different styles of kimono are worn, and there was a video on the parts of a kimono and how to put one on.  The only thing that I remember distinctly is the old Japanese lady in the video saying, “Remember, left-over rice.”  This little saying helps you remember to fold the left side of the kimono over the right side when you close the front.  Only the dead wear the right side of the kimono over the left.  (If you look carefully, all living people in anime who are wearing kimonos wear it left over right.  “Left-over rice.”  Cute, huh?  Trust me, it sticks with you.  The saying, not the rice.  Although I’ve heard that rice can be sticky.  ^_^)

After the kimono panel, we went next door to see Charles’s second panel of the day called “The Magical Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki.”  This panel was really awesome!  He talked about so many of Miyazaki’s movies, the different themes and aspects in each one and about Miyazaki’s philosophy and world view in making them.  Just the sheer fun and interest in the natural world and harmony and the balance between man and nature and the wonder through the eyes of children…it was really wonderful.  I’ve seen many of Miyazaki’s films, but Fox hadn’t.  She still enjoyed the panel though and said that she wanted to see one of his films now.  I noted that Howl’s Moving Castle was playing later that night, so maybe we could go and see that.

Fox had been holding up very well, but after the Miyazaki panel, she desperately needed food.  We went downstairs to the little restaurant they had in the con and bought some food.  It was a little pricey, but good and very filling.  After this late lunch, we decided to go to the “Super Mario Panel.”  I don’t know much about Super Mario, but I knew Fox did and liked it, so I thought this would be a good panel for her.  As it turned out, it was some people dressed up as Super Mario characters playing some kind of game with the audience.  The room was packed but we couldn’t understand what was going on, so we left and headed over to “Anime/Manga Influence on the US.”  WHICH WAS CANCELED!  Seriously?  Two panels we tried to go to were canceled on the same day?  Sheesh, give me a break!  

As it turned out, I’m kinda glad now that that panel was canceled because that meant we got to see the pre-panel party for Charles’s “Dead Like Us:  Shinigami” panel.  The pre-panel party consisted of Charles sharing various AMVs that he found funny and thought we would like.  They were hilarious!  Everyone was laughing and had a lot of fun.  Then the panel started and it got even better.  Seriously, “Dead Like Us: Shinigami” is my favorite of all of Charles’s panels.  I learned so much about Japanese religion, religious practices, their attitude towards death, what shinigami are, and their various portrayals in anime and manga from the terrifyingly monstrous Ryuk of Death Note to the noble samurai-like Soul Reapers of Bleach and everything in between.  I wanted to cry, I was so happy.  I love learning, and seeing an anthropologist turn his talents towards anime and manga, showing how “mere entertainment” can be the subject of serious, scholarly inquiry and be presented in such an interesting manner…it really restored my faith in learning.  My whole experience battling to incorporate anime into my senior thesis had really shaken my foundations.  I’d felt frustrated and angry at having something I loved being regulated to “mere entertainment” and having the idea of doing a paper on Yu-Gi-Oh! all but laughed out of the room.  But the Shinigami panel really restored my faith and made me interested in pursuing scholarly research on anime again, on my own time, of course.  I would never try doing that in school again, lest my interest be ground out of me by monotony like so many of my other interests.  In short, I cannot say enough good things about Charles’s panels, especially “Dead Like Us: Shinigami.”  If you have the opportunity to see his panels, do so.  You will not regret it.     

After “Dead Like Us,” Fox and I went to see the screening of Howl’s Moving Castle.  We came in as just as Sophia meets the Castle for the first time.  Wheeee!  Fox liked the movie, although towards the end she said she sort of lost interest because Howl became too predictable, due to his love interest in Sophie.  *shrugs*  Love turns us all into boring people.  We found Birde around 10:45pm and she took me and William back to the hotel.  After dropping us off, she returned to the con with Fox.  I went to sleep.  Kinda.  (I always have trouble sleeping in strange places, and I think Billy had the TV on for a while.  Not loud enough to be really disturbing, but definitely present.  I have no idea when Fox and Birde made it back.  Late.  Or early, depending on your perspective.)    

SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2010:

I have no idea when (or how) we managed to crawl out of bed the next morning, but we did and got to the con just in time for Charles’s panel “Religion in Neon Genesis Evangelion.”  Birde headed for “The Abridged Panel,” I think…not quite sure.  Wherever LK went, so went the Official Abridged Stalker.    I also learned a great deal in this panel, although I have never seen Evangelion.  Still, Charles’s connections between the anime and Christianity were very well explained so that I could understand, even without seeing Evangelion.  It also made me want to learn more about the hierarchy of angels in the Abrahamic religions.  (Stuff like that fascinates me, even though I know little about it.)

Once Charles’s panel was done, we headed for the Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged Panel, but, even though we got there 10 minutes early, it was packed.  We should have just gone straight there instead of the Evangelion panel, but I’ve seen YGOTAS before, so missing the panel didn’t bother me too much.  I was just sorry that we couldn’t get in and support Martin.  Since we couldn’t go to the YGOTAS panel, Fox and I went to “Cosplay Cheating” instead, which gave some interesting tips on how to make a costume at the last minute without having to sew anything.  (The key is lots of glue.  And double-stick tape.    It was pretty interesting.  My clearest recollection of the suggestions (since I failed to take notes and have a horrible memory) was to take red electrical tape and stick it along the bottom edge of a black boot to make Edward Elric’s boots.  (Since meeting Vic Micnogna, I have had a strange desire to cosplay Ed.  Don’t ask; I’m weird.)     

At 2:30pm, there was supposed to be a Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged photoshoot, but that got canceled.  That was a relief for Fox and I because we had both found panels that we wanted to go to that would have conflicted with the shoot.  Sorry, I’ll take a panel over a photoshoot any day.  Both Fox and I wanted to go to panels.  Only thing was, we each wanted to go to a different panel and they were at the same time.  I wanted to see “Making Wings for Cosplay” since I am interested in cosplay and how people make their costumes.  That doesn’t interest Fox as much; she wanted to go to “Tony Oliver’s Voice Acting Workshop” since she’s interested in acting.  That doesn’t appeal to me as much.  So, we compromised by splitting up and going to our respective panels by ourselves.  (This was a totally new move for me.  Normally, I always stick with someone.)  Fox’s panel ran longer than mine, so I said I’d meet her outside her panel when she was done.

The “Making Wings for Cosplay” panel was awesome!  I learned a lot, but you can see and learn everything I did by going to www.youtube.com/user/tusense?f… on YouTube.  It covers everything that was in the panel.  I liked the panelist as well, clear, well-spoken, and knowledgeable.  Yay!  Now I know how to make wings!  (Gods, they’ll be a pain to navigate halls with though…)  After the Wings panel was over, I went down to the Artist Alley to have a look around.  There I met sakurablossm512 who offered to do a commission of me as Yami in a tutu.  I agreed and said I’d come back later to pick it up.  (Alas, all during the con, events conspired against me, so I never did get my commission.  Each time I got there just as the Artist Alley closed.  Oh well.)  I didn’t stay in the Artist Alley long because I am ultra paranoid about time, but I misjudged the timing and found myself sitting outside the Voice Acting panel, waiting for it to end.  I didn’t really mind waiting though.  Gave me a chance to relax a little.  I actually chatted with a young man in a “bad ninja” Naruto costume about Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged, 4Kids, and video games.  (I think he might have been trying to flirt with me, but since we were talking about anime, I didn’t mind.)  Then Fox came out practically leaping with excitement.  Apparently she’d had a lot of fun at the panel and was very good at the voice acting improv.  Tony himself said that she could put together a sample of her work and get an agent if she wanted to.  Way to go Fox!      

Then we went to “Modern Mythology: Mythic Elements in Anime & Video Games” which was Charles’s last panel of the convention.  Apparently this panel is the one from which all of this other panels sprung out of, and I could see that a lot of the content briefly mentioned in this panel was covered in greater depth in his other panels.  But this panel focused more on the myth elements, often relying on Joseph Campbell, the veritable father of scholarly research on myth.  It was a really interesting panel, especially if you are a writer because you can see elements of those myths in your own work or see new ways to incorporate or expound upon existing myth.  

Charles was really happy to see that Jareth and Yami had followed him to all of his panels and offered to take us to dinner.  We went to Ruby Tuesdays across the street (only been there once before) and had a long discussion about religion and his work.  Well, I listened more than I talked.  It was fascinating to listen and watch Fox and Charles talk.  Really a meeting of curious and ever-questing minds.  After dinner, we stopped by Charles’s hotel room to exchange and talk about music and we watched some of AMV Hell, a thing I had only heard of, but had never seen.  It’s kind of insane.  I was a little bit uncomfortable being in a small room with a man we had just met, but Fox is even more paranoid than I, and she was fine, so I relaxed as much as possible.  (I was a little eager to get back to the con as the night wore on, but decided not to rush anything.)  

We did return to the con around 11pm.  Charles and Fox headed off on their own, while I thought about going to the Rave.  However, the line was too long, and I didn’t feel like waiting there by myself.  The Artist Alley and Dealer’s Room were both closed (of course), so I went to find Birde and Martin.  I managed to find them, but they were with a lot of people I didn’t know and nothing really interesting seemed to be happening, so I went to find Charles and Fox again, figuring I’d stick with them until Birde was ready to go back to the hotel.  I found them and we thought about going to the “Shame of the Otaku” panel, but ended up hanging around chatting instead.  We did get our pictures taken for free by AnimeJutsu, although I LEFT MY GLASSES ON IN ALL THE PICTURES!  F***!  That shows you how tired I was.  I normally remember those things.  At least they weren’t too noticeable, with my middle yellow hair extension flopping down in my face.  (It decided to flop after Friday.  It was too heavily laden with styling gel, so I technically became Yugi in a tutu instead of Yami.  No one really cared about that though.)  I also was apparently hit on in a “sleazy manner” by Steve the Security Guy/Army Man.  For the record, I was aware that he was probably hitting on me, but his conversation was about things like work and the con and his family.  I chatted politely back.  No, I would not be stupid enough to leave the con with him, even if he’d asked.  I’m paranoid enough to recognize potential danger.  Chatting in a well-lit, crowded place with my friends within shouting distance is safe enough.  Finally it was time to leave, although I have no idea what time it was.  Late.  Very late.       

SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010:

When I woke up, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go in costume, but eventually I did.  It was the last day, and it would be a short one, and Yami no Tutu isn’t difficult to get on or THAT uncomfortable.  (The wig is really the only bad part.)  We didn’t get to the con until about noon for the screening of the second season of Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged.  (Season 1 was yesterday, but Fox and I had gone to panels instead.)  It was an interesting feeling sitting in a huge room filled with fellow fans of YGOTAS.  We also had a dramatic reading by LK, Kirbopher, Kroze, and two people called Vegeta and Megumi, I think.  The reading was from Volume 6 of the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga when Yugi and his friends start playing a deadly RPG with Yami Bakura.  (This part was changed in the anime to yet another children’s card game, although it was mixed with cosplaying characters.  “I look slightly more ridiculous than usual.”)  I did leave the screening at one point in yet another failed attempt to get my tutu commission.  The Artist Alley had just closed and when the guard let me pop inside to see if sakurablossm512 was there, she wasn’t.  So no commission, but it was only $2 so I really didn’t mind, and headed back to the screening.  

When the screening was done, there was an abortive attempt for everyone to go get milkshakes, but the place was closed and one of our number had a ride or plane to catch, so we headed back to the con and went up to Martin’s room to change out of costume.  I was grateful to be out of my tutu, but felt very awkward and out of place with everyone in the room.  Most of them already know Martin or Alpha pretty well (or had come to know them well during the con) but it always takes me longer to really warm up to people.  So I just sat and relaxed and watched everyone.  (A couple of the girls tried teaching Fox how to play Yu-Gi-Oh!  No idea if they were successful or not.)

During our time in Martin’s room, plans to go get sushi were tossed around.  Fox perked up at that, but sushi is not my thing.  (I know, what sacrilege!  An otaku who doesn’t like sushi?!  Unheard of!  Bite me.)  Of course, the plans kept getting sidetracked by other chatter.  Eventually we moved from Martin’s room to the hallway, so we were sort of moving.  I told the others that they could all go ahead and have sushi if they wanted, but I was very tired and would stay here and wait for them to get back.  Martin seemed worried, but I said I was okay.  Just tired.  Definitely too tired to go along to a place I wouldn’t eat at, surrounded by people I barely knew.  If I had more energy, I’d do it, but not then.  I did get my book The Adventures of Fahrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber out of Tantrum before they left so I would have something to do.  Always bring a book with you!  You never know when you might have a chunk of free time on your hands.  I headed down to the main floor of the DoubleTree Hotel and settled down into one of the comfy chairs and started reading.

An hour after I’d settled in, people finally came down to the main floor to leave for sushi.  Apparently getting sushi is a very complicated process.  Their group had expanded from the seven or eight of us that had been in the room to about 30.  (I am not kidding.  This is why I hate large groups:  they keep getting bigger and nothing gets done promptly.)  Any faint interest I had in going evaporated right then.  30 = way too big.  I’d never get to talk to anyone properly.  Finally, everyone filed out.  I think they rented a small flotilla of vehicles to get everyone there.  So, I sat quietly and contentedly in the lobby for 2 ½ hours reading.  (That is a huge stress reliever for me.  Reading makes headaches and tension go away.)  I even bought some dinner from the restaurant in the hotel once I got hungry.

I periodically texted Birde to make sure things were all right.  Around 8 or so, she told me that there was talk of everyone going to see Toy Story 3, which had just come out.  (Proof that I live under a rock:  this was the first I’d heard of there even being a Toy Story 3.)  I requested that she forgo it this time since the movie didn’t start until 9:15pm, meaning it wouldn’t be over until 11pm.  And with all the farewell chit-chat, we wouldn’t actually LEAVE until midnight, meaning we wouldn’t get back to Birde’s house where my car was until around 3am, and since I had to drive Fox home, that would mean I wouldn’t get to bed until 5 or 6 Monday morning.  Granted, I didn’t have work, but I am NOT one of those people who can function with no sleep for days at a time.  Sorry, Kirb, I had to put my foot down there.  Fox and Billy felt the same as I did, so Birde came back and we all headed home.  Luckily for me, Birde IS the kind of person who can function for days without sleep and she graciously offered to take Fox home since I was so exhausted.  I gratefully weaved my way home, collapsed into bed, and didn’t crawl out of it until 2pm Monday afternoon.                  

So, all in all, I had a good time!  I got to go to panels for the first time ever (okay, the first time I can properly recall, and it WAS the first time I’d ever picked what panels to go to), showed off an amazing almost-never-seen costume, got loads of positive attention and pictures on account of that costume, met an ANIME ANTHROPOLOGST, and got to go to another smaller out-of-state con.  And since I went to so many panels, I actually saved money because I never got the chance to buy anything in the Artist Alley and never made it to the Dealer’s Room.  Heh.  Go to panels!  Save money!  I think the only negative side was how far away from the con center we were, even though the hotel were stayed in was comfortable and affordable.  If I go back to AnimeNEXT, I’m definitely going to look into getting a hotel closer to the con.  Jersey drivers scare me.  ^_^;;



(I also want to thank everyone who read this journal, especially since it came so long after the con itself.  Sorry I got so lazy with keeping up with my con reports.  I’ll try to do better in the future!)