We woke up as usual. Prepared and moved out. Okay, not. I woke up after a medium night’s rest. Really, I was rested. But anyway. We all woke up and ate our food. I wanted to, but all I wanted was coffee first, which I forgot to brew. I was too caught up on cosplaying for the first time in 4 years.

The first panel we wanted to see was Morita and the premier of a Bleach movie. So we got in line. When we got there, it was announced that there was going to be a 30 minute deal. So I went off to get coffee and and a sandwich. When I got back in line, Tim and Susan joined us. Then the panel started. It was cool, but long. After the showing, RSP sang again and Morita took questions. It went over time.


rt-lt: Saki, Ai, Morita, translator

When the panel finished, out next plan was May’n and Megumi Nakajima’s concert. They’re the ones who sang songs for Macross Frontier. It was Tim, Lawrence and I that went. Susan went back to the room to chill. Man, seating was drag in the Nokia, only when the concert started. Me, personally, I did not want to stand up, but everyone did. The chairs were somewhat small for me…no leg room. The concert was totally awesome. I finally got to see May’n sing. Even tough I very much liked her sining, I just can’t get this feeling that see seems a little stiff performing. About midway through the concert, Megumi was introduced. The whole feeling of the concert changed. It suddenly felt brighter and livelier. It was because of her bright outfit. To out total surprise, the surprise guest was no other than Yohko Kano, the well-known composer. She play the piano for Megumi. It just sent shivers down my spine when they performed “Oboeteimasuka?,” and original Macross song. Near the end, May’n came back and did all duets. For me, it was when they performed “Lion” that almost made me cry. It was so emotional for me to hear them perform that song. As for all good things, it had to end. Oh yeah, it ran late too.

The next plan was to see Danny Choo’s panel. By the time the concert finished, the panel only had 20 more minutes. Instead, we went to the Exhibit Hall for the first time. So we finally made it. Personally, I wasn’t looking forward to spend more money. I didn’t, 30 at most at this time. After the Hall, the three of us ate dinner as Lowry’s. When I order the prime rib bleu, I was expecting steak, but it was in a sandwich. I guess I ordered wrong. But it was delicious. When we got back we ate some more then we decided to go back to catch the Laser Light Show.



Back at the Nokia, the show was about to begin. Suddenly, there was an AX Staff member passing out ticket to MELL’s concert. She sang the opening songs to Sky Girls and Black Lagoon. It turned out to be a real live. It was out for live of the convention. The pounding drum beat and the awesome guitar riffs moved me. It was unlike X Japan last night…syncing their playing to pre-recorded music for the video shoot. So it was awesome. I felt so refreshed after the concert.

So now, Lawrence and I went off to catch the Vocaloid panel. Honestly, I found it interesting, sans the technical problems they had at the beginning. The music was good. The videos were good. But they had to turn down those damn light. That made me loose my newly gained energy and I was beginning to fall sleep at the panel.
This time we decided to catch the late shuttle back. Bad choice. It took forever, there was less shuttles, there was no crowd control and so on. So because of that, we missed the first bus. Oh well, that’s AX for you.

Anime Expo 2010 - Day 1

“As I wake up in the morning and raise my weary head, I had on old Colt for a pillow and the earth was last night’s bed. I don’t know where I’m goin’. Only God know where I’ve been. I’m a devil on the run, a six gun lover, a candle in the wind.” Only if I started my day like that every day at Expo, but no. I get up early, do the “3 S’s” and leave for another crazy day with the guys. And sometime we all get “shot down in a blaze of glory.” I really don’t know where that all came from. May it’s because I’m trying to play that riff on my guitar the other night.

We tool the bus to the convention center. When we arrived, it was weird. We were dropped off I between the Nokia and South Hall with no directions on where to go. With much thought, and walking back and forth, we decided to go where the crowd is. We got our concert tickets. Mayn't concert was 20 clams! Damn! Anyway we went to opening ceremonies. At first, we thought it was assigned seating, but it was seating anywhere. It was cool because we right at the first row. We got to everyone close up. We saw Danny Choo. At first we thought he was the MC, but wasn't. So when the opening ceremonies began, Danny danced. The rest was pretty cool. Because we were up front, without our knowing, many Guests of Honors were walking back and fourth in front of us. Until we know, there was May’n, walking everywhere.

After opening ceremonies, we took the long to South Hall. We didn’t have anything planned until the May’n panel. About 11:30, we got in line. At the panel, someone wanted May’n to sing Megumi song. Other than that, people asked the stupidest questions, but some were actually good.

We left early form the panel and went to the RST concert at the nokia live. Man, it was hot. But they were hot, too. Suki, one of the singers, was my type and I took a picture with them. We then went to get something to drink because we were waiting for the next panel. Our first sustenance for the day.

Next was the Ochigo panel which feature the voice actor, Mazakazu Morita, of Ichigo. The main thing there was he got people from the crowd to voice over a Bleach clip. AS with everything, all the events were running late.

I was running late to meet up with Tim and Susan. So I went to the hotel to drop off a key. I was supposed to go back back, but Lawrence called me that tickets have to be bought. So we skipped out of the AKB48 concert. Now I'm waiting for him here at the hotel. I guess he arrived and he didn’t see me, so I got my key back and went up to the room. Several minutes later Tim and Susan arrived. Lawrence and I went to eat dinner at Subway and the other two went to get their badges.



We met up again at the convention center. Lawrence and I didn’t have anything planned other than the AMVs which started at eight, so we walked around. Then we remembered that Beni had a concert so we went to the Live and meet with Adrian. Anyway, on the way there, we met up with Tim and Susan, so we just rested.
After almost an hour, we went over the Live and just waited for the AMVs while listening to the outdoor DJs. The AMVs were not to start for a little more to Tim and Susan went to eat. Lawrence and I looked for staff giving out tickets, but there were none. It was still a little warm outside so we went to get drinks.



At the drinks shop, we were enjoying out drinks when all of a sudden, there was a line forming down the sidewalk. We asked what the line was for. It was for the Yoshiki Foundation. Yoshiki is a drummer and pianist for the Japanese rock group, X Japan. Other members are the singer, Toshi, bass, Heath, guitars, Pata and Sugizo. So we got in line. We had absolutely no idea this was going on. It was supposed to be free…yes, it was. From what we understood at the time, X Japan is doing a free charity concert. The Yoshiki Foundation sponsors the Make a Wish Foundation, Meals on Wheels and one other I forgot about. So this event was totally unexpected and totally not AX related. So after another long wait outside and a bunch of douches in line, we got in the Nokia Club. It was totally awesome. Dance floor on one side and a bar at the other.

Apparently, we found out they were there to shoot a music video. We still waited a long time for it inside. There was a goth fashion show which was cool and boring. Anyway, a hour later, Toshi, Yoshiki and Sugizo, did play an acoustic version of their song “Born To Be Free” or something like that. Oh, some was also a costume contest. On a tangent, yesterday, Lawrence found a badge someone lost. The badge we found belong to one of the winners of the costume contest. Funny. Anyway the music video shooting was awesome. They didn’t play live though. The same song was playing, but they synced their playing to the music.

After the music video,we went back to the hotel. It was around midnight. When we saw the line for the buses…screw it, we took a taxi back. It’s very late. We’re very tired. This blog will not be posted until Friday night…maybe.