Travel Plans

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No Otakon for me this time. But with NYAF's Minorin announcement, I think I now have enough information to create a tentative plan of action for this fall. This will use the last of my vacation days for the year.

Itinerary (last updated 07/22)

New: Momoi live house added, Tokyo Game Show added. Matsusaka food trip cancelled, 2nd Yukarin live in Fukuoka bumped.

09/17: Fly out to Narita Airport
09/18 - 09/19: Visit Tokyo Game Show 2010 during the day
09/18: Attend JAM Project MAXIMZER 10th Anniversary tour in Budokan. Then hit up Anisong Index page 12 at Club MOGRA until dawn (starts at 23:00. Yeah! Gyaran!!!).
09/19: Direct flight to Sapporo. Attend KOTOKO LIVE HOUSE TOUR 2010 Matsuri event
09/20: Spend morning exploring Sapporo. Hokutosei sleeper train back to Tokyo.
09/21: See May'n SUMMER TOUR 2010 at ZEPP TOKYO
09/22: Train to Niigata, have some Koshihikari rice from Uonuma, explore, then camp out from midnight for Yukarin goods
09/23: Tamura Yukari LOVE LIVE 2010 kick off in Niigata
09/24: Make-up sleep. Afternoon trip to Sado Island
09/25: Train to Sendai and see local sights (not many according to Wiki) OR go watch Ohmi Tomoe 2nd Live in Tokyo if I feel like it
09/26: Sleep off drunkness if I visited Kokubuncho. See Tamura Yukari LOVE LIVE 2010 in Sendai
09/27: Visit Akiu Otaki falls, maybe visit onsen, then back to Tokyo.
09/28: Fly out Shanghai for World Expo (Cancel if good concerts show up in this timeslot)
09/28 - 10/01: World Expo. Fly out from Shanghai to Fukuoka early morning
10/01: Sightsee Fukuoka in one day
10/02: Tamura Yukari LOVE LIVE 2010 in Fukuoka
10/03: Overnight train back to Tokyo then immediately to Koriyama. Attend Momoi Live Tour 2010.
10/04: Spend morning in Tokyo. Then fly back to Newark International Airport.
Just in time for...
10/08: Two Towers at Radio City w/ Orchestra (went to same FotR concert last year and liked it)
10/09: Stalk Minorin at NYAF

There you have it. 9 (10?) concerts in the span of 3 weeks, and only 12 vacation days used. I may shift "touristy" type stuff if necessary as this events page slowly fills out in case I want to attend some of them.

May'n concerts are expendable. Yukari stuff is set, but can be bumped in two cases:
1. A Momoi concert appears (very possible Confirmed as she has a new album release scheduled for 9/15 and will probably hold events to promote it)
2. Any live ave;new event in which Sakura Saori and Shirasawa Rie both appear. Probably not since they already did a big live but I can dream.

Arrival/depature dates are flexible until my self-imposed deadline of August 15th. On that day, I'll finalize by buying all necessary plane tickets.

Criticisms/suggestions are welcome in case I'm overlooking something big.

Posted by Paranda at 6:54 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)

Mehr Licht (more light) part 1

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Momoi and UO on the shores of Waikiki Beach. Photo by tenton

Lately, I've been thinking about how to plan my upcoming seiyuu driven related trips and that lead to thinking more about concert lighting.

While glowsticks have been used for fan participation in idol concerts since at least the 80s, they are especially heavily used for Momoi concerts and even carry a bit of emotional significance. Momoi generally thinks of a concert as a two way exchange where the feelings of a performer connect with the energy of fans, and she often mentions her first experience of cheering on her favorite idol with lights as an eye opening moment that is one of her fondest memories as a child. Since then, just consider some songs, like "Kagayaki Cyalume", "Yume no baton", "Lumica", "Me-ar-ri-hi-to" and you might notice from the theme that Momoi has been quite busy indoctrinating her audience with the same ideas. So it's no wonder that Momoists myself included probably have a bit of interest in lights.

Current inventory:

Color	Bright	Count	Type
Yellow	High	10	Firefly 30 minute chemical light stick
Orange	High/Ultra	2	Fenix LD20 LED flashlight + orange diffuser wand
Orange	Ultra	20	Firefly 5 minute chemical light stick
Blue	Normal	1	Concert pen light
Pink	Normal	2	Concert pen light
Blue	High	1	Pocket Neon light
Pink	High	1	Pocket Neon light
White	Normal +	1	Party wand (Multiple LEDs)

To start from the basics, the standard instrument would probably be the chemical light glowstick, which comes in a variety of colors and three flavors. There's the 6 inch, 6 hour glowstick, a cheap long lasting stick which usually forms the staple of cheering. A 6 inch, 30 minute high intensity glowstick, which is a brighter version of #1. It's more expensive and harder to find, but generally used on a song-by-song basis to match some color. And finally, there's the 6 inch, 5 minute ultra high intensity stick (usually orange) - a military grade signaling flare that we call UO. It costs $1 - 3 a piece depending on where and who you buy from and produces blazing results.

At some point a while back, a shift happened where some fans started to feel that it was more cost effective and environmentally friendly to use electronic lights, and we slowly saw pen lights start to take the place of traditional glowsticks. Still, as many songs required the use of UO or high intensity lights, this wasn't a complete solution. Then, somebody had an idea to start using high powered flashlights. One thing led to another, and today, there are a lot of fans out there with gigantic penlight collections, dozens of flashlights, custom designed and patterned diffusers, and even home-made LEDs rigged to a tube.

A pen light insert being signed by Momoi. From her twitcast

Custom engraved LD20 gifted to Momoi by a fan (Silli) during Desucon in Finland. From her twitcast

Speaking more personally, among some friends, there has been a collective goal to get 100% transition from chemical light sticks to electronic alternatives without sacrificing the brightness and convenience of the former, but it has been an ongoing process of trial and error with flashlight models and application.

As a note, I am not being paid in any way to recommend anything in this post.

The latest model that seems to be favored by Momoi fans (in the US at least) has been the Fenix LD series, specifically the LD10 and LD20. As electronic light sticks, they do satisfy three important attributes.

1. Re-usability

Re-usability comes down to more than just being able to turn it on and off through multiple sessions. They should be easy to service, replace, and easy to customize. If it falls short in any of these areas, you will always be tempted to go back to chemical lights. But, when done right, electronic lights will mean less waste, less garbage to dispose of, fewer liquid-related messes, and longer lasting light.

In the LD20 and LD10, the 21.5mm flashlight head fits for Fenix's own various diffuser attachments, but can also take a tube from a standard pen light (the kind that you buy at concerts) with a little bit of tape. You can see the comparison shot later down showing how effective it can be to swap out the standard bulb. Second, its AA batteries can be found in any convenience store, and the replacement process is a simple tool-free unscrewing of the end cap by hand.

2. Brightness

For the most part, brighter is better. But when thinking about brightness for a concert light, there's usually a time and place for regular light, and ultra light. The natural thinking is that you should always be on maximum brightness, but sometimes it's better to have different levels. For one, you might be blinding the people next to you and annoying them. After all the point of the lights is to support the artists along with the fans in a synchronized manner, not break the harmony and distract them. Ultra might not match the mood of the performance. For a slow song when everyone switches to blue for a calming "ocean effect" you don't want your light to look like an emergency flare. And consider a song like LOVE.EXE - usually everyone will switch from regular glowsticks to ultra orange. When this happens, you will get really pumped after suddenly feel a major shift in the tone because the whole room just lights up. If you were just using ultra mode the whole time, the effect is diminished. Rather, it's better (and cheaper) to go with the flow of the concert*.

As for an LD, the lowest setting at 9 lumens is satisfyingly bright without standing out too much, and the turbo mode at 180 lumens, while no match for a freshly cracked UO, can ably compete a few seconds in. Fenix LDs aren't special in this area, and there are other models that do have multiple output modes, and even higher brightness. However, with LDs priced between $40 - $60 a better deal hasn't popped up yet...or has it (more on that later).

* Of course there are always a few hardcore dudes who are willing to burn through tons of UO* to do Wolverine (glowstick between each finger, aka Balrog as Momoi calls it, aka wada-san) for the entire duration of an event. If you want to buy 8 flashlights to do this and can actually hold on to them all, more props to you.

3. Handling
This is determined by the durability, size, weight, general form of a light so that it is comfortable to hold and but also able to withstand force and potentially impact while it is being waved around. LDs are generally suitable, but not without shortcomings. As far as the LD-20 goes, its size and finish create conditions that are not optimal for concert use. The long handle, weight, and finish seem trivial at first, but after 2 - 3 hours the hard metal becomes irritating to the hand and the unbalanced weight makes keeping a grip difficult. You will find yourself gripping by the wand instead of the handle. Additionally, on lower settings, the light can flicker on impact. We're still not sure what causes it (it usually doesn't happen while in turbo), but multiple owners have confirmed this to be the case on their own models. LD-10 fares much better, suffering from no issues with flickering, and is much lighter and comfortable to hold and much more recommended for long term use while LD-20 should probably be reserved for UO due to its higher output. In both flashlights, heat is a problem while if in Turbo mode for more than a few minutes and this places a limit on how long you can stay in UO. This is usually not a problem, but sometimes you get back to back UO songs and have no choice but to deal with it or switch to chemical backup. We're still looking for sleeves or grips that can provide some insulation.

In terms of durability, so far both of my lights have been excellent and have survived being dropped, launched as projectiles, and other accidents. The orange traffic wand attachment on the other hand, while advertised as being made with "Bayer plastic used in bullet proof applications" is actually pretty brittle and has broken three times on relatively minor impact (once with each other). Even the tubes that come with penlights are probably less prone to breakage. Luckily they are cheap to replace.

Overall, Fenix LD series is probably currently the best choice available that I know of. If I had to choose one, I'd say the LD-10 slightly edges out LD-20 due to much better handling at the cost of UO brightness. In terms of alternatives, there are definitely others, such as the Surefire series which may meet or exceed in some of these areas. However the Surefire carries a high premium for its construction and name brand, so it will probably cost at least twice as much. It's not a bad choice if you have a lot of other uses for the flashlight and go hunting/camping regularly, but unless you have cash burning a hole in your pocket, I don't recommend it due to higher cost yet when used solely as a concert light.

Comparison of LD flashlight at 9 lumens with standard concert pen light. Identical exposures

Alternatives

Even though I consider Fenix my primary workhorse light, it's not always convenient to swap color covers in the middle of a concert, and it's definitely not economical to buy a new flashlight to premount each color. Sometimes, you have to settle for other lights. Many people contributed to buying and trying the various items listed. I've collected some that have worked decently. They serve well for misc colors, backups, or even as a main light if you don't really think buying LDs are justified.

Concert Pen Light
This is the standard light that's always sold officially by idol seiyuu like Momoi, or Mizuki Nana, or Tamura Yukari, etc. for their concerts. The source is not very bright, and can be prone to going out if the wiring is loose. They are passable if you forgot to bring your own lights, and they will last the entire duration of the event since they have quite a long life. But I doubt you will ever reuse them once the battery goes dead. You need to take the whole thing apart including the knob to replace the battery, and by then you'll have probably bought a new light anyway for the next event. Though it's not recommended in as a light source I listed it here anyway because you might still want to buy the light as a souvenir, or (if you went the flashlight route) to unscrew the tube and get that tube insert so you can put on your own light. Just keep in mind every time you get one you're going to get another unneeded piece of plastic, so I'd limit ownership of these to 4 or 5 max. There are better ways to support the artist than buying too many of these.

Cyalume Classic Penlights
They're decently bright and are designed to look just like a regular glowstick. If you're in Japan and need glowsticks in a pinch, they can be found in nearly any store that sells glow sticks in Japan for about 1000 yen. However, they only take button cell batteries. Although they are manufactured by Omniglow, I haven't seen these sold anywhere outside of Japan. They're good, but not worth importing. If you are in Japan and want to buy a glowstick around that price, I'd consider the Pocket Neon unless you really prefer the cyalume shape.

Pocket Neon
These are a great inexpensive choice, and quite commonly seen at concerts in Japan. Even Misato Aki was using them. They were originally recommended to me by a Japanese Momoi fan and became one of my first electronic light stick purchases in Japan. They served very well on the 2 included AAA alkaline batteries during Animelo for nearly 3 continuous hours before finally dimming down (will last even longer on Lithium). They are very bright as you can see below in the comparison, far surpassing the standard concert pen lights and the Cyalume Classics. From my experiences with them, they are sturdy and can withstand most impacts without any permanent damage. The only problem I have with these are the unpredictable wait times during a cold start, which can sometimes take up to a minute (and then you forget if you turned it on or off). They are also somewhat short, though it's not noticeable in the dark because the glow aura appears much larger.

Left to right: Concert pen light, Concert pen light, Pocket Neon, Cyalume Classic. From To-zen Nikki

There have also been some lights that simply didn't pass the test. For two lights to avoid:

Happy Camper light sticks
Probably one of the first results you'll find if you search for lights in English on the internet. They are cheap, and easily available in the west, but their brightness is average and they only take button cell batteries. They are also a bit fragile and can cut out if you wave them too hard. They might be well and fine for camping as the name suggests, but not recommended for concert use. On the bright side, they go for about $5. Just be warned you get what you pay for.

Nite Ize LED wand
Had some experience with these from another owner. They're manufactured by Inova which also makes higher end flashlights. While they're sturdy, the grip is difficult to get used to. And unlike pocket neons they are not bright enough to make up for the shortness of the tube. They also leak light at the tip and need to be capped. Not recommended in general, but if going the budget light stick route, they are probably more reliable than Happy Camper mainly since they don't randomly turn off.

In part 2, I'll post about what is still to be done, environmental concerns, problems we've yet to solve, battery tips, and ideas for future. And I'll be trying out a new light. Can there be a brighter UO substitute than Fenix LD20 for a reasonable price? Maybe...

Two lights on full turbo. Guess which one is new.

Posted by Paranda at 12:05 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Fanime day 3 and 4

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Last post for Fanime to tie up loose ends.

Day 3

5/30 was the final day for Momoi quest. Our group had a late breakfast at Peggy Sue's, a local diner that served massive plates of french toast and pancakes, and then headed to wait in line for Quest #5. The performance started at 12:00 in the large karaoke room. I was sort of worried about crowd attrition given the multiple quests, but the attendance remained high. Momoi came in with her uniform, and a pair of wings as an accessory. Set list was:

1. Shooting Star
2. Romantic Summer
3. LOVE.EXE

I packed light so I actually forgot I needed a yellow glowstick for Shooting Star and just jumped with pink. During Romantic Summer, it was cool to see that several people had studied the moves. As for LOVE.EXE, again many people remembered from last year or looked up the song online and knew to produce UO at the correct time. Jumping was slightly hampered by rows of seats. After the event was over, Momoi announced her next quest would be the same day in a ballroom at 6PM. We scoped out the ballroom later and were delighted to find it was spacious and standing room only.

After getting stamps, we headed over to Charity auction after that to look at bids. Each item was signed by all Fanime guests. From our group, Silli won the tamborine for $70 which he planned to use for the concert. The cowbell went over $90 and Guitar for over $150 (not sure how much surplus they could have made on that one).

Then we lined up outside the ballroom for the long wait. Several hours later, Momoi passed by and began her soundcheck. When we started handing out glowsticks, security stopped us and said glowsticks had been banned after earlier incidents. I guess glowsticks get a bad reputation due to ravers here, but thanks to several people including some staff vouching for us, they deemed Momoi fans behaved enough to have them and distribution resumed. Thank goodness, because everyone really put them to good use as you can see here.

Quest 6 set list:

1. Ai no medicine
2. Wonder Momoi
3. Yume no Baton
4. LOVE.EXE

While the room was large, the stage was extremely small. Since without the chairs there were absolutely no physical barriers, we ended up getting pushed way too close by everyone that if anyone fell they would have landed on the stage. I guess that's how it works with indie bands in the States? When the maids went up on stage, Momoi was a bit surprised but let them stay on for the entire duration of the live. As a bonus she did 4 songs this time, with LOVE.EXE acting as a bonus "encore" of sorts (though not really, since we didn't even have a chance to chant).

The raffle was held immediately after the concert. Mini-prizes were the actual physical stamps used to stamp Momoi quest cards, and the final "grand prize" was a trip to the maid cafe to enjoy dessert with Momoi. One of the fans from Japan managed to win a stamp.

After leaving the ballroom, we ended the day at the convention with a big group picture. Later, Yoshisawa invited Momoists to a karaoke joint. Since Momoi didn't sing any of her newer songs, it wasn't hard to find people to tag along for some DIY makeup tracks. Karaoke with Momoi fans inevitably involves people whipping out glowsticks and doing calls for anybody who goes up singing. As a side note, that place we went to sure had a lot of obscure otaku tracks. We were able to do stuff like Jienotsu Song! Color me impressed. I admit I'm a bit guilty of blasphemy here though because the only song I personally sang was "Fancy Baby Doll" - a YUKARIN song. *gasp* GET THAT TRAITOR!

Day 4

Not much for day 4 so I'll just combine it with Day 3 post. The only Momoi event was autograph signing.

Finally, we took our last group picture and waved goodbye to Momoi. Quest complete. Final stats:

Items acquired:

Wisdom gained:
Don't be paranoid about DOF. f/7.0 is overkill. Lower aperture, reduce ISO, and pump flash next time for the group pic. Less noise that way...

And many memories. Thanks everyone for making it a great experience for me.

Posted by Paranda at 12:35 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Fanime day 2

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Since I finished my last CFA exam last week, I can finally forget it forever (unless I failed). But now I can close out the last few days of Fanime, which I'll say was and probably will be the best trip I've taken all year for various reasons, even factoring 2 other events I still plan on going to.

Day 2

You know you're off to a strange start when the group makes an early excursion to Whole Foods for breakfast, and the first thing you hear is an employee making a "har har it must be Halloween" comment - this store was well outside the range of the convention area and our party included a dude wearing cat ears and a girl in a panda costume. It was a minor reaction though, compared to the time when a waiter gave us the evil eye for being in concert gear at the CN tower rotating restaurant. And nothing compared to that time in 07 when we did a cyalume run exploring hardware stores in downtown Long Beach with chibitech dressed in full meido drag.

Quest 3

After returning, we lined up outside the karaoke hall for Quest #3. The previous day, due to running out of time, the panel actually forgot to mention the location so we were kind of worried when the line looked pretty short. Luckily it filled up just before the show started.

Momoi came back in her signature sailor fuku as made famous in Yume no Baton. For the format of the events (several scattered mini lives that relied on people following signs and hints), she wouldn't be changing costumes. That's fine though, this has always been my favorite one post-U17 and it makes up for when she didn't wear it last year. What did change during each quest though was the hairstyle.

This time was a rare casual style.

Momoi seems kind of hesitant to play her newer original stuff though. Again, this time the tracklist was a cover song, and two established fan favorites. I guess she's trying hard to tailor the list to her American audience, but I kind of wanted to hear at least something from the new album.

1. Get Wild
2. Tenbatsu! Angel Rabbi
3. Motto Yume Miyou

Well, Tenbatsu is always fun for doing calls. It is always another front row chance to cheer for a UO-type song after all.

After the mini-live, we took a quick break and then moved over to Stage Zero again in case Momoi showed up for the Fanimaid performance like she had done last year. Each maid had a repertoire of idol moves and songs memorized with pretty good accuracy, and Momoi was impressed they stepped up their game to include singing in addition to dancing. However, since she was crunched for time and had to host a panel right after, she only stayed in the guests area this time and didn't jump into the crowd to lead calls.

Quest 4

Quest 4's panel format was pretty much the same as Quest 2's. Although they are given unique names like "Halko Momoi and Industry", she doesn't give a themed speech or anything like that - just regular Q&A. These will probably be uploaded by Autolooper at some point. Highlights to look for are:

Momoi asking if anybody watched Kodomo no Jikan, followed by a complete silence in the room. After an awkward pause, one guy slowly raises his hand. Momoi looks him in the eye and just deadpans "you are lolicon."

And Momoi singing "Take me out to the ball game" and playing on her keytar, but forgetting all the words.

Call Workshop
After the panel, we headed to the call workshop to talk about Momoi's calls, and Japanese concert etiquette in general. Sadly, we had requested two hours but only got half of that, plus we were sandwiched right between Momoi's panel and autograph session so nobody was willing to risk running long. The workshop ended up being incredibly rushed and probably 70% of the information content got skipped. The etiquette bit is something I'll probably post about separately as there are some questions I think are interesting. The media and live demonstration were also heavily cut so we could pack up and race to the Momoi autograph line.

Autograph Session

Momoi generously allowed two items per person plus a posed photo. The photo is a bigger deal that it sounds. I think most Western fans are used to taking pictures with their favorite celebrities during meet & greets as it is practically the norm, but in Japan taking a posed picture with an idol seems to be very limited. Usually, you have to win a raffle or pay for the privilege. In fact the photo is always mentioned as one of the selling points in the Momoi tour packages. So, while I shamelessly took advantage of the opportunities, there was a small bit of guilt since we were hanging out with the Japanese fans. Some of them actually passed, maybe because they felt uncomfortable crossing that culture barrier.

In case you were wondering about Momoi's hat in her new twitter picture, she's actually wearing an Angry Video Game Nerd cap that she got from a fan.

Dinner
Not eventful, but if you remember my sidestory from Fanime 2009...well we went to THAT diner again. It was just so damn good there was a unanimous vote to make the drive all the way to Winchester House.

And that wraps up Day 2. By the way, to respect everyone's privacy preferences, if you were in any of the group pictures we took for any of the days, shoot me a mail and I'll send you a link.

Posted by Paranda at 1:52 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Fanime day 1

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Ongoing blog post for Momoi stalking activities. This will by text heavy version when I want to do a bigger text dump instead of spam twitter via @paranda_update

11:30 AM
Momoi sound check earlier today around 9AM. I didn't see it, but I heard it (was stuck in line). Only so many people would sing "God Knows" with that kind of voice. Suspicion confirmed after I ran into ochawan and genman while I was waiting in the pre-reg line who did get to see it in person.

A short wait. I heard people were waiting for an hour yesterday during pre-reg pickup but I went through in about 20 minutes. Got my Momoi Quest stamp card. You might recognize the unique art style from mandichan.

Unfortunately, maybe due to time constraints or other reasons, the stamp cards were actually not cards at all. Seems to be printed on regular A4 white paper - no reinforcements, no lamination, and it's not cut evenly on the line - some peoples' corners were probably chopped off. Momoi's own card is actually a pretty good representation, which you can see here. As you can see, she traveled to the future and got all the events stamped.

I'll have to take good care of it, or it might just rip if somebody sneezes on it. Staking out stage zero now. Still several hours to go before Momoi's next scheduled appearance, but she's known to appear randomly. It's been pretty slow now and "club music" is REALLLLYY not my style.

But, tenton and catsspat should have rendezvoused with Japanese crew at the airport by now and are heading back so things will pick up shortly.

4:00 PM
Just returned to the hotel after a good 1st performance. This will be brief since I am about to leave again for the panel.

Be sure to follow yoshisawa who will probably broadcast all the events live.

5:15 PM
An early dinner for 10. Now onto the panel for real this time.

11:00 PM
Day 1 is now over. Two quest events were held today, a short mini-live (Quest #1) and a panel (Quest #2). Met some new faces like Silli, an awesome dude who came over from Germany, plus some old school forum goons from my earlier SA days.

Momoi did 3 songs for Quest #1. The set list was God Knows, Butterfly, and Akihabalove. It was off to a good start. Two out of three songs are UO-type songs, and one was a popular cover which I hadn't heard live before. During Akihabalove, Jun-chan and a Komugi cosplayer appeared as surprise guests.

After, we headed for stamps and goods table. Nice to see that the stamp design is also by mandi. The Right Gauge shop inventory contained No Answer No Live wristbands and phone straps, and a new set of Spring 2010 T-shirts in white, lime, and orange colors. There were no CDs on sale this time around.

Since nobody ate all day, we ended up cramming in a really early dinner with everyone before heading to the panel. In line, we discover there will be no shortage of camera angles. Momoists love gear. Yoshisawa provided streaming again, and autolooper was taping a higher def version for youtube which he will probably post in a few days.

Unfortunately, the panel forgot to announce the hint for the next quest location. Luckily, Momoi's manager let us know at the goods table: Karaoke room 11:00 AM tomorrow.

We headed to FLOW just in time to see the encore, then went for a big supply run at a local store. I'm really tired now so I'm going to turn in now that I've uploaded the rest of my stuff to Flickr. Tomorrow will be karaoke, Fanimaid concert (Momoi appeared last year and cheered with us in the audience), Momoi panel, teaching at the call workshop, and then rushing off to autographs. Big day ahead!

Posted by Paranda at 2:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Fanime 2010 approaches

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Only two more weeks to go. This year, Momoi will be doing a novel questing format for her appearances. According to the Fanime news post, you can follow her around to several events and accumulate quest points for a prize, with each subsequent location being revealed. If this is true, it's possible that performances will not be limited to stage zero. Will we see Momoi go back to her old street performer days, doing stuff right out in the open supported only by a boombox and a crowd? It's not unworkable, as we learned very well last year.

Other assumptions:

• Momoi will probably be in cosplay the whole time. We already had Anise last year, so it's anybody's guess we'll get this time but probably RPG related.


• Glowsticks will be ineffective in well lit open areas. Alternatives could be uchiwas, towels, and light wands that you can switch off. This year, we will probably be primarily using uchiwa, and LD20s with separate Momoi attachments.


• Street-style performances will involve crowding around in a circle. There will be little space or opportunity for photo taking. Despite just buying a brand new 70-200 for my camera, it may be wise to leave this in the hotel safe on certain days or just bring a point & shoot backup (I wonder if the Canon SD4000 will be out soon?).


• Audience interaction and participation will be at a much higher level this time around. Know the concert calls. Of course reading material is always supplied and fans will be teaching anybody who wants to learn. Momoists are not elitists!

I'll also be changing my preparation based on this information. Last year, I went a little overkill with the powerglove, two glowstick belts, backup light pouches, multiple towel attachments, and enough armbands to look like sleeves on both sides. It's actually embarassing to see the old photos, so this year I will go in low profile with just my trusty lights and uchiwa. Kigurumi is also recently more common with Momoi events, but they are usually animal themed. While fine in Japan, in the US, this has unfortunately been co-opted by a very different subculture.

While writing this, I did get reminded that I never actually talked about what happened last year. In fact my last post on it was this. Well to put it simply, it was worth it, so anyone who is thinking about attending should definitely go. To put some closure to that and to finally get it off my plate, I'm going to post a really fast version of that went down last year. Short because I can't remember much aside from it being a euphoric blur.
Day 1
- Pick up people at airport via glowstick signalling system
- Hang around with people as they come in. One Japanese fan brought Momoi artworks which he then signed and sent off to the art show
- Cheer Momoi at Opening ceremony


- Attend 1st panel

- Buy lots of merchandise

- Follow a hunch that Momoi might show up at open karaoke. She didn't so we just cheered anybody who did a Momoi song

Day 2
- Autograph 1. Momoi shows up as Anise. Get stuff signed. Then loiter around the back door.

- Attend Fanimaid performance
- Find Momoi at the same event. She jumps in and starts doing calls with the crowd on the side. Then she jumped on stage with the maids.

- Attend 2nd panel. It got broadcast live on Nico. Unfortunately Momoi lost her scrapbook at this event and whoever took it never gave it back >:(
- Attend Call Workshop and give away UOs for everyone so they can do the synchronized UO thing during LOVE.EXE.
- Go to dinner. Sounds not Important, but then we had this short exchange. Approximately...

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Group thought process: Hey we're going out to dinner. Let's see if Priz is done shopping with Momoi yet. Let's call him!

So I do.

Me: hey where are you?
Priz: I'm having dinner with Momoi. Hang on a second
*A few seconds later*
Momoi: "HELLLOO"

Fuck! Momoi is on the phone!. Trade a few words. Then...we eye the groggy japanese fans who were totally dead from jet lag. This ought to wake them up...

Handed over phone to confused fan without saying anything. Never saw anyone stiffen up so fast and switch to instant polite mode. We huddle around a tiny phone straining to hear with speakerphone while Momoi gives a pretty long pep talk.

Then as a favor, she left a voice mail (major major props to priz for this). ~Mail Me~ in real life!

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Day 3:
- Attend Fanimaid cafe on Momoi rumor. No show, but we got good service because the people who ran the cafe liked Momoi fans :)
- Unwrapped a zillion glowsticks and delivered them to concert staff to hand out at the door
- Wait in line for a long time. One Japanese fan went in hobostyle 8 hours early with a cardboard sign
Attended concert. Momoi walks right off the stage and into the audience like it's no big deal (momoi owns).
Bunch of fans joked about joining her up on stage just like in Hawaii. Turned out it actually happened.
Discovered the weakness of cheap bulk UO - they turn yellow and go out much sooner than cyalume brand UO!

Day 4
- Get more stuff signed. The artist decided to let us keep these after the art show was over. Top center frame now sitting on my desk :)

- A reward for loitering this time: Momoi group photo! Almost a tradition now
- The actual tourist part of the vacation: go visit some places Momoi talked about visiting while she was here. Winchester House for example.
- Amusing sidestory while en route to Winchester: we went with some of the Japanese fans who had yet to have the classic AMERICAN DINER experience. Luckily, the place we went to just happened to be one of the most stereotypical places ever (gator motifs, booths, mobster-like setting, and huge HUGE portions). One guy got a massive bowl of pasta bigger than his head for $8.

Pretty awesome itinerary if I do say so myself. Needless to say...there's lots of incentive to go again, and I'm really looking forward to Fanime this year. Probably a lot more impromptu crowd stuff like the maid performance incident.

Posted by Paranda at 11:31 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Thinking about 1980 birthdays

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The following ladies are about to be eligible for the 17 club this year.

Arai Satomi
Chihara Minori
Itou Shizuka
Kadowaki Maii
Sakakibara Yui
Ueda Kana

They'll be joining Endou Aya, Kaida Yuuko, Kobayashi Sanae, Mizuka Nana, Morinaga Rika, Noto Mamiko, Sakamoto Maaya, and others for 2010 inductees

Actually this year probably has the most people ascending to the next level that I can remember in recent history. For shows that I've watched at least...

It's a good year for 30s. One of these days I'm going to plot the ages of all the seiyuu I like against some arbitrary perceived favorability point system to see the distribution. If a tenuous link to ageism can be made at all, it actually seems to work in reverse in this industry - at least up to a point. Or of course, the other explanations being experience, "paying your dues", likelihood to land breakout role are probably better indicators.

Then again I can just write everything off as a stubborn refusal to admit there are people younger than me in the work force. I only graduated a little over two years ago dammit I'm still a kid and I want to watch my cartoons without feeling guilty! 24+ or bust!

Posted by Paranda at 3:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)