:::Animazement 2012 by Deretsun:::

Ah, where do I begin?

Oh--I know... *ahem* GOMENNASAI!! ;___;... I know I haven't posted in ages and this post is long overdue, but I intend on making it up to you guys with a bunch of awesome posts coming up! Let's start with this one, shall we? ^^

You know you want to click "Read More"!!



*Deep Breath*

Animazement was a lot of fun, even though we were exhausted after our 10 hour drive--namely Chansu who did all the driving--I personally thought it was worth it in order to see KOTOKO Live!!

When we got there, the first person we met had no clue that KOTOKO was performing that night. By that I was surprised and rather annoyed since we journeyed across multiple STATES to see her and the locals don't even do their homework (lol)!

But anyway--I was extremely excited since I'm a big Shakugan no Shana fan and she's done a bunch of openings and endings from that series alone.

So we after we visited the game room, dealer's room, artist's alley, and a few random panels, we lined up for the main event! I was honestly surprised at the size of the Exhibit Hall that she was going to perform in--it was so small and undeserving of a singer so well renowned!

 I was also discouraged because I kind of hoped to be swarmed with KOTOKO fans left and right, but the line was quite modest--it was still difficult to get towards the front but we managed ;).

After weaseling our way pretty much to the front section of the line (I heard the line went out the door but I never got to see this) we patiently waited... and, conveniently the previous event in the Exhibit Hall that Kotoko was going to perform in was a Cosplay Chess panel. And so I took my chance and cocked my camera and picked a good spot to start sniping good cosplays as they came out the door XD. I got extremely lucky at a Ran & Chen cosplay which I think easily wins Best Cosplay Of The Day (see left).

After I took my share of cosplay pictures, we all waited eagerly for them to open the doors to KOTOKO. And after what seemed like quite a while, they finally opened the doors! We pretty much rushed in and pushed our way to the front. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be die-hard fans otherwise I'm certain we would've been pushed back and not be able to advance to the front. But, basically, there were maybe one or two rows of people in between us and the stage. So... it was... fun. Tanoshii desu~ *waves little flag* Ha ha... ha... *Ahem* In other words... IT WAS FREAKIN' AMAZING!!! =P At first we were concerned that being at the front was bad news for us--that we might get jammed into the rail separating us from KOTOKO if the people behind us got crazy and pushed to the front. But thankfully, as I mentioned before, they weren't die-hard fans with murderous intent at anyone who gets in their way so we didn't get pushed at all. It was a great relief.

(This is the second cosplay outfit I was talking about.)

When Kotoko's band members stepped on stage it all seemed surreal. I was shocked that I was so close to one of my favorite singer's band. And then when Kotoko herself finally hopped on stage and started singing I think my heart literally stopped. I was in such shock that I didn't know what to do--ask Chansu. There I was, literally 20 feet away from Kotoko in a lolita cosplay with a (fake) sword on her belt (an outfit that she most likely put together herself, with the sword prop alluding to Shana), with little to no comprehension as to what to do with myself. After all, this was the first time I was at a Live of one of my favorite Japanese bands!

As I tried to loosen up from my paralysis, sing along to the songs, and wave my cheap glowstick in the air--I found that all I could muster was bringing the glowstick up to shoulder-height while smiling so widely and blushing at the same time that I was only able to whisper the lyrics of the songs she was singing. I had been completely caught off guard by HOW CUTE Kotoko was!!! (;___;, mo!)

(This a third outfit she wore for the encore.)

And then after singing Suppuration Core, Shooting Star, Unfinished, and a few other favorites she did the unthinkable: she hopped off stage and back on--very quickly--and reappeared in a NEW and CUTER outfit. I'm not too knowledgeable in the fashion area, but I'd say that this time it was also a lolita cosplay but closer to a Kimono or Yukata that resembled Shana even more because it was red! It was clear that she wanted to resemble Shana during her concert by both her outfit and choice of songs. She had a "finale" with Light My Fire and then an awesome--and by "awesome" I mean AWESOME--encore of Being.

It was such an awesome experience and the highlight of the convention not only because she was so cute and I was 20 feet away from her, but also because ALL of her songs were anime related and ALL awesome (unlike some other bands who fill the beginning of their concerts with boring, unpopular songs and save maybe one or two bests for last). She was also very nice, down to earth, and seemed to have an otaku spirit and enjoy anime just as much as any other otaku/convention-goer (as was evident by her cosplays and little speeches).

Moving on, the rest of the convention was also a lot of fun. It definitely doesn't top Otakon, but it was the 2nd best convention I've been to (easily topping NYCC/NYAF and ConnectiCon). The dealer's room was adequate but very expensive. I felt like I was lifted to another plane of existence when I saw an extremely high quality figurine vendor with a very large Touhou section.

And then my heart was captured with two figurines of Patchy (one large one and one chibi one) as you can see in the pictures to the left and right. However, the large one was $150 and the chibi one was like $60... way over my budget for a figurine.

 So after much debate and arguing with myself and trying to get Chansu to stop me, I walked away without buying anything. I was glad to do so because the chibi Patchy's hat was pretty annoying (it wasn't on securely and it was like ceramic so there was only one way to balance it which defeated the purpose of making it detachable) and I learned that the larger one can be found online for about $80.

The Gaming Room was a lot of fun though.  Chansu and I dominated at Super Smash Brothers Melee (the people playing Brawl were doing teams for the majority of the time + the lines were longer so we didn't bother).  There was also a lot of decent retro gaming such as Bomberman (with like 10 players) for a system I can't even remember the name of lol.

The only bad things about our experience was that the Video Game Room closes at 1 am (that's too early! =P), the dealer's room/artist's alley closes at 6pm, and we were waiting for over an hour for our order at a sushi restaurant nearby called Kashin.

Anyway, I think that about sums up my take on Animazement 2012!!

And now, the Cosplay Photo Gallery:




That's all for today!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! ^^,
:::Deretsun:::