I left home at 8AM, picked up my friend Matt, and by 10 was in line to register at the convention. The subway ride was entertaining, because we got to hear a bunch of loud-mouthed otaku know-it-alls discourse with each other about English dubs vs original Japanese and other such subjects ^_^ The line took two hours. I had worried about how bad the lines might be, given the horror of last year, and yes, I’d thought of leaving a lot earlier (but it was just way too early for me!). However, while longer than I’d hoped for, two hours was still a lot better than the huge line of 2008. Looks like they gave up on whatever computerized system they used last year, so it was a big improvement!

So, after the line, it was time to eat and we met up with Omo and two of his friends. I noticed that the central open area of the mall, which is next to the convention center, was open this year and cosplayers were gathering there in large numbers. I went back later in the day, but there were not so many interesting ones and it was chilly, so all my pics were taken inside!

After lunch, it was time to line up for the Kalafina concert. This was really the main event of the con for everyone I was with there. I haven’t watched Kara no Kyoukai yet, but the night before I listened to the songs on YouTube. The line was long, but there was room for everyone. From my seat, a platform with a cameraman on it blocked my view of one of the three Kalafina girls, except when she moved around (lol). Also, large screens sometimes showed what they were doing, which was mostly swishing their goth-style skirts around.

Before Kalafina came out, there was an opening group called the Video Game Orchestra. The music was good and the group, which included a chamber sized orchestral ensemble and a rock band, had a lot of energy. But since I don’t play many video games (except Pangya), most of it went over my head.

The concert seemed to be over and everyone was heading to the doors. I think a lot of people had left when the girls came rushing out again for their encore! One of them shouted out “Wait!” which was very amusing. For the encore, they brought out Yuki Kajiura, who spoke about how the girl’s voices complimented each other. She accompanied them on the keyboard for two last numbers.

Omo and his friends missed the the encore, because they rushed off to get in line for Kalafina autographs! Unlike the others, I didn’t have Kalafina merchandise to get signed, so I went off to look in the Dealers Room. Matt stayed and went through the line twice, because Omo, who went off to the Funimation panel, had left him a CD to get signed by Kajiura. It was an old Aquarian Age CD and I hear that when Kajiura saw it, she commented that its owner must be really hardcore! LOOOL

RAN_RAN_RUUUUUUU

The Dealers Room was huge, but there were not that many people in there anyway (maybe they were all lining up for the Masquerade?). I bought a lot less than at previous cons, getting one Gurren Lagann book and trading figure. That was it! After that it was time for dinner! The nearby Japanese noodle place was too crowded, so I brought everyone to a Thai Restaurant across from the convention center. It was fun to watch Omo and his friend try to reconstruct the order of songs from the concert–these guys are very hardcore Kalafina fans!! After dinner it was time to head home!

The convention this year avoided the huge lines of last year (the line was confined to ONLY one room). People were well-behaved. I did not see a lot of wild tweens running around and glomping each other. I did not go to any panels or check out the Artist Alley, but everywhere I did go, the maturity level seemed high. But I am getting a little tired of the whole convention thing, so who knows if I’ll go next year or not. Anyway, thank you Kalafina!!

Note: This comic references the Sakura Con commercial, which has generated a variety of intriguing reactions!

In answer to the question which forms the title of this post, I must firmly say neither. However, if you look around at viewer responses, you are very likely to find one of these two extremes. Why is this? Well, I can understand why those moe-addicts out there would react with shameless gushing, cause the darn show is targeted at them and naturally has the things they’d like in it. But what about the hate? Certainly some people are just turned off by the moe thing, but then I wonder why they even bother watching when they know in advance what they are getting into? Is it just to have material to rant about? If people genuinely want to give a show a chance, then you have to give it a few episodes at least, to see how consistent it is or if a plot develops. Most anime don’t show their true colors right away and tend to have the most excessive elements in the first episode or so. And if you think the main girl is annoying, well…., you don’t have to have seen much anime or read much manga to know that if a real plot develops, it will be all about the aimless girl getting more confidence and gaining a new purpose in life. That’s like manga plot #1.

So what were some interesting (and possibly positive) things about K-On ep. 1? I liked how you, of course, pretty much knew what was going to happen and the animators knew you knew what was going to happen so they could have some fun in bringing the girls together. Yes, the girls are all well-established character types, but most anime are not going to deviate from that. But if you have any feeling for this type of story at all, then you’ve gotta love the shy directionless girl meeting up with her wacky new friends. Old story, but each new version can be interesting in its own way, or else why watch at all? I like how the other girls were trying to bribe the clumsy girl to stay in the club. I also thought it was funny when that one girl had an elaborate false memory about a life-changing pinky promise at a rock concert. It’s nice when an anime can make fun of its conventional material and, in general, these girls seem a lot more relaxed about having fun making music then the over-serious characters in an overblown series like Beck.

I may have pissed some people off who liked Beck. I liked it at first, and had fantasies of playing guitar (like I did of playing go after watching Hikaru no Go), but the quality of the show began to fall and the ridiculousness of the story began to grow and, although I watched it to the end, I was not liking the pretentious, predictable rubbish it had become. I’m hoping for more from K-On.

A comic is always a good way to tell a story, so here it is:

What’s that you say? Enough with the lame jokes? You want real pics now? Well, I have something even better!!! I made a video of Hinano and JP exchanging their vows! Please enjoy it!!

So there’s this video about anime characters and why they don’t look “white.” In the video, there seems to be some kind of pseudoscience and stereotyping going on in the arguments, but w/e. I don’t think anime characters look like any particular race, because they are not real but are a stylization. If you actually met a real person with eyes like that, you’s probably scream in terror and run! I always assumed the big eyes were there to show greater emotion. And having stylized characters is nothing new, just look at some Ukiyo-e art! I thought I’d do a post on this topic a while ago and seeing this video game the excuse to do it! Anyway, there’s more debate on this over at amrc-l.

But let me reiterate: you do NOT — repeat, NOT, NOT, NOT — need a doctorate to do good, thoughtful, and thoroughly solid critical writing about anime and manga.

–Tim on the amrc-l (Anime and Manga Research Circle) mailing list.

OMG, I am sooo glad someone has stated this. And here I was thinking that Owen and his fellow editorial blogging ilk were were just illegitimate poseurs without advanced degrees. I feel like my own writing on Anime and Manga has been vindicated as well, dangos and all. Now I won’t have to spend all that time and money to get a doctorate in order to keep blogging! =p

And for those who play Pangya….