Aphrael (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silverthunder) wrote2008-08-27 08:25 pm
silverthunder) wrote2008-08-27 08:25 pm
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Anime Evolution 2008!
I'm back from Vancouver... man, that was a fun trip! And Cody didn't even get sick this time. Ty and Anika did, though, which wasn't too great. At least it seemed to be just a 24-hour flu... Also, Jeremy's car broke down at UBC at the end of the last day of Anime Evolution. Luckily, Cody and I were there with him and we were able to get the car towed and then repaired so that he could drive back to Kamloops without worry.
Other than that, it was a kickass trip.
First off, when we got there on Wednesday, we met up with Ty and Anika for some hanging out in the pool and then headed to the hotel bar and grill for dinner. Thursday, the four of us went to Metrotown and Chinatown for some shopping, and then Jeremy and his brother Daniel got in so we all went to UBC to pick up our pre-reg badges. Then we went for dinner at White Spot and back to the hotel.
Friday was the first day of the convention, but we didn't spend much time there. The vendors didn't open until Saturday, so the only thing we really wanted to do was watch (and record) Jeremy performing in the Anime Idol competition. Cody and I did get a lot of pictures taken of us in our costumes (and yes, I have pictures as well, and will post a link to them once I've taken them off the camera, resized them, and put them up on Facebook). Friday night was the dinner at Spaghetti Factory, which was excellent.
On Saturday we had the cosplay contest, and Jeremy had anoher Idol performance just before. Cody and I went down with him at 6am and managed to get in line for the vendors near the beginning. It was a long wait, but ended up being worth it, because the vendors were pretty awesome this year.
We didn't win anything for our cosplay skit, but that was okay. In the video, it kinda looked like absoloute chaos, but the truth is we practiced a lot! Basically, it was a dance-off where the MC got to hold up our specially made signs to indicate which dances he liked. You can watch it here if you're interested. Note: if you're curious about costumes, Jeremy was Shuichi from Gravitation (his shorts were too long!), Daniel was Naga from Slayers (yeah, I know), Anika was Princess Sara from Sonic the Hedgehog (I don't remember if anyone recognized her), Holly was Renji from Bleach, and Cody and I were the Prince and Lyon from Suikoden V.
The winners were excellent - the same guys who did the Prince of Persia skit last year won Judge's Choice again for their new Arc the Lad skit this year, and again, they were pretty darn good. This Avatar skit won Best Rookie Skit, and with good reason. It was amazing. But my favorite, hands down, was the Best of Show winner: a one-person short musical detailing Light Yagami's Death Note experience. It was freakin' hysterical. Watch it.
I wasn't happy with all the winners, though... I don't know if I mentioned it, but last year's Best Master Skit winner was this group who did a Phoenix Wright skit. It had courtroom props and everything and the dialogue was pre-recorded, but it was incredibly boring. I zoned out somewhere in the middle of it. I can understand why the judges liked it because it was well organized and planned out. However! They reused their costumes, props, and general idea in order to do this year's skit... all they added in that was really original was a little song and dance number with a one-person choreography. Personally, I think they should not have won the Best Master Skit award a second year. It was practically the same skit they did last year, and there were plenty of other good cosplay skits to honor. I'm wondering now if they'll pull the same thing next year and win AGAIN. Maybe they'll just do it every year from now on, now that they know how to pull off an easy win. After all, who needs originality when you can recycle last year's idea? I'm also pretty sure at least one of them is friends with the judges, so... yeah.
In any case, we had fun and enjoyed watching the skits, so I'd call it a successful day. Afterwards, we all took a dip in the pool and then went out for dinner and hung up in the rooms for a while.
Sunday was the last day of the con, so we took in Artist's Alley. Cody and I got our picture drawn anime-style, which turned out gorgeous (I'll have a picture in with my photos whenever I get them up). We went to Metrotown with Jeremy, Daniel, and Teresa (a friend who lives in Surrey) for a little while and then took in Jeremy's last Idol performance at the closing ceremonies. He ended up winning second place, which was awesome! Cody even got to go on stage during the performace (haha!), which was fun.
They showed the winners from the AMV contest as well - the Judge's Choice winner was One Guitar from Beck - I think (never seen it). The Audience Choice winner was The Harassment of Kyon from Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, which I thought was hysterical even though I prefer Kyon/Haruhi to Itsuki/Kyon. It got a great crowd reaction when it was played and made me want to order a box set of the series and rewatch it. Then after the ceremony ended, we visited the vendors one last time and left the con.
That was the night Jeremy's car broke down. It turned out to be the alternator, which had to be replaced. The car had to be towed all the way from UBC to our hotel in Coquitlam. Daniel and I went with Daniel's friend Carmen back to the hotel with all our stuff and Cody stayed with Jeremy until the tow truck arrived. It took them two hours to get there, and then another hour to tow the car. Then the next day we took the car to be repaired. It was finished the same day, which was amazing.
Our last day was spent at some book stores in Richmond and then at Metrotown one last time. Then that was it for Vancouver.
The next con will actually be in June - con staff confirmed the dates to be June 12 - 14. I will be booking time off as soon as my boss returns from vacation. Next year it'll be at the Vancouver Convention center which is easier to get to than UBC. I'm looking forward to it already.
Also! Our group (Jeremy, Daniel, Ty, Anika, Cody, and I) have decided to do a Chrono Trigger cosplay for next year. I'll be dressing up as Marle, Cody's going to do Chrono, Jeremy will do Magus, Ty will do Frog, Anika will do Lucca, and Daniel is undecided but we're trying to persuade him to do Ayla. We've already got another skit in mind, too. I hope it works out!
The last thing to mention... merchandise. I scored a Yaoi paddle (with a softcore side and a hardcore side), a Card Captor Sakura CD holder, a new Tsubasa Chronicles bag, a Cosmode USA volume, two volumes of Ghost Hunt manga, a bunch of DVD sets, and doujinshi. The doujins all ended up being het (god forbid!) and were from Card Captor Sakura, Escaflowne, Ghost Hunt, and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. The DVD sets were for School Rumble, Shrine of the Morning Mist, Magic User's Club, Magical Play, and Here is Greenwood. I also picked up the Honey and Clover live action movie.
Cody bought two wallscrolls (Yoko from Gurren Lagaan and the main girl from Rosario+Vampire), doujinshi (Gurren Lagaan, Suikoden V, and Tales of the Abyss), some books (a Supernatural dictionary and a Gurren Lagaan first half guide), several prints, and some DVD sets (all three seasons of Full Metal Panic, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and Godannar).
And... that was pretty much our AE trip. I already can't wait for next year. I'm starting on the costumes right away!
Other than that, it was a kickass trip.
First off, when we got there on Wednesday, we met up with Ty and Anika for some hanging out in the pool and then headed to the hotel bar and grill for dinner. Thursday, the four of us went to Metrotown and Chinatown for some shopping, and then Jeremy and his brother Daniel got in so we all went to UBC to pick up our pre-reg badges. Then we went for dinner at White Spot and back to the hotel.
Friday was the first day of the convention, but we didn't spend much time there. The vendors didn't open until Saturday, so the only thing we really wanted to do was watch (and record) Jeremy performing in the Anime Idol competition. Cody and I did get a lot of pictures taken of us in our costumes (and yes, I have pictures as well, and will post a link to them once I've taken them off the camera, resized them, and put them up on Facebook). Friday night was the dinner at Spaghetti Factory, which was excellent.
On Saturday we had the cosplay contest, and Jeremy had anoher Idol performance just before. Cody and I went down with him at 6am and managed to get in line for the vendors near the beginning. It was a long wait, but ended up being worth it, because the vendors were pretty awesome this year.
We didn't win anything for our cosplay skit, but that was okay. In the video, it kinda looked like absoloute chaos, but the truth is we practiced a lot! Basically, it was a dance-off where the MC got to hold up our specially made signs to indicate which dances he liked. You can watch it here if you're interested. Note: if you're curious about costumes, Jeremy was Shuichi from Gravitation (his shorts were too long!), Daniel was Naga from Slayers (yeah, I know), Anika was Princess Sara from Sonic the Hedgehog (I don't remember if anyone recognized her), Holly was Renji from Bleach, and Cody and I were the Prince and Lyon from Suikoden V.
The winners were excellent - the same guys who did the Prince of Persia skit last year won Judge's Choice again for their new Arc the Lad skit this year, and again, they were pretty darn good. This Avatar skit won Best Rookie Skit, and with good reason. It was amazing. But my favorite, hands down, was the Best of Show winner: a one-person short musical detailing Light Yagami's Death Note experience. It was freakin' hysterical. Watch it.
I wasn't happy with all the winners, though... I don't know if I mentioned it, but last year's Best Master Skit winner was this group who did a Phoenix Wright skit. It had courtroom props and everything and the dialogue was pre-recorded, but it was incredibly boring. I zoned out somewhere in the middle of it. I can understand why the judges liked it because it was well organized and planned out. However! They reused their costumes, props, and general idea in order to do this year's skit... all they added in that was really original was a little song and dance number with a one-person choreography. Personally, I think they should not have won the Best Master Skit award a second year. It was practically the same skit they did last year, and there were plenty of other good cosplay skits to honor. I'm wondering now if they'll pull the same thing next year and win AGAIN. Maybe they'll just do it every year from now on, now that they know how to pull off an easy win. After all, who needs originality when you can recycle last year's idea? I'm also pretty sure at least one of them is friends with the judges, so... yeah.
In any case, we had fun and enjoyed watching the skits, so I'd call it a successful day. Afterwards, we all took a dip in the pool and then went out for dinner and hung up in the rooms for a while.
Sunday was the last day of the con, so we took in Artist's Alley. Cody and I got our picture drawn anime-style, which turned out gorgeous (I'll have a picture in with my photos whenever I get them up). We went to Metrotown with Jeremy, Daniel, and Teresa (a friend who lives in Surrey) for a little while and then took in Jeremy's last Idol performance at the closing ceremonies. He ended up winning second place, which was awesome! Cody even got to go on stage during the performace (haha!), which was fun.
They showed the winners from the AMV contest as well - the Judge's Choice winner was One Guitar from Beck - I think (never seen it). The Audience Choice winner was The Harassment of Kyon from Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, which I thought was hysterical even though I prefer Kyon/Haruhi to Itsuki/Kyon. It got a great crowd reaction when it was played and made me want to order a box set of the series and rewatch it. Then after the ceremony ended, we visited the vendors one last time and left the con.
That was the night Jeremy's car broke down. It turned out to be the alternator, which had to be replaced. The car had to be towed all the way from UBC to our hotel in Coquitlam. Daniel and I went with Daniel's friend Carmen back to the hotel with all our stuff and Cody stayed with Jeremy until the tow truck arrived. It took them two hours to get there, and then another hour to tow the car. Then the next day we took the car to be repaired. It was finished the same day, which was amazing.
Our last day was spent at some book stores in Richmond and then at Metrotown one last time. Then that was it for Vancouver.
The next con will actually be in June - con staff confirmed the dates to be June 12 - 14. I will be booking time off as soon as my boss returns from vacation. Next year it'll be at the Vancouver Convention center which is easier to get to than UBC. I'm looking forward to it already.
Also! Our group (Jeremy, Daniel, Ty, Anika, Cody, and I) have decided to do a Chrono Trigger cosplay for next year. I'll be dressing up as Marle, Cody's going to do Chrono, Jeremy will do Magus, Ty will do Frog, Anika will do Lucca, and Daniel is undecided but we're trying to persuade him to do Ayla. We've already got another skit in mind, too. I hope it works out!
The last thing to mention... merchandise. I scored a Yaoi paddle (with a softcore side and a hardcore side), a Card Captor Sakura CD holder, a new Tsubasa Chronicles bag, a Cosmode USA volume, two volumes of Ghost Hunt manga, a bunch of DVD sets, and doujinshi. The doujins all ended up being het (god forbid!) and were from Card Captor Sakura, Escaflowne, Ghost Hunt, and Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne. The DVD sets were for School Rumble, Shrine of the Morning Mist, Magic User's Club, Magical Play, and Here is Greenwood. I also picked up the Honey and Clover live action movie.
Cody bought two wallscrolls (Yoko from Gurren Lagaan and the main girl from Rosario+Vampire), doujinshi (Gurren Lagaan, Suikoden V, and Tales of the Abyss), some books (a Supernatural dictionary and a Gurren Lagaan first half guide), several prints, and some DVD sets (all three seasons of Full Metal Panic, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and Godannar).
And... that was pretty much our AE trip. I already can't wait for next year. I'm starting on the costumes right away!