"We went from 'Oh' to 'Oh shit!' before finally reaching 'Okay.'"

Saturday Gallery

As Michael napped during the hour long drive to San Francisco on January 30th and a random track from the Dance Dance Revolution 5th Mix played, I took stock of my personal stash for Anime Overdose Animation on Display (AOD). With my brother, Little Sister #3 Trina, and her charge Angie rooming with me, it became my responsibility to provide mild snack & drink rations for them while limiting the amount of painkillers, allergy medication, alcohol, and stress I would inevitably ingest during the weekend. Nothing ruins a convention experience quicker than having to explain to the little ones why they saw me bury my head between the breasts of a bikini-clad woman before breaking a bottle of Jack Daniels over her boyfriend's head after mistaking him for my high school Calculus teacher. Most of the magical moments tend to lose their luster once you reveal the how and the why.

We arrived at the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco's Japan Town. After parking the car and grabbing initial equipment, we hurried up and waited for the slow elevators to bring us to the convention. Replacing my hip pouch with a stylish and easily removable satchel during SacAnime really helped me carry more gear while allowing me to not have a suspicious bulge during cosplay photos. At early 9AM, the crowd of attendees was getting restless waiting for 10AM to hit so they could get their badges and hit Opening Ceremonies that was also going on at 10AM. Taking a detour to Con-Ops, we managed to procure our Press badges after eventually locating Dom--an Asian male with dark hair and wearing glasses who is not to be confused with the other Asian males with dark hair and wearing glasses. I will certainly have to get back to him on the reviewing gig... preferably when I can fit the schedule.

Attempts to join in Opening Ceremonies were quickly derailed upon seeing Team Misaki siblings Kei and Yomi. We left the hotel to visit the vacant mall for potential shooting locations and basic catching up since I have not seen Kei since last year and Yomi since SacAnime. Vivi as Hunny + a cake window display equaled a shot too tempting to pass up.

I dismissed Michael so he could explore Japan Town for the first time while I waited for the rest of the hotel group consisting of Adam, Ryu, Trina, and miscellaneous underlings who happened to follow them. Once Ryu finally arrived, he checked into the hotel only to notice that his check in date was yesterday.

Oh.

And the rooms are sold out at this hotel.

Oh shit.

After an obligatory round of the blame game, I started going down the list for alternative rooms. Since AOD was a small convention full of friends, SOMEONE had to have spare room. My minimum was ensuring the HQ for me and Michael and perhaps adding Trina and Angie. After all, family safety takes priority. But before I could hear any alternative offers, Ryu told us that we miraculously procured a room at the same rate.

Okay.

We grabbed our respective gear and headed to the room. The required keycard to reach the floor the room was on was a good sign. Lo and behold, the room turned out to be a suite. It was a suite with only one king sized bed, but there was enough room for our odd numbers. The bathroom slotted screen left things a little awkward but a towel draped over a slot covered things up. From the window of the room, we could see the garden and koi pond below. That vantage point allowed us to watch over photo shoots and even a filmed interview with Carl Macek, Tommy Yune, and Tony Oliver regarding the 25th anniversary of Robotech. Whatever your opinion of Robotech is, you have to admit that series helped bring exposure to the Japanese cartoons the attendees grew to love and attend conventions dedicated to the art. I availed the BBQ chips, cookies, bottled water, European chocolate bars, and fruit rations to the room. If worse came to worst, the instant ramen in the trunk would serve as lunch and/or dinner. The suite would serve as HQ for ourselves as well as a changing room for Sharon and a resting point for Little Sister #1 Hanako & her entourage. Between Sharon's leathery Mello (Death Note) costume that was fun to feel the material and the parade of jailbait schoolgirls gracing the room and having to give Trina massages to relieve her of the stress present in the room, I almost wanted to stay in the suite and report the activities inside. One disadvantage of having so many people was having visitors pop in when I try to pop out of my clothes. Just when I was enjoying some personal naked time, a knock on the door cuts off my shower time.

AOD featured plenty of fascinating informative panels and guests with amazing tales to tell. The only problem was that AOD lacked the time to spread out these panels. All of the headlining panels with guests were stacked hour after hour. The chairs in the room were comfortable. But sitting through a marathon of consecutive panels meant sacrificing other convention activities like photographing cosplayers, browsing through Artist Alley or the Dealers Room, and hanging out with friends. While BlazBlue and Bleach had many fans, I was not one of them either due to lacking fighting game playing ability or lacking steady ties with Viz Media to get the anime. So I opted to shoot cosplayers while trying to overcome my nervousness before my panel.

As the more loyal readers of Traveling Valentine know, I am an anime critic for The Escapist, an online magazine primarily dedicated to gaming that decided to cater to its readers who like anime by letting talented writers like me review some anime titles. Anime fans form opinions about their beloved titles. Some people have the writing skills, confidence, and luck to form opinions and get them published on a magazine. Against my better judgment and maybe under the influence of a Long Island iced tea, I requested to host a panel about the work and AOD approved. I was worried that people would assume all I did for the work was watching anime and making snarky comments about it. Well, that IS what I do, but I wanted to see how else I could fill the hour. With a combination of nerves and allergy medication to tackle the sneezing from yesterday, I hoped not to accidentally start tripping and mistake the audience for Nazis.

My 3PM panel took place at the same time as the 25th anniversary of Robotech in the main events room. I figured attendees would be more enthralled at that panel than mine so I would get a smaller crowd. I did not mind a small crowd since there would be less people to see me flub my presentation. Then again, it also meant I would miss that panel, which would have been very educational and potentially profitable. I also learned Guests of Honor were autographing during the 3PM hour so I expected people to flock over there instead of my panel. So it was a big surprise to see the panel room fill up with my friends and people I never met before. Aside from the display board, program guide, and my occasional Twitter & word of mouth to friends, I really made no marketing effort like posters or announcement of free DVDs to entice anyone.

After some technical ineptitude delayed my Powerpoint display, the panel went off rather well even if I missed a few marks I intended to cover. I was glad that the program bag that each attendee received featured a promo for RIN: Daughters of Mnemosyne, which I passed around for people to see my work. Judging from the reaction, I may just do this panel at future conventions. Who knows, I might even have better DVDs to give away that have nothing to do with Dragon Ball. Check the video to see my first venture into the lecture circuit. I will have to remember to use a microphone and have Michael film me from a closer vantage point. I then had a quick meet and greet with Green Tea Graffiti to see how cool they were and what plans they had.

While I missed out on the guests and their panels, AOD threw a Meet the Guests party across the street over at New People--I assumed it was a nouveau bookstore/art store/concession store for the cinema. I rendezvoused with Tidus, Claudine, Richie, and others to stand in line for the party. The party handed us gift bags, drinks, and Vietnamese snacks for us while the DJ spinned some dance tracks. The guests mingled among the fans while signing autographs. Having met Tony Oliver earlier as Lupin but without my DVD, I was glad to take his advice and come to the party with the DVD in hand for him to sign. Watching all the fans of Carl Macek and Robotech approach the legend who helped spearhead an interest in anime over 20 years ago was simply amazing and the most I could say to him was "Hi." As the techno beats vibrated through New People and I downed a couple Red Bull shots with Honest Tea chasers, I suddenly realized I had to visit the Green Tea Graffiti Korean pop panel before hitting Masquerade.