~ Animazement 2000 ~Wai Wai! Yes, I am getting my AZ2000 report up finally! The info is really long so I hope I don't bore you to death with it! ^_^. I had the best time this year. Much better than last year! Here is my day by day report.
Thursday:Tokio and I left Danville and headed to Raleigh. The first otaku we saw in Raleigh was Danny a.k.a. Genrou. We checked in and then went up to our nice, big double room. Why a double room, you ask? Because the third person who was supposed to go with us backed out at the last minute. It was nice to have a big room though, so we didn't' mind!
We unpacked, dyed our hair and then headed downstairs for pre-con fun. We had pre-registered, so we were able to grab our badges in less than five minutes! We got a nice envelope full of goodies from the con including free prizes for being repeat attendees, and the AZ 2000 schedule book and video room list.
After registering we looked around for Sushi We met her last year and knew she and Kiri were coming. We got to meet Mearl Dox and realized she was last year's button queen! We hung out with her until we were distracted by Watase's entrance! It was a special little thrill when Watase recognized us as the psycho fan girls who had entertained her the previous year. I had to give her a letter from my pal Mirna Kou Chou, which I did, and then Tokio and I had a picture made with her. We, of course, thanked her again for participating in the fan panel in 99, and she told us she was happy to have done so and would do her best to do so again this year.
Since there was a time limit per table, we had to move along and say goodbye to Watase for the evening. We walked around with Mearl Dox and then headed up for the room and got some yummy room service so we'd have energy. .
Friday:
Friday started early for us. We wanted to be in line for the Dealer's Room! We did our Cosplay. Tokio was dressed as a Shinsengumi member, and I was dressed as Nuriko! Pictures are in the pic section. We walked about and had lots of people stop us for pictures. Of course we stopped a lot of people to get their pictures too! We met lots of old friends and made new ones. Then it was time for the dealer's room…
We spent two hours scouring the dealer's room. I ended up with Tasuki earrings, four Tasuki cels, a Nuriko cel, lots of little items, the last volume of Fushigi Yuugi manga I needed, quite a few volumes of Ayashi No Ceres manga, a Marmalade Boy artbook, and tons more. The nice lady at Anime Kakumei had so many cute Nuriko items. She let us pick things we wanted and saved them for us until Saturday. Right before we went into the dealer's room, we FINALLY saw Sushi!!!! She was headed to the Watase panel. We were going for autographs that evening and the 9am panel the next day, so we hit the dealer's room Friday.
Later on Friday, we went to the autograph signing of Watase! I was lucky enough to get my Nuriko novel and Manga 16 signed by her, which was a pleasant surprise since Watase was only giving out single autographs to people! Both were signed on Nuriko's birthday!!! I asked Watase a question that seems to cause plenty of debate on some of the MLs as she signed my things. "Is Nuriko straight?" I asked. Her answer… "Yes." ^_^ During the signing, we invited Watase to the little birthday party that we were throwing for Nuriko! We went and set up for the party; we had a cake, balloons and even a book for people to sign their thoughts to Nuriko. You can see it here. (not up yet... gomen)
We were all just hanging out and talking and then Watase showed up!!!!!!!!!!! We cut the cake after she got there and gave her some. We forgot to bring plates, so we grabbed some con cups and put some cake in that. She had a piece of cake and then signed the birthday book and did a little drawing of herself in it!!!!!! Then!!!! She drew NURIKO!!!!!!!!!!!! She drew Nuriko for me in the book! I was crying at the table I was so happy! He is soooo cute! You can see him here. That was so nice of her. She is really nice and down to earth and very approachable. Her translator Su is the sweetest person you would ever want to meet. She even videotaped Watase drawing the Nuriko picture.
After she left, we all were genki! Everyone took pictures of my drawing. It is wild, about 15 flashes going off at once. Then I pointed out the fact that Watase had eaten from the cup and Sushi grabbed it, another girl grabbed the fork and then was chanced down the con room. Mearl Dox ended up with it and hid it so no one else could have it. Sushi made a special tag to go on the cup that said "This is the Sacred Watase Cup". We went and got a envelope from Shirley (great con registration person) to put the cup in and one for me to put the book in.
After that, we were all so genki! We went around gushing about Watase. We headed to Sushi's room, which was in the hotel next door, and dropped off the sacred cup. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and watched the Rurouni Kenshin OAV 1-4! Tokio was very, very, very, happy because she got to see Saitou. Sushi almost fell asleep during it considering it took her 20 hours in a car to get to the con! She headed off to bed and Tokio and I watched the rest.
Afterwards, we were standing at the panel room watching the end of the Karaoke and Sarah came up, we gushed about Duo Maxwell and she asked if my Nuriko doll had been bought at the con. I told her no and that I had gotten it last year and then we all started talking. One topic led to another and we wound up hanging out together for the rest of the evening. We even walked to Denny's to eat. That was about 2am. After that, we just walked back and forth for a long time just hanging out. We spotted Danny and I asked him when he was going to put on his Tasuki outfit and he promised he'd have it on the next day.
Watase walked past us around midnight when we were all crashed on the sofa. When she passed back by a few moments later, she said hello before going upstairs for the evening. Su came by and told us how much Watase enjoyed the birthday party. She was really pleased that we asked her to the party! ^_^ She told Su she had expected the cake and everything to be purple! ^_~ Su said that after signing all the autographs that Watase was really tired, so Su wasn't expecting her to be going to the party, but then Watase just stopped off in her room then announced "Let's head to the party!".
After that, we stayed up until past 4:30 and set the alarm for 6:45 so that we could get up, shower and dress in our outfits again before we went to the Watase panel.
Saturday:
It was set at 9am Saturday morning. Everyone was pretty much asleep by this point. It was nice to hear some of the questions, and we even got to see a few trailers for Ayashi No Ceres, which is coming out in Japan in April.
After that, we headed to the dealer's room and spent more money and then headed for Tokio's Kenshin Fan panel. The girls seemed to have more fun looking at the doujinshi than running the panel! ^_~ It was very genki. The panel was run by six really nice Kenshin fans……if Yuugi fans could only be that nice.
We went and got in line for Watase's autograph an hour and a half before time. Good thing too because the line got insanely long. Way back past the elevators. We weren't in line long after it opened and we started moving. I got my Ayashi No Ceres manga Volume 5 with Aki (^_^) on the front signed. So far he is my favorite character in the manga and I cannot wait to see him animated. LUCKY! He looked really good all bloody in the clip I saw.
After that, Sarah, Sushi, Tokio and I went up to the room to order Japanese from Kuki, but they weren't open for business for the day yet, so then we just hopped in my car and headed for Kanki. We ate some yummy Japanese, got some odd looks since we were still in costume and then headed back for the con.
Saturday was Cosplay night. Because of certain… reasons we didn't' really go to the cosplay, so we just wandered around during it, making up jingles and meeting new people. We were all pretty zoned by this point. Little to no sleep is not good. We packed up our things and then went back to the room at 11pm.
Sunday:
9am we were up and getting ready. After dressing, we went to the dealer's room for one more look. I ended up a Nuriko cel, a Chichiri, a Miaka (her back is turned ha ha), Rokou, and a Tasuki on his horse for Tokio! Then I went on a Weiß search and grabbed too many things. There were just way too many cute things in the dealer's room on that day and I spent the rest of my money in there. Out of the $1,400 I took to the con, I left the hotel with $17. Then there was my credit card… BUT Anime Asylum.com gave me a great deal on a Nuriko cel (yes episode 33) since I bought those other cels from him. I only spent $386 at his booth on cels! ^_~
The USAnime people were awesome. I got an extra ANC pencil board, and more things. After that it was time to leave the dealer's room. We walked about and found Sushi and then just sat down and hung out for a while. We headed for closing ceremonies and then told Watase goodbye and told Su to be sure to thank Watase for everything she had done for us during the con.
After that it was very sad because Sushi had to leave! =( We hugged on her about five minutes and then headed back to the other con area to see if my Nuriko picture had been done. I had commissioned a guy to draw a Nuriko pic for me, but he got so behind, he hadn't gotten to it yet. ;_;. We just decided to leave and then head home.
Random Comments from Tokio, Sushi, KireiSarah!
Tokio's comments:
Tokio's Random Con Comments: Mountain Dew is the nectar of the Gods! Food and sleep are optional. You can never have enough Tasuki cels. Watase is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Anime cons feel like home. I love meeting all the new people and getting first hand feedback on my website. It was really flattering to see people smile and get excited when they realized they "knew" who I was. Cosplay is very addicting. You can never gush over Saitou (or Nuriko for that matter) too much. Big ol' hugs to everyone I met! Kiss kiss. - All hail the Fast and Furious Flaming Onion…
Sushi's comments!:
Sushi's Con-ments(that amused /me/ x.x;): Mountain Dew and COKE! ;_;. Can't forget Coke. Next con it's gonna be like dr. pepper or something x_x;; You can never have enough Nuriko cels, thank god mommy didn't kill me for creditcarding it ?_?;; Watase kicks major butt! Dressing as ashitare for a con is kind of an uncool idea, but we laughed. Yaoi is yummy in my tummy. James looked good when i made him crossdress as crossdressing Nuri XD I wish i'd hear the feedback Kiri got about my website x_x. Hi hi to everyone. yeah, all like 80 Nurikos. Even that scary one o.o;;;;;;;
KireiSarah's Comments:
Sar's Random Comments (with a side order of shrimp): I have to start with four words: Hail the flaming onion. And then I can go on *_* grape juice at four in the morning is bad, ChibiUsa rape fics at any time are bad, but Taiki is not! Taiki sings very well! (someday, a wav of Tokio's Taiki impression MUST be put up!). And Watase is very pretty, but don't propose to her. And never get Irvine confused with Yohji. And Mountain Dew is the nectar of the gods, even if it shrinks your chest. And last: You have NOT LIVED until you've gone to Denny's at 2 AM with complete strangers dressed in anime costumes!!
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