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 Nabeshin + Aoi Kidokoro Press Conference (Part 2 of 2) [35:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (287)

See part 1, an exclusive time with Nabeshin, here.

Sorry for the delays on this video! There were some technical issues. Here’s the second half of the interview, which is actually a press conference with both Nabeshin and a manga artist-turned-idol named Aoi Kidokoro. The banter between the two of them is infectious and occasionally suggestive. :)

For time’s sake, in this press conference I’ve only included questions that were asked by our representatives. There will be a downloadable version sometime tonight, I hope.

Enjoy!

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 Exclusive Nabeshin Interview, Part 1 [26:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (285)

UPDATE: downloadable version now available.

And now, the cream of the crop of our activities at Pacific Media Expo 2009: an exclusive interview with the famous anime director, Nabeshin! He’s directed such gems as Excel Saga, The Wallflower, Puni Puni Poemi, and many other wacked out anime–and his be-afroed persona has been included in countless other anime. Nabeshin is a naturally hilarious fellow and here he shares his thoughts about his afro, possible merchandising for his likeness, and what future plans he might have.

This is only part 1, too! At PMX, Nabeshin was paired up with a very cute mangaka/idol singer named Aoi Kidokoro, and our interview with both of them together will go up tomorrow as part 2. This interview is with Nabeshin alone.

This is all the cosplay you people are gonna get!

Remember that Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya event I was at a couple of weeks ago? Well, apparently the TV Tokyo/Cine-tsu segment that was being filmed for it has now gone live, and the friendly folks at 2ch (via Cartoon Leap) have posted some screenshots…which, uh, include yours truly up there. It’s kinda weird to see yourself surrounded by Japanese text, which I can’t read, but flattering too. I guess it’s official now: to the otaku watching the segment, I am the gaijin fanboy in the Kyon suit.

Some more pics here:

In other news: I should probably lose weight.

UPDATE: guess what? There’s video after all! My bit, which is very short, is around 3:01. You can also see me, iPhone in hand on the far right, around 3:16 or so.

Thanks again to ultimatemegax from Cartoon Leap for bringing these photos, and the video, to my attention.

Ai Cherie and Yoshi on stage.

Here’s Hydra’s review of the multi-artist concert that took place on the first night of PMX 2009. Pictures are by our photographer, cat, except for the UchuSentai NOIZ pics, which are by Valerie Durham and JRockRevolution.com. –Mike

The concert began with Ai Cherie, who brought her angelic voice to American audiences for the first time.  Ai Cherie, born in Los Angeles, had just recorded her debut single “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss Ai Cherie,” which was scheduled for Japanese release in December.

The concert from Ai Cherie was unplugged, with guitar performed by the guitarist Yoshi from the local band Cherry.  Ai Cherie sang 3 songs for the audience, each performed with passion and power.

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Our guest correspondent Hydra was at PMX 2009 late last year. A J-Rock specialist, she was able to get an interview of Uchu Sentai NOIZ alongside the folks with JRockRevolution. Hydra also translated this interview from Japanese.

Cat, a photographer, took our photos of the band. All photos that don’t have our watermark on it are courtesy of Valerie Durham and JRockRevolution.com.

More long-delayed PMX coverage to come over the next few days! Watch for some exclusive video footage too. —Mike

Anime Diet is honored and proud to be able to have the chance interviewing one of our biggest guest from Japan, representing the Jrock and visual-kei “Uchu Sentai NOIZ”. From their press release: “UchuSentai NOIZ is the cutting edge of Japanese rock. They have toured extensively throughout Japan and released numerous albums and maxi-singles, DVDs, videos, and books. UchuSentai NOIZ’s visual kei style inspires their fans to cosplay and emulate the band’s costumes.”

We were able to present in front of the band, bringing you some exclusive information to you.

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You’ve probably seen my report, but we also said that we wanted to offer some pics and footage from others at the Anime Galaxy Haruhi event–and lo and behold, we got some! Thanks to Minh Phan for the photos in the gallery above (his original Flickr gallery is here).

The experience was surprisingly brief, but intense. Anime Galaxy is a relatively enclosed space compared to a convention hall, and the number of fans gathered on a smaller scale–though by the near-end of the event it had gotten quite full. The TV crew took up quite a bit of room for one, and there was a coterie of sign-wielders with such fan-friendly slogans as YUKI IS A SLUT and ENDLESS EIGHT SHOULD BE ENDLESS. (You can see them in the middle of my live report, when I interview them.)

Our first experiment with live streaming reporting was a great learning experience. I found that the most difficult thing about it, aside from the various sound problems and the shakiness of the video (exacerbated by the staggered quality of the stream), was the dead time–the filling in of space when there were no interviews, nothing much going on. In our usual video diaries, those would of course be edited out, but there is no editing in a live stream–I had to figure out sometimes things to say in between or simply let it run. It’s a style of reporting that I still need to become accustomed to.

Still, I’m glad we were able to get much of the event down on record of some sort, and give a glimpse of what is possible with a humble iPhone and an Internet connection. This was a worthy first try. If you want some clearer video, Kuronekopi also took some footage of a couple of interviews–including one with the “Man-Haruhi” dressed in the bunny girl outfit. He also caught the interview with the two lovely Mikuru and Haruhi concert cosplayers that happened after I shut off my video. See if you can catch me in the background of the Man-Haruhi interview video!

This was a little experiment in live streaming, courtesy of my iPhone and Ustream! It was recorded today, on Jan 25th, starting around 5:15 PM. You can see a lot of the folks TV Tokyo interviewed, including myself–however, yes, the audio was knocked out during my interview for some reason. (It was restored later.) Fortunately, I should be able to recover the audio once I get a copy of the official DVD…basically, they interviewed me and Justin, the guy standing next to me, about why we liked Haruhi, when we heard about it, etc. I described its originality and the fearlessness of Haruhi’s character as being appealing points–and how I could relate to Kyon since I work with such crazy dreamers here on Anime Diet :)

Thanks for everyone who watched us live–and now you can see it for posterity!

Editor’s note: Pictures from the Event by Mike

Courtesy of Mike Huang

Those of you in the LA area might be aware that a TV-Tokyo program is going to interview Haruhi fans at Anime Jungle on Monday, January 25, at 5:30 PM PST! Details from Anime News Network:

Cine-tsu, a Japanese television series for filmgoers, wants to film Haruhi Suzumiya fans in Los Angeles next Monday for an upcoming episode about The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi no Shōshitsu) film.

The TV Tokyo program will film its segment at the Anime Jungle store in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, and the store invites fans to come — cosplayers in particular, and Haruhi cosplayers especially. The event will start at 5:30 p.m.

Now, I will almost certainly be there. Dressed as Kyon, no less. Other staff may join too. However, we’re going to try something a little different here…we also want you, our readers, listeners, and viewers, to send us links to your own footage and photos when it’s over! When you do, we’ll feature it in the follow-up post. That’s right: we’re crowdsourcing for great justice and we want to show off your work alongside ours. We’d like to get all of you involved and active in the coverage of this event, and in the future we may try this for cons, too.

So–does anyone plan to be there? Leave a comment here if you do, and let’s try to meet up. And when you have stuff you’d like to share, just post links here too, or email them to editor@animediet.net and we’ll feature them!

This is the second part of guest correspondent Quell’s account of going to an Ikkicon cosplay photo shoot. See part 1 here.

Fellow cosplayers also include the BLU spy, a short, stocky girl with a fake RED engineer mask; the BLU engineer, a soft-spoken burly man in his 20s and the RED engineer, a ranine old woman; the BLU sniper, a large, jolly woman from Australia, and the BLU Medic, a sweet, somewhat ageless lady from New Jersey with a very well-made costume. This was her first cosplay, and all of the cosplays were very well done. Continue Reading »

Ever wondered what a convention looks and feels like to someone who isn’t as familiar with the scene? Here’s our guest correspondent, Quell, who went to Ikkicon in Austin, TX for the first time and reported on her experience at a cosplay photoshoot.

This is the first of two parts. Quell’s blog is here.  –Mike

I am sitting in the Hilton hotel downtown in the city I live in, Austin, Texas. It is approximately seven-thirty on a Thursday night, the night before Friday night, which would be January 1st, the New Year. I am surrounded by a scene whose photo could be entered into literary textbooks under the phrase “juxtaposition for contrast.”

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