…And in the center of the front of the front, too!
Of course, I had the press badge on. But if you thought I pushed/forced/yelled my way to the front, you would be dead wrong, man. It’s a strange story, so read on if you want…
I can’t even remember what was beforehand. But it was Saturday, I believe, and we already had covered some activities, like the Baka Test cosplay in the morning. We ate lunch, took some pics of some Japanese fans of Sophia (these 3 girls had yukata on, cute), and I guess we stayed at the press lounge?
We covered the Horie Yui/Kitamura Eri’s press panel afterwards.
Anyway, I remembered Jeremy (not our Big J, but another Jeremy from Anime Souffle) telling me that the concerts at the MangaGamer booth began at 1 and 4, I headed to the place as soon as I remembered, figuring that I would end up somewhere in the back of the crowd. Knowing that Kuribayashi Minami, who sang the OP for Mai Hime, would be there, I was pretty excited. No, she wasn’t Horie Yui or May’N, but I liked her a lot more than either of the aforementioned artists (yes, it’s blasphemy and no, you can’t do a thing about it). Once again, I really like Minami-san because of her work in various anime theme songs.
I said hi to Fernando at the door of the exhibit hall and then went inside. Remembering that the MangaGamer booth was in the front, I got there immediately. Actually, there was no need to remember where it was.
There were couple of guys standing in the front of the stage already. But there weren’t a lot of people behind them or around them.
Being truly impressed by their passion for the bishojo games and the singers for those games, I just said hi to them and told them straight up: “Man, you guys are real fans. You’re awesome!” Indeed, that’s how I felt. I’ve never played these games and I didn’t know any of these singers, except for Minami of course.
I whipped out my camera, and just kind of told them that I’d be taking footage. I guess both of them looked at my press badge. But really, they were just a couple of real fans that wanted to share the space with anyone who cared. One guy behind asked me if he could squeeze in. I said, “please.” Then I told them I guess I’ll stand sideways while taking the footage.
By the way, because we were told that we couldn’t release the footage, we didn’t. But you bet your ass that I’ve been watching the super close front center front row footage daily (bwa ha ha ha ha ha)!
So how did I end up standing straight up (most of them time except when people did a fighter jet takeoff light stick lift up motion – don’t ask) and right in the front center EXACTLY?
Well, I started taking footage and somehow, those two guys who were really considerate just let me stand in between them! You know, I think fans know fans. They probably knew that I was a fan of some sort, otherwise, I wouldn’t be there in the first place.
So, I kind of nudged a little and got to that space. What can I say? It was meant for me; it was a blessing; it was something special.
And yes, Minami Kuribayashi’s segment was abso-fucking-lutely great. Especially when one was front and center. Oh right,
I was. XD
\o/ So you’re that fun guy who was taping at the concert. Glad you were (positively) impressed with the glowsticking team #denpa and the momoists were doing. (I happened to be the guy right behind you at that particular session)
Thanks for the positive comment! Yeah, I had a great deal of fun and I was genuinely impressed by everyone there!
I watched the concerts too. Good times.
Cool. I too enjoyed it a ton.