This is the full video of Pamela Moss of Makenai band singing her winning AX Idol entry, “Kouga Ninpouchou” (the OP of Basilisk). I think she does a great job here. Check out more works by her band, Makenai, at their Myspace profile–they do some great covers of other anime theme songs as well.
Tag Archives: Anime Expo 2008
Anime Expo 2008 Video Diaries – Day 4
And that’s it for the video diaries of AX this year! Here we spend some time thanking AX for the massively improved job this year at the con feedback panel, and head back to the dealer room one more time. We also meet an unholy spawn of our panel…the Pantyman. You’ll see. :)
There are a couple of more videos left to go–a highlights reel of the panel, and our video of Pamela Moss performing her winning AX Idol song at the Masquerade. And then…it’s on to Comic Con next week!
Anime Expo 2008 Video Diary – Day 3
This day covers both the Shokotan concert, my successful signing with her, and the Masquerade. This year’s Masquerade was unexpectedly short, as many groups apparently dropped out at the last minute. However, both an independent group from Anime Souffle and the neighboring Orange County anime club scored high ranks–OC group actually won! It was quite a night, and I didn’t even come close to using all the footage I have from the Masquerade in this one.
Well, just one more day left to put together, plus a reduced version of the Panel and a performance from AX Idol 2008, Pamela Moss. Stay tuned!
Anime Expo 2008 Video Diary – Day 2
Finally! Day 2 of the Anime Diet video diaries is now up. For some really odd reason, the first 2 seconds with the Anime Diet Productions logo doesn’t show up; it happened both times I tried uploading it to Youtube. It seems to be working now.
In either case, you can expect to see some more interviews in this one–including with a pair of tentacle monsters–and some panel updates.
Day 3 should be coming along later today if all goes well!
Anime Diet Radio Episode 23 – AX 2008 Live Panel!
Anime Diet Radio Episode 23 - AX 2008 Live Panel (Flash) [ 38:50 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadUPDATE: All versions of the video are now up. Again, Flash is instantly viewable.
More like Anime Diet Video is what it is! This, officially our 23rd episode, is the video of the panel we held at Anime Expo, Friday, July 4–uncut with all the boring parts intact. :) I will be soon putting up a Youtube-sized highlights reel. But for those of you who want to see everything you missed, here it is!
We had an awesome time together, though it was really difficult and we faced obstacles in coordinating and putting this together on time; there were massive technical difficulties even 5 minutes before the panel started. For one thing, the panel before us refused to leave until 6:45, giving us little time to set up. If you were waiting outside at 7PM for the doors to open–that’s why. We also found out only when we got there that there is no audio feed available from the computer to the speakers; we had to literally put a microphone to my laptop speakers to get Ray audible.
I’ll also be the first to admit that some of my routines didn’t quite work. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare everything, and the Powerpoint didn’t work as well as I had hoped because the show order was shuffled at the last minute. The video above includes the most relevant slides, however, so you can get an idea of what, roughly, the slides were supposed to do.
Enjoy, everyone!
AX 2008 Video Diary, Day 1
Finally. This is divided into two parts, to make it fit for Youtube. This is part 1:
And this is part 2:
One thing I really noticed is that not being in really long lines for a good part of the day meant that I didn’t get to interview as many strangers: on this day, at least, I mostly interviewed people that I knew already. Don’t worry, though–there are many more cosplayer interviews on future days. And the full panel video is coming very soon–maybe as soon as tomorrow!
AX 2008 Press Junket Interview: Shokotan
The interview you’ve been waiting for–our press junket interview with Shokotan. It was actually a group interview, as Shokotan started doing junket interviews a bit late and, to fit everyone in, they had to put 2-3 press organizations together. This video only includes our questions; there were also the folks from Japanator, as well as a Japanese press organization that asked questions in untranslated Japanese.
I think we had some rather revealing questions–you’ll find out what kind of man Shokotan likes. :) The reference to the “Private Lesson” video is here. It’s very funny, I think most of you will like it.
Day 1 of the Video Diary is up next.
AX 2008 Press Junket Interview: Akemi Takada
This is our interview with Akemi Takada, the old-school character designer of such 80’s classics like Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku, and Urusei Yatsura. She does briefly address why she hasn’t done any more Rumiko Takahashi works since then, and her plans to do some CGI work. This interview was conducted on press junket day, July 2. I was a bit more relaxed in this one. :)
AX 2008 Press Junket Interview: Masahiro Ando
Here’s our interview with Masahiro Ando, a animation director key animator on Jin-Roh, storyboard artist for Full Metal Alchemist, and the new director of the feature film Sword of the Stranger. This was held on the day of the press junket, July 2. We got this interview literally two minutes after we walked into the press waiting room, and I was a bit nervous and talky, as a result :) Plus, you can only see me in the reflection in the mirror! Subsequent interviews have better camera angles.
AX Idol Winner Exclusive Interview
Jeremy got an exclusive interview with the winner of this year’s AX Idol, Pamela Moss! Pamela is a singer in Makenai, a Japanese cover band out of Burbank. They are members of Anime Souffle, the anime club Jeremy and I belong to, and we are excited that someone who we know would win such a high accolade. Jeremy talked to her immediately after the show on Friday night.
The video quality is a bit rougher as it was shot on a digital still camera, and in portrait mode–the video had to be flipped to become right-side up, hence the black bars on the sides. Enjoy, nevertheless!
AX 2008: Farewell
Well, the con’s over, we’re home, and things will slowly start getting back to the usual mix of reviews, commentary, and podcasts. After we get all our video up, of course!
If you saw last year’s video diaries, you might remember my parting message was “May AX 2008 be sweeter.” It was. It was much, much better run than last year: lines no more than an hour. (Even registration lines.) Events starting on time. Staff who worked double overtime, like the ones at our panel, to make sure everything worked. Was it perfect? No–we could have used more advance info about photography and video rules for various events, rather than last minute changes announced in an ad-hoc way. But compared to last year, AX have redeemed themselves in my eyes. And that’s not just because I got press and managed to get most of the interviews and autographs that I wanted. :) They really seemed to have turned a corner, and my talking to lots of people have confirmed that impression. They realized it was do or die.
It’s thus very pleasing that they have just announced that they will be returning to the LA Convention Center next year. I couldn’t be happier–the venue was wonderful, providing enough space for everyone (I rarely felt all that crowded), with helpful and courteous staff that didn’t jerk around the AX volunteers like Long Beach did, and while there was some skimpiness with regard to audio for our panel, the volunteers totally came through for us. Plus, there was good accessibility with hotel shuttles and places to eat nearby. It was reachable by LA’s very limited Metro, of all things. And I only lived 30 minutes away or so. :)
My hopes for next year include even bigger guests that I can interview :), and maybe by then I’ll have better camera equipment too. But in either case, it was a great con, and we’ve got some great videos and coverage lined up for you, including a number of exclusive talks with not only the guests of honor but also the winners of AX Idol and the Masquerade. So stay tuned, as coverage isn’t quite over yet–there’s tons to get through still. I simply was too tired most evenings to put together videos like I did last year almost on the fly. But they will be coming out for all of you to enjoy.
Once again, thanks to the AX staff for a great show, and thanks to everyone out there who came out to our panel. It was awesome, and you’ll see why soon!
Shokotan Endorses Anime Diet
…or at least I got her to hold up a sign saying so at the autograph session! (I also got signatures from the president of Studio Bones, one of my favorite studios.)
Her concert was awesome–the woman can actually sing and has real stage presence–and those costumes, man. Especially when she came out as Rei and sang “Cruel Angel’s Thesis.” This may sound like heresy, but I think she also did a version of “Hare Hare Yukai” at least as good as Hirano Aya at AX last year.
More reports forthcoming in the next few days, as I finish editing the piles of video I’ve collected. Day 1’s video diary is almost complete, with the panel from Day 2 forthcoming and masquerade news on Day 3. Tomorrow is the last day, and is going to mostly devoted to the dealer room.
AX seems so much better run this year than last, and I may actually go to the convention feedback session tomorrow morning…to praise them. Never thought that’d happen, did you?
