The AX Report 2003

by Xoth, Master of Black Magic

Miscellaneous: Blah Blah Blah

    Time once again for the Miscellaneous section, for those of you who just can’t get enough of the rambling drivel that is my writing.  Or for those of you looking for photos that capture the convention experience perfectly.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any of those, so you’ll have to settle for my photos.  Happily I photographed a lot more cosplayers than in the past, but unfortunately that meant I took a lot fewer photos of what the group actually did.  I was kinda hoping the others would be able to contribute some photos (and maybe even *gasp* some written accounts of their AX experiences), but I guess I didn’t hint strongly enough.  Oh well.  Anyways, below you’ll find my Best and Worst of AX ’03 opinions feature and my AX ’03 photojournal.

Best and Worst of AX ’03
 

Favorite game: Super Monkey Ball
    Oh my heck, it’s not Dance Dance Revolution!  Yeah, we actually didn’t do much in-room DDRing (aside from the game Bahamut had on his computer).  Instead we fooled around with monkey balls.  In the game Super Monkey Ball, that is.  To explain, the stars of this video game are monkeys.  They are placed in plastic balls, which the players operate in a variety of ways and a variety of competitions.  For example, there’s a bowling game, a game where they launch themselves off a ski-jump type ramp and aim for landing platforms floating on water, and so on.  Anyways, the others really got into this game, particularly in 4-way competition.
 

Biggest disappointment: Missing everything other than the main events
    You might think I would be pleased to have gotten into three of the primary events at AX ’03 (AX Idol, AMV Contest, and Masquerade).  Well, actually I suppose I am.  However, I also missed a number of other events, primarily film and video screenings.  The main reasons I missed out: spending time with my sister, not wanting to ditch the rest of the group, and simply being too tired/lazy to go.  Though I don’t really begrudge any of these reasons (other than the last one), I still wish I had been able to make it to one lousy SCREENING.  Believe it or not, I actually printed out the live programming and film/video schedules off the AX website and planned out what I would be going to at any given time.  Yes, I’m that anal, and thus all the more frustrated that all my scheduling efforts came to naught.
 

Biggest accomplishment: Not missing any of the main events
    Yet that said, I have to say that being able to attend AX Idol, the AMV Contest, and the Masquerade, as well as opening and closing ceremonies this year was quite an accomplishment.  Heck, just getting into the events is often a feat in itself.  Dragging oneself out of bed in the morning to attend opening ceremonies at 10am on Day One isn’t easy (well, not for me, anyways).  The lines are always long for AMVs and the Masquerade, and getting tickets can be a nightmare.  Although AMV/Masquerade ticket vouchers were given out to attendees, they were good for only one ticket to one event or the other.  But in spite of such obstacles, I made it into the Main Events hall each time.  And IMO all of the events were worth whatever hassle I put up with (bitchy Masquerade audience aside), which made getting into them feel even more gratifying.
 

Best event: AMV Contest
    What more can I say, after devoting a whole page to an extensive review of the 2003 Anime Music Video Contest?  Well, in summary, it kicked unholy amounts of ASS.  A few videos were misses, but most were at least decent.  And the best ones were excellent, with a capital X, L, and ENT.  Of course, the execution of the contest wasn’t flawless.  Technical difficulties abounded, from a mix up on the voting cards (or in the arrangement of videos) to a light above one of the four screens that just wouldn’t dim.  However, it wasn’t enough to distract me from the AMVs themselves.  While the other events were all enjoyable in their own ways, once again I found the AMV contest to be the most entertaining.  When I think about it, it all comes down to what I most wanted to get out of the convention.  Most everyone at a con wants to shop, and many want to cosplay.  There are also those who want to game, those who want to karaoke, and those who want to see the guests of honor.  Me?  I want to watch anime.  Though I didn’t catch any screenings, the AMV contest was the next best thing.
 

Best music video: varies
    If I have one complaint about the music videos from AX ’03, it’s that I can’t choose one clear favorite.  When it came time to vote for each category, I found myself struggling over two or three choices every time.  Though in each case I did eventually decide on one, I can’t say for sure that I would have voted the same way every time.  And as for voting for the best out of all of them, forget it.  Choosing one favorite from each category was hard enough; comparing videos from different categories against each other to determine a winner was utterly ludicrous.  Of course, I’ve always been unsure of my own opinions, so surely other people would have an easier time choosing favorites than I did.  So I say to you, seek out the videos online (again, many can be found at animemusicvideos.org) if you don’t already have them and choose your own favorite.  If you want summaries of the videos and don’t mind slogging through miles of verbiage, you can check out my AMV contest review (linked one last time for those utterly oblivious readers).
 

Best Masquerade skit: The Spirited Away group
    With apologies to Tenshi’s Sailor Moon troupe, the Spirited Away group at this year’s Masquerade was, in my opinion, the best of all the acts.  Now if you’ve read my earlier reports, you undoubtedly know about my Miyazaki bias.  Still, this group was clearly one of the best of the night.  For one thing, they had nearly the whole “cast” of the movie represented, even one of the frog attendants.  The skit seemed to be a rundown of the film, sans dialogue but with the main theme playing in the background.  The costumes were, naturally, accurate and in some cases utterly amazing, i.e. Yubaba with a giant foam head.  And the puppet of Haku in dragon form, mentioned in my Masquerade summary, was a stroke of genius.  While this certainly wasn’t the only noteworthy group at the Masquerade, it was, for me at least, the most memorable.
 

Most valuable person: SadSiren
    This year’s FFML/AX MVP was chosen not so much because of what she brought to our group as what she accomplished during the con.  Siren was not only the sole cosplayer in our group, dressing as Excel in her construction worker/traffic director uniform, she also competed in the inaugural AX Idol and the karaoke contest, where she made runner-up.  I believe she also attended the Koushi Rikudo focus panel on Day Three.  And finally, she did help the group (or at least me and Lorinan) by bringing a car.  Not having to pay for the rides to and from LAX makes the cheap bastard in me all warm and fuzzy.  But Siren brought more to AX ’03 than just a ride; she also brought an eagerness to make the most of her con experience.  At least, that’s what I think.
 

Best article: This one, from the Orange County Register, July 4, 2003
    Every Anime Expo, I stumble across some random thing that gives me pause: the urinal mats in 1999; the Disneyland memo in 2000; and the “fans” of that fucking chair at the Masquerade in 2001.  AX ’03 was no exception, as the morning of Day Two brought more than just the hotel maintenance guy to our door.  We also got a complimentary copy of the Orange County Register, which no one seemed too interested in.  Well, while they were busy identifying video game tunes, I decided to take a look, and while leafing through the newsprint, what did I happen to find but this gem, complete with a photograph of those wacky cosplayers in the dealer room.  For even a not-quite-hardcore fan like myself, the article is absolutely priceless, from the final line of the caption to the obligatory blurbs about mature themes and Spirited Away’s Oscar, from the mentions of Sailor Moon and Akira to the phrase “anime celebrities.”

AX 2003 Photojournal
 
 

A sign of things to come: FFX-2 cosplayers waiting for opening ceremonies on Day 1.	The guests of honor at opening ceremonies, perhaps wondering what they’d gotten themselves into.	If you think this line for the dealer room on Day 1 was bad, you should have seen the lines for the bathrooms.
Following her film’s success at the Oscars, Chihiro came to AX to lobby for it in the SPJA industry awards.	She was accompanied by Ashitaka, just in case the SPJA officials weren’t sufficiently— persuaded.	More FFX-2 cosplayers, probably wondering when the parade of photographers will end.
One can only take so many provocatively dressed game characters before one returns to the old standby: Japanese schoolgirls.	...Okay, so maybe I wasn’t quite done with the provocatively dressed game girls.	Don’t know if these guys were cosplaying or what, but man, were they jammin’.
I wonder how many people screamed “ALLEZ CUISINE!” at these kids.	This white mage didn’t get the memo that skin- baring costumes were in this year; fortunately, she doesn’t care about fashion trends, and frankly, neither do I.	Apparently I tried to compensate for my lack of Final Fantasy experience by photographing every FF costumer I could (or else I just like to photograph female cosplayers).
Sadly, probably the best “group” photo I took.  L-R: SadSiren in Excel costume, part of Lorinan’s head and back behind her, then Deeblite, Bahamut X, and Austin.	Tenshi (right) as Sailor Jupiter and...friend as Sailor Mercury, taking a time out from costume sewing to pose for the camera.	A better picture of Siren’s Excel cosplay.
I believe this lady was the Asuka in the Masquerade— not to mention the one pictured in the article.	Zelda and Link, spending some time and many a hard-earned rupee in the dealers’ room.	I may not be a big fan of Ah My Goddess, but I know cuteness when I see it.
Between rounds of Monkey Ball, we actually found time to eat.  Pictured: Bahamut, Scudguy, and Siren.	Haku flew in just in time to catch the Masquerade, and boy, were his—ab muscles tired.	Yeah, I was also looking to photograph Miyazaki cosplayers.  Goooo fanboy.

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Disclaimer: This account contains a lot that could offend people.  Sexual content.  Drug use.  Profanity.  Violence.  Celebrations of Japanese culture.  Non-white people.  Crudely drawn pictures.  Sentence fragments.  If anything in this account offends you, find another web page. If your kid reads something that offends you, tell them to find another web page.  If you’re really ticked off by it, then e-mail “cosmic_chicken” at “excite” dot “com” so I can ignore you.  Certain characters, events, etc. referred to and depicted in this account come from Japanese animated films and television series and are copyrighted by their respective companies.  The article comes from the Jul. 4, 2003, edition of the Orange County Register.