NYAF 2009 Wrap (Once Again, with Feeling)
[Shorter version/prequel here. This post is like, 10 blog posts squished together.]
As much as I care about anime conventions, I don’t attend very many of them. The thing is, they are not exactly the most enjoyable things in terms of time and effort. I see them as opportunities–a chance for fans, once they put in the effort and time and energy and HEART and whatever that forms Captain Planet, to make memories and things you tell your grandkids about. It’s a different question if those kind of fans will end up with grandchildren, but that’s beside the point. The point is, again, it’s tiresome business. It’s not a cruise vacation. It’s about working to make your desires come true.
On the flip side, it’s also a business. What comes to my mind is people like Funimation’s Sheehan, who supposedly attended 6 cons in the past 5 weeks or something as a rep. Regardless if it is for work or for pleasure, that is just madness. Anyways, it’s an opportunity to do business, make some money (especially for dealers and artist alley types), or whatever agenda that you may have and whatever you want to achieve.
In short, there’s a technical, skill aspect and an art to going to cons. Let’s take a look at what happened this year at New York Anime Fest.
NYAF 2009 Wrap Bullet Style
Tired and fatigued, but fleeting memories need made permanent.
- I can probably speak a lot more about the VIP system again, now that I have been one. But it’s definitely a mixed bag. Again.
- Loot.
- Yui Makino is srsbzns and aloof, but she’s got more than what it takes. As both seiyuu and musical artist.
- Tomino, well, speaks his mind, and what’s going on in his mind is something that will take a lot of patience and understanding to get out of it.
- WAH is a load of fun. [I would namedrop everybody AND more, but only in a full write-up. Plz forgive.]
- So is yakiniku.
- AKB48 makes me not want to play idolm@ster. But that…girl with the twintails… she’s my oshimen or w/e. I also like paranda’s take on things. Now just need a freaking image index with names. Also, the rock set was pretty rock-ish. Those I:heart:NY shirts are also p. hawt on them. This might be useful.
- As said, bkub is awesome. *POOL* *POOL*
- Expensive but moe 360 side scroller is moe.
- The flowers? They did nothing.
- Driving in NYC has its perks.
- Oh, yeah, Cenco…rolls.
- Aniplex is out of ammo for the year, I presume.
- Dubbing is improving.
- Relaxed con is really tiring.
- Food makes me happy, perhaps too happy. And sometimes I go to Pinkberry just to get some variety.
- Famous Halal Guys is “yasui” as it is both dinner and breakfast. A must for people curious about midtown food culture and unique eats.
- Random Japanese dealers and vendor in my dealer’s room? VERY MUCH APPROVED! Dealer’s room is boring if you go to a lot of cons, and this is one sure fire way to juice things up. Like, finding Aoi Tada’s indie albums? What the hell, right? Like what’s the odds of that? The odds of me finding that in Tokyo going to random stores is probably astronomically small, as is. And there’s more.
New York Anime Fest 2009 Checkin
I am so wasted lol. Yakiniku West ftw.
But I’m alive. This year’s con for me is super meta in that all the interesting things derived from other people I sorta know either over the net or in real life. Except WAH’s awesome Tomino moment in which you will hear from him about… A Yucchi is fine too. What’s odd about her concert is that she sang like, 3 new songs; one from her new single (which apparently isn’t even out in Japan yet, and you can buy it at NYAF). One was first public performance ever, no less.
OP image is from bkub, who is apparently also at NYAF (sharing a table with Ryu Moto…sort of like his traveling companion?). Read his crazy Touhou stuff on danbooru.
A certain somebody with a itch for Lia autographs should also leave me a message… Story on that later.
Time of Eve Is a Series of Tubes
Not only you should watch Time of Eve on Crunchyroll (really, there’s no excuse to pirate it), but you should give this question a thought. I excepted from the Crunchyroll contest for the below:
In your opinion, what’s the significance of Time of Eve’s (the cafe) existence within the story?
I am going to post my answer (300 words or less!) below (at least one of them). Feel free to share yours should you choose to compose one. For what it is worth, it’s as good as any other topic to discuss (for general blogger circlejerkery). Eve is packed with all kinds of interesting things, but this is a pretty good way to approach the crux of it from a side angle.
The Time of Eve (the café) to me is an allegory for the way people socialize on the internet. While it may be a cyberpunk cliché, but the ability to examine the same social constructs within different, futuristic settings highlights the innate contradictions of modern life. The internet is ubiquitous and a necessary part of modern living, and while that in itself is present in the story, the café adds a physical and visceral representation without evoking the additional science fictional baggage that may come with, for example, VR.
What make me think specifically of the internet, in regards to the café, were its house rules. A door that locks and unlocks according to timing rules to protect privacy seem an annoying and hazardous thing to put in a real life café, but it is easy to protect a user’s privacy on an online forum or BBS without much inconvenience. An anonymous internet forum also masks obvious indication of rank and status, much like how the android café patrons disabled their halos to hide themselves, and the human-android equality rules that Nagi enforces inside the café.
To me this is what Time of Eve (the story) is about. It is perhaps about Time of Eve (the café) as it is about the stories and issues that each episode of the show explores. Considering what the café means to its patrons, maybe Time of Eve’s existence is even more important than the rules and stipulations of both Nagi’s café and society enforces on the café’s patrons, and more important than the robotics technology that distinguishes an old robot like Tex from a modern model like Sammy.
Remember the contest deadline is a month from October 1, so you’ve got some time to get into the bones of it.
Getting to the Bones of Google Reader
In celebration of, oh I don’t know, Otou-san’s balls or Google’s new Sidewiki launch (which is unfortunate that it works only w/ Google Toolbar thus far), here above is the next leg of the joke.
