Ri’s loot from Animate Girls’ Festival 2010 (9~10 October 2010) :D Me wants Akira! *grabby hands* XD And she has very kindly shared with us her pics and coverage of the event!
Event: Animate Girls Festival 2010 (アニメイトガｰルズフェスティバル2010)
Date: 9-10 October 2010
Official site: http://www.animate.co.jp/special/GirlsFestival/
This was a two-day event, so Ri prebooked her tickets for both days. She went for the event on Saturday and managed to get all the goods she wanted ^^ (you lucky girl you…) so she decided to skip the second day. It must be quite tiring to go for events like these, right? I remember feeling wasted after attending a similar event held locally.
Ri’s tip if you want to go to events like these? Pre-book way in advance because the entrance tickets would be sold out, so don’t risk it by trying to buy tickets at the event on the actual day. Quote: “Really, Japan event is all about booking in advance.”
The ticket was in the form of a small magazine/pamphlet. For the Saturday event, it was pink and on Sunday you get the blue one.
There was a stamp rally where if you gathered more than 15 stamps by visiting each listed booth, you could redeem a poster or something. Ri managed to collect all the stamps and redeemed two postcards ^^ (Quote: hmm…maybe I just miss reading it *my Japanese is sucks* or the poster is out already) The postcards look lovely, don’t they? Illustrated by Yura-sensei! <3
There were a couple of Halls with different themes during the event. Hall A was about Manga. Publication booths (both novel and manga) were mostly located there. There were chairs for visitors to sit and read manga freely. Hall B was mostly occupied by booths which sold goods.
The signing sessions for mangaka were also held in Hall A. Ri managed to get a picture of the signing session but she couldn’t participate because according to the official site, you have to buy a selected manga at an Animate store to exchange for a ticket for the signing session.
The mangaka in the photo should be Nekota Yonezou-sensei (ねこ田米蔵) who had a signing session scheduled at 4pm)
This room was also decorated with real manga script (from draft to final) including corrections from the editor. They were mostly works published by Libre.
Ri’s fave here is the latest “Mr. Secret Floor ~ Shousetsuka no Tawamure na Hibiki” (小説家の戯れなひびき) collaboration of Tsurugi Kai-sensei (剣解) and Asagiri Yuu-sensei (あさぎり夕). Quote: *believe me, it’s hot*.
Works by Yamane Ayano-sensei (やまね あやの).
Tanaka Suzuki-sensei’s Aitsu no Daihonmei (田中 鈴木, アイツの大本命)
Another thing that really stood out was: Akihito from Viewfinder dakimakura cover. Quote: “Oh how I itched to have this T_T but too expensive. It’s just my personal opinion though, but his proportion a bit off in my opinion. The head too big, or the body too small.”
Title: Yamane Ayano illustrated [finder no hyouteki] Takaba Akihito Hugging Cushion cover やまねあやの描き下ろし「ファインダーの標的」高羽秋仁 抱き枕カバー
Price: 8,800 Yen (w/tax)
Btw, you can now order the dakimakura from B-boy’s online store but you’ll need the help of a middleman/forwarding service because they don’t ship international.
She also bought the Aburakami (the paper to get off oil from your face) with “Aitsu no Daihonmei” design.
In the other hall, Kotobukiya booth was located near the entrance. Gift’s booth had tons of sexy plushies from Togainu no Chi 咎狗の血, Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan 薄桜鬼and Lucky Dog 1 ラッキードッグ1. There were goodies from Natsume Yuujinchou 夏目友人帳 too. The Square enix booth was kinda empty when Ri was there and the only BL related item was Komadori Ciel (dress version).
Hobibox booth with Tatanakana/Chinatsu Kurahana-sensei’s latest works (倉花千夏, たたなかな)
There were a lot of people promoting and giving out brochures.
According to Ri, there were many cosplayers too and some of them were quite cool and she had to queue to take their pictures.
There was also a Togainu no Chi 咎狗の血 animation booth.
The organisers also provided a booth for photo-taking. Inside the box there was a desk with an old telephone. Ri got the help of someone there to help her take her pic with the Hetalia guys… :D Quote: *with broken Japanese ask somebody around* lol~ You go, girl! ^_^)b Love Italia- chibi!
Ri mentioned that there was a stage at the corner for an event. It was raining and the queue was so long it stretched all the way out of the building! Although she joined the queue and waited a long time in the rain, it proved to be in vain because a mobile phone booking message was needed as proof of entry OTL. Poor thing :(
There was a booth near the exit where it sold event-related goodies, such as the mascot etc. Not much was left by the time she got there.
Here are more pics of Ri’s loot from the event ^^
And the first thing that Ri did when she returned from the event was…
Quote: “…take off Akira’s clothes and make this ^^;;”
lol~ I would have so done the same thing XDD
Thanks Ri for your lovely pics and coverage! XDD
(rianti-wong.tumblr.com)
Event Background information: 
Event location: サンシャイン 文化会館2階 Dホｰル The 2nd floor in Sunshine Culture Centre (D hall)
Address:〒170-8630 東京都豊島区東池袋3-1-1 [Map]
How to get there:
東京メトロ有楽町線 東池袋駅より徒歩3分
JR、東京メトロ、西武池袋線、東武東上線 池袋駅より徒歩8分
都電荒川線 東池袋四丁目停留所より徒歩4分
It is 3 minutes on foot from Tokyo Metro Yurakuchou Line Higashi-Ikebukuro Station.
It is 4 minutes on foot from the Toden Arakawa Line Higashi-Ikebukuro-yonchome stop at 8 minutes on foot. JR, Tokyo Metro, Seibu Ikebukuro Line, and the Toubu Toujou Line Ikebukuro station
Time: 10:00~17:00 (16:30 last entry)
Entrance Ticket: On sale at all Animate Japan stores from 4 September 2010
Price (General): Pre-event 800 Yen / Actual day 1,000 Yen
Price (Cosplayers): Pre-event 1,300 Yen Yen / 1,500 Yen (I didn’t know you have to pay more if you’re a cosplayer :P)
* All prices inclusive of tax
* Event pamphlet is included with ticket purchase.
* General, cosplayers receive pamphlets with same contents.
* Limited tickets. If sold out pre-event, no more tickets will be sold on the actual days.
* Pamphlet preorder bonus: AGF Limited Otomate Still Collection Set (Hakuouki 薄桜鬼, Nise no Chigiri 二世の契り)
According to site layout found at the official site, Gift’s booth will be at A15
2. Right-Click then Copy
3. Paste the HTML code into your webpage
The panel itself was pretty entertaining. Sensei answered a lot of questions, and even told us two stories of her life experiences. The first one was about how she went to deliver her manuscript for one of her stories but met up with an accident on the way. She was okay but had to go to the hospital so she decided to call up the publisher to tell them that she’ll be late in getting her stories in. She told them that she was involved in the accident and needed to go to the hospital, but since that sounded like a typical excuse, he didn’t believe her. So she let them hear the sound of the ambulance, and they finally believe her. Lol.
The other story was about how one of her deadline was pushed to two days earlier, and she had to ask one of her friend to help. They thought they wouldn’t make it and had to draw even when they were on the bullet train to Tokyo (where they’ll be handing the script in. Sensei was living in Nagoya at the time.) They did complete the script, but after they turned it in, both of them had to go to the toilet to throw up, due to the drowsiness caused by the train ride. Sensei made it clear that BOTH of them threw up. XD
After the Q&A, DMP announced some of their newly licensed titles and some more info about their up-coming big project. It seems to me that they are making use of the saying “if you can’t fight them, join them.” Though I hope they’re not trying to charge ridiculous high fees to view each chapters like how Libre is doing with theirs. I’ve been purchasing a lot of the physical books, and I would rather continue purchasing them than paying a couple of bucks to view only a chapter online. :/
Anyway, after the panel ended, we were then told that you don’t need tickets to attend Takanaga-sensei autograph sessions, which will take place in another couple of hours (there goes my 1 and ½ hours of waiting >.<;;)
Ayano-sensei’s panel was next. We were told to clear the room and returned 10 minutes later. As expected, there were a lot more people at Ayano-sensei’s panel. Once we settled down, one of the people there took out one of the Akihito’s pillow cover and placed it in front of us. He was gorgeous! People began coming up to take pictures of “him”. People were really excited when they heard he would be on sale at the end of the panel, but then there were only ten of him. :/ When I found out that the autograph session for Ayano-sensei was going to be raffled, (they only announced it when we got into the room <.<) I was really disappointed, to be honest. All of us who were attending the panel will get tickets but only 200 of the chosen one will get to have sensei’s autograph. I’ve never expected that I would win ( was extremely happy when I did) and I felt bad for the people who didn’t get to win, especially the ones who waited at least 3 hours in line for her panel. I thought that was unfair for them. Those people should have let us know something like that way before hand, so people wouldn't have to wait in line for a couple of hours in advance just to get the ticket. Though I guess I shouldn’t complain since I got the winning ticket. :/
The panel was for fans to ask sensei questions. Lots of interesting questions were asked. Though I already heard a lot from other fans, I found Ayano-sensei’s personality to be wonderfully cute. When she sat down, she didn’t notice that the Akihito’s cover was placed in front of her. When she finally noticed, she kept standing up to check it out. ^^ Another thing, when the translator translated one of sensei’s response, and one of the fan got so excited that he/she stood up and threw his/her hands in the air and yelled out. Sensei followed that person and did the same thing, lol. I think the fan’s reaction somehow took her by surprise. XD Sensei seems to like to laugh a lot and seems to take great interest in trying to understand what the fans try to ask her, though too bad for us that the translator does not have the same enthusiasm so I believe a lot of sensei’s response went untranslated. There were a couple of times she didn’t even understand some of the questions asked. ^^;; I think in this regard, Takanaga-sensei’s translator was better. Another thing I like about Ayano-sensei was that she had message cards passed out to everyone who attended her panel. This way, fans can write her messages. I’ve found that to be very thoughtful of her ^^.
Ayano-sensei’s autograph session was before Takanaga-sensei’s, though I mixed them up and ended up waiting for Takanaga-sensei’s, not knowing that hers would take place 1 hour after Ayano-sensei’s. In the end, I only managed to get Takanaga-sensei’s autograph and had to come back on Sunday for Ayano-sensei (both of them have two autograph sessions). But! When I got back on Sunday, I managed to get Takanaga-sensei to sign another book for me. :DDD Here are some pictures of their autographs:
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/anhtonus/DSC01745.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/anhtonus/DSC01746.jpg
http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab94/anhtonus/DSC01749.jpg
Beside the autograph sessions, there were also the Bishie Brunch, Bishie Bingo, Bishie aution, Carnival and a couple of other events, but I didn’t go to any. I did visit the Video Room where they show a lot of different anime and the Dealer’s Room, where they sold a lot of stuff, though most of them were way overpriced. They did give out freebies if you purchased a lot, like pencil boards, though if you're not a collector, I don't see any use :(
All in all, I really enjoyed the con and was glad I managed to meet the two sensei and learned more about them. The three books will be my treasure forever. :D
*hugs back*
That’s the thing, if only it wasn’t an exclusive :( I tried to contact someone I know and see if he’ll help me get the pillow cover, without having to go through a proxy. As for Yaoi-con, I’d love to share my experience. :D Pardon the long review ahead…..
I was there for the whole three days though I kinda skipped a lot of the activities there. My main purpose of going was actually to meet Ayano-sensei and Takanaga-sensei. This was my first convention, and I expected the place to be very crowded and noisy, but it wasn’t like that at all. The place (Hyatt hotel in San Francisco) was huge, and people are pretty much scattered about, though I remember reading somewhere that there were around 10,000 people participated. Another thing that surprised me was that there were a lot of guys at the convention, and some of them were in cosplay, and I thought that’s kind of neat. There were a lot of people cosplaying, from series such as Kuroshitsuji, Togainu no Chi, Crimson Spell, Ouran, Hetalia etc. and most of them were really nice. Too bad I forgot my camera, otherwise, I would take lots of pictures. ^^
The event took place from Friday the 29th to Sunday the 31th. On Friday, they had an Opening Ceremony, a Swap Meet, and some other activities. I only attended the Swap Meet. I hoped to sell some of my old stuff to get back some of the money I spent on the plane tickets. I didn’t get to sell a lot, but I did manage to meet a lot of fans who shared the same interest so I had a lot of fun.
On Saturday, I went there 1 and a half hours early to line up for Takanaga-sensei’s panel after I found out that you have to attend the panel to get tickets to sensei autograph sessions. The one thing that I found dissatisfying about this con is the lack of important announcements. They would tell you that you would need tickets to attend the autograph sessions, but they never told you how to obtain those tickets. Not a lot of people I talked to knew that you have to attend the panel to get the tickets. I only found that out when I visited their forum before coming to the event. >..<;;)
Thank you, ponytale, for posting the info about where to get the Takaba Akihito pillow cover, and also thank you Ri for sharing the pictures.
I don’t comment a lot, but I have always enjoyed following your posts, and I really appreciate all the information that you share. So I just want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude. Thank you ponytale-chan :D
I actually just got back from Yaoi-con today, and managed to meet Ayano-sensei (and got her autograph. Yay!!! XD). She did bring with her 10 of those Takaba Akihito covers for sell (for $130 each), and I can tell you, it’s absolutely gorgeous! I actually think he looks very well proportioned, seeing him up close, but maybe that’s just me. The material looks very high quality as well. I actually convinced myself before that I will not be buying it but now I’m having second thoughts >.<;;
@mai: Thanks for dropping by and commenting XDD I’m glad you enjoy my posts (^///^) It motivates me and makes me happy to write and chat with you guys too! *hugs*
Ooh! That’s awesome! Would you like to share your review of Yaoi-con? :D Woah and you met Ayano-sensei too! XD And her autograph! Hmm… Akihito’s pillow cover is very tempting. If you really like him, I think it’ll be great to save up for him… cos they aren’t gonna be on sale for long… these exclusives are seriously evil.
Yeah, the Akira plushie is the cutest so far. and for those who wonder what its look like after i take of his shirt naked; nothing there XD.
Wha~!! The event looks so awesome i wish i could have gone!
So many goodies!
I love the yura postcards from what i can see.*v*
The Akihito Hugging Cushion is win, an yea i can see her point on big head but i think its due to the perspective not being shown right (sense he has his legs up, but its hard to display that with his pants down;; ah i don’t know how to word it;;) XD
I wish i was there to see Tatanakana/Chinatsu Kurahana-sensei’s works!! I’d so buy everything! *shot*
I love the Hakuouki cosplayer!*o*
*sniffles* Akira plushy~~~! When will overseas be able to get there hands on one?;o; (btw did you see nitro Chiral’s mascot plush? It’s cute!!XD)
@Jima: yeah, I can’t wait for the boys to come! I think official preorder will open after Chiral Night event which will be held end of October ^^ so watch out for it! XD I’ll update you guys as soon as I see them!!!
@planck-chan: yep, thanks to Ri for sharing! XD Don’t worry planck-chan! The plushies aren’t limited edition so preorders will most probably open after the event! Let’s watch out for them! HAHAHA… let’s hope for a cute little plushie peepee on Slut!Akira! XDD Ri didn’t mention about it kekeke…
@banoni: me too… XD oh my… banoni, get Akira’s plushie! Honestly, he is probably the CUTEST plushie ever created by Gift till now. Save $$$!!! Yep THE Akihito dakimakura. You gonna order him? lol~
@sigma: yep! So envious too! X3 Yeah, I think if it were posters, wow it’ll be awesome too! The hugging cushion cover looks pretty sexy as a hanging tapestry huh… imagine even more weird looks we’ll get lol~lol~ I think it’s how she posed his arms too cos we don’t see much of his shoulders. I think it makes his body look small.
Indeed, it’ll be so tempting to grab everything by Tatanakana/Chinatsu Kurahana-sensei! *_*
“I love the Hakuouki cosplayer!*o*”
Agrees! Such a cutie! XDD
YES, Nitro+Chiral’s boy mascot is waaay cuter than I expected! I’m putting him in my wish list too :D
Aaaaaaw. *dies of envy*
I *actually* like that Akira plushie despite not knowing much about Togainu. It’s shooooo cute..GOOD thing I don’t have the money so I’m not tempted to buy.
The Akihito dakimakura! XDXD
Thank you so much for the review (and to Ri for sharing!), I was very curious about it!
Gosh, this is so wonderful, it’s a pity we were here, in our countries, and japanese people having so much fun… and the exclusives! They’re gonna sell plushes again on that Chiral night event, but nothing about selling them on internet shops… so we only can drool on pics and dream about our military plushes and slut!Aki… but my GREAT curiosity is what’s behind that shirt, would Gift make us eternally thankful giving Aki his *ahn cof cof* goodies or is the plushie a castrato version of our dear bishie? Oh my….
Ah, thanks a lot for the coverage and to Ri for providing the photos! ^^
So many tempting goodies there! The only thing(s) I really want from the coverage are the GIFT military plushies of Akira and Shiki, I’ve been eying them for weeks now–wah they look so cuuute.