Anime Boston Report (Part Two)

Question and Answer


The nice thing is that they arranged two chances of Q&A with Shimamoto san and Shuzilow HA. I went to the first one on Friday, sitting about 10 meters away (!) from Shimamoto san. She looked surprisingly young, I'd believe it if people say that she was only in her 30's. Shuzilow san certainly didn't look like his picture (http://animeboston.com/guests/japanese.shtml), but was an amiable bearded uncle-looking guy. Since they started the whole thing by showing SoltyRei's US debut, I got it that they here for that purpose ^ ^; It is interesting though, to know that they prepared for eight years for SoltyRei, no wonder Faith chan likes it XDD Shuzilow san also mentioned that he asked Shimamoto san to do a role (a computer actually) eight years ago when he was at the concept stage, and when he came to her again, she had forgot all about it XDDD

It was clear who the audience favored; I think Shimamoto san got 70% of the questions and Shuzilow only got 30% or so. I myself asked 3 questions for Shimamoto san and one for Shuzilow san. Both of them are very interesting people :) When asked who's her favorite character, Shimamoto san answered, though it varies everyday, currently it is Naussica (as I expected, and Nausscia has always been my favorite character in Miyazaki's films). I then followed up asking if there was any day for Kyoko san from Maison Ikkoku, as that is her 2nd most influential role in my opinion. She then talked about the memories of Kyoko, how her first kid was born at the same time of Kyoko's, except she is not a widow :)

I also asked what was the most difficult situation for her to do character voices, was it when there are too few lines, or when the characters' personalities are opposite of hers. She smiled and said, instead of those situations I mentioned, it was when the animation lagged behind, and she had to voice-act on an empty face and a dialog box (she then drew 4 circles as an empty face and a dialog box on the white board), that was the hardest time for her ^_^ (Shuzilow san apoplogized: "Sorry~" XDDD)

My third question, which was also the last question of the event, was intended to ask her the opinions of current kohai voice actors/actresses in a circumvented way. Well, she couldn't think of anyone offhand, and then Shhuzilow san helped saying that it usually happens that other seiyuus would be really honored to work with Shimamoto san. I was a little disappointed, but oh well...I did ask a lot of questions ^ ^;;;

Actually I also answered one of her questions. It was in the middle of her answer to "How does anime bring US people and Japanese culture together" (something of that sort), she said the Japanese culture was not quite the same from the anime and have subtle differences (ahahaha~) in between. Then she took for example that someone in the audience dressed in kimono put the right side over the left side of the kimono (^ ^;;;), probably not knowing what it means. Then she asked the audience whether anyone knows the meaning of it ^_^ Of course that was a easy case for me, having watched Kannaduki no Miko episode 10 too many times XDDD

When someone asked what was most important for becoming a VA (voice actor/actress), she said "put your heart into it". That was all expected, but then she showed us her skill by picking up a cup of water in front of her, and voice-acted for the water, as if the water was alive! That was very engaging performance :)))

Although I had no knowledge about Shuzilow HA's work, it turned out that Anime Boston invited him first, and then as he was talking with Shimamoto san after SoltyRei was about done, he asked her if she would come to Anime Boston together with him. And that's how both appeared here :))) To my surprise, I saw Mai HiME's name in Shuzilow's list. Surprised that he actually did the character design for Mai HiME, I then asked him about what had he done. To my further surprise, he said, since there were so~~~~ many characters in Mai HiME that he could hardly remember them all, and kept mixing them up. That was why they replaced him after 1 or 2 episodes...OTL This guy is funny :P He also mentioned that he liked drawing things himself more, so when given a chance to choose in between being a producer or a character designer, he chose the latter, though he thought he'd have a much easier time as a producer ^_^ ps: His hobby is to sing karaoke songs from old anime ^ ^;

Besides those two, I had to praise the translator. I could understand most of Shimamoto's speech but not Shuzilow's; she spoke slowly and clearly, with adequate gestures. Her voice was very nice, also. But the Asian-looking translator was not only good at both languages, she also kept a straight face all the time ^ ^ So I laughed once listening to Shimamoto san's answers, and I had to laugh one more time listening to the English ***XDDD --Good job!

啊啊啊啊啊！！！今天是什么好日子？？？

清早看到gcc老师的留言，川澄会参加今年8月Baltimore的Otakon，作为她本人的第一次北美的来访！！！

我一看到网址－－http://www.otakon.com/guests_seiyuu.asp
就猜是川澄了，想不到真是她（满地打滚ing）
可是那天偏偏是重要的人的生日（8／5），我怎么也该留在波士顿的啊（抱头）
啊啊啊，我怎么办怎么办－－－－－－
还是去坦白，然后认罚吧。。。。。。
川澄的见面会，我爬也要爬去（握拳）


然后然后！！！我2周前定下的（好久。。。）神无月DVD Limited Edition Vol。1＋Box终于到了！
溜到楼梯角上打开来一看，果然有一个粉色的贝壳！真的贝壳哦，不是塑料的，连着褐色的吊绳（背面贴着：Made in China = =）
付送的还有mini pencil board XDD
一个Box只容得下3张DVD，每张4话，Geneon还是很厚道的。只可惜没有声优commentary，唉～

编辑：晚两个小时后，gcc的Wavewand也到了！！ ^_^
啊啊，今天真的是个好日子XDDDDD

不行，太兴奋了。。。。。。

ps：倒是谁踩到9999和10000点击数了？我只点到9987和10036，中间的50次都神秘的不见了（啊哈哈

Anime Boston Report (Part One)

Time:5/26-5/28/06
Location: Hynes Convention Center, Boston
One-sentence comment: exciting, costing, yet to be improved

First I have to apologize for writing this in English, --I swear I was writing it in Chinese first but it turned out somehow really weird to myself ="= Maybe it is because the whole thing happened in English... well, people! Think of it as a perfect chance to learn English! Here's the time!!!

I had to confess that I was totally exhausted after 3-day convention, as if I had been fighting a non-stopping battle for too long. I didn't even have the strength to sort out my loots ^ ^; However, I am only getting busier and busier, so I better write the experiences down now, before I forget them...

After all, it had been a satisfying success. 3000 more than estimated, 10,000 people joined Anime Boston 2006, to the organizers' surprise. And it is certain that it will grow even more next year. It is true that this con is still just a half size of AnimExpo in LA or Otakon in Baltimore, but its events (Anime Music Video contest, masquerade, Japanese guests) are all of the same level. I'd definitely go next year if possible.

Cosplay/Masquerade:

To my (not-so-pleasant) surprise, the cosplay subjects have not changed much since the last time I've seen, which was like 2 years ago. Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Final Fantasy series are still the hottest. There are other various characters in Slayers, AMG, Soul Calibur III, Hellsing, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, Gravitation, Kenshin, RGUtena, CCSakura, Kingdom Hearts, Paradise Kiss etc etc. However, there have been rea~~~~lly few yuri characters :((( The only one I've seen is Juri from Utena...I usually see quite a few Utenas flowing around in each convention but not this one :( I see no one cosplay characters from Kannduki no Miko, MariMite, Mai HiME; not even from Kaleido Star, which has the entire first season out on DVDs already. That was very disappointing...(what? you say I should do it? I didn't hear didn't hear didn't hear......)

AMV contest:

Result is here

Well, it's just like any other AMV contests I have seen. There were 5-6 AMV in each of the following categories: Drama, Fun/Upbeat/Other, Romance, Comedy and Action. What made me happy was that Key the Metal Idol and Kaleido Star both have been made into AMV and entered the first and second categories. Also, there were two excellent Chrono Crusade AMVs in Romance category. Comedy session was, as expected, funny and fulfilling. However, the one that totally captured my heart was an action AMV, "Hold Me Now" from Princess Tutu (an anime I never knew)--all about ballet! It's just so beautiful I hope that I can find it and show it to all of you ^_^
-----------Wait, I actually found it on youtube!!! Here it is, please watch it in full screen with no lag and good audio system :)
Hold Me Now

And Yes! it is the best action and best AMV of Anime Boston 2006. I voted for it you know!!! When they announced the result after the masquerade I was super excited "Oh Yes!!!" XDDD I was so happy--I am still so happy about it :)

A few other small things about AMV competition. I actually met the maker of Key the Metal Idol AMV in the Japanese Guest interview (later I will talk more about it), as I was sitting right next to him and noticed his name on his badge. He is probably the only Chinese-origin competitor in this AMV competition, majoring in computer science :))

I also got the best drama right, too--it is funny how I tend to choose the anime I haven't watched ^_^

When they played Chrono Crusade AMV again, (both won a prize actually) at the moment the crowd reviewed the very moving Hallelujah song, people lighted up their cell phones and started waving them according to the rhythms and sing together with it. Just when I was fully absorbed in this atmosphere, on the screen the lovers were holding each other and the sunset was falling, I was starting to have wet eye sockets, and then......someone's cell phone rang right beside me... ______________________Orz

Dealer's Room:

This is the part that sucked the most in the entire convention. Yes, it is ME who went to ATM twice and still spent everything on herself except for two dollars. Yes, it is ME who had been drooling on Nastuki's limited 1:6 swim-suit figure, or Mai, Kirika's 1:6, or Saber's 1:8 non-fighting figure, but look! Seriously, this is one of the worst dealer's room in a convention I've ever seen. Three days past without any freebie at hand? That's a first. Only 2 big dealers had booths in the hall, although 3 or 4 more had their preview sessions that I didn't go to. Anyway, it sucked; I hope it can become better next year, with such increased attendees.

In the next part I am going to talk about my most exciting experience in Anime Boston 2006-- the interview (Q &A?) session with Shimamoto Sumi and Shuzilow.HA and the signature session with Shimamoto san. Maybe a little bit on the yuri/yaoi dating game, too :p Otanoshimini~

Attached: Anime Conventions in USA and Canada