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AnimeFest 2009, The Rest Of The Story

By Serdar Yegulalp on 2009-09-09 10:03:15-04:00 No comments

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On the plus side ...

Being screwed out of a table (my fault, really) only slowed me down a little bit. Things got significantly better after Ronni Katz, the fine lady who was my table-neighbor last year, showed up. She cheerfully agreed to share space with me this year, and so I set up shop and started selling.

By Saturday night Tokyo Inferno was completely sold out, and many copies of Weekend and Summerworld also flew out of my hands. Pravi (my brother from another motherland [Canada]) grabbed a copy of everything and handed me a $50 that I don't think I'm going to end up breaking until I go to the bank.

Detroit Metal City seemed to be the predominant theme this weekend. Aside from watching a few episodes of it the first night — the show is funny enough that I gagged on my own tongue more than once — R2 and Ally and the rest of the LARP crew spent most of Saturday afternoon getting DMC costumes on, and attracting more than a little attention. The photos speak for themselves.

We also caught a screening of the live-action movie, which was a pretty good feature-length reduction of most of the ideas in the comic and the show. The Gene Simmons cameo is way too short, though — I badly wanted to see him deliver that deathless line "This music's so gay I can barely keep my eyes open." Expect the whole thing Stateside a little later this year, I think.

Since most of my time was spent manning the table, and my budget's been kept correspondingly tight, I didn't spend a great deal of cash on anything. A pin here, a couple of books there (one for the flight home). I dropped most of my actual cash supply on food — which is next to impossible not to do, since when you're at the hotel you're a captive audience and they can gouge you as they see fit. (Eight bucks for a bowl of soup? Cue Bill Cosby's rant about the cost of an egg in Las Vegas.)

Folks at the booth directly across from me had an Evangelion pachinko machine.

The best parts: The interviews. (Links coming.)

• Dai Sato, he of Ghost in the Shell, Casshern, Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy, Cowboy Bebop, and ... look, if that list didn't convince you he's heavy sugar, you're in the wrong blog.
• Shinji Kimura, background artist for Tekkonkinkreet, Akira, Steamboy, and creator of a wonderful children's book: Hipira.
• Tsuchie, he who created the Samurai Champloo soundtracks.

Another interview, with Greg Ayres, was cancelled — he'd either left the con early or ... well, at this point I could just quote rumors, but that's crass. File under: No Idea What Happened.

The LARP was kicked to Sunday night, but more than worth waiting for. A wonderful time was had by all.

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