The Pilgrim’s Progress

It’s been said that wickedness never was happiness.  After today, I beg to differ.  I suppose the definition of happiness can be debated, but I feel pretty damn satisfied, at least.

I’ve been in Japan for nearly two years without making it to a major anime event.  Not Comiket - that always happens while I’m back in the States.  Same with Jump Festa.  I considered going to AGF - Animate Girls’ Festival - last fall, but in the end I decided it wasn’t really my scene.  I forgot about Wonderfest this season until after it was over, and last spring break I booked my ticket back to Mongolia before I could even think about going to AnimeJapan.  That made this weekend probably my last chance, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to carpe this fucking diem.

Well, I say that now, but I actually put off getting a ticket til this Wednesday night.  I get a little skittish here in Japan about my lack of language, and although their website said you could buy tickets at Animate, I wasn’t entirely sure I believed them.  Even if it was true, I was maybe a little scared that I wouldn’t be able to ask for the tickets.  In the end, though, it turned out to be just as easily said as done.  I dropped in on the shop in Kawasaki on my way to taiko class, and even though waiting in line was mendoksai, the clerk understood what I wanted easily enough and I was on my way without any additional stress.

Now, that’s not to say that there wasn’t additional stress about actually going.  I’ve seen the photos of Tokyo Big Sight before Comiket, and although I was sure AnimeJapan couldn’t actually be as bad, one blog said that if you showed up before noon you could be waiting 3-5 hours, but if you came after noon, there was no line.  Now that I do the math, I realize that even if you showed up when the doors open at 10, you'd be waiting less than 2 hours, but there ya go.  Part of me thought that to get the true experience I should go to Odaiba the night before, stay at Oedo Onsen World, and then get in line early.  That part of me lost out to the rather more significant part that has achey feet and hates people, so I walked under those magical pathways - along with the other smart people who were just arriving - rather than waiting within them.

So I was finally there - the largest anime convention in the world.  Except...it wasn't really a convention in the way I've come to understand such things.  I think I’ve seen it called a trade show and that seems to fit better - all sorts of industry representation, big names presenting, but in an open floor space area - standing room only.  And sadly, most everything was in Japanese, so while I enjoyed soaking in the atmosphere, I didn’t get as much out of it.  That said, even if I didn’t understand what they were talking about, I definitely recognized these two seiyuu’s voices - Raphtalia and Filo from Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. 

There were plenty of cardboard stand-ups, but my favorites by far were the ones done at the Kadokawa booth.  They had four different displays, and each one represented a different season and featured characters from a different anime.  Behind the characters there were video screens which gave an even greater sense of blurring the line between the worlds of 2D and 3D.  They also included objects that surrounded the characters in the scene - branches of trees, or lanterns and windchimes.  And this is to say nothing of the characters.  Anime characters are often portrayed in the same clothing episode after episode, so seeing them dressed in something different, something which put them so strikingly within that location was a real treat.  Especially if they were one of your characters...I couldn’t resist messaging the Kawaii Kingpin a picture of Albedo in her yukata.  Strictly because I knew how much he would appreciate it, you see...not because I was trying to rub in the fact that I was at AnimeJapan or anything.

Many of my favorite characters were around, too.  Toei’s booth had a lot of Gegege no Kitaro features, one of which was a short VR game which I decided was worth standing in line to play.  I was a little worried that the whole thing would be in Japanese and I wouldn’t know what I was doing, but there were subtitles and the assistants knew enough English to troubleshoot any problems (because there were some - my pointer was shooting off in the wrong direction).  I’ve never played any virtual reality games, mostly because they tend to be hella-expensive, but it was really cool, suddenly finding myself in Gegege no Mori so I can see the draw.  I may have to strong arm Sensei and the Director into playing Mario Kart with me at Lazona in Kawasaki in the near future.

This year’s theme was rock, and they had visuals of current anime characters as part of the theme.  These were featured on special guitar pick shaped can badges and ticket holders that you could buy when you ordered your ticket.  Apparently they were also auctioning off this SAO guitar as well, for charity.  I didn’t pay that much attention to it because it was rather poorly located between the cosplay area and the swap meet, which I was surprised to see, although let’s be honest - if you’re going to participate in a swap meet for anime merch, you could hardly do better than here.

But then again, if we’re being honest, I was less interested in old merch than new.  Without a doubt, Goodsmile’s booth was the one I was most looking forward to visiting.  I apparently missed the announcement that they were going to release a line of nendoroids from Tate no Yuusha, because it was a pleasant yet frustrating surprise to see the finished prototype of Naofumi on display (pleasant because unexpected, frustrating because he wasn’t yet released so I couldn’t take him home with me).  There were several other upcoming releases on display including Mai, your Bunny-Girl Senpai, complete with bunny suit parts, although sadly, the Hyakkimaru prototype I lost my mind over about a week ago is apparently on display at the Dororo cafe in Animate Ikebukuro.  Goodsmile did have a limited selection of merchandise for sale, and I briefly considered buying a Tate no Yuusha key ring, but it was about that time that I realized I hadn’t spent any of my budgeted money and that I’d be passing through Kawasaki on my way home, which seemed like a sign that I shouldn’t waste money on key rings that I definitely didn’t need when I could put that money toward gorging myself on yakiniku and buying something I’ve been thinking about for a while.

As an art teacher I had to admire the skill and creativity that went into all of the displays.  One booth showed their characters as photomosaics made up of hundreds (thousands?) of stills from their anime.  This one had an artist (or possibly THE artist...not sure what this one actually is) creating a huge drawing of the character in pastel.

But without a doubt, the artistry I was the most in awe of was this display of dolls from Thunderbolt Fantasy.  I’ve never even heard of it, but they made me feel natsukashii for the dolls from AnimeIowa’s MiniFestival.  Which of course made me realize what - in my opinion - was really missing from AnimeJapan: the opportunity to participate.  Shopping is great, as is walking around in a wonderland, but there were no prizes to win, no opportunities to show off mad skillz, or to lead a panel or three on relevant topics.  And fair enough...this is the big leagues, not some backwater like Tatooine.  Or, you know, Iowa.  But I still couldn’t help feeling like there’s no place like home.

The lack of a contest didn’t stop me from bringing my favorite sensei with me for the day, and since the Boku no Hero Academia display didn’t have Aizawa in it, I felt pretty justified in my choice.  If you’re really sharp, you may have noticed that’s Eraserhead I’m casually cosplaying in that first photo.  If you ask me, cosplay casual is the only way to dress for these things.  You’ll be free to enjoy yourself without having people constantly wanting to pose fo photos with you, and you don’t have to stress for months ahead about your costume.  I prefer to save my stress for my dolls’ costumes.

In the end, I spent most of the afternoon enjoying the sights, then limped my way back to the Rinkai line ahead of the masses to catch the train back to Kawasaki.   I’ve made a habit of stopping into the BookOff there before my taiko classes to check out their selection of anime swag, so after feasting at the Gyu-Kaku a block away I went in and indulged.  After all, I may have been eating more red meat, but my blood is as pink as ever.