The Anime News Network panel was also great, though it felt
that it was only a mere Q&A. The questions and answers spoken at the ANN
panel were both professional and interesting to hear. I had asked the editors
on what they thought about the situation of the man who was being sent to jail
for owning obscene manga and their response was that a man shouldn’t be sent to
jail for owning pornography. I am sure that the fans would agree with me in
saying that the prizes given out after each question were great.
Lastly, the BlazBlue
and Guilty Gear creators, Daisuke
Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori, had not one, but two panels. The first panel
was geared towards the actual Guest of Honors, and the second panel was more
specifically about the BlazBlue and Guilty Gear video games. It was great
seeing the people behind what is possibly my favorite fighting game franchise
of all time. What I found even more intriguing is how Ishiwatari went out of
his way to say that he would only be doing one voice-over request at the panel.
He is the voice actor of two characters in Guilty
Gear: Sol Badguy and Order Sol. Needless to say, I wish the same was said
over at the Toshiyuki Morikawa panel.
“Can you say
(blank) in the Sephiroth voice” was the question that was on almost everybody’s
mind at the panel. I can understand that a fan will get excited to see “Sephiroth”,
but the fanboys and fangirls should have toned it down a notch. It is as if the
fans thought Morikawa’s only role was Sephiroth. He has been in an outstanding
amount of different roles that include anime (Devil May Cry, One Piece
and Tekkaman Blade), games (Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, Tales of
Phantasia), and even providing dubbing roles in American movies (Star Wars prequel trilogy, Mission Impossible, Click).
The same thing happened at last year’s Anime Expo with David
Hayter as the Guest of Honor. Everybody wanted to hear the Solid Snake voice. I
think that AX staff should do something about the voice requests for next year’s
Anime Expo.
The console gaming room this year was lacking, as it was
severely unorganized. It was hard
to get any games in because of the massive crowd around the tiny TVs. Some
attendees weren’t even waiting to get a turn and were just there to observe.
Thankfully, the arcade was top notch. While I don’t agree with the prices for
fighting games, it was definitely fun. Hopefully, the arcade will come back
again next year.
One of the main things I usually look forward to at Anime
Expo is the amazing deals that happen in the Exhibit Hall. This year, it seemed that the rough economy had an impact
on the amount of good deals that were there last year. Many booths seemed to
charge at MSRP price on anime boxsets and manga, claiming that having no sales
tax is some sort of deal.
The Exhibit Hall was downsized as well. Many key exhibitors
from last year such as Namco Bandai and ADV were mysteriously absent this year.
On the plus side, I did snag a few deals and even some free swag such as a
Gatchaman watch. The games on hand at the hall were a great plus and it shows
how video games have an impact on anime. Atlus had an extra special appearance
at AX with a booth and a panel about their latest game, Demons Souls.
There are even a few complaints on the convention center
itself. For whatever reason, all events at the convention center stopped at
midnight. AX essentially moved to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and it was an
incredible nuisance. While many con-goers were already asleep, there were
others who simply wanted to enjoy everything there was to AX.
Then there was the massive amount of technical difficulties
that occurred. Though the Indecent Otaku Comedy Hour was an excellent panel, it
was plagued by some problems. Aside from the panel starting late and being cut
short, there were problems with another panelist speaking through Skype. On the
night before the expo, also called Day 0, there were major problems with
picking up badges. Fans had to wait hours upon hours to receive their badge.
The fact that Anime Expo 08 had an “incredible” process to get badges made it
even more baffling.
When everything was said and done, Anime Expo 2009 was a
very fun experience. Is it the best Anime Expo? Of course not; Anime Expo 2008
was clearly the superior one in comparison to this year’s. Even with the
complaints, AX 2009 was a success, bringing in 44,000 unique attendees this
year. If a tough economy doesn’t stop an increase in attendees, then next year
will bring even more fans.
