Crunchyroll Expo!!
Crunchyroll held its first Crunchyroll Expo over this past weekend. (I haven't even written about Fanime yet!) The story goes is that Crunchyroll decided to host a convention once they hit 1 million subscribers. Anime News Network and various other anime sites reported this, as well as Crunchyroll themselves.
Day 1 - August 25
I arrived to the convention on Friday at around 11:30 PM. Tickets for autograph signings were being distributed starting at 11 but I thought maybe many people would have a hard time getting there early. Adam Savage, Yoshitaka Amano and the Chocobros (Ray Chase, Adam Croasdell, Chris Parson) sold out before I could pick up my tickets. I did want Amano and Chocobros but I figured I'd try for them again on Sunday. I picked up a ticket for Caitlin Glass and Monica Rial, as well as ProZD and Freddie Wong. I had a pre-order ticket for Johnny Weir and his session was the first to come up.
My friend and I went to Johnny Weir's autograph signing after attending the BANDAI NAMCO panel and quickly browsing the exhibit hall to find something for him to sign. There was a long line and many many Yuri on Ice fans. I met a couple with two young kids who flew from New York just to see Johnny. I know there are more from other places as well who did the same. [I later met a girl on Sunday who was unable to get a ticket and SHE had been a long time fan of him since she skates competitively as well. NOOOOO!!! )= ]
In any case, Johnny Weird was very, very sweet!! I told him my friend (I WAS THINKING OF YOU
fenlings !!!) and mom were fans of watching Olympic ice skating. I told him I tried to get my mom to watch Yuri on Ice, since he was kind of in there to which he answered excited, "My MOM watched it with me. I told her I was in it, so she gave it a shot." He said he pointed out all the scenes that were based on real life. I THINK, or maybe I only thought, I told him I thought it was great that he and his mom have such a great bond to be able to enjoy Yuri on Ice together. I asked him if he could sign right on the charm and also if he could write to me and MY mom "Thanks for being fans" and he so did!
He's so nice!! He also did JJ's pose with me!!
My friend who knew nothing about the anime and came just 'cause meeting an Olympian was rare also had a great moment with him! He asked Johnny Weir how he got into Yuri on Ice and he took the time to tell him the whole story! He knew nothing about anime until a female ice skater who was big on anime tweeted one of the outfits in the anime that looked like one of Johnny's. Then someone else responded to that tweet with a picture of Johnny in that outfit. Then it just blew up from there and he watched it! I think my friend said Johnny said that quite a few of the scenes were inspired from what really happened as well.
We both waited a long time to get Johnny's autograph and he still had a long line to go through. Still, Johnny took his time to make each and every individual person's experience really special and I thought that was really great. I am really glad I got to meet him and hope everyone who hopes to meet him some day will be able to.
ProZD's signing was in the same time slot so I quickly ran over to his line.
I wanted to do the pose like the T+T icon I have going on but I realize now how BAD my game at doing that is! It became more likea diamond, hahah!
This story I learned from someone else who went to his panel, but if you didn't know, ProZD met his wife from writing Super Mario fanfiction. What a random thing to start with, right? The guy I heard this story from said ProZD's panel was about how he got started and the end message is "THAT'S WHY INTERNET FRIENDS ARE IMPORANT. Oh and I guess I met my wife through the internet too."
There ya have it.
My friend had to go elsewhere to get an autograph from Adam Savage since he was able to get a ticket, so I browsed the Exibition Hall while I waited for him. Then we headed to get more autographs! My friend went to get Freddie Wong's and I went to get Caitlin Glass. Caitlin's line was extremely long. My friend was kind enough to take my place and get my autograph for me so I could run to my night class. He and I both had tickets for Monica Rial at a later signing that I wouldn't be able to make so he went and did that for me as well. I thought I would return to the convention after class but by that time I was so exhausted. My friend and I both called it a day. We'd meet each other again the next day.
Day 2 - August 26
I hurried to get to the convention as early as I could because amazing guests had autograph signings on this day. Saturday was bound to be the biggest day of the convention since panels and events were running full throughout the day.
Once the convention opened at 10 AM, I browsed the exhibit hall again before heading over into a panel presenting CODE VEIN, a game slated for release in 2018. It looked really exciting!! Unfortunately, I was 30 seconds later than my friend into the panel so I missed out on a free bandana. The game has this grungy dystopian lone survivor kind of world going on, yet the main characters are extremely attractive. The director, Hiroshi Yoshimura, emphasized a lot on how he wanted the girls to be cute and the guys to be very cool and handsome. Understandable of all creators, right? But either way, I think the dynamic between those two spectrums makes the game look really interesting and I really want to get it. It'll be out on the PS4, XBOXOne and Steam.
My friend handed me my autographs from Monica Rial and Caitlin Glass from the day before. I had wanted both to sign a magazine spread of My Hero Academia from OtakuUSA that had a feature of Tsuyu and tiny one of Mina (Both characters from MHA that the two ladies voiced respectively). I was so elated at how nice the autographs were!! They made my page feel really special. I am really grateful towards my friend for standing in line to get it for me. He said it worked out because he also wanted Caitlin Glass' autograph but he didn't have a ticket. But as she signed for me, he bought one of the photos or prints Caitlin Glass had for sale and she autographed that one too! I'm glad he could be lucky.
At 11:30 AM I had a signing with Hiroshi Shimizu. His line was incredibly long because he was doing drawings and sketches for everyone at first. There were many die-hard fans of his in line, so there were a lucky few that got to have the special autograph before they limited the signings to just a signature. Some people tried to sneak past anyway and get him to draw on shikishi boards. I heard later that towards the end of the line they started to allow people to get sketches again, leaving any hard-core fans that were in my same section really bitter about just getting signatures. I didn't really have anything for him to sign, so I asked him to sign my convention badge which features Children of Ether. It's by the creator of the Boondocks anime, and Hiroshi Shimizu did the character designs!
Hiroshi Shimizu about to sign my badge!
Part of his signature got wiped off by the end of the convention, so I have to be really careful with it now..
Look how sad!! He was so high in-demand too!
Right after that, we both went to the Crunchyroll Industry Panel. We saw previews and announcements for all the upcoming anime, but no discussion about One Punch Man nor any mentions about BONES' mysterious Mob Psycho 100 project.. My friend and I split again because I had more autographs to get! They didn't allow photos, but I got a gorgeous "Juni Taisen" (upcoming anime) signed by the voice actors Hiromi Igarashi and Shin Horie. I told them I had just saw a PV in the panel right before and was really excited for the anime. It looked really unique and I thought the characters they were voicing were cool!
In the same autograph block, I got an URAHARA poster signed by Amica Kubo, Mugi Tanaka and Natsuko Takahashi. I told them I was really excited for the anime. The character designs look really bright and fun and I thought it was fantastic that they were a group of all women working on this anime.
AAANND right away, more autographs in queue.
Castlevania's animation team Brad Graeber, Sam Deats and Fred Seibert!
With director Hiroshi Yoshimura and producer Keita Iizuka.
The lovely lady is cosplaying as Mia, one of the NPCs for the game.
CODE VEIN autograph signing!!! During the panel my friend and I went to, the Director kept insisting that the girls are really cute and the guys are really cool. Ikemen he said, to be exact. I wanted to show my support for them and said so, finishing up with "IKEMEN DAISUKI!!!" The director responded witth like "YEAAAAHHH THANK YOU!"
Keiichi Sigsawa, the creator of Kino's Journey. A fantastic story.
@Mostflogged as Hime, Crunchyroll Expo's mascot!
Mostflogged is a stellar cosplayer who makes lots of tutorials to help get people into cosplay. I told her that I don't really cosplay but her tutorials made it look so easy that I felt I could try. She was so sweet I'm so glad I could talk to her for a bit. ^^
I then slipped into the end of Kore Yamazaki's (the creator of Ancient Magus' Bride) panel where she was demonstrating how she works. Her editor was also there. She said she does the sketch digitally and the lines by hand. She was working on a 36 page chapter and had 18 more to go. She also said at the moment, being at CRX was vacation for her even though she was working. She's constantly thinking about deadlines and draws without a break.. It really is like the stories you hear for mangaka.. working tirelessly day by day.. Her editor said at least with Magus Bride being a monthly publication, the deadlines aren't as strict as they are for Shounen JUMP.
Drawing eyes and noses are very important to Kore Yamazaki-sensei. Eyes carry a lot of expression so she takes great care in drawing them. In fact, when she draws, she starts with the body, then the hair and finally eyes and nose. She said if she messes up on the eyes she becomes devastated and doesn't want to draw anything anymore. It's so tough for her!
After that, I met up with Cy, who had driven up from LA to come to this convention. We met at Fanime previously! Cy came with some friends so we all chatted for a bit and took some pictures before I went off to my last autograph signing session with Kore Yamazaki. I cannot share the pictures on social media, but I did chat with her a bit! As she signed my poster I told her I learned a lot from watching her. She told me that that was what she's been doing every day for 10 years and that anyone could be like her by doing the same. I thanked her heartily for her time and she thanked me for the nice chat. I was very happy.
I hit up Mugi Tanaka's, the artist for the upcoming URAHARA anime, panel after that. I had told her in the autograph session beforehand that I would go. SHE IS SO ADORABLE YOU GUYS!! She ran onto the stage all excited, twin pigtails and a sailor collar jacket, polka dot socks and mary jane shoes. She talked with SUCH cute mannerisms.. Very anime and Japanese... Very bubbly.
She started at Comiket (doujinshi convention) in Japan where the owner of a shop called "Park" found her. The owner told her they really liked her art and wanted her to design characters for their shop they wanted to open in Harajuku. My memory of the story is a little bit fuzzy after that, but somehow she worked her way into drawing for a webcomic with "some guy" named Patrick for Park, and now an anime along with writer Natsuko Takahashi and director Amica Kubo. They are a team of women!
Mugi said being an illustrator is actually her second job. She works as an office worker in the day and actually loves her job! She goes around and deals with marketing and when she gets home she has to draw illustrations. She mentions a lot how she doesn't have money so she can't be a full time illustrator, but she really loves being an office worker that she doesn't want to leave it. Oh, and she showed a picture that she drew while she was on the 18 hour flight. She used all the money she saved to buy a Surface Pro.
Patrick, who was the MC for this panel highlighted some of the recurring themes in Mugi's work. Cat ears, eggplants, nerf guns and fish. She says she loves cat ears because they're soft so they appear in her work. She loves nerf guns and has a room in her house dedicated only for displaying nerf guns. Eggplants give her a fond memory in high school when her class grew eggplants. At the end, no one harvested them for some reason so she took them all and ate them. The fond memory seems to come back so that's why she draws them. She loves eating fish, so it's there.
She talked about how she felt about the animation team adapting her work. She was worried of course, because her art is quite rough but said when she saw the promotional art for her design she was really happy that they incorporated a lot of things that felt like her essence. She pointed out the red speakers in the image on the URAHARA website I linked above.
Once the panel wrapped up, I went to the ClariS Concert Video Premiere of ClariS Meets Nippon Budoukan. We were all given glow sticks and were asked to stand during the screening. I was tired and wanted to sit, but when I stood up and the lights went out, WHOA!!! With all our light sticks on and everyone waving and shouting as we watched the concert video, IT FELT LIKE WE WERE REALLY THERE! WE ALL SAVED OUR LIGHT STICKS AND, gosh it was just amazing. It really felt like a concert even though we were just watching a video. I have to hand it to people. They can be so amazing and cooperative. It's times like that I feel really united.
I unfortunately left early because I was dead tired. I needed to make it early for the autograph ticket handout the next day.
Day 3 - August 27
I didn't get to the autograph ticket handout as early as I hoped. I thought the audience would die down by Sunday but there was an even bigger line for tickets!! I wanted to get Chocobros and Yoshitaka Amano but they were the first ones to go once again. I became increasingly worried waiting in line.. I really wanted Max Mittelman's autograph since I didn't get him on Saturday 'cause I felt I had too much going on that day to bother. One by one tickets sold out and people left the lines. I started to give up hope.. Right when it was my turn and I thought about getting another autograph from Johnny Weir for my friend Mino-san, they announced he was sold out! The girl behind me waited in line the entire time JUST for him. It was a real shame!! I managed to get Mittelman's and Freddie Wong's, the only two remaining tickets by the time I had gotten there.
I attended a "Women in the Japanese Anime Industry" which featured the women from URAHARA. I can't remember much. I hit the exhibit hall after that, determined to spend money because I had spent the previous two days doing events. I also went to artist alley for a bit and chatted with other artists like I normally do. Once again, I met some AWESOME artists and gave away stuff! My friend and I then left to go to the Ancient Magus Bride screening, a limited ticket event. They wouldn't let us enter again after leaving, but we had to leave to make our autograph sessions. My friend and I both wanted Max Mittelman's. I got Freddie Wong's first though.
So Freddie Wong do you feel like a businessman now that you are on Forbes
where's the magic where you're in a suit and suddenly boring
"This is how I dress up"
He's holding my signed poster! What a swell guy.
I told him it was incredible he made it on Forbe's magazine, since I had always heard only the most successful people get to be on that magazine. He said that it was originally 40 under 40, but Forbe's thought they could sell more magazines if they do a 30 under 30.
I ran to join my friend in the line for Max Mittelman's autograph signing. I was facing a dilemma which of my things I wanted him to sign. If you didn't know already, I'm a huge One Punch Man AND Mob Psycho 100 buff. Max Mittelman voices the main One Punch Man guy and voices Mob's little brother in the later. I wanted to get all the voice actors for the English Mob Psycho 100 dub I could on the same magazine spread (I only have Chris Cason's so far from Fanime) but I thought Max Mittelman should sign something where he was the main character of! My friend was definitely trying to push me to get my Saitama page signed, but this awesome chick behind us said she was getting him to sign a game case where he was a very minor character. With that I decided on the Mob Psycho 100 spread, to my friend's dismay. The day before, my friend said I should show Max Mittelman the tweets I claimed to have made about Ritsu so I prepared them on my phone as my turn at the front came.
I walked up excitedly waving my One Punch Man lanyard a high school friend had bought for me when he returned from Anime Expo last month. I opened up my folder to show him a picture of Saitama excitedly, but then said I actually wanted him to sign my Mob Psycho 100 spread. I told him that I love both series and I was so surprised how he went from the bored Saitama to a very cute emotional Ritsu to which he responded, "YEAH!! That's what a voice actor is!!" I said I twit to him about Ritsu while I watched the episodes and that he probably doesn't remember.
"Gosh, please don't remember," I said as I showed him my phone with all the tweets.
"I remember!" He said.
"Oh jeez."
I told him that one of the tweets at least (my most embarrassing one) I didn't want him to see but someone @ him on Twitter so he did see.
"Who did it?" He asked as he looked closer. "Oh, Gigi! Gigi's the one who drew THIS picture right here!"
He pointed at one of the art prints he had up for sale at his table. What an INCREDIBLE twist of events.
After that we took a photo (I paid for it LOL 'cause my friend SAID I MADE IT THIS FAR I MIGHT AS WELL) and I suggested we do a One Punch Pose.
So the wild thing here is that I was cosplaying as a character from
Mob Psycho 100 but I insisted on doing a One Punch Man thing.
The last thing I tried to say to him as my friend finished up getting his autograph was "Sorry dude, tough break!" which was a something that sort of became a meme.. NOT REALLY IT JUST EXPLODED A LOT WHEN I LIVETWIT THE SCENE WHEN I WAS FIRST WATCHING IT...
SORRY DUDE TOUGH BREAK pic.twitter.com/fmMV4koGlB
- Hikarii @ CR Expo (@Hikums) December 12, 2016
Max Mittelman proceeded to say that line four times in Ritsu's voice. I am happy with this end.
My friend wasn't going to be able to make his Yoshitaka Amano autograph signing because he had to go so I offered to take his place for him. I told him I could mail it to him if he wasn't able to pick it up from me later. He kept saying he was really grateful but it was no big deal for me since he did the same for me. Plus I planned to stay at the convention until the end anyway. I chatted with other people in the line as die-hard Final Fantasy fans all showed me their most treasured collections they wanted the great artist to sign. The line went by very slowly because he was personalizing each signing with a drawing just like Hiroshi Shimizu tried to do. Seriously, offering to do such a thing is AMAZING. I'm an artist and I can only doodle so much repeatedly within a given time frame. He is truly a pro and very kind to take his time to make it special for everyone. A guy before me had carted his rare out of print one of a kind collection around all day just for this signing. He put it in two other boxes since the collection was fragile. I know he is happy with this signing.
When it was my turn, I told Yoshitaka Amano that his art was very beautiful and inspiring. I am put in awe because of how powerful his work was. The kind translator relayed my words to him, and Amano-sensei thanked me. A CRX crew member asked if I had been at his panel. I said I couldn't unfortunately, since an autograph session I was at took too long and ran into it. The crew member showed me a photo of the drawing demonstration done at the panel. I asked what his tools he used. It was really impressive and I'm grateful to how kind and thoughtful the crew member was to show me that. I wonder if my appreciation for his art really showed through with my primitive words? I didn't feel what I said carried half of what I really felt but if it did, I can be happy with myself.
My friend simply asked for a signature at the from but the woman accompanying Amano-sensei said he could draw on the back so he did.. You know, this wasn't even my ticket for the signing since I missed it but I felt so blessed to receive such kindness from everyone.
I took extra care to make sure everything dried before I put it away. I thanked everyone from the bottom of my heart and headed out.
Me talking to Amano-sensei!
Looking at this again, his face looks so kind.. I'm really moved to tears.
Signed the front
Illustration on the back
My friend will be really happy when he picks this up. I can't wait for him to see it. I'll tell him my experience too of course!
I finished my time at the convention meeting people at the Artist Alley again and then went home. I still had homework to do that night!
All in all, CRX was very fun! I had a great time and was treated very kindly. I stayed safe and met many people. I am really a lucky person. Now it's back to work!
Day 1 - August 25
I arrived to the convention on Friday at around 11:30 PM. Tickets for autograph signings were being distributed starting at 11 but I thought maybe many people would have a hard time getting there early. Adam Savage, Yoshitaka Amano and the Chocobros (Ray Chase, Adam Croasdell, Chris Parson) sold out before I could pick up my tickets. I did want Amano and Chocobros but I figured I'd try for them again on Sunday. I picked up a ticket for Caitlin Glass and Monica Rial, as well as ProZD and Freddie Wong. I had a pre-order ticket for Johnny Weir and his session was the first to come up.
My friend and I went to Johnny Weir's autograph signing after attending the BANDAI NAMCO panel and quickly browsing the exhibit hall to find something for him to sign. There was a long line and many many Yuri on Ice fans. I met a couple with two young kids who flew from New York just to see Johnny. I know there are more from other places as well who did the same. [I later met a girl on Sunday who was unable to get a ticket and SHE had been a long time fan of him since she skates competitively as well. NOOOOO!!! )= ]
In any case, Johnny Weird was very, very sweet!! I told him my friend (I WAS THINKING OF YOU
fenlings !!!) and mom were fans of watching Olympic ice skating. I told him I tried to get my mom to watch Yuri on Ice, since he was kind of in there to which he answered excited, "My MOM watched it with me. I told her I was in it, so she gave it a shot." He said he pointed out all the scenes that were based on real life. I THINK, or maybe I only thought, I told him I thought it was great that he and his mom have such a great bond to be able to enjoy Yuri on Ice together. I asked him if he could sign right on the charm and also if he could write to me and MY mom "Thanks for being fans" and he so did!
He's so nice!! He also did JJ's pose with me!!
My friend who knew nothing about the anime and came just 'cause meeting an Olympian was rare also had a great moment with him! He asked Johnny Weir how he got into Yuri on Ice and he took the time to tell him the whole story! He knew nothing about anime until a female ice skater who was big on anime tweeted one of the outfits in the anime that looked like one of Johnny's. Then someone else responded to that tweet with a picture of Johnny in that outfit. Then it just blew up from there and he watched it! I think my friend said Johnny said that quite a few of the scenes were inspired from what really happened as well.
We both waited a long time to get Johnny's autograph and he still had a long line to go through. Still, Johnny took his time to make each and every individual person's experience really special and I thought that was really great. I am really glad I got to meet him and hope everyone who hopes to meet him some day will be able to.
ProZD's signing was in the same time slot so I quickly ran over to his line.
I wanted to do the pose like the T+T icon I have going on but I realize now how BAD my game at doing that is! It became more likea diamond, hahah!
This story I learned from someone else who went to his panel, but if you didn't know, ProZD met his wife from writing Super Mario fanfiction. What a random thing to start with, right? The guy I heard this story from said ProZD's panel was about how he got started and the end message is "THAT'S WHY INTERNET FRIENDS ARE IMPORANT. Oh and I guess I met my wife through the internet too."
There ya have it.
My friend had to go elsewhere to get an autograph from Adam Savage since he was able to get a ticket, so I browsed the Exibition Hall while I waited for him. Then we headed to get more autographs! My friend went to get Freddie Wong's and I went to get Caitlin Glass. Caitlin's line was extremely long. My friend was kind enough to take my place and get my autograph for me so I could run to my night class. He and I both had tickets for Monica Rial at a later signing that I wouldn't be able to make so he went and did that for me as well. I thought I would return to the convention after class but by that time I was so exhausted. My friend and I both called it a day. We'd meet each other again the next day.
Day 2 - August 26
I hurried to get to the convention as early as I could because amazing guests had autograph signings on this day. Saturday was bound to be the biggest day of the convention since panels and events were running full throughout the day.
Once the convention opened at 10 AM, I browsed the exhibit hall again before heading over into a panel presenting CODE VEIN, a game slated for release in 2018. It looked really exciting!! Unfortunately, I was 30 seconds later than my friend into the panel so I missed out on a free bandana. The game has this grungy dystopian lone survivor kind of world going on, yet the main characters are extremely attractive. The director, Hiroshi Yoshimura, emphasized a lot on how he wanted the girls to be cute and the guys to be very cool and handsome. Understandable of all creators, right? But either way, I think the dynamic between those two spectrums makes the game look really interesting and I really want to get it. It'll be out on the PS4, XBOXOne and Steam.
My friend handed me my autographs from Monica Rial and Caitlin Glass from the day before. I had wanted both to sign a magazine spread of My Hero Academia from OtakuUSA that had a feature of Tsuyu and tiny one of Mina (Both characters from MHA that the two ladies voiced respectively). I was so elated at how nice the autographs were!! They made my page feel really special. I am really grateful towards my friend for standing in line to get it for me. He said it worked out because he also wanted Caitlin Glass' autograph but he didn't have a ticket. But as she signed for me, he bought one of the photos or prints Caitlin Glass had for sale and she autographed that one too! I'm glad he could be lucky.
At 11:30 AM I had a signing with Hiroshi Shimizu. His line was incredibly long because he was doing drawings and sketches for everyone at first. There were many die-hard fans of his in line, so there were a lucky few that got to have the special autograph before they limited the signings to just a signature. Some people tried to sneak past anyway and get him to draw on shikishi boards. I heard later that towards the end of the line they started to allow people to get sketches again, leaving any hard-core fans that were in my same section really bitter about just getting signatures. I didn't really have anything for him to sign, so I asked him to sign my convention badge which features Children of Ether. It's by the creator of the Boondocks anime, and Hiroshi Shimizu did the character designs!
Hiroshi Shimizu about to sign my badge!
Part of his signature got wiped off by the end of the convention, so I have to be really careful with it now..
Look how sad!! He was so high in-demand too!
Right after that, we both went to the Crunchyroll Industry Panel. We saw previews and announcements for all the upcoming anime, but no discussion about One Punch Man nor any mentions about BONES' mysterious Mob Psycho 100 project.. My friend and I split again because I had more autographs to get! They didn't allow photos, but I got a gorgeous "Juni Taisen" (upcoming anime) signed by the voice actors Hiromi Igarashi and Shin Horie. I told them I had just saw a PV in the panel right before and was really excited for the anime. It looked really unique and I thought the characters they were voicing were cool!
In the same autograph block, I got an URAHARA poster signed by Amica Kubo, Mugi Tanaka and Natsuko Takahashi. I told them I was really excited for the anime. The character designs look really bright and fun and I thought it was fantastic that they were a group of all women working on this anime.
AAANND right away, more autographs in queue.
Castlevania's animation team Brad Graeber, Sam Deats and Fred Seibert!
With director Hiroshi Yoshimura and producer Keita Iizuka.
The lovely lady is cosplaying as Mia, one of the NPCs for the game.
CODE VEIN autograph signing!!! During the panel my friend and I went to, the Director kept insisting that the girls are really cute and the guys are really cool. Ikemen he said, to be exact. I wanted to show my support for them and said so, finishing up with "IKEMEN DAISUKI!!!" The director responded witth like "YEAAAAHHH THANK YOU!"
Keiichi Sigsawa, the creator of Kino's Journey. A fantastic story.
@Mostflogged as Hime, Crunchyroll Expo's mascot!
Mostflogged is a stellar cosplayer who makes lots of tutorials to help get people into cosplay. I told her that I don't really cosplay but her tutorials made it look so easy that I felt I could try. She was so sweet I'm so glad I could talk to her for a bit. ^^
I then slipped into the end of Kore Yamazaki's (the creator of Ancient Magus' Bride) panel where she was demonstrating how she works. Her editor was also there. She said she does the sketch digitally and the lines by hand. She was working on a 36 page chapter and had 18 more to go. She also said at the moment, being at CRX was vacation for her even though she was working. She's constantly thinking about deadlines and draws without a break.. It really is like the stories you hear for mangaka.. working tirelessly day by day.. Her editor said at least with Magus Bride being a monthly publication, the deadlines aren't as strict as they are for Shounen JUMP.
Drawing eyes and noses are very important to Kore Yamazaki-sensei. Eyes carry a lot of expression so she takes great care in drawing them. In fact, when she draws, she starts with the body, then the hair and finally eyes and nose. She said if she messes up on the eyes she becomes devastated and doesn't want to draw anything anymore. It's so tough for her!
After that, I met up with Cy, who had driven up from LA to come to this convention. We met at Fanime previously! Cy came with some friends so we all chatted for a bit and took some pictures before I went off to my last autograph signing session with Kore Yamazaki. I cannot share the pictures on social media, but I did chat with her a bit! As she signed my poster I told her I learned a lot from watching her. She told me that that was what she's been doing every day for 10 years and that anyone could be like her by doing the same. I thanked her heartily for her time and she thanked me for the nice chat. I was very happy.
I hit up Mugi Tanaka's, the artist for the upcoming URAHARA anime, panel after that. I had told her in the autograph session beforehand that I would go. SHE IS SO ADORABLE YOU GUYS!! She ran onto the stage all excited, twin pigtails and a sailor collar jacket, polka dot socks and mary jane shoes. She talked with SUCH cute mannerisms.. Very anime and Japanese... Very bubbly.
She started at Comiket (doujinshi convention) in Japan where the owner of a shop called "Park" found her. The owner told her they really liked her art and wanted her to design characters for their shop they wanted to open in Harajuku. My memory of the story is a little bit fuzzy after that, but somehow she worked her way into drawing for a webcomic with "some guy" named Patrick for Park, and now an anime along with writer Natsuko Takahashi and director Amica Kubo. They are a team of women!
Mugi said being an illustrator is actually her second job. She works as an office worker in the day and actually loves her job! She goes around and deals with marketing and when she gets home she has to draw illustrations. She mentions a lot how she doesn't have money so she can't be a full time illustrator, but she really loves being an office worker that she doesn't want to leave it. Oh, and she showed a picture that she drew while she was on the 18 hour flight. She used all the money she saved to buy a Surface Pro.
Patrick, who was the MC for this panel highlighted some of the recurring themes in Mugi's work. Cat ears, eggplants, nerf guns and fish. She says she loves cat ears because they're soft so they appear in her work. She loves nerf guns and has a room in her house dedicated only for displaying nerf guns. Eggplants give her a fond memory in high school when her class grew eggplants. At the end, no one harvested them for some reason so she took them all and ate them. The fond memory seems to come back so that's why she draws them. She loves eating fish, so it's there.
She talked about how she felt about the animation team adapting her work. She was worried of course, because her art is quite rough but said when she saw the promotional art for her design she was really happy that they incorporated a lot of things that felt like her essence. She pointed out the red speakers in the image on the URAHARA website I linked above.
Once the panel wrapped up, I went to the ClariS Concert Video Premiere of ClariS Meets Nippon Budoukan. We were all given glow sticks and were asked to stand during the screening. I was tired and wanted to sit, but when I stood up and the lights went out, WHOA!!! With all our light sticks on and everyone waving and shouting as we watched the concert video, IT FELT LIKE WE WERE REALLY THERE! WE ALL SAVED OUR LIGHT STICKS AND, gosh it was just amazing. It really felt like a concert even though we were just watching a video. I have to hand it to people. They can be so amazing and cooperative. It's times like that I feel really united.
I unfortunately left early because I was dead tired. I needed to make it early for the autograph ticket handout the next day.
Day 3 - August 27
I didn't get to the autograph ticket handout as early as I hoped. I thought the audience would die down by Sunday but there was an even bigger line for tickets!! I wanted to get Chocobros and Yoshitaka Amano but they were the first ones to go once again. I became increasingly worried waiting in line.. I really wanted Max Mittelman's autograph since I didn't get him on Saturday 'cause I felt I had too much going on that day to bother. One by one tickets sold out and people left the lines. I started to give up hope.. Right when it was my turn and I thought about getting another autograph from Johnny Weir for my friend Mino-san, they announced he was sold out! The girl behind me waited in line the entire time JUST for him. It was a real shame!! I managed to get Mittelman's and Freddie Wong's, the only two remaining tickets by the time I had gotten there.
I attended a "Women in the Japanese Anime Industry" which featured the women from URAHARA. I can't remember much. I hit the exhibit hall after that, determined to spend money because I had spent the previous two days doing events. I also went to artist alley for a bit and chatted with other artists like I normally do. Once again, I met some AWESOME artists and gave away stuff! My friend and I then left to go to the Ancient Magus Bride screening, a limited ticket event. They wouldn't let us enter again after leaving, but we had to leave to make our autograph sessions. My friend and I both wanted Max Mittelman's. I got Freddie Wong's first though.
So Freddie Wong do you feel like a businessman now that you are on Forbes
where's the magic where you're in a suit and suddenly boring
"This is how I dress up"
He's holding my signed poster! What a swell guy.
I told him it was incredible he made it on Forbe's magazine, since I had always heard only the most successful people get to be on that magazine. He said that it was originally 40 under 40, but Forbe's thought they could sell more magazines if they do a 30 under 30.
I ran to join my friend in the line for Max Mittelman's autograph signing. I was facing a dilemma which of my things I wanted him to sign. If you didn't know already, I'm a huge One Punch Man AND Mob Psycho 100 buff. Max Mittelman voices the main One Punch Man guy and voices Mob's little brother in the later. I wanted to get all the voice actors for the English Mob Psycho 100 dub I could on the same magazine spread (I only have Chris Cason's so far from Fanime) but I thought Max Mittelman should sign something where he was the main character of! My friend was definitely trying to push me to get my Saitama page signed, but this awesome chick behind us said she was getting him to sign a game case where he was a very minor character. With that I decided on the Mob Psycho 100 spread, to my friend's dismay. The day before, my friend said I should show Max Mittelman the tweets I claimed to have made about Ritsu so I prepared them on my phone as my turn at the front came.
I walked up excitedly waving my One Punch Man lanyard a high school friend had bought for me when he returned from Anime Expo last month. I opened up my folder to show him a picture of Saitama excitedly, but then said I actually wanted him to sign my Mob Psycho 100 spread. I told him that I love both series and I was so surprised how he went from the bored Saitama to a very cute emotional Ritsu to which he responded, "YEAH!! That's what a voice actor is!!" I said I twit to him about Ritsu while I watched the episodes and that he probably doesn't remember.
"Gosh, please don't remember," I said as I showed him my phone with all the tweets.
"I remember!" He said.
"Oh jeez."
I told him that one of the tweets at least (my most embarrassing one) I didn't want him to see but someone @ him on Twitter so he did see.
"Who did it?" He asked as he looked closer. "Oh, Gigi! Gigi's the one who drew THIS picture right here!"
He pointed at one of the art prints he had up for sale at his table. What an INCREDIBLE twist of events.
After that we took a photo (I paid for it LOL 'cause my friend SAID I MADE IT THIS FAR I MIGHT AS WELL) and I suggested we do a One Punch Pose.
So the wild thing here is that I was cosplaying as a character from
Mob Psycho 100 but I insisted on doing a One Punch Man thing.
The last thing I tried to say to him as my friend finished up getting his autograph was "Sorry dude, tough break!" which was a something that sort of became a meme.. NOT REALLY IT JUST EXPLODED A LOT WHEN I LIVETWIT THE SCENE WHEN I WAS FIRST WATCHING IT...
SORRY DUDE TOUGH BREAK pic.twitter.com/fmMV4koGlB
- Hikarii @ CR Expo (@Hikums) December 12, 2016
Max Mittelman proceeded to say that line four times in Ritsu's voice. I am happy with this end.
My friend wasn't going to be able to make his Yoshitaka Amano autograph signing because he had to go so I offered to take his place for him. I told him I could mail it to him if he wasn't able to pick it up from me later. He kept saying he was really grateful but it was no big deal for me since he did the same for me. Plus I planned to stay at the convention until the end anyway. I chatted with other people in the line as die-hard Final Fantasy fans all showed me their most treasured collections they wanted the great artist to sign. The line went by very slowly because he was personalizing each signing with a drawing just like Hiroshi Shimizu tried to do. Seriously, offering to do such a thing is AMAZING. I'm an artist and I can only doodle so much repeatedly within a given time frame. He is truly a pro and very kind to take his time to make it special for everyone. A guy before me had carted his rare out of print one of a kind collection around all day just for this signing. He put it in two other boxes since the collection was fragile. I know he is happy with this signing.
When it was my turn, I told Yoshitaka Amano that his art was very beautiful and inspiring. I am put in awe because of how powerful his work was. The kind translator relayed my words to him, and Amano-sensei thanked me. A CRX crew member asked if I had been at his panel. I said I couldn't unfortunately, since an autograph session I was at took too long and ran into it. The crew member showed me a photo of the drawing demonstration done at the panel. I asked what his tools he used. It was really impressive and I'm grateful to how kind and thoughtful the crew member was to show me that. I wonder if my appreciation for his art really showed through with my primitive words? I didn't feel what I said carried half of what I really felt but if it did, I can be happy with myself.
My friend simply asked for a signature at the from but the woman accompanying Amano-sensei said he could draw on the back so he did.. You know, this wasn't even my ticket for the signing since I missed it but I felt so blessed to receive such kindness from everyone.
I took extra care to make sure everything dried before I put it away. I thanked everyone from the bottom of my heart and headed out.
Me talking to Amano-sensei!
Looking at this again, his face looks so kind.. I'm really moved to tears.
Signed the front
Illustration on the back
My friend will be really happy when he picks this up. I can't wait for him to see it. I'll tell him my experience too of course!
I finished my time at the convention meeting people at the Artist Alley again and then went home. I still had homework to do that night!
All in all, CRX was very fun! I had a great time and was treated very kindly. I stayed safe and met many people. I am really a lucky person. Now it's back to work!