Japan Expo (day two) : CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP!!
Day two at Japan Expo, but first day for the our favorite studio!!
Main events : the Cosplay contest and the signing cessions!!
To get an autograph, you had to win a ticket in a lottery, either organised by Japan Expo or Kaze and Pika. Some had already won one on the internet (which was my case), but others to queue. And what a queue!! All the tickets were gone in thirteen minutes on the Kaze/Pika booth and the line for the Japan Expo lottery counted several hundreds of people. It went all the way down the hall... A friend of mine got the last winning ticket ^^
In the alleys, there were many cosplayers. Here are a few of them :
Maru & Moro from Holic
Lil' Kuro from TRC, with his mother ^^
Yuuko and Himawari from Holic
Akira from Clamp School Detective
Kurogane & Fye from TRC
Kobato from... Kobato (I met her at the C&M booth ^^)
I didn't get a very good seat and I could only stay for a little while, because I had to inform the organisators of the signature cessions of my presence...
Still, I can tell you that before the actual show, the CLAMP were on the scene. All of them said a few words. From what I remember, Nekoi said it was her first time in Europe and all of them were very excited because it was there first time watching a cosplay show.
chibiyuuto-san already gave the winners of the contest in his own report so I won’t repeat it. A friend who was there told me that all the winners got to hug the CLAMP (so lucky!!) and that some were crying a bit.
I met with the girl who won the Ioryogi-san plush toy at the end of the signature cession. Her Shaolan had also won a ticket, and as he was among the last ones to arrive, when the CLAMP saw him, they told him to get his Sakura with him. It was quite funny, because with her wings it was not easy to move.
So pretty!!
The Oh-so-famous Ioryogi-san plush!
In this one, you can actually see the stage the CLAMP were on.
And here with Shaolan
When we arrived in the queue, they told us three things :
1. No photo allowed for non-professionals (it was the same during the cosplay contest by the way)
2. Only official products could be signed. (I had problem with my page from the calendar but they finally agreed after showing it to the man who was, in my opinion, CLAMP’s agent.
3. The CLAMP would be late, so no questions. (the fact was that CLAMP were the ones to ask questions to the fans the end so… XD)
What can I tell you… my heart was beating like crazy, to the point the staff asked me if I was okay XD I almost stumbled when it was my turn.
First, you talked to Ohkawa-sensei and Nekoi-sensei, though their translator (a very nice young lady ^^). Ohkawa-sensei thanked me for coming and I couldn’t help asking the translator to tell her it was the other way round, especially because my first manga was CCS and I was turning 20 this year too. That made them laugh. She also asked me about my pendant, which was Fye’s stick. I also noted that she signed next to Fye in the drawing, but well… Nekoi-sensei did not say much, just “thanks for coming and reading our works”, but she seemed quite intimidated and her smile was so cute! But really, the cutest one in my opinion was Mokona-sensei! I thought I would be nervous in front of Ohkawa-sensei (well, it was the case too), but Mokona-sensei is so much… well, not impressive - she has such a friendly expression - but yet… she immediately said a bright “Konichiwa!” and so I answered. She also asked about my pendant (everybody loves Fye XD) and finally it was the turn of Igarashi-sensei, who said in a pretty humorous tone “sorry for the wait!” before telling me “thanks for coming!”
I was so happy, and that must be why some reporters I had not noticed - how can you notice anything when you’re close to you idols? - asked me how I felt. I repeated what I had told to Ohkawa-sensei and added that it was a dream come true. And then I had to move, and for a moment I feared my legs were going to give up under me XD
Here are some pics of the signatures:
