AX 2013 Con Report: Day Three

It’s my unexpected last day at Anime Expo 2013.

Let this be a lesson, kids: attending conventions will deplete all your energy and endurance if you are not careful. Get your sleep; take your showers; spend fifteen minutes just relaxing with non-convention related things and decompress yourself.

After finishing and submitting my Day Two convention report at nearly 4:00am, I passed out then awoke at 9:45am, zombie walked into my bathroom to wash up and get dressed. Honestly, if it weren’t for my intrepid best friend who I roped into driving with me to the convention, I really wasn’t sure if I would’ve made it there safely.

Because my earlier plans to attend a conference fell short, I basically spent a good couple of hours with friends simply people watching. Honestly, it’s one of the best things about conventions. You can find a perch, relax, and just watch your favorite characters pass by.

11:30am rolled around and it was time for the Attack on Titanpanel. If there was one specific panel today I dare not miss, it was this one. George Wada is the amazingly gracious anime producer for Attack on Titan, as well as successful titles such as Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings, Guilty Crown, and the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society movie.

The panel was hosted by Danny Choo, who, hands down, has to be one of the best panel hosts I have ever seen. He was hilarious, an amazing translator, and handled the admittedly high energy crowd and their, at times, very awkward questions with such poise and good humor. There was even this little bit of cheek on his screen before the panel started. I really couldn’t help but be charmed by him.

The panel started with a little introduction and some rule setting (No taking pictures or videos of the screen once the panel starts!), then it was off to see the RAW footage of Attack on Titan episode 13.5.

Let me tell you: experiencing Attack on Titan on huge almost theatrical projectors with full surround sound with a crowd of practically a thousand people. Good. GOD. Just the opening sequence itself was emotionally wrecking.

As much as people will gripe that 13.5 is a recap episode, I personally believe that it was a perfect episode to play during this panel. First of all, it was raw footage, or rather an episode with absolutely no subtitles. So, unless you understand Japanese, you won’t be able to understand the intricacies of what the characters are saying. To me, one of the best features of Attack on Titan is that every episode reveals an intense plot point. For those who are up to date on the manga, watching the raw footage on what comes next probably wouldn’t be a big deal. However, what about those who haven’t read ahead in the manga and do not understand Japanese? What about those in the panel who haven’t watched Attack on Titan and just happened to be curious about the hype and wanted to check it out? You would have an intense plot happening and not have the slightest clue on what’s going on. Furthermore, because I do know that the next episode will have a lot of plot revealing dialogue, I know it won’t be just an episode where you mostly soldiers versus titan fights.

You know what does have mostly soldiers versus titan fights? Episode 13.5: the recap episode.

13.5 does a really amazing job summarizing the episodes prior to it. Even those who hadn’t watched Attack on Titan yet would’ve received a good general gist of what the show is about. There are giant humanoid beings who broke down a wall and started eating people; and there are soldiers who fly through the air using machines strapped to their hips and slice the napes of the giant humanoid beings that eat people; and the main guy’s Mom gets eaten by the thing when he was a kid and now he’s a soldier who can turn into one of the things and now needs to carry a rock to plug a hole in the wall. There. Done. Anime series explained in a nutshell.

I’m not going to reveal which major plot points Episode 13.5 revealed, but I will say it was like watching an amazing AMV, or anime music video. The music to Attack on Titan is just an eargasm condensed to sixteen tracks. The composer, Hiroyuki Sawano, who also composed the soundtrack to Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, captures the bleak and dire atmosphere of Attack on Titan and the rallying passion of the human race who decided to fight back against the terrifying force of the Titans. While I absolutely love Linked Horizon’s epic opening theme song, Guren no Yumiya or 紅蓮の弓矢, or Crimson Bow and Arrow (DROP THE FULL SINGLE ALREADY!), the original soundtrack is filled with such passion inciting music, you want to go into work wanting to punch the clock in the face. Just buy it. It’s amazing.

The rest of the panel, producer George Wada revealed how he came to work for Production I.G. (he started in sales and computer engineering!) and revealed some of the production notes for the anime. I’m sure anyone who would get into anime production or have an appreciation for animation notes, sketches, or just art in general would really appreciate the small intricate steps it takes in order to bring your favorite characters to life. Wada explained a lot about how animators tended to draw fandom favorite Mikasa as a cute girl, but they needed to keep her drawn as a badass, tough lady. The creator Hajime Isayama also sends his notes and sketches to the production so they keep consistent with his vision and design. It was really funny to see photographs of people making exaggerated faces as his notes on how the Titans should look like, namely look stupid, but still a little scary. There were even notes about blood splatter and the like when the Titans get taken down or eat people, namely to make it seem less realistic and scary so as not to give people nightmares. Of course, among the crowd, some of us still received from nightmares watching this show. Thankfully, Wada sends his sincere apologies. Overall, there were absolutely no regrets in attending this panel. We even received a wonderful audience question about whether the anime will keep in pace with the manga or slow it down, to which Wada cheekily and encouragingly stated to the audience that it was entirely up to us.

By the way, you can keep with the Attack on Titan anime in all its subtitled glory with over on Crunchyroll.com or Hulu.

Right after the Attack on Titan panel, I high tailed it to the tokusatsu cosplay fandom meet up outside the West Hall. Let’s make it clear that July 6th (Day 2), Los Angeles had a high of 79°F or 26°C. Now, let’s also make it clear on what having a Sentai or Rider cosplay usually entails: tight fitting spandex-ish suits or amor and a helmet. It was just hot, alright?

So, I did find some incredible cosplay in the form of Riders and Sentai in an out of henshin, I totally understand why some decided to take it indoors instead of waiting for everyone outside. Unfortunately, it meant that after a while all the toku people cosplays and fans were split into different places.

Overall, however, I met some amazing people and totally realized I should’ve at least kept up a little more with Kyoryuger, because there were a couple of cosplays I didn’t recognize. I will be posting more during my in depth Anime Expo post in the coming week as well as highlighting the tokusatsu fandom presence at this giant anime convention. Everyone was seriously amazing and friendly and just so enthusiastic for the fandom. It was really great meeting everyone and I really regret not being able to meet up with more of you guys.

Since I really didn’t have any specific plans between the tokusatsu meet up and the MYTH: Legends of Burlesque and Magic show scheduled at 9:30 in the evening, I made the solid decision of just spending my time with my close friends who were there for the day. We spent most of it just sitting around in the Entertainment Hall (where all the gaming and cosplay sets are), eating on the steps behind the convention center, taking silly personal Instagram photos to share with our non-fandom friends, and overall enjoying the atmosphere of the con.

However, it was during this time that I really started to feel incredibly fatigued. I had about three hours to spare between the time my friends left for the day and the MYTH show in the evening. Without something to keep me energized and running on adrenaline, I started to feel just how much running around between panels, gathering awesome information for you guys, meeting with other media outlets, con staff, exhibitors, and artists or just meeting incredibly awesome new people just sapped all my physical and mental endurance. By the time 8:00pm rolled around, someone asked if I was doing okay because I was just practically passed out in the corner of one of the Lounge 21 couches. I realized my hands were shaking from exhaustion, feeling so incredibly rattled, and could barely keep my eyes open. I was running on barely any sleep or mental rest and I realized I needed to make the healthy decision and call it a day. Luckily, my best friend was still with me, so he was gracious enough to drive so I could get home safely.

I can’t say that I’m not disappointed that I had to end my Anime Expo 2013 adventure early and had to miss out on a new and fun event that was the MYTH burlesque and magic show. However, as I sit here with my strained vocal chords and mild fever (ginger honey tea is a godsend, by the way), I am glad that I am taking some time for myself. Hence, the lesson I posed in the beginning of this report was dutifully learned. Pace yourself. Rest. Recover.

So, that’s it for my daily Anime Expo 2013 con report. I will be posting a full wrap report about Anime Expo 2013 as a whole with more pictures and links to all the people I saw, met, and supported HJU. I’ll also be posting a couple of highlight articles I mentioned in passing in my previous daily con reports, so please keep an eye for those.

Thanks so much for keeping up with me guys and for all your support. If there’s anything specific I missed or you have some suggestions for me, feel free to message me on the Twitters @angelicnoir or my personal blog, www.angelicnoir.com.