ANIME NORTH 2014 DAY 2: Mission… somewhat accomplished?

Weather: 24’C, Mostly Clear Skies and Windy
Photography Below!
It is Day 2 of Anime North, and I was on a mission. Get to the god damn photoshoots. Initially I was supposed to arrive at the convention for noon by leaving at eleven, but again- the same traffic woes from yesterday delayed me and I only managed to catch a little bit of Kill la Kill Photoshoot which was my first task and end up missing the Sailor Moon Photoshoot. The second mission was pretty much wandering around taking pictures of whatever I could that had caught my interest. Saturdays I must say, always feels more densely populated, to the extent it almost as if it is overcrowded at times. (Hell at one point, at the International Plaza Hotel, the halls were so crowded, you couldn’t move anywhere, there was a line up of people trying to hustle through!!!)

It was a damn good thing that I didn’t wear my cosplay today because it would have made it a hassle to do the Attack on Titans’ photoshoot. Man, they had started early when I arrived and it was hard to snag a good spot. And every time I managed to get a good place, people would butt in front, and instead of stepping further back from the cosplayers, they were stepping forward instead (which drives me nuts because here I am trying to get a nice picture and you get someone’s head or lens in the shot!) So I was forced to stand on my knees and dammit I wish I had though gardening knee-pads, they would have been so convenient and do the squads to the extent my legs were trembling, threatening to buckle under at any moment. Luckily that did not happen- but my knees sure ache like a bitch. But the pain was worth it as the Attack on Titan photoshoot was so much fun and absolutely fantastic. I had a lot of images to sort through, and picked out the best ones of the shoot, so I hope for those who have participated in the shoot likes them despite the odd angle I was on (same problem at the Kill la Kill Photoshoot). Sadly, I missed both Sailor Moon and Fire Emblem’s photoshoot which was a real bummer. I really wanted to go to them, but I didn’t make it on time ; ____ ;. At least tomorrow there will be one more Sailor Moon photoshoot, so I will do everything in my power to be there!!!!!!!

As for panels, I went to both the Crunchyroll and Aniplex’s Industry panels, which quite frankly was quite a waste of time. I had left Crunchyroll’s in between and then returned for Aniplex, hoping there would be some new announcements like they would do at Anime Boston. The joke was that the “new” announcements they were making, were already announced or have been known of for ages now. There was one particular show (and I guessed it correctly within .02 seconds) that we weren’t allowed to film or take pictures on our cameras, and I will give you a hint because this is nothing new nor was it a surprise given that they have licensed its pre-sequel title: It is coming out this fall and it is a remake.
However, I was extremely surprised with one particular announcement. That is the license of Anohana’s Movie. Frankly I had thought NIS America had that in the bag since they licensed the TV-Series, but it looks like that wasn’t the case. The one thing that both Crunchyroll and Aniplex’s announcements shared were the announcements of adding new movies to their catalogues. Here’s a quick breakdown of what was featured at their panels.
Crunchyroll’s Announcements:
– Discussion about their new manga feature
– Premium Memberships
– New Titles:

•  No Dropping Out ~Back to School at 35~ Release Date: TBA
  (They did not make it clear whether it was jdrama or kdrama, or I didn’t hear the announcer)
• Frenemy Rumble of the Rat (Starts with 6 Episodes on Monday, 3/week for free members)
  
• Sword Art Online II – July 5th
• Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure Re-Edit Version (3 episodes total, it is a 90 minute recap of the first season)
• More movies are expected to be added to the catalogue, the most recent: Princess and the Pilot

Aniplex’s Special Announcements:

• Anohana Movie (Coming out July 15th – Pre-Orders Opens on May 27th) 
• Gurren Lagann The Movie (Double Feature BD Set – Coming July 15th)
• Kill la Kill Cast/Team will be at Anime Expo having a special panel event just for that.
• Kill la Kill will be getting an English Dub and will be revealed on Wednesday, May 28th, 7:00PST on Youtube LIVE
• Persona 3 the Movie #1: Spring of Birth, Collector’s Edition (IMPORT)
• Mahou Shoujo Madoka Rebellion Movie Part 1 & Part 2 (Coming July 15th, LE BD & DVD Combo Set)
  
• Silver Spoon (Complete 1st Season, Coming July 15th)
• Sword Art Online II Premiere Screening at Anime Expo July 14th (Featuring the Author Reiki Kawahara and Abec, Original Character Design)
• Aniplex+ (Aniplex’s shop where you can (only) pre-order exclusive figures
• *Chance to Audition for the English Dub of Magi: The kingdom of Magic at Anime Expo
  (So if you are hoping to make a debut in a voice-acting career, this might be your chance! For more information you can go to: http://www.anime-expo.org/2014/04/aniplex-of-america-and-bang-zoom-entertainment-to-host-magi-the-kingdom-of-magic-open-auditions-at-ax-2014/ and https://www.facebook.com/BangZoom for more details.)

The downside of staying throughout the entire panel of Aniplex’s announcement was that I missed out the Fire Emblem Photoshoot that I had wanted to go to. *HEADESKS* I should have left. Stupid raffle, the temptation. I almost won the first prize too, SO CLOSE, just three numbers off!
After the panels, I decided to take some more individual pictures and then head off into the dealer room again. This time, I actually managed to find the new section of the dealer room where the manga dealer I had failed to find yesterday was. Although I certainly could have saved a lot more money by purchasing the ten volumes I bought yesterday, I still managed to buy the remaining volumes that weren’t available at the other booth (since these had at least six titles’ latest volume out as an early release). So I bought the remaining titles on my list for 80$ (buy seven and get one free) and since Spice & Wolf Volume 10 & 11 was out of stock (NOOOOO!!!! ; ___ 😉 nor did they have the final (or any volumes) of Book Girl, I ended up choosing the first volume of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series because not only it was super expensive, but also there weren’t any other titles I wanted to pick up. It’s something I haven’t decided whether or not it’s a series I want to collect, but since it was free, I decided, “What the hell! I’ll get it!” And that was the end of my shopping trip because all I had left was 10$. In the end, I despite buying from two manga different dealers, I still managed to save 20$ by purchasing my manga at the Anime Convention instead of purchasing my books through the store I usually order them from. It was definitely worth the six months wait.
By 7PM, with nothing else on the schedule that interested me, I decided to go home. It is certainly an earlier wrap-up than usual, but it might be because I spent more time at the convention yesterday, I’ve been squatting like crazy during the Attack on Titan shoot (that my legs are killing me) and on top of that, I had (and still have) a terrible migraine.
Tomorrow I will go to the artist alley and pick up the prints from my favourite artists! Hopefully the prints I want won’t be sold out… I also plan to cosplay one more time, get to the Sailor Moon photoshoot and wrap up my adventure at the convention. For now, my coverage on this week’s episode of Captain Earth and La Corda d’Oro – Blue Sky will be delayed until Tuesday the latest.
Below you can find and enjoy the pictures I have taken! If you plan to repost anywhere,  Please credit by linking back to the entry/this blog. NO HOT-LINKING!!!!