DarksideniYokoso

I am currently debating whether to attend Anime USA in 2 weeks, I probably will go as my last con for the 2013 calendar year.  I have also signed up for Katsucon in February, and am definitely looking forward to that as my first winter con.

But in more immediate news, classes have started back up this week, which also means I've been able to get back together with my martial arts buddies at the college and this semester I've planned ample time to get as much training in as possible.  I'm also looking into joining a local anime club at the college (which, I honestly was unaware of its existence) as well as a local area stunt club through a guy I know at the college.

Finally, though my own story writing and drawing is still largely stalled (for a variety of reasons), I've been really getting involved with music (singing in particular) again.  While I'm singing, whistling, or humming to myself all the time in private, I haven't sang or performed in public in the better part of 15 years, so I've got a lot to work on (including learning some dance moves for a stage performance).

So I've had 2 days to catch up on rest (and meals) since Otakon 2013 came to an end, so I figure it's time to put up my last Otakon journal for the year.  Sunday at Otakon was a shorter day, made even shorter by certain travel concerns so this wont be a very long journal.  *Edit* well the movie review made it long, my apologies

As I mentioned in the previous journal I spent my morning browsing the dealer's room for overlooked prizes.  Tbh, I was mostly just looking to see what was new, popular, and interesting looking to check out online later.  I was also hoping to pick up either a new anime themed bag or mat as I could use both, but I didn't see a design that particularly interested me.  I did come away with a Deadman Wonderland wall scroll (this one here: www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-68… ), as I always try to come away with at least one.  It joins Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Full Metal Alchemist, GTO, Bleach, and Rurouni Kenshin in my room.  And that last item segues me into the final part of Otakon 2013...

For the final two hours of the con I squeezed myself into a crowded video room to watch... Rurouni Kenshin!  The live action movie produced last year in Japan was introduced by Kurosaki Kaoru, Watsuki Nobuhiro's wife who apparently had some input in the production of this movie.  Actually, I missed the introduction as I arrived shortly after the title (Was trying to get every last minute possible in the dealer's room before I took off).

I should say that I am generally VERY skeptical of anime-to-live-action adaptations (or anything-to-live-action for that matter), however I LOVED Kenshin (Manga, and first half of the anime + movies) when I watched it years ago, and loved it when I rewatched it last year as well so I couldn't miss this.  I wasn't disappointed.

Without going into TOO much detail this movie is likely the best live action adaptation I've seen, and should be able to stand on its own as a samurai drama.  The characters were brilliantly portrayed by their actors, particularly Himura Kenshin (Satoh Takeru), Udou Jin-e (Kikkawa Koji), Takani Megumi (Aoi Yu), and even little Myojin Yahiko (Tanaka Taketo), and the cast was generally brilliant across the board from Sagara Sanosuke's boisterous bravado to Takeda Kanryu's avaricious scheming.  The story generally spans the early portion of Rurouni Kenshin from meeting Kamiya Kaoru, saving Megumi from Kanryu, and facing Jin-e, and even a little of Kenshin's past as Hitokiri Battousai.  Of course there were plenty of differences from the story as portions of the plot from the first 20 or so episodes were woven together, but these were blended very nicely and were mostly pleasing changes.  They even found ways to include Hajime Saitou, who was barely involved in this portion of the original story (Originally he made his very first minor appearance during the portion with Udou Jin-e, but in this he plays a minor role throughout).  The screenplay was rather brilliant, the fights exciting and well choreographed and managed to look realistic while still retaining all the classic elements of Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi style (Along with the weapons and styles of the other characters, with one notable exception).  The attention to detail was great throughout, from the appearance of Kenshin's outfit to Sano's giant Zanbatou sword and even Kanryu's classic underbite.  The sets and locations had classic elements of Kenshin while looking much more historically accurate than the original.  Even many of the famous (and lesser) lines of the series were retained (and delivered convincingly).  The movie had plenty of inside jokes and nods to Nobuhiro's writing, but should still be understandable to an outsider with no knowledge of the series (I'll be testing that with a relative in a few weeks).

Seriously though, that's me when I'm in the Otakon artist alley, I don't even think to stop for food or a break.  Though my back and feet were sore as can be when I finally finished my complete circuit of the alley and got back to my room, my only regrets were missing the T.M. Revolution and Home Made Kazoku concert, and that I didn't manage to something from every artist I liked in the Alley.  I did show more restraint this year than last, though I still will be hauling home a large catch.  Main thing is getting to meet a ton of great artists, some new to me, some familiar.  I did not get to bid on anything in the art auction, but that's okay.  There was only 2 items I was thinking of bidding on anyways.

So when my back finally started aching I returned to my hotel to drop off my prizes, rested up an hour then went back for the Otakon Masquerade.  I'm too tired right now for a full review of the Masquerade, but it's always fun.  For one, so many people gather for the Masquerade that you can finally sit back and just take in the huge number of costumes around the arena.  The skits are fun... some of them well made, some of them not so much but most are appealing to the otaku in me.  My primary reason to stay was, of course, the final round of Otaku Idol, which took place after all the 30 or so skits finished.

I wont rant and rave like last night and keep this fairly short instead.  As expected, Renabe appeared comfortable on the larger stage and even choose to go first after winning the coin toss.  She choose a song from Sword Art Online, which was a solid choice given the series popularity.  Of course I've yet to see SAO, but I was probably in the minority on that.  She used more of the stage and used a lot more movement than Akiran has on any round, and she still sang fairly well but she didn't quite adapt to the different acoustics of the much larger arena, and much more powerful arena speakers.  She powered through her song, which left some of the high notes a bit blunt.  It's possible she simply doesn't have the range to hit all of the notes, but it sounded more like she hit the notes too hard which caused them to drift off key a bit.

Akiran's selection of Black Paper Moon from Soul Eater is actually a personal favorite of mine.  IMO Soul Eater is an overrated series with a very disappointing finale, but the song is a very catchy song, I was singing it the first time I heard it.  While she hardly moves around the stage, Akiran does constantly move back and forth, up and down, or side to side and she used every lull in the singing to encourage the crowd to make noise.  She was solid on the notes, both girls were passable on pronunciation of Japanese terms (Though I thought their earlier performances were slightly better in that regard).  One thing to note, both girls sing the english portions of their songs as a native english speaker would... which isn't a fault but I find it more convincing if you can sing the english portions the way a japanese singer would say it.  Regardless, Akiran's performance won decisively (oh, btw, the final round is decided by fan "vote", aka how loud you cheer for them during the judging).  No disrespect to Renabe who is a very capable singer, but both performers were exactly who I thought they were and the final result wasn't close.  Yeah, I know I'm getting too big headed just because I lucked out and picked a winner in the first round.  Seriously though, I really enjoyed the competition and was pleased to see Akiran win it (and yes, I do feel for Renabe who I liked from the start).

Today was artist alley day, tomorrow will be dealer room day.  Granted I don't plan to spend anywhere near as much as I did today, but I'll pick up a few things and hopefully also make the Rurouni Kenshin Movie screening.  I might try to make it into the maid cafe at some point, assuming the lines are absurd.  And with that, I'm heading to bed.

*Edit* yeah I'm not asleep yet.  One final note about the Otaku Idol finale which occurred to me now is that the audience isn't the same audience that sat in the first two days, which makes the judging tough.  I sat for all 3 rounds so i had a good idea of what to listen to and look for in their finale performance, but perhaps a majority of the crowd did not, making them likely to vote for the person who performs second (Whoever went most recently more likely to stick in their minds).

That's all atm.  I just wanted to say how excited I am for this weekend.