Doremi (left) and Tasha (right)
Spiral Cats is a professional all female cosplay group from South Korea. Tasha (the leader) and Doremi (the newest member for the group) made their first ever appearance at a US convention.
They were very busy at the convention, not only they had this panel where they answered questions from their fans but they also held autograph and photo sessions, not to mention being part of the group of judges at the Masquerade event.
Check out their panel here.
Beto Jubei
Tachikoma 2.0
Two years ago Paul Wilson wowed his audience when he showcased (video here) his remote control skeleton of a Tachikoma.
Two years later he is back with his work in progress for a new, bigger and improved version of his favorite multiped robot.
In this panel he explains the process, tools and methods used to bring this new version together and remain sane at the same time.
Beto Jubei
Sunrise Official Panel
Even if you do not recognize the name Sunrise as an animation company, surely you can recognize titles like Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Mobil Suit Gundam and The Vision of Escaflowne, Tiger And Bunny and The Big O II just to mention a few of them.
At this panel producers Yoshitaka Kawaguchi and Kazuhiko Tamura and talk about current and future titles.
Watch the entire panel here.
Beto Jubei
Yoshiki Sakurai
Yoshiki's successful career as a screenwriter began while still attending collage when he participated in writing 8 episodes for the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
After that, his career has skyrocket working at Production I.G with titles like Blood+, xxxHolic, Redline Appleseed XIII and Giovanni's Island.
You can watch his very funny his panel here.
Beto Jubei
The Aniplex Guy
The presence of Aniplex at Anime Expo has been on a constant growth since its humble beginnings but still filling up one of the regular LP rooms back in 2011 (watch panel here), and for the last couple of years they have been booking solid the Petree Hall with its 2,000+ seats
It is not a secret that they know what titles their fans want to see and how they go about to get it, that is the reason that year after year they put out a well organized panel full of news and release dates for their hottest properties, and of course, lots of swag.
Watch Aniplex's full panel here.
Beto Jubei
Goku Powering Up!
We have finally arrived to the inevitable "next step" in the list of power levels achieved by Goku and some of the Z fighters:
After more than 10 years since the last feature film, we now have Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods where Goku once again must protect Earth from impending doom at the hands of Beerus the God of Destruction.
This movie will have a limited release in the United States from August 5 to the 9, click here to see a list of theaters showcasing this film.
If you missed the panel at Anime Expo, we have it here. See you at the movies.
Beto Jubei
Kyle Hebert
Once again Danny Choo and Courtney Kraft took to the stage to welcome the numerous guests of honor at this year's convention.
For the majority of the guest of honor this was their first time attending Anime Expo and they were impress by the level of enthusiasm not only during the opening ceremonies but at their respective panels as well.
Almost every single part of the anime industry was represented here with writers, directors, singers, voice actors\actresses, character designers, cosplayers, fashion designers, presidents and producers.
Watch the entire opening ceremonies here.
Beto Jubei
Stephanie Sheh as the voice of Usagi\Serena Tsukino a.k.a. Sailor Moon
Almost 20 years ago the original "Girl Power" from Japan invaded the US airwaves and spread like wildfire across the TV sets of America.
We could not wait for the next episode of this series to see how Serena and her troop of Sailors Guardians will save earth from chaos and punish evil foes in the name of the Moon. And now, we have a new adaptation of the original series called "Sailor Moon Crystal".
Then entire English voice cast of this new series got together and packed the house at one of Anime Expo's panel and we have the video here to prove it.
The Sailor Moon Crystal serie is available online via Viz's Neon Alley, Crunchyroll and Hulu
Beto Jubei
Once again this year's convention was held at the familiar grounds of the Los Angeles Convention Center and with an estimated 80k+ attendees (last year it maxed out at 61K people) it pushed not only the registration systems to its limits but also the brave volunteers that keep this convention together and the overall capacity of the convention center to handle the flow of people moving from one part of the building to the other trying to attend a panel.
I remember a line from the World War Z movie when Brad Pitt goes to Israel and meets with a mossad agent and he talks about the Tenth Man strategy, where if nine people agree on a plan or course of action, it is the responsibility of the Tenth Man to take the opposite stand and work towards that goal.
Maybe a Tenth Man could have said: "we are going to have more that 55k people trying to register on the first day", "critical data on the registration systems will be lost", "this year we are going to have an increase of attendance of more than 20%" and then workout a plan of action under these parameters.
Overall we have lots of fun and we were very lucky to be able to attend several key panels which I will be posting on out site daily.
Now if you excuse me, suddenly I have the need to wait in line in front of my bathroom... but nobody else is here... weird.
BetoJubei
After getting our badges we got together with our daughter at our favorite restaurant in Little Tokyo.
This will be our last "real" meal during AX; from this point forward it will be pizza, hotdogs and milky ways.
See you tomorrow bright and early.