Thanks!
(This has been written off and on throughout the day, so it may seem kinda sloppily put together

)
First off (not chronologically), I heard this song while in the exhibit hall (where all the merchant booths are). I hunted down a worker to purchase the CD. Turns out the anime
K-ON! has the most terrific ending theme to ever follow an anime episode:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUKwH81csts[/youtube]
Click this if you want to hear the full version
While I didn't take many pictures (:(), the few I did take will have to wait until a bit later to post.
I ended up not entering the Street Fighter IV tournament, as the Morning Musume concert was scheduled for the same time; and as the concert was one of the largest reasons I went, it would be plain
stupid of me not to attend. And it was an absolute blast. It's easy to see pop artists as pretty faces with a nice voice, but after seeing a nine-member group sing and dance on stage for an hour and a half, it's quite apparent that
they earn every bit of their fame.
Morning Musume's panel was fun too; highlight for me was a fan asking to play rock-paper-scissors with one of the group members (he lost and had to impersonate a cat as punishment).
Saturday I attended [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=531[/url]Kari Wahlgren[/url]'s panel. Laughed to myself a little at how everyone else there is like "OMG HARUKO FROM FLCL" (which I haven't seen) and I'm just "OMG SUPPORTING CHARACTER FROM STELLVIA" (Arisa Glennorth (of Stellvia) is one of the highlights of the past few years for me). She was kind enough to sign my Stellvia tin/box thing (that holds all the DVD volumes) and the insert/card from my Figure 17 DVD case (she even seemed pleasantly surprised to see the Figure 17 insert). Highlight of the panel was someone who asked her to answer the next question as Haruko (from FLCL), she says she'll try
then he sat down; to which she responded "That's awesome! You should get cool points for that!." She then responded to the next question in character
NIS America had a panel about video game localization; while it wasn't
quite what I was hoping for (information on just how the localization process works), it was still fairly interesting to attend.
To top it all off on Saturday night, I went to the Masquerade with two friends (even where cosplayers can show off their costumes, put on little shows, and so on). After all the entrants were finished, a pair of schools came on stage to put on a percussion/music show (mostly percussion playing to prerecorded music tracks for other instruments). They said they'd be putting on an anime themed performance. I had one of those moments where your brain gets so excited about something, it refuses to process information. The first bit they played was
immediately clear to me, but my brain refused to tell me what it was.
They opened with the theme to Chrono Trigger, my absolute favorite video game of all time. You could have
punched me in the face and not have lowered my spirits.
Spoils:
K-ON! CDs; ending theme, two character CDs. Above posted song blew my little head off (
on the first day).
K-ON! Japanese manga (volumes 1 and 2).
HANGRY & ANGRY CD (Japanese artist; ハングリ&アングリ). Cool stuff, [s]
ロマンチックにビオレンス[/s]
Angelia in particular [s]("romantic ni violence" I think, but dunno how to actually translate it.)[/s]
Two Morning Musume CDs (one full album, one single CD with two songs). Good stuff.
Several bits of art from the Artist Alley area; I wish I could draw a fraction as well as some of the people there *sigh*
Smaller notes (note: I've been without internet since Wednesday, so many of the things I learned/noticed have been posted on the internet already):
-XSEED IS LOCALIZING THE SKY CRAWLERS FOR WII!! I SAW IT IN ACTION AND IT LOOKS AMAZING.
-Sakura Wars V (Wii/PS2) will come on two discs; one with English voice track, other with original Japanese voice.
-Sakura Wars V and
Atelier Annie (:D) will release this Fall
-There was a little girl (maybe around 5 years old) handing out buttons at the Crunchyroll booth. "Who wants a butto~~~~n?" No one was taking any (probably wondering if they cost anything), but it was just too adorable to
not take one, and after I did she was in business (at least five people took one right after I did).
-At the auction that went on before closing ceremony on Sunday, an item went for
$2000. I think it was an AX2009 promo poster signed by all the Guests of Honor.
-It is difficult adjusting on the fly to playing Street Fighter on an arcade stick. I managed to play decently on the arcade unit after a couple rounds, but failed to beat my opponent(s).
-I forgot just how funny Ninja Nonsense is. It was great to be reminded in one of the theater rooms.