Fllmetal Alchemist panel, left to right: Travis Willingham, Caitlin Glass, and Vic Mignogna
Boma at 6:52 PM
Vic Mignogna, me and my Hatsuharu hat
Boma at 6:49 PM
Caitlin Glass, me and my Hatsuharu hat
Boma at 6:48 PM
inside the convention center
Boma at 6:47 PM
front of the convention center
Boma at 6:46 PM
left to right: Marc Diraison, Wayne Grayson, Kerry Williams, and Mike Pollock
Boma at 6:44 PM
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been quite busy this month. First off I had a wedding to go to in West Virginia, which was quite fun. ;^P and then this past Saturday (6/18) my friends and I went to AnimeNext in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was a total BLAST!! First off the set up of the convention was convenient for con goers with panels, art gallery and autograph lines were set up before the dealers room. I've only been to one other con and that was BAAF (Big Apple Anime Fest) in 2003. At BAAF evrything was kinda squished together even though it was on multiple floors. Anyway more floor space that was put to good use. The Dealers room was fun too everything from Central Park Media to Cartoon Passion to Funimation booths. Speaking of the Funimation booth I made sure to make an origami crane (or rather tried to, my Friend Kim really just did two and I handed it to the attendant!) The purpose of the cranes, if you don't know already is to raise a demand for another season of Fruits BAsket. The cranes will be sent to Japan to show the popularity of the show. Cross your fingers! Also this year Funimation introduced the next generation of Fruits Basket hats. This year it's Shigure and Hatsuharu. I picked up the Hatsuharu one, very cool! The con also had a great batch of guests: from One Piece they had Marc Diraison (Zolo), Kerry Williams (Nami), Wayne Grayson (not sure which one he is, someone fill me in?) and Mike Pollock (the "next piece of One Piece . . " guy) very nice and entertaining group. I was really looking forward to meeting Wayne Grayson since he did the voice of Benitora from Samurai Deeper Kyo. But nothing could beat the combination of Travis Willingham, Caitlin Glass, and VIC MIGNOGA!! this group is from Fullmetal Alchemist their characters being: Roy Mustang, Winry Rockbell, and Edward Elric. They were fantastic and Hilarious! Travis and Vic kept teasing each other with the "rivalry" between their characters, especially playing off episode 13 Flame versus Fullmetal. They were great together. Also Vic had put together a short film called "Fullmetal Fantasy" where he and a few of the other voice actors cosplayed their characters for the story. It was hysterical. What really pleased me though was the film was only supposed to be 15-20 minutes with the overall "event" being half an hour. Vic and Caitlin stayed an extra half hour to answer questions and show outtakes from the film, and then after THAT they stayed about another hour signing autograph and taking pictures. heheheh Do you want to know what Vic Mignogna's license plate is? it's actually FUL MTL. He loves the show so much! But they were really great. If this opportunity ever arrises in your area I highly suggest you going to see them. Anyway that's it from me. I got a bunch of anime at the con, plus I'm finishing up Escaflowne. so hopefully I'll have another review up soon. toodles
Boma at 4:23 PM
Escaflowne the Movie
Boma at 4:23 PM
I really enjoyed Escaflowne the Movie. It's one of the movies that tries to squish a 26 epsiode series into an hour and a half movie. While doing this leaves the storyline a bit flat with gaps and unanswered questions at the end and little character development, the work itself is beautiful. A stunning style of animation is done with intricate detail and gorgeous colors. There are scenes of beautiful green fields with snow capped mountains in the distance along side scenes of battle next to the gigantic caravan. The first thing that caught my attention, even before the stunning animation, is the music. Yet again we here masterpieces by Yoko Kanno along side Hajime Mizoguchi. Full orchestral pieces accompany these scenes are indescribable. My favorite being the piece during the Escaflowne battle of the armors. Ok, now that my likes are done perhaps a bit of a story overview? Hitomi Kanzaki pretty much suffers from depression and near suicidal tendancies. Until one day she is "called" to Gaia. This pretty much happens within the first 10 - 15 minutes of the movie and is pretty much the confusing, "what the hell is happening?" part, but afterwards, storywise, it does get better. She appears inside the Escaflowne armor while Van is raiding the ship it's being transported on. Hitomi is now believed to be the Wing Goddess who has the power to determine Gaia's fate to either destroy or save. She also has the "power" to summon the Escaflowne. And pretty much the rest is Folken wanting to destroy his sorrow by destroying the world. Van doomed to stop his brother is quite moody and tempermental, in the beginning, wanting to stay the "loner" until Hitomi worms her way into his heart. awwwww! That's pretty much how the story goes with the focus on Van, Folken, and Hitmoi. There is very little of Allen, Dryden, Millerna, and Merle. On a sidenote, the voice acting is very well done. If you have watched Inuyasha in English, you will recognize many of these voices. Kirby Morrow - Van/ Miroku, Kelly Sheridan - Hitomi/ Sango, Paul Dobson - Folken/ Naraku, Scott Mcneil - Jajuka/ Kouga. Though the story falls a bit with not enough development, it is very appealing to the senses. In the least if you have not seen the series this will make you want to for sake of answers and more in depth story coverage. If you have already seen the series you will probably be disappointed. I enjoyed it through it's faults and would recommend it no matter where you stand with the series. But just remember that the first 10 minutes or so are going to be in there own world, let's just say she is taken to Gaia and don't worry about the "how" part of the equation. In the end 8.5 out of 10.
Boma at 1:51 PM
