(Mis)adventures at Anime Expo '08

I knew at that moment, as I walked through the automatic sliding glass doors and immediately noted the stale stench of ripened Otaku freaks wafting through the recycled temperature controlled air of the LACC, that all was lost.

I am referring, of course, to last week's 2008 Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California.

When I was first asked to cover the expo, I was somewhat reluctant. My lacking knowledge of the subject matter, I believed, would render me somewhat unfit for the job. However, I was assured that my role at the convention would be to be to simply report the facts.

"I will take on this gruesome beast," I thought to myself, feeling somewhat reassured. "But I'll need backup."

The Lovely Ms. Loyola

It was at this point that I accepted the assignment under the provision that the company acquire press credentials for my companion and Otaku expert, Sirose Loyola. Her role was to be that of an IGN photographer, and my personal advisor on the ways of the weird.

We arrived at the LACC on Thursday, July 3rd at 11:00 a.m., IGN Comics editor Richard George and I had set a tentative randezvous time of 12:00 p.m., which he naturally interpretted as extremely tentative, arriving at 12:45 p.m. After we obtained our credentials and unnecessary bag of AX-branded swag, it was off to the first task of the con; an interview with J-Pop sensation Shoko Nakagawa.

Shokotan, as she is affectionaly called by her fans, was slated to perform at the Nokia Theater as part of the Anime Expo's weekend festivities, and served as a guest of honor at various events throughout the duration of the con. When Ms. Loyola and I arrived at the meeting room in which the interview was to be held, we found Shoko sitting patiently, elegantly dressed as one of her favorite anime characters (whose name escapes me), with her entourage and Sony-BMG representative. After brief introductions, we kicked immediately into the interview. I asked Shokotan about her new album, upcoming performance at the expo, her interest in cosplay, and of course her impressions of the convention thus far. Shokotan seemed very impressed by the convention, and enthusiastic about her first live performance in the United States.

After the interview we rejoined Comics Editor Richard George, whom had been strolling the LACC's South Hall, collecting free stuff, and perousing the various vendor booths. It was then that we received one of our more amusing assignments: taking photographs of the convention's many costumed patrons.

For those unfamiliar with anime events, many convention goers come dressed as their favorite anime, manga, tv show, movie, video game, or comic book characters, generally, but not exclusively, from Japanese properties. The phenomena is identified as "cosplay" (Costume-Play), and typically involves mimicing not only the appearance of any given character, but also the personality of any given character. The result is an initially surreal, often laughable, and at times, irritating spectacle.

Naturally, the convention-spanning task of cosplayer photography was relegated to Ms. Loyola, whom took to the task with much gusto. Over the span of the three days that we were in attendance, Ms. Loyola took over 700 pictures of cosplayers of the good, bad, and downright terrifying persuasions. Anime/manga enthusiasts of all varieties were dressed as nearly every type of character imagineable--men were dressed as women, women were dressed as men, both sexes were dressed as robots--it was bizarre. Some attendees went all out, wearing quality detailed, professional or homemade costumes. Others did not. One particular instance involved a rather unhygenic looking lad in excercise shorts and flip flops, wearing only a cardboard box with a single line of words scribbled across in marker, for a costume. All the while I was assigned to various industry press-conferences and panels where the biggest publishers announced their lineup for the remainder of 2008, and early 2009.

With our work days starting as early as 8 a.m. and lasting until well near midnight, by the second day, Ms. Loyola and I's enthusiasm was beginning to dwindle. That is, of course, until we witnessed and eventually met the convention's saving grace, one Mr. David Hayter. For those who aren't familiar with Mr. Hayter, he is the voice of the character Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series, and the screenwriter of both X-Men 1 and 2. First, we attended a panel that Hayter hosted wherein he enthusiastically and politely entertained fans by answering their questions and reciting various phrases in the iconic voice of Solid Snake. It was about 20 minutes into the panel that I realized how incredibly personable, patient, and friendly Hayter was with his fans. He sat on a stage for over an hour answering outlandish questions and reciting lines for over an hour, without even showing a moment of irritation or frustration.

It was only the next day that we were able to meet Hayter during a press-exclusive conference. When Ms. Loyola and I arrived in the small meeting room, Hayter was up and about the room signing autographs, and shaking hands. Shortly after we sat down, Hayter approached us, introduced himself and asked for our names. He asked if we wanted anything signed, which I had hoped he would ask, and had him sign the sleave of my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4. As the conference commenced, Hayter exemplified his humble nature even further by addressing me and others by name when calling upon us for questions. During the panel, I asked Hayter some information about his new projects--a film adaptation for the popular video game Lost Planet (See: Solid Snake Discusses Lost Planet), and action/adventure film which he is set to direct, but could not comment on. Hayter also discussed working on the Metal Gear series and his treatment for the potential film adaptation (See: David Hayter Talks Metal Gear). Finally, the conference concluded and Ms. Loyola grabbed a last minute photo of Hayter and I.

For the last day of IGN's coverage of the anime expo, I was assigned one final interview with David Bowers, the director of 2005's Flushed Away and the upcoming animated film starring Nicholas Cage and Donald Sutherland Astro Boy. I won't go into too much detail on the interview as you can read it here. To sum it up, we got free shirts and Bowers was pleasant...Didi I mention the free shirts?

Anyways, moving on, the final event that we were charged with attending and photographing was the expo's big production, the masquerade. The masquerade took place in the stunningly beautiful (and relatively new) Nokia Theater. The masquerade Ms. Loyola knew, and I soon discovered, consisted entirely of cosplaying enthusiasts performing original skits related to various anime series to dubbed audio dialogues and soundtracks. Ultimately, however, the event was a wash. The consistently annoying AX staff would not allow Ms. Loyola, whose photographs would have been published to an audience of over 31 million readers, to move out her seat to take pictures. So, in the absence of a flash photography and varying angles and subsequent blurry photographs, we sat back and attempted to enjoy the show. Which, for me, proved to be impossible. After the show concluded, we walked to mein auto in a haze of exhaustion, delerium, and defeat.

Fierce Loathing

In the end, working the Anime Expo was perhaps one of my most physically, psychologically, and emotionally grueling assignments to date. Unfortunately, the quality of Ms. Loyola and I's work was such that it apparently caught the eye of some higher ups, and I am now actively being considered for further convention-oriented assignments.

Damn it all to hell.