So every year in Auckland there's this anime convention that gets held at the same netball stadium. There are other conventions, to be sure, but this one is probably the only convention in the whole of New Zealand that caters specifically to anime. My previous experiences had been pretty decent (it's been a year since my last post on this convention, who knew!) and hopefully this year would be even better. So I packed and set off, managing to arrive there at about one.

The thing about conventions is that it attracts the best and worst people in the fandom. Some people are pretty chill while others can be really obnoxious, and that's just something you'll have to deal with. The community in New Zealand is really small, so it's not surprising that you're going to see some Dr. Who cosplay here and there even though, well, neither Dr. Who nor something like Adventure Time counts as anime.

Most of the merchandise there is really overpriced, but there were quite a few good stalls, since people were selling their own art and things of that sort. I think that by going to conventions, you get a good idea of what the most popular (aka flavour-of-the-month) anime is among the Western fan base. Three years ago, it was Madoka. Two years ago, Attack on Titan and Free, and last year it was Kill la Kill. This year - and you'd never believe it - it was actually Love Live! I'd actually never imagined anyone except for a vocal minority would be into idols. I was wrong.

This convention turned out to be a weird reunion of some sorts. The Love Live cosplayers, who were at the Love Live movie screening, came here as well, and this time their costumes were actually pretty good. Most of the people who went to Noizi Ito's earlier event came here as well. That included the president of my university's anime club, whom I had a nice short chat with. There really are only so many anime fans in the Auckland region, and it gives me a weird feeling that somehow everyone is now together in the same room.

Last time I came, I met a really good artist who drew a lot of Love Live fan-art. It turns out he's come a long way since and now he's well into making his first game. I went to his stall and greeted him, and asked him if he remembered me. He didn't. I said that I was the person who really liked Honoka, and he instantly remembered. I think that's a sort of litmus test for Love Live fans, really, is that you remember people by who their favourite (best) girl is and not by other things like names. I believe he really likes Nozomi and Eli.

I had a really nice chat with him. Like me, he also used to browse a lot of 4chan, and the conversation that happens between two people that browses /a/ is totally different from a more 'normal' conversation. I can't really put my finger on how exactly it's different, but it just is. Anyway, I asked him a bunch of questions about how things are going on in Japan, since he just came back from there. Apparently Love Live is enormously popular (obviously), but @ is holding its ground, and Wake Up Girls is still a spectacular failure. He also told me that no-one in Japan cares about what /a/ thinks - or what the Western fandom thinks in general, rather. Nothing too surprising. 

So I bought some stuff from him, and after a bit of nagging, I managed to get him to sketch me a portrait of Honoka. Maybe this is turning into a yearly tradition or something. I'm pretty sure we only meet like once a year anyway so I might as well make the most of it. But honestly, I have a lot of respect for him, since he's actually a very good artist and obviously works very hard. 

I kept walking on, and then a girl called my name. I looked back and she immediately lowered here head, pretending that she didn't see me. But I recognized her immediately - she was my high school classmate, whom I haven't seen in four years. I couldn't remember her name, but she still looked every bit like how she was in high school. It turns out that she's putting out some of her drawings for sale, and it turns out she really likes Saber and that apparently Fate/Zero is a masterpiece. I told her that I really liked Prisma Illya and she accused me of being a lolicon. Of course I denied it outright but deep inside she was kind of right.

It turns out that the high school arrangement hasn't changed at all. Back in high school, there was a bunch of people who really liked anime - herself included. Most of them are turning up to this convention as well, though I'll probably be gone before they get here. So much for my high school reunion, then, but it was pretty fun chatting to her while it lasted.

Lots of drama happened on the day, as well. But that's a story for another post. 

A lot of things happened this week. This Wednesday, Noizi Ito came to Auckland. I was actually quite excited about this, even though I've never really liked Haruhi (or anything else by her, for that matter). I seriously considered not going, because the event was going to be held at a polytechnic that's two hours away from where I live. But I went anyway. 

By the time I got there, I was pretty exhausted. The event was held at a very small gallery, with prints of her art hanging around the walls. There was also a glass cabinet with a couple of Haruhi figures and dolls. So walking into the gallery (in a surreal way) felt like walking into my own room. I didn't recognize anyone there, aside from the owner of a local anime store who instantly knew who I was. 

Noizi Ito came with her husband. She didn't look very different from her photos, though she looks a bit jet-lagged. The event started about fifteen minutes late. Everyone huddled into the gallery and watched Noizi Ito introduce herself. It was pretty awkward, really, and things got even more awkward when Noizi Ito tried to make a joke and it got lost in the translation. The atmosphere was just very awkward in general, and made me a bit uncomfortable.

Noizi Ito walked around the gallery explaining her work, where her inspiration came from, and all that stuff. It was actually quite dull, and when she finished explaining her drawings we huddled back into the lobby where she was about to do a live drawing of an original character. There was also going to be a raffle, with a signed artbook, a DVD set and a Haruhi nendoroid as the prizes.

She started drawing and everyone watched very, very attentively. Except for a few creepy old men standing near me, who kept on snapping pictures of her even though there was a sign that said 'No Photography Allowed'. I swear, these anime events always attracts the creepiest people. Most people there looked pretty socially awkward, but some were just downright creepy. I don't know why. Every time I go to one of these events, it always happens. 

Next came the Q&A session. I was the first person to speak. I thanked her for coming to Auckland, then told her that I found some of her Love Live fan-art online. So I asked which Love Live is the best Love Live, and why. Everyone in the audience laughed for some reason. Noizi Ito said that she really liked Love Live, and that her favourite girl is Nico because she is very cute and hard-working. Well, I guess this shows Noizi Ito clearly has bad taste. I was going to ask her to do a 'Nico-Nico-Nii' as well, but then I decided against it.

So overall, the event went pretty well. The four hours of commuting almost killed me (I left home at four and got back at around eleven), but I was sort of happy I got to meet the illustrator of Haruhi and ask her a really pressing question - for me, anyway. Noizi Ito was going to make an appearance again at a local convention later in the week. And so that's where I went next.

Some things in life happen purely by chance. Watching Love Live the Movie turned out to be one of those things. Madman licensed the movie's distribution rights in New Zealand a while ago, and had planned a one-time showing of the movie on the morning of September 11. It also turns out that I got hold of this information on the early, early morning of September 11. So clearly the timing ended up being pretty tight. Getting up early to watch some anime is pretty ridiculous, but I convinced myself to do this, somehow.

So I got there fairly early. The location was an underground, art-house cinema - the kind of place where you'd least expect something like Love Live. When I arrived, a crowd was already forming. The crowd looked very similar since they were mostly bespectacled Asians around my age, who were almost constantly playing on their phones. Really goes to show who Love Live usually attracts - single, unattractive, nerdy males. To my surprise, there was also a sizeable number of girls there, most of whom looked equally as nerdy as the guys. There were quite a few cosplayers though, with one particularly good Kotori cosplayer who also brought along his boyfriend. Finally, there was an old couple who must've bought tickets without knowing what they were getting into. "It's anime," one of my peers replied.

I took my seat and waited as the crowd began filling the theatre. There were a total of three white men, two of whom were horribly obese, one of whom was staring obsessively at a Love Live artbook he brought to this occasion. Next to me sat a whole role of cosplayers. The movie starts. Everyone in the theatre applauds. Maki appeared. Everyone cheers. Nico did the "Nico-nico Nii". Everyone did the same thing, followed by a rattle of high-pitched laughter. Hanayo and Rin shares a tender moment together. Everyone 'Awws'. Umi does something stupid. The crowd laughs.

So clearly everyone was enjoying the movie. I was, too, up to the ending of the New York arc. The aspect of Love Live that appealed most to me had always been the slice-of-life. The idol stuff was the icing on the cake, really. But then, the drama kicked in, and things became far less enjoyable. Not that I dislike drama (I love it, in fact), but rather because most of the drama was sorted out in season 2 and there was no reason to repeat it here. The movie, as a whole, was passable in the first half but became excruciatingly boring in the second. Hardly the kind of emotional finale you'd expect from the end of μ's.

Everyone who bought a ticket was entitled to a random shikishi, a poster and a Love Live game code. Judging from the crowd reactions, Eli and Maki were clearly the most popular of all. But I didn't expect just how crazy people got when they opened the shikishi they wanted. The girls, in particular, were screaming at the top of their lungs - cries 'Eli Eli Eli!!' and 'Maki-chan!!!' everyone in the lobby. One Japanese girl screamed 'Watashi no Eli-chika!!' when she opened her shikishi. All of this made me very, very uncomfortable. I've heard of the obsessiveness of the Love Live fanbase before, but watching it first hand was another thing entirely.

In all, it had been a pretty interesting, if not somewhat uncomfortable experience. Although the movie itself was really mediocre, observing the Love Live fanbase ended up being rather entertaining. If anything, it goes to prove that Love Live has become the equivalent of opium among those people. It's pretty dangerous, really, and very scary to think that Love Live is basically making money off people who think that the more they spend, the more real those girls will become. It's hard for me to sympathize with those people. Really hard.

So the debut episode of Prisma Illya season 2's 2nd cour came out a few days ago. The 'story' picks up where the 1st cour left off, although to be honest, episode one had no real story. It's summer break for the girls, they went to buy swimsuits, all sorts of crazy shenanigans happen, Shiro is once again blissfully unaware of how popular he is...and next episode is a beach episode. I've watched the episode twice already, and each time I always wonder how on earth Shin Onuma knows exactly what I (and thousands of other otaku, I imagine) want. They have gotten really, really good at pandering to people like me. With a start this strong, 2nd cour is going to be absolutely incredible.

The weird thing is that, I actually consider the Prisma Illya manga to be rather mediocre. Or at least, the manga is nowhere as good as the adaptation. To be sure, the manga also had its heavy dose of yuri and maids and whatnot, but what made the anime adaptation super good was the VAs and the soundtrack, the stuff that the manga cannot provide. Mai Kadowaki has done a superb job (as always) voicing Illya. Her pitch is so cutesy and well-toned, it's almost obscene. And of course, the soundtrack has consistently delivered the right atmosphere, may it be a violent fight or an intimate, flowery moment between Chloe and Illya. The yuri is as wonderful as it is, but the music really turns the knob up to 11, if you get what I mean.

I have a really hard time understand why I love this show so much, when in fact Prisma Illya pretty much represents everything that's wrong about the anime industry. I mean, episode one practically went all out in terms of piling on fanservice (not that I mind). I think the real reason why this show is so great, is that Prisma Illya has always been naughty and slightly erotic, but has never appeared criminal nor perverted. It's hard to think of another show that depicts lesbian, under-aged incest with such purity and good taste. If I watch another Illya x Chloe scene, I swear I am going to go crazy. Not that I'm not kind of screwed-up already, ha!

About a week ago, I said that I bought about 170 dollars worth of stuff. About two years ago, I'd be buying stuff like figures and collectibles from Japan on a monthly basis. But my interest in this kind of stuff had since died down, and I haven't bought this much stuff in around 9 months. Well, I guess you'd know by now, that in the end I gave into my consumerist urges! So today, I'd like to give a review of the stuff I bought: the Key 10th Memorial Box. And yes, my decision to buy this may have something to do with how much I liked Charlotte...

The Key 10th Memorial Box was released sometime in 2009. As the name suggests, this collector's item was released in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Key's founding. I'm a pretty big Key fan myself (for better or worse), and I've wanted to buy this for a very long time. But for a long time, I was also turned off by its hefty price-tag: 14,800 yen, when it was first released. And since it's a limited edition item, it becomes really hard to find this item six years after its release. So when I saw this item finally float up in Mandarake, I bought it immediately. Shipping included, the box cost me 170 dollars, which isn't that bad at all considering the good condition of the box.

As you'd expect from a collector's item of this calibre, the box is packed full of good stuff. First, the box contains all-age versions of every VN Key released up to 2009. This includes Kanon, Air, Clannad, Tomoyo After, Planetarian, and Little Busters. I can see that some people might complain about the removal of H-scenes, although I personally don't care that much. After all, who reads Key VNs for the terrible ero, anyway? My only minor complaint is that the Little Busters case was, perhaps wrongly, labelled as Little Busters Ecstasy (the 18+ version). The VNs also comes with a slim artbook that contains character sketches, commentary and lots of illustrations. Basically, the stuff you'd expect from a typical artbook. 

The box also comes with an assortment of mini-posters, nicely packaged in slim boxes according to the VNs the posters came from. I can't say too much about the posters, since I have no intention of opening them nor putting them up, but they'd probably resemble the mini-posters you can buy from AmiAmi. So nothing out of the ordinary, really, besides the fact that these posters are 'official'. Same goes with the mug, which is really just a standard mug with Key's mascot on it. I rather liked the fact, however, that instead of a boring brown box, the mug's packaging also featured Ayu and Rin (aka Best Key Girl). Nice attention to detail there.

After posters, mugs and the artbook, it's pretty logical that the collector's items should come with a T-shirt as well. Again, nothing too special here, besides the fact that the T-shirt is far, far too big for me. I'm really not sure why they made it so big, especially considering that Japanese T-shirts are usually a size smaller than their Western counterpart. Perhaps this might say something about the real life appearances of the Key fanbase...

The coolest part of the box, in my view, is actually the assortment of alternative covers they provided. For every VN, they've provided about 2-3 covers which you can insert into the DVD cases. Personally, I'm quite impressed with the range of designs and how unique they look. For example, I really liked the alternative designs for Air's cover art. From certain angles, Misuzu's character design can look a bit autistic, but the alternative covers really made Misuzu look a lot prettier. I think that's a general problem with a lot of Key's earlier work, really, since what's considered 'moe' in the early 2000s is borderline autistic by today's standards. But anyway, it was very nice of them to provide the alternative cover art. Really innovative.

So at the end of the day, was the box really worth its price-tag? Well, the instinctive answer is no. Even if you take away the hefty shipping, the items themselves are really just 'official' versions of things you could print off or download yourself. Not to mention that none of these things will most likely get any use - for example, I'll probably never actually wear the T-shirt. But as a collector's item, the box has a lot of value. Almost like how people buy antiques, not to actually use them but rather as an investment. So maybe in forty years, this box might become an antique or something. Would I still be into anime by then? I'm not so sure.