Seeing them directly is better! especially when you get 3rd row from front seat

Best voice on Saturday was definitely Suara, her second song was very good. Nana, Yukarin, and Minorin also perfect, well everyone did very good check out danie~ post for more info about Saturday Animelo

On Sunday animelo, Momoi is definitely the best, Hocchan is also very cute!! JAM Project also very good (too bad no Okui.. well she was on the Saturday animelo tho..), and also the Idolm@ster girls were great, glad they sang plenty of idolm@ster songs, Relations was really good! oh and also Aya-chan looks chubbier and prettier

When I heard Saturday Animelo theme song (Yells), I felt something was missing. which is JAM project voices, realized this on Sunday Animelo. it needs Kageyama voice!

Small post for today, the internet is way too unstable and also I need to pack my things, leaving Japan tomorrow.

Here are the cosplay photos for day 3. Only got 40 minutes to take the photos, the coslay ended early at 3pm because of rain…

Enjoy the pictures

Click to see all the images (43 images)

…..

I’ll post comiket day 3 cosplay photos soon. I didn’t take any cosplay photos on day 1, was busy queuing in the company booths.. ^^, enjoy the photos

I’ll post up the other comiket post later today

Click to see all the images (131 images)

danie~ also did cosplay on day 2

The comiket ended around 3.30 because of rain. Normally it runs untill 4pm. Some of the pictures have different ligthings, I was to lazy to change my camera settings because of the cloudy weather :p

Finally, Animelo Summer Live 2008 has been announced!

I first read the good news in Mizuki Nana’s blog.. she reported the press conference which was held 3 days ago. Minorin, Kurinoco, and the concert master Makkun also mentioned it in their blogs. This year’s theme is Challenge.

Press conference (April 11)
(back) Ishikawa Chiaki, Chihara Minori, Kuribayashi Minami
(front) Kageyama Hironobu, Okui Masami, Mizuki Nana

As written in the poster, this year they are dividing the gig into 2 days, each will feature different artists:
August 30 (Sat) ALI PROJECT, GRANRODEO, Kuribayashi Minami, Chihara Minori, Mizuki Nana
August 31 (Sun) Ishikawa Chiaki, JAM Project, angela, Hirano Aya, Momoi Halko

There could be more artists to come, but I’m perfectly happy with the list. Ishikawa Chiaki’s back! Too bad Suara and Jyukai didn’t make the list, they were awesome last year. My only concern is the collaboration.. I hope the 2-days thing won’t affect that –the fangirl in me demands more Nana-chan and Makkun duet~ >_<

This year venue will be Saitama Super Arena which is twice the size of Nippon Budoukan (where Animelo 2007 was held). It can fit up to 37,000 fanboys/girls depending on how they set up the stage..

Check out the official site for more info.

Update:
More and more artists have been confirmed:
August 30 + savage genius, Tamura Yukari, Suara
August 31 + Psychic Lover, Kurobara Hozonkai (a visual kei band with Horie Yui), ELISA

I knew it, Yukarin had a Budokan concert last month and her CDs are under King Records too, so her appearance is given. This year Animelo gonna be a blast. Kill for a ticket! xD

Supanova is a two days event (Saturday and Sunday), but I couldn’t come yesterday ^^; Enjoy these cosplay pictures from Sunday Melbourne Supanova 2008.

Hit the jump to see the photos (43 photos).

Some backstages photos, the cosplay contestants

The cosplay competition

The presenter

Won encouragement award

Won best group

Won best costume

Won best cosplayer

Won encouragement award

All Tamarket (anime shop) female staffs were cosplaying. Haruhi, Mikuru and Hatsune Miku

Voice actors

Spike Spencer, Monica Rial, and Colleen Clinkenbeard

I hope next time there will be Japanese seiyuus… Kugimiya please ><

Wrestling stage (definitely not moe!)

Dollfies club, never knew there’s dollfies club in Melbourne :O

And today loot from Supanova is Kotobukiya Saber, bought it for A$37, quite cheap

Camera Info

Nikon D40, AF-S Nkkor 18-55mm Lens

Akihabara Channel has made an Interactive Map of Akihabara in English, complete with store locations and photos. I’m sure this will help me a lot for my next Japan travel (next year!).

Akihabara Map.

Read this news from alafista, and I want to add the link to the official site, and the voice samples.

You can see the list of shinku voiced samples from this link (Japanese). or directly go to this link or this link to hear shinku saying something (just press the play button).

Anime Network, ADV opened free legal streaming anime video late last month (November 2007). Currently this site is only open for U.S and Canada internet users (they do IP checking, I had to use proxy to get in >_< ). The videos they offer are high quality video. Best part from viewing from this site is that it’s legal, and FREE (they do have ads in the anime, just like TV).

List of anime available (as of 21st December 2007):

• Ah! My Goddess FOF
• Air Gear
• BAST of Syndrome
• Chance Pop Session
• Comic Party Revolution
• Gilgamesh
• Gurren Lagann (subbed)
• Jinki Extend
• Kurau Phantom Memory
• Magical Play
• Paniponi Dash
• Saiyuki
• Utawarerumono

They add new episodes every Thursdays.

Anime distributor outside Japan are dieing at the moment, sales are declining and some even facing bankruptcy mostly because of illegal downloads. That’s why this year we heard case like ODEX (and Comcast). Distributors have to think different kind of distribution method in order to survive. I do welcome this method of distribution, because it’s win for everyone (distributors and viewers). So try to support Anime Network Online by watching anime from their site so they’ll get good viewer rating (get more money from ads and provide more anime). It’s free!

another anime streaming provider is Bost TV (Australian/New Zealand based), but not all their animes are free.

Be very careful on buying this Alter 1/8 Mokyu Mokyu Dark Saber, plenty of anime shops have bootleg version of this Mokyu saber (and obviously the sword version too..). This figurine is a wonderfest limited edition figurine, so it’s actually a rare figurine, most shops in Japan are selling this figurine for more than 9000yen.

I did some research about this bootleg figurine, and found the differences between fake and original mokyu saber.

Differences between the bootleg (fake) and the original:

• The original has darker suit, and more vibrant color.

• Original has round eye, fake has squarish eye. Original eats burger with meat and lettuce, Fake eats burger with green meat..

• Original has small logo on the burger bag.

• The box reveals the most obvious difference, the original one has black front, while the fake one has the white front.

If you have the bootlegged version, try returning the item and asking for refund, use this information to proof that the item is fake.

Went to eGames Expo this Saturday. eGames Expo is a game exhibition, something like Tokyo Game Show, but smaller
The show was held for 3 days, 16-18 October, Friday-Sunday. I only had time for Saturday, there were eminence show and Haruhi dance competition on Friday, couldn’t come because of work

there are more than 20 pictures after the jump.

Ubisoft stall, they are showing Haze, Beowulf and Assasin Creed:

Nintendo area, the queue to play Super Mario Galaxy:

Still Nintendo area, lots of game here, almost all Wii 1st party games are shown:

Sony area, too many games to remember ^^; :

Sony caravan, packed with games:

EA Games, showing Crysis, Simpsons, Fifa 08:

Intel booth, they also had presentation about their new 45nm processor, which will be released at 2008:

The main stage and Halo3 area:

Game stall “Fury” mmo game

Cosplay Events:

Here are the judges:

3rd place, lymselia from Suikoden 5:

2nd & 1st place, Amy from Soulcalibur and Lulu from FFX:

Best skit: