J-Pop Summit Festival 2011

First thing I did upon arriving on Saturday was to check out the arcade version of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA. From what I know, this is the only arcade cabinet of this game in North America so far. Having not played the PSP release of this game, I was pretty nervous about playing this game in front of others. Nonetheless, I paid the $1 for the single play and waited in line. Having seen people play on a variety of difficulty levels and noticing that Easy difficulty seemed way too easy, I decided to try my hands on Normal with ”こっち向いてbaby" and barely passed the stage. There was some glare on the cabinet screen that attributed to mistakes as well as adjusting to the controls (Think Playstation style buttons but lined horizontally rather than in a diamond). The cabinet also has a touchscreen for selecting things on the menus and has L and R buttons for navigating through the song and module selection menus. The game also appears to be running at a full 60 FPS for those of you who think the PSP version's was too choppy (I wouldn't know since I haven't played it and gameplay videos are not very accurate about this.). 　

While killing time before the K-ON! mini-concert and Volume 3 premiere that came afterward, I came across a crowd observing this tea ceremony and decided to get a shot of it while it was in progress. I guess the J-Pop Summit Festival wasn't just about the current trends.

And here we are in VIZ Cinema getting ready for the English voice actresses of K-ON! to put on a show for us prior to the Volume 3 screening. While waiting in line to get into the theater, quite a few people were baffled at what was going on and had no clue what K-ON! is, which I found a little surprising seeing that schedules with maps were widely available (Although I did notice that they weren't passing them out at the entrances like they did last year.). I was sitting in the second row for this event seeing that the first row seemed a little too close in my opinion.

Shown left to right: Shelby Lindley (Kotobuki Tsumugi), Cristina Vee (Akiyama Mio), Karrie Shirou (Hirasawa Yui), Ki Xi Chan (Nakano Azusa), Cassandra Lee Morris (Tainaka Ritsu). They performed 4 or 5 songs for this concert including the opening and ending. I noticed that there wasn't much enthusiasm for this event perhaps due to the small capacity of the theater. Not that it was a total letdown, though, but maybe for next time, I should do what my friend suggested and just have fun at a concert my own way and potentially get some others in the audience to follow along rather than just awkwardly stopping after getting weird looks from others.

With the concert over, the clean-up crew arrives and Volume 3 commences shortly afterward starting with episode 9. I found the dub to be quite decent and found some of the twists to the lines to be quite amusing. However, within 2 to 3 minutes into episode 11, the screening was abruptly shut off, and a staff member came out and told us that we were not supposed to be shown that episode. I do recall there was supposed to be a Q&A, but I either had left right after this announcement or it was cancelled last minute (Unfortunately, I literally collapsed onto my bed within a half hour after I got back.).

Later that night, I went with a friend to the VIP party at New People. After getting some food and refreshments, we decided to wait in line to check out Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA since we had unlimited play as paid guests (My friend paid during the Kickstarter project phase, so he's also a donor.) even though we played only once, so we could check out other things that were going on. One of the press members provided reference sheets with the button layout that some people used in order to play the game more easily. This time I played "Melt" on Normal difficulty, completed the stage, but did not clear it with the required percentage.

Unfortunately, most of the guests of honor were in the VIP Lounge reserved only for them, press members, and those who paid/donated at least $100. Cristina Vee and Shelby Lindley did mingle with us regular guests and even took it to the dance floor (missed out on this photo opportunity) and Ikura-san and Kozue-san gave us a performance of "Luka Luka Night Fever" after the raffle giveaway had ended.

誕生日おめでとうございます、いくらーさん！

After getting out of bed from collapsing the previous night and checking out the Oakland Chinatown Streetfest, I headed over with another friend back to San Francisco for the K-ON! autograph session and got an autographer poster and album covers to singles from the second series (I jumped on the K-ON! bandwagon after the limited editions of the albums for the first series were discontinued.). Unfortunately, this friend is more of a tokusatsu fan and was quite disappointed that the festival and Japantown as a whole was lacking in this aspect. If anyone can suggest any events or something similar that emphasizes tokusatsu media, please let me know, so I can make it up to him.

I came to the conclusion that people will try to claim seats in the front as quickly as possible for the K-ON! outdoor concert (Their first one and supposedly their last performance until Bandai Entertainment decides to license the second series as well.) and decided to claim seats in the front for myself and some friends. Having arrived early, I decided to check out Emi Meyer shown here, a part-Japanese artist who performs in both English and Japanese. I found her music to be enjoyable and might buy some of her albums in the future.

The cast of K-ON! takes the stage with a much more enthusiastic audience, most of whom claim to know what the anime was this time and sing a couple more songs that were not featured in the previous concert. Of course, an outdoor concert isn't without its glitches. The instrumental didn't come on at first, and the cast attempts to entertain the audience in the meantime. Once the music problem was solved, it was a tad too loud for a few seconds but was lowered to a more suitable volume. We got an encore of "Don't Say Lazy" this time around (I'm a little surprised they didn't go for "Cagayake Girls!" like they did for Anime Expo since I personally think it encourages more audience participation.). Overall, I enjoyed this concert much more than the one at VIZ Cinema despite the technical difficulties.

Unfortunately, my friends didn't arrive until the beginning of the Vocaloid dance competition, judged by none other than Ikura-san and Kozue-san of Danceroid. Prior to the start of the competition, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Ikura-san (The first time I sang this two days in a row.). The winner, Tiffany Fuiji, shown here with the Danceroid members, got the opportunity to dance with them right afterward. One of my friends thought she was a member of Fanime's Maid Cafe, and he would appreciate it if someone can confirm this.

After the Vocaloid dance competition had ended, Zaneeds and DJ Amaya got the audience pumped up with a free dance to their Vocaloid and anime remixes. I was dancing for a while, got off the stage to switch roles with my other friends to keep constant watch on our belongings, and got back on in time for DJ Amaya's take on "Cruel Angel's Thesis" from Neon Genesis Evangelion. After the free dance had ended, I found this person who I confirmed to be cosplaying Ikari Gendo from the aforementioned series. Here he is wearing my glasses since he didn't seem to have his own pair.

Money was a little issue for this event due to Anime Expo the month before. I decided to buy these coasters since they were cheaper at JPNToys than at Anime Expo while one of my friends got himself Great Eastern Animation's entire line of Vocaloid T-shirts (not shown).

Aniplex USA was also giving out these Durarara! posters if you follow the directions as written on their Facebook or Twitter pages. These ranged from complimenting the company to imitating Lady Gaga (I think some of you will be able to immediately figure out what had to be done for this particular task.).

A preview of what I got the cast of K-ON! to sign.

All in all, the J-Pop Summit Festival was enjoyable despite some shortcomings. I will most likely return to this event (probably dressed as one of the alternate outfits for the Vocaloids) if it continues to be held in the summer from this point on. Having played it twice this weekend, I would like to see a wider release for the arcade version of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA and perhaps even a home console release.

In the meantime, I'll have to deal with the life of a college student and find some time to get some cosplay work done (It looks I'll have to get Homura's outfit commissioned or bought online, though.). I also plan to get some more tips from other crossdressers and cosplayers before doing it myself again and embarrassing myself in public. Depending on how things go, I may go check out Pacific Media Expo in November and/or Anime Los Angeles in January. Animation on Display might be another possibility if I decide to pay a visit to the Bay Area that weekend.