Animation on Display 2012

First thing first on Day 1 was to pick up my pre-registration badge. There was long lines for both pick up and at con reg.

Saw this while waiting in line. An interesting headpiece I think. Looked like something from someone's cosplay but it was part of the hotel's lobby decor.

My Little Pony was a big theme at AOD. I asked a friend of mine what the hype was with it. Apparently it has something to do with the show, originally being for little kids, having darker undertones that adults would understand that kids wouldn't. I don't watch the show and don't plan to if that's the case.

Rock Band in the game room.

Some Touhou in the game room. I tried a bit myself but failed horribly.

There was a Street Fighter 4 tournament on Saturday. I'm not good at SF4, mainly because I don't have a PS3 and play it. I hope to get a PS3 this year so I can start doing Let's Plays of PS3 games.

A game room is not complete without some retro machines.

My friend shown in the middle decided to do a film project to show what AOD is about. He brought along all the big equipment he could borrow as seen in this picture. I'll share the video if he lets me to here on my post when he's done editing and posts it online.

Why go to Pokemon Gyms when you can just buy them from side vendors. Team Rocket tried doing something like this I think in the older seasons right?

Animation on Display is an annual convention that happens in February here at Hotel Kabuki at San Francisco's Japantown.

Airbender cosplayer I see at a lot of local cons. This was his morning cosplay, unique right?

A attended the Odottemita and Utattemita Showcase that was performed by these two. There actually from my anime club at SFSU and are dancers like Danceroid.

After the dance there was a Vocaloid concert. I was expecting just a video projection of a Vocaloid concert.... so in short I wasn't expecting much.

The guy next to me shows me his Miku glow stick, now becoming very customary to be shaped like a leek.

Before the Vocaloid concert, we had some Vocaloid cosplayers do some dances on stage to buy some time for the back to get ready for the concert.

This solo singer was very good. I don't know the song though but she was really good.

!? A screen? This was unexpected. To me this meant that they were going to try to emulate a real Vocaloid concert? I went to Mikunopolis at last year's Anime Expo so I knew what kind of basic setup was required for a Vocaloid concert. I didn't know what to expect but I became very anxious to see how all this would turn out.

First up we have two character I have no idea who they were. They were a bit buggy with their movements.

It got more smooth when only one character was present. I think more RAM is needed on the computer running this computer.

Then of course...

The face of Vocaloid herself, Hatsune Miku. Her performance was quite good, especially for a 3rd party system emulating a Vocaloid concert. With this its now possible to bring mini real Vocaloid concerts to cons all over.

Here is a full video on the concert at AOD, credits to neutrino006:

The crew responsible for creating the Vocaloid concert, VOCALEKT VISIONS. The main guy of the group is Re:VB of AniMiku (the guy in the white shirt). "Re:VB is the software developer of the AniMiku software, the first program available to the Vocaloid community capable of producing animations used in an environment for Vocaloid concerts." Check out their website for more details:www.animiku.net

At the Dealers Hall.

Front lobby area. Idolmaster cosplayers are seen here.

An artist at work.

People playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Since I decided to participate in the SSBB tourney as well, I spent a good amount of time playing, so I wasn't able to take as much pictures as I would of taken.

Saturday night wrap up.

People lining up for the masquerade. I don't like masquerades much, but they are a good way to end the day and to see the various acts, comedy, talents, and creativity.

I took some night photos outside as well in the Hotel's courtyard area.

Adventure Time cosplay.

Peace Plaza at night.

Day 2

For my Photo Journalism class, I had an assignment to take photos of subjects at a far, medium, close distance. I knew that AOD would be a perfect opportunity to get great photos of cosplay. I wanted to have unique photos that others in my class would not have.

When I was instructing this cosplayer about how to pose, I remembered that my teacher didn't want eating photos. She had Pocky and had planned to take a photo of her eating it but instead went with her looking at a packet of mochi with the look of her looking like she was going to eat it.

C.C. and a friend casually checking in to the hotel. Too bad it wasn't Lelouch....

What was new this year from last year is the addition of these water stations. There were several all over the con. Maybe there was an issue with people overheating?

Dr. Mario

All the stuff I've bought/gotten at all the cons I've been to would still be less than how much this guy got in a two day con.

Again with the far, medium, close photo shots.

These guys were dancing to random songs on their iPod. The ones I heard while passing by were ones I had on my iPod too: The second OP of Nichijou and Irony by Claris from the anime Ore no Imoto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai, aka Oreimo.

Went to a place in Japantown that sells Onigiri, rice balls, along with other stuff as well like dango and mochi.

This TIPS box reminds me of those donation boxes they have at shrines in Japan.

More food stuff.

Burned out already from the con, this cosplayer takes a nap in Miyako Mall.

Tayaki making in progess. Taiyaki are like cream filled pancakes. Yum!

"Hello Kitty is wanted for stealing hearts!"

Lunch! Salmon Onigiri with Guava Hawaiian Sun.

"Like what you see in animes!"

I spent a lot of time in the game room during Day 2, mainly because there wasn't much going on. The only real thing I was planning to go to on Day 2 was the SSBB tournament.

My friend's loot.

Taking attendance for the SSBB tournament.

There was about 20 people based on what I saw on the list. I was in the tournament for fun last year but didn't even beat one person. My goal this year was to at least beat one person. This year I beat two people to get to the semi-finals. Now if that sounds great... it really wasn't. My first two battles were pretty easy, the first was ok but the second guy I fought was a joke really. I barely did anything to him and he pretty much fell off the stage without much hassle. The semi-finals were a very different story. I had no chance of winning at all. My main is (blue) Kirby, but I was fighting R.O.B. in the semi-finals. My opponent was using the fact that I didn't have any long range strong attacks to his advantage by using his laser and D-B move when I was far and attacked hard when getting close. Kirby can only do well if he can get close, and that was the problem I had. All in all it was a good fight. Afterwards battled it out to see who would take 3rd with another guy in the tournament who used G&W. I think I couldn't even kill one of his stock. I got 4th in the tourney, but that was way better than I aimed for so I was satisfied.

Jenga.

Who says Kinect is better than Wii's remotes? Wii still can bring dance to parties or cons with results.

I end with a picture with a guy who is prepared to take the best non-shaky footage of the whole con. I wonder how much all that gear costs and how heavy it is?

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