Yaoi-Con Report, Part 2.
Nov. 10th, 2010 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elwenSo, picking up where I left off...
Since the Bishounen Auction went so late, and I had already checked out the dealer's room and art room and everything, I decided I should sleep in a bit and just be back in time for the seiyuu brunch.
That almost did me in.
As you may have picked up by now, they auctioned off 11 slots for a private brunch with the seiyuu guests. It was sheer luck that I was became curious about the pre-con auctions and joined the LJ comm in time to see it coming. I ended up camping out for the bidding to open and was maybe third or so to grab a slot. I tried not to mention it much for fear of being attacked by jealous fans.
Anyway, the brunch attendees were supposed to meet at 11:20, and I set out at 10:30, which was getting a little late -- it was so hard to get out of bed -- but still should have been fine since the drive time is less than half an hour. Then, two exits away from the hotel, traffic came to an utter standstill. I kept watching the clock and thinking I would be okay, but I took the next exit off the highway and tried to go local, which was probably a mistake. By 11:20, I was only a few blocks away, but those blocks looked like they were going to take me forever. I wanted to cry. I called James to get a number for the hotel -- since Yaoi-Con didn't provide a direct number -- and on the second try with the hotel I actually got them to put me through to con staff. I will probably never know who that nice (male) voice belongs to, but he probably spared me a lot of blood pressure and some kind of driving citation. He very calmly took everything down and told me he would run over and tell the staff member in charge of the event that I was on my way.
I ended up getting there just around 11:30, and everyone else was running late (including the seiyuu), so it all worked out. We were ushered into our little room off the bishounen brunch area, given our own three bishounen to wait on us, and then just waited for the seiyuu to come. (And one of our bishies was Reno, who was one of my favorites from the auction, score!)
The brunch went a little like the panel did, with us asking questions and them responding. We got more out of them about their work and auditioning and being in multiple series (which somehow always end up with recording sessions scheduled at the same time) and whatnot. Like with the panel, I loved just sitting and basking in their presence. Okiayu-sama seemed the more talkative, while Kiuchi-san was busy stuffing his face. ^o^;; Also, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
summer_queen mentioned in her summary, they bought this jack-o-lantern sourdough for us that the bishies cut up and served. ^^
Near the end, we asked if they had any questions for us, which is when they asked about how we became fans of seiyuu. As they described it, the typical Japanese pattern is to read gensaku and have a favorite character, then watch the anime adaptation and fan the seiyuu because he plays the particular character. I think all of us there were pretty adamant that it was the voices, though of course we like the characters, too. I also tried to explain that it had to do with some anime making its way to the U.S. before the gensaku, though I'm not really sure about that. But I guess fansubs existed in the pre-internet VHS days, whereas as far as I know scanlations didn't come around until scanning and digital editing was easier. But there are certainly a number of series I've tracked down and watched solely because Okiayu-sama is in it, like Marginal Prince and Jigoku Sensei Nube.
After the brunch, about half of us found ourselves together again at the end of the Yamane autograph line. I decided since I had the ticket I might as well use it, and I would just hope that I would still make it to and through the seiyuu line in time. Late Saturday afternoon I had run into some people again who told me the seiyuu autograph line went really quickly and they actually finished early -- a fact which I should have realized, because I had run into them in the dealer's room (and willed myself not to stalk them). So at least I knew it wouldn't be like the Takanaga line.
During Yamane-sensei's panel, they had handed out little postcards for us to write messages to her, and they did so again for the autograph line. Since I left the panel early, I decided I'd write her a message while waiting in line. In Japanese, of course. It's kind of sad how much that simple little message strained my Japanese abilities. All I really said was that hers were probably my first yaoi series, and the characters and situations were really hawt, and I looked forward to enjoying her series in the future. (The last being somewhat of a white lie, since I don't actively follow her stuff anymore.) I discovered that I've really forgotten how to write kanji. I kind of knew that, but it was more depressing in reality. I had to scribble out words like 私 on a scratch paper to make sure I was getting it right. In the end, my brain abandoned me and I could not for the life of me remember the kanji for たのしむ, so I wrote it it hiragana. Ugh.
The person in front of me commented on how pretty my note looked, written out in Japanese (if only she knew!), and we struck up a conversation about the translators not doing a very good job. I don't really blame them, but it's still regrettable. It's one thing to speak and understand Japanese. It's another to remember what you've heard and relay it back. Especially when the speaker has gone on for a while, your notes will only capture so much of it, and usually the nuances are lost. I had been thinking about the courtroom interpreters, who are amazing, but I realized that wouldn't really work either because those interpreters talk over the speaker, and we would still want to hear the guests. So what they would have to do is record the guest's answer, then when he was finished play it back into an earpiece for the interpreter. A bit too technologically advanced for a con. So all I could do was be very, very glad that I understand Japanese.
A side note on the bad translations issue: one aspect I found particularly amusing was that Takanaga-sensei's translator was not really familiar with her work. I gathered that he was provided by DMP, and maybe they briefed him on the conversion between Japanese and English titles . . . for the licensed series. But at one point she was talking about Kimi ga Koi ni Oboreru, which I think is unlicensed, and his translation just kind of waved it off as "other series". The seiyuu's translator just left most of the titles untranslated, though she said "Teni--Prince of Tennis" a lot. Anyways.
So I got an autograph from Yamane-sensei. The person in front of me was dressed up as... um, I forget... Vald, I think, and wanted Yamane-sensei to sign the costume. Yamane-sensei was very impressed and excited and took a picture with her. I think I already said, but Yamane-sensei is just such a sweet, pretty lady. I didn't really interact with her when she signed my copy of Finder, but it was neat all the same.
Then I went to the next line, for the seiyuu autographs. I learned from one of the brunch people, while we were in the Yamane line, that we were allowed to use multiple tickets if we just went back to the end of the line. I played with the idea briefly, but a combination of embarrassment at not having a second thing for Kiuchi-san and it being overkill to have both CDs signed by Okiayu-sama convinced me not to. These two guys joined the line soon after me and we had to explain to them that the autographs were ticketed, though the handshake session was not. One of them swore a bit and complained that the staff had told them no ticket was needed. I really should have just given them my extra ticket, by my brain didn't work fast enough, and they walked off in disgust.
The girl behind me in line was a big fan of Kiuchi-san -- probably the only one I met. Everyone else gave me the impression that he was in Okiayu-sama's shadow this con. She was the one who sat near them at the auction, and also ran into them a couple times elsewhere. She was really worried that Kiuchi-san would recognize her and think she was stalking them. But I don't think they were really registering individual people that much. I don't think they even remembered that I had been at the brunch, when I went past them.
The person in front of me had the Gravitation DVD box for Okiayu-sama. So I guess I wasn't the only K fan. But I really wanted a direct connection between the seiyuu and what he was signing, not just "you were in this but aren't any of these particular characters", so I'm still glad I found the Hyper Rainbow CDs.
The translator was there to convey exactly where we wanted them to sign. I handed her the Saiunkoku animation book first, probably because I was starting to have trouble holding both it and the CD, even though Okiayu-sama was the first signer. So she handed it to him, with it open to Ryuuren, and I had to catch her and thrust the CD at her. But the book was already in Okiayu-sama's hands, and he looked at it and was like, "Ah, I was in this, too." I confess, my brain kind of went "Oh yeah, that's right," but outwardly I agreed and tried ineffectively to help him as he was flipping through trying to find Kurou. Kiuchi-san had noticed by now and was asking, "Really? Did we do that one together?" Okiayu-sama finally found Kurou, squeezed into this tiny little corner on Reishin's page *sweatdrop*, showed everyone, and handed the book on to Kiuchi-san. He signed the CD without comment, and I collected both items, and then it was over. But I will never forget what I think of as my "Saiunkoku moment" with them. :D When I left, they were still trying to figure out if they had had a recording session together.
After that, I decided I was done with my star-chasing, so no second autograph or handshake session for me. I wandered around instead. In the dealer's room, DMP had a small rack of random Japanese manga for $2 each, so I flipped through them all and picked up a cute little one-shot called それでも強く、抱いてくれ。 by Takami Jiro. It turned out not to be as awesome as it seemed from a quick flip-through, but it gave me something to do during the painful parts of closing ceremonies, so I can't complain.
Then I made my way to the library, thinking I would sample some more series. I think I had glanced at some English DMP stuff on Saturday, and wanted to revisit some series I had dropped when they got licensed. *ahem* I still have a copy of the first volume of Gorgeous Carat (in Japanese) sitting around somewhere... So I flipped through the second volume of that in the library, and decided I should get the rest of them (in Japanese). Then I sat down with La Esperanca. I was about halfway through the second volume when they started "encouraging" us to leave. I decided I was hooked, and I wandered back to the DMP table to buy up what they had of the series. Yes, I decided since I hadn't bought any of it yet, I might as well get it all in English and avoid the trouble of a large Kinokuniya special order. They were $4 each and buy four get one, so it would be cheaper, too. (It's not a big factor, but it always pisses me off that English manga is $10+, which helps keep me a big Kinokuniya patron.) Unfortunately, they didn't have any copies of volume 2, even though everything else was in abundant supply, albeit scattered everywhere. I found out later that the series is over, so I actually have it all . . . except 2, which I hadn't finished yet, so I can't touch the rest until I go home and pick up my Amazon package this weekend. I get what I pay for, I guess.
After that, it was time for closing ceremonies. As I've already said, I'm not sure I'd do it again. It had its fun moments, but mostly it was full of the not-so-great aspects of the con.
See #3 here for a further explanation of the spanking issue. Am I weird for knowing how it's supposed to work?
Also, I kept praying that the announcer guy with the cat-o'-nine-tails knew how to use it -- because he did, a couple times. It looked alright, but that's really out of my bailiwick. I wonder if the con has any lawyers?
So anyway the con kind of ended on a not-so-great note, but I could look at Okiayu-sama's signature and smile.
Speaking of which, I have no cosplay pics (well, a couple, but not enough to post in a gallery like I usually do) but I want to show off my autographs. I had waffled about whether I wanted some of them personalized, but in the end the issue was decided for me because they were all required to be. I assume that's to keep people from running off and auctioning things off on eBay.
Anyway, I don't really want my pictures all over the internet, so I'm keeping them friends-only. Sorry. Head here if you are special enough and want to see autographs and seiyuu. (The mangaka asked that people not take pictures, and while the request was blatantly ignored by basically everyone, I will at least respect them by not posting any.) Be forewarned that the picture of Yamane-sensei's autograph, on the second page of thumbnails, is not worksafe. ^^;;
And so that was Yaoi-Con 2010. Don't know if I'll ever go again. Maybe when they bring Midorikawa Hikaru, whom I've decided is the next seiyuu I really want to see. ^^ Or Ishida Akira, but I don't know if he does any BL. (Then again, I didn't know that Okiayu-sama does, either.) But I have some good memories, and no major regrets or gripes, so.
And now you're probably hoping I will stop posting about nothing but yaoi like I have been for the past two months. Well, I'll have to talk about Togainu no Chi in my next anime post, but I think I'm mostly done other than that...
Sunday
Since the Bishounen Auction went so late, and I had already checked out the dealer's room and art room and everything, I decided I should sleep in a bit and just be back in time for the seiyuu brunch.
That almost did me in.
As you may have picked up by now, they auctioned off 11 slots for a private brunch with the seiyuu guests. It was sheer luck that I was became curious about the pre-con auctions and joined the LJ comm in time to see it coming. I ended up camping out for the bidding to open and was maybe third or so to grab a slot. I tried not to mention it much for fear of being attacked by jealous fans.
Anyway, the brunch attendees were supposed to meet at 11:20, and I set out at 10:30, which was getting a little late -- it was so hard to get out of bed -- but still should have been fine since the drive time is less than half an hour. Then, two exits away from the hotel, traffic came to an utter standstill. I kept watching the clock and thinking I would be okay, but I took the next exit off the highway and tried to go local, which was probably a mistake. By 11:20, I was only a few blocks away, but those blocks looked like they were going to take me forever. I wanted to cry. I called James to get a number for the hotel -- since Yaoi-Con didn't provide a direct number -- and on the second try with the hotel I actually got them to put me through to con staff. I will probably never know who that nice (male) voice belongs to, but he probably spared me a lot of blood pressure and some kind of driving citation. He very calmly took everything down and told me he would run over and tell the staff member in charge of the event that I was on my way.
I ended up getting there just around 11:30, and everyone else was running late (including the seiyuu), so it all worked out. We were ushered into our little room off the bishounen brunch area, given our own three bishounen to wait on us, and then just waited for the seiyuu to come. (And one of our bishies was Reno, who was one of my favorites from the auction, score!)
The brunch went a little like the panel did, with us asking questions and them responding. We got more out of them about their work and auditioning and being in multiple series (which somehow always end up with recording sessions scheduled at the same time) and whatnot. Like with the panel, I loved just sitting and basking in their presence. Okiayu-sama seemed the more talkative, while Kiuchi-san was busy stuffing his face. ^o^;; Also, as
summer_queen mentioned in her summary, they bought this jack-o-lantern sourdough for us that the bishies cut up and served. ^^Near the end, we asked if they had any questions for us, which is when they asked about how we became fans of seiyuu. As they described it, the typical Japanese pattern is to read gensaku and have a favorite character, then watch the anime adaptation and fan the seiyuu because he plays the particular character. I think all of us there were pretty adamant that it was the voices, though of course we like the characters, too. I also tried to explain that it had to do with some anime making its way to the U.S. before the gensaku, though I'm not really sure about that. But I guess fansubs existed in the pre-internet VHS days, whereas as far as I know scanlations didn't come around until scanning and digital editing was easier. But there are certainly a number of series I've tracked down and watched solely because Okiayu-sama is in it, like Marginal Prince and Jigoku Sensei Nube.
After the brunch, about half of us found ourselves together again at the end of the Yamane autograph line. I decided since I had the ticket I might as well use it, and I would just hope that I would still make it to and through the seiyuu line in time. Late Saturday afternoon I had run into some people again who told me the seiyuu autograph line went really quickly and they actually finished early -- a fact which I should have realized, because I had run into them in the dealer's room (and willed myself not to stalk them). So at least I knew it wouldn't be like the Takanaga line.
During Yamane-sensei's panel, they had handed out little postcards for us to write messages to her, and they did so again for the autograph line. Since I left the panel early, I decided I'd write her a message while waiting in line. In Japanese, of course. It's kind of sad how much that simple little message strained my Japanese abilities. All I really said was that hers were probably my first yaoi series, and the characters and situations were really hawt, and I looked forward to enjoying her series in the future. (The last being somewhat of a white lie, since I don't actively follow her stuff anymore.) I discovered that I've really forgotten how to write kanji. I kind of knew that, but it was more depressing in reality. I had to scribble out words like 私 on a scratch paper to make sure I was getting it right. In the end, my brain abandoned me and I could not for the life of me remember the kanji for たのしむ, so I wrote it it hiragana. Ugh.
The person in front of me commented on how pretty my note looked, written out in Japanese (if only she knew!), and we struck up a conversation about the translators not doing a very good job. I don't really blame them, but it's still regrettable. It's one thing to speak and understand Japanese. It's another to remember what you've heard and relay it back. Especially when the speaker has gone on for a while, your notes will only capture so much of it, and usually the nuances are lost. I had been thinking about the courtroom interpreters, who are amazing, but I realized that wouldn't really work either because those interpreters talk over the speaker, and we would still want to hear the guests. So what they would have to do is record the guest's answer, then when he was finished play it back into an earpiece for the interpreter. A bit too technologically advanced for a con. So all I could do was be very, very glad that I understand Japanese.
A side note on the bad translations issue: one aspect I found particularly amusing was that Takanaga-sensei's translator was not really familiar with her work. I gathered that he was provided by DMP, and maybe they briefed him on the conversion between Japanese and English titles . . . for the licensed series. But at one point she was talking about Kimi ga Koi ni Oboreru, which I think is unlicensed, and his translation just kind of waved it off as "other series". The seiyuu's translator just left most of the titles untranslated, though she said "Teni--Prince of Tennis" a lot. Anyways.
So I got an autograph from Yamane-sensei. The person in front of me was dressed up as... um, I forget... Vald, I think, and wanted Yamane-sensei to sign the costume. Yamane-sensei was very impressed and excited and took a picture with her. I think I already said, but Yamane-sensei is just such a sweet, pretty lady. I didn't really interact with her when she signed my copy of Finder, but it was neat all the same.
Then I went to the next line, for the seiyuu autographs. I learned from one of the brunch people, while we were in the Yamane line, that we were allowed to use multiple tickets if we just went back to the end of the line. I played with the idea briefly, but a combination of embarrassment at not having a second thing for Kiuchi-san and it being overkill to have both CDs signed by Okiayu-sama convinced me not to. These two guys joined the line soon after me and we had to explain to them that the autographs were ticketed, though the handshake session was not. One of them swore a bit and complained that the staff had told them no ticket was needed. I really should have just given them my extra ticket, by my brain didn't work fast enough, and they walked off in disgust.
The girl behind me in line was a big fan of Kiuchi-san -- probably the only one I met. Everyone else gave me the impression that he was in Okiayu-sama's shadow this con. She was the one who sat near them at the auction, and also ran into them a couple times elsewhere. She was really worried that Kiuchi-san would recognize her and think she was stalking them. But I don't think they were really registering individual people that much. I don't think they even remembered that I had been at the brunch, when I went past them.
2:55 PM Just got autographs from the seiyuu. Translator handed the Ryuuren page to Okiayu, and he was like, "hey, I was in this, too," and found the page with Kurou in a tiny corner. I was like yes, but nonono please sign the Clannad CD. ^^;;
The person in front of me had the Gravitation DVD box for Okiayu-sama. So I guess I wasn't the only K fan. But I really wanted a direct connection between the seiyuu and what he was signing, not just "you were in this but aren't any of these particular characters", so I'm still glad I found the Hyper Rainbow CDs.
The translator was there to convey exactly where we wanted them to sign. I handed her the Saiunkoku animation book first, probably because I was starting to have trouble holding both it and the CD, even though Okiayu-sama was the first signer. So she handed it to him, with it open to Ryuuren, and I had to catch her and thrust the CD at her. But the book was already in Okiayu-sama's hands, and he looked at it and was like, "Ah, I was in this, too." I confess, my brain kind of went "Oh yeah, that's right," but outwardly I agreed and tried ineffectively to help him as he was flipping through trying to find Kurou. Kiuchi-san had noticed by now and was asking, "Really? Did we do that one together?" Okiayu-sama finally found Kurou, squeezed into this tiny little corner on Reishin's page *sweatdrop*, showed everyone, and handed the book on to Kiuchi-san. He signed the CD without comment, and I collected both items, and then it was over. But I will never forget what I think of as my "Saiunkoku moment" with them. :D When I left, they were still trying to figure out if they had had a recording session together.
After that, I decided I was done with my star-chasing, so no second autograph or handshake session for me. I wandered around instead. In the dealer's room, DMP had a small rack of random Japanese manga for $2 each, so I flipped through them all and picked up a cute little one-shot called それでも強く、抱いてくれ。 by Takami Jiro. It turned out not to be as awesome as it seemed from a quick flip-through, but it gave me something to do during the painful parts of closing ceremonies, so I can't complain.
Then I made my way to the library, thinking I would sample some more series. I think I had glanced at some English DMP stuff on Saturday, and wanted to revisit some series I had dropped when they got licensed. *ahem* I still have a copy of the first volume of Gorgeous Carat (in Japanese) sitting around somewhere... So I flipped through the second volume of that in the library, and decided I should get the rest of them (in Japanese). Then I sat down with La Esperanca. I was about halfway through the second volume when they started "encouraging" us to leave. I decided I was hooked, and I wandered back to the DMP table to buy up what they had of the series. Yes, I decided since I hadn't bought any of it yet, I might as well get it all in English and avoid the trouble of a large Kinokuniya special order. They were $4 each and buy four get one, so it would be cheaper, too. (It's not a big factor, but it always pisses me off that English manga is $10+, which helps keep me a big Kinokuniya patron.) Unfortunately, they didn't have any copies of volume 2, even though everything else was in abundant supply, albeit scattered everywhere. I found out later that the series is over, so I actually have it all . . . except 2, which I hadn't finished yet, so I can't touch the rest until I go home and pick up my Amazon package this weekend. I get what I pay for, I guess.
After that, it was time for closing ceremonies. As I've already said, I'm not sure I'd do it again. It had its fun moments, but mostly it was full of the not-so-great aspects of the con.
7:02 PM I forgot, there are lots of creepy people here, especially when you're not lining up for guests. Also, people do NOT know how to spank.
See #3 here for a further explanation of the spanking issue. Am I weird for knowing how it's supposed to work?
Also, I kept praying that the announcer guy with the cat-o'-nine-tails knew how to use it -- because he did, a couple times. It looked alright, but that's really out of my bailiwick. I wonder if the con has any lawyers?
So anyway the con kind of ended on a not-so-great note, but I could look at Okiayu-sama's signature and smile.
Speaking of which, I have no cosplay pics (well, a couple, but not enough to post in a gallery like I usually do) but I want to show off my autographs. I had waffled about whether I wanted some of them personalized, but in the end the issue was decided for me because they were all required to be. I assume that's to keep people from running off and auctioning things off on eBay.
Anyway, I don't really want my pictures all over the internet, so I'm keeping them friends-only. Sorry. Head here if you are special enough and want to see autographs and seiyuu. (The mangaka asked that people not take pictures, and while the request was blatantly ignored by basically everyone, I will at least respect them by not posting any.) Be forewarned that the picture of Yamane-sensei's autograph, on the second page of thumbnails, is not worksafe. ^^;;
And so that was Yaoi-Con 2010. Don't know if I'll ever go again. Maybe when they bring Midorikawa Hikaru, whom I've decided is the next seiyuu I really want to see. ^^ Or Ishida Akira, but I don't know if he does any BL. (Then again, I didn't know that Okiayu-sama does, either.) But I have some good memories, and no major regrets or gripes, so.
And now you're probably hoping I will stop posting about nothing but yaoi like I have been for the past two months. Well, I'll have to talk about Togainu no Chi in my next anime post, but I think I'm mostly done other than that...
no subject
Date: 2010-11-11 05:40 pm (UTC)divinepresence of my favourite seiyuu I surely couldn't have eaten anything (actually, doing anything but giggling nervously and making an idiot of myself). But my favourite seiyuu are others anyway (however, if it should ever occur that Miki Shinichirou and Sakurai Takahiro come to Germany, I seriously don't know what I'd do...)no subject
Date: 2010-11-13 06:47 am (UTC)In other words, the food didn't really distract us all that much. It was still a con, though, and keeping yourself fed at a con is one of those important, oft-neglected details.