[07/02-07/05] Morning Musume @ Anime Expo (Schedule/Who's Down P.1)

[Kimuuu]

Live audio from the MM Panel HERE!  warning. lotsa screaming. 

http://tinychat.com/mmpanel

[Masabi]

i hope someone transcribes and puts it online later, i'm listening but i can barely understand

[ChocoMochaKei]

It was a nice thought, but I couldn't hear a thing except maybe that bit when Junjun was speaking.  I don't want to blow my speakers so I'll wait for a transcription. 

[Stirfry]

 

[Datalanche]

Well, me and rena are back at the hotel and I have a few thoughts on what's happened so far today.

Thankfully AX had a better line for the opening ceremonies and exhibit hall. The opening ceremonies were pretty cool. Seeing Morning Musume come out was pretty epic. I had a bit of fun when I rubbed some sunblock into my eyelid. >________> The line for the exhibit hall was damn long, but at least it was in a mostly shaded area. We also didn't have a major delay for it. A nice change from yesterday's mess.

This next part I'm not sure how to write. I don't want to discredit or sound ungrateful to anyone who has invested blood, sweat and tears into getting Morning Musume here to us fans, but... to be honest, the line to buy Morning Musume stuff in order to get the guarantee ticket was the most unorganized, jumbled, failtastic mess I've ever been a part of. When we got there, it looked like a circle jerk around four tables. We eventually found an end, only for some moron to tell us we were in the wrong spot, then a JapanFiles person came around and put us right back where we were, while an AX staffer put other people into another branch of the line. Was this SERIOUSLY the best that could have been done? Does it really seem logical to not have any kind of rail and chain line management for an autograph session that people are clammoring for? Does it seem fair that certain slices of the line were allowed in front of people who were there first? I'm sorry, but that line was pure fail. I guess I should just shut up and be glad we got our tickets, but I almost know someone probably got ripped here thanks to it, from what I saw.

Also, since I'm on a ranting note, the panel was enjoyable, but the translators didn't do too terribly good a job at parts. They left at least two questions untranslated, and I could tell from my quite limited Japanese that they omitted at times large portions of their answers. Also, some people asked some realllllllllly retarded questions. I especially like the guy who asked if we could take pictures amidst the 374298478209 signs saying "TAKE A PIC AND GET PUNTED OUT OF HERE!!!!!!" Though it was fun, and I enjoyed being there, despite my eye being on fire.

[Mugen]

SAW THEM UPCLOSE! HAD AN EPIC VANCOUVER CONVERSATION WITH ERI, RISA and AI! GAVE HOCKEY STICKS AND PUCK TO MM! SAYU, REINA, ERI, RISA and AI OFFERED TO SHAKE MY HANDS! INADVERTERDLY WINKED AT AIKA! LOL

FUCKING IM IN HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigDnm01]

Went to the registration hall @ around 7am and waited in the sun (though it was cool) until 9am (didn't know). it took a while right after the registration hall open for me to get all my stuff.  then I have to run all the way to the main ticket booth and waited 30 min to get my reserved momosu tickets (section D, row 16).   after that, I attended the already ongoing opening ceremony, and just in time for MoMusu and the others to show up.  Saw them live for the very first time, it was amazing. then after, around 11am, I started headed to the exhibition hall J, but it was open yet and there was a line. Half the people there didn't know where the real line started, and most of us kept running in circles. when we finally did realize, there was like 2K people in front of us. 
Like what Datalanche said, the line was a nightmare, there was 3 booth in that square area, Japanfiles.com, JpopHouse and another booth that I felt sorry for since I didn't see anyone buying or looking at that booth.  I was in the Japanfiles.com line, which zig and zag all over.  I finally got to the booth and just in time to bought both the Platinum 9 Disc and Hangry&Angry CDs for both the autographs tickets.  After, I went straight to the MM Q&A panel.  It was kool, saw all kinds of fans there, everyone was excited and loud.  the girls are very pretty.  I didn't see them up close, but i saw them and they're like angels.  Their existence in my presence.... it just awesome, you would understand.  I never get to see them live and always watch them online, videos,dvds,etc.  It was just too good to be true. 

sad thing is, after the panel, which ends at 3pm, I then made my way to the supposed autograph session, ran around "behind K hall" for 30 min, asking all the AX staff and security people, even the Japanfiles and Jpophouse booth workers, but nobody knows where it is.  by the time I know where it is, waiting in line for 20 min, only to find that it's not the same autograph session that I got from JPFiles.com.  I was perplexed.  I have to waiting in a room with 20 other people for 10-15min, then they suddenly end it early.  I still don't know what is that autograph ticket I got from JPFiles.com booth good for, they don't know when it starts.  maybe saturday right at the booth, like Hangry autograph session. but now it hadn't been confirm. 

I had fun @ the AX, all the people I met were kool and nice to talk to.  watching the cosplay was fun.  meeting Momusu was awesome, but the AX Staff was disorganized, I respect and like the fact that they got MoMusu here in the states, but the whole management staff wasn't up to standard. 

Hope it won't happen again.  I definitely want to have my CD signed by MoMusu/Hangry. and can't wait for the tsunku panel as well. 

btw, I think I heard that I was a few minute late, missed seeing Yossy.  I overheard the people waiting in line said it and the pic confirm it. 

Yossy, along with Eri, are my top 2 idols. so seeing both Eri and Yossy is a dream come true.  btw, Everyone is all very beautiful in person.  and also, Ai-chan looks very sexy in that outfit and hairstyle. 

CONCERT TOMORROW AND CAN'T WAIT.

[Slack]

As promised, various pics I've taken in the last two days: (didn't have time last night to post)
We start with blurry phone camera pics from LAX!

Thought it was kind of funny how Aika was walking toward the fans by herself while everyone else lagged behind.
Also, Aichan seemed not to be wearing heels, so she looked like a little kid next to JunJun with heels.


On to today, waiting in line to get into the event hall:
At the very front were the wotas who started waiting in line before 5 AM.

Here's the legendary Eri wota, who I think I've seen on TV shows about wota-gei.  You can partially see a guy similarly dressed in red behind him, an Aichan wota.  The Japanese fans were all really nice, and as I said, gave out several photocard lanyards to some of the other fans in line.

Then there's the cosplayers:

Some well done Shugo Chara cosplay.  I saw several others at the con but didn't get a chance to get their pictures.

I thought Kirarin from Tan Tan Taan! was really well done.

Later on, I caught the backside of an Angry cosplayer.

And here's some pics of the two concert costumes they had at the JpopHouse booth:

Can't recall what concert they're from off the top of my head though.


The lines at the booths were indeed horrible.  At some point, we had two lines spiraling around each other, one line zigzagging, and constant confusion as to which line was for which booth.  It was a horrible, horrible mess, but thankfully it was cleared up eventually.  I felt really bad for the third booth in the area though, cause they were completely blocked off from the people who weren't in line for the other two booths.


Most of the merchandise from JpopHouse was from this year's Platinum 9 Disco tour, but the uchiwas were from this year's Wonderful Hearts concerts.  I particularly like the Visual book.

Edit:
My non-fan friend just happened to be where Morning Musume was when they were heading to their bus.  He managed to get a couple nice pics.

(lol @ Sayu's face in the first one)

[Datalanche]

I hope the concert is a blast for everyone and that it goes smoothly. Since I have no JunJun shirt, I'll probably wear my Umeda Erika one. So, if ya see a tall dude with a bright yellow C-utie ranger shirt, that might be me!

Anyway see the Gurren Lagann movie? Shit was pretty awesome, I wanna see the series now. Though the screening sucked if you were short. At 6'1 I was barely able to see the subtitles. >_>

[dcpoor]

horrible line management and line cutting at the hello project/japanfiles/jpophouse booths left me with no saturday afternoon autograph voucher. anyone want to trade theirs for a 7th row center section concert ticket? if you're interested, pm with your cellphone number or something and i'll try to call you tommorow if the ticket is still available. thanks.

[Rina the Robot]

^ Seriously terrible. Someone cut in front of my friend and she ended up missing out on her chance to get a voucher, she's absolutely gutted. 

[Slack]

I think I read something about a feedback thing on Sunday.  Maybe it would make her feel better tongue-lashing the organizers?

[MurasakiNeko]

I'm not missing this for anything! #1 reason I came to L.A. 

[Rickker708]

I thought Kirarin from Tan Tan Taan! was really well done.
I was in line w/her on day 0 for tickets. the saw her again at the Q&A session. She's a charmer

[rokun]

Hmm, ok, not sure how much you guys are talking on IRC etc, but I thought I'd post the thoughts I had here, which is my style. I only arrived at the con just before the panel, but after that...

From the panel... I wanted to comment about Reina being so happy to come to the "country of LA" XDDD Of course, in Japanese she said "kuni" (country), and right after she said it some of the crowd (including me ) was like, "eeeeh? kuni???" Reina was confused for a bit about what she said wrong, but Risa in her nice subleaderly role along with others finally gave her the word "machi" (town) instead.

Speaking of, Risa was quite the sub-leader moderator. Aichan was actually pretty quiet except when she was asked questions, in which case she was deer-in-headlights a decent bit. Sayu really pushed her cuteness, such as with the "Usa-chan PEACE!" in her intro, and doing things like that several other times too. Reina was Reina Eri answered a lot of questions just because for some reason a lot of people asked questions specifically to her (a lot of curious Kamei fans!). Koharu was just completely spazzy peppy the whole way through, as recounted by a few before... lol. LinLin though to me was quite awesome as she answered all her questions in English! She's the only girl that really attempted much of it, and she seemed to put effort into sticking to it, even though sometimes her grammar was way off... we could still understand her.

Thanks to all you hipsters for the support upon getting to the concert today. As well as for the awesome time hanging out tonight! It's just too bad we couldn't all party together - well, that's for tomorrow night!

Anyway, the autograph line deal was really epic - nobody knew where the signing was going to be (at least nobody I was around), so we ran around in a train snaking all around the exhibition hall. And at times we ran. Random con-goers kept asking "What are you doing??" "Why are you running??" "What's this crazy mob?!?!", and some even joined in just for the hell of it. It all didn't end with autographs, but still are quite nice memories...

Oh, and I think there are a LOT of tickets left for the concert... I hit the ticketing booth after 5 this evening and I got in row B-16, which is in the front, but one section from the middle. That seems to mean there are the two extreme side sections, as well as the entire back two areas that are open still... Maybe there will be a lot of standbys...

[japanfiles]

@Datalanche
We eventually found an end, only for some moron to tell us we were in the wrong spot, then a JapanFiles person came around and put us right back where we were, while an AX staffer put other people into another branch of the line.

@Stack
At some point, we had two lines spiraling around each other, one line zigzagging, and constant confusion as to which line was for which booth.

We're sorry for the problems this caused.
AX staff was extremely nervous about the size of the lines, and they began re-organizing the lines without consulting JapanFiles or JPopHouse staff. We really tried our best to fix the changes made by AX staffers, but we know that some people got misplaced in the process. We believe that AX staff did not anticipate the size of the crowd that would be attending the JapanFiles & JPopHouse booths, and they made some hasty decisions that caused greater harm than good.

[SacredCultivator]

^Sucks JapanFiles representative tried ot organize our section and like half an hour later when he came to reorganize us again, he was like "Didn't I just see you and you haven't moved?" to this girl next ot us and she was like, we just made a big u-turn... So that kinda sucked, but they already ran out of MM Autograph tickets at that time, but my DHG got the last Hangry ticket, so that's a bonus for him.

(It was nice to meet you Daigong/ Thunder, sadly didn't get to take that pic, so hopefully another time)

[DHG]

Yeah like SC said it was hectic we didn't realize we weren't going anywhere in that line. Also it was great seeing you Daigong and Kuno and those I didn't get their names but yeah it was nice meeting you all we def have to tag along with you guys next time.

[differentstory12]

At the Q&A Eri waved at us alot <3 AHHHHH  
Gaki waved at us too! I was so happy . I had a pretty good view to see them both <3 Since they are my favorites I was happy=D.
We caught Sayu's attention too but I think she didnt want to be too obvious and pay attention to the people asking questions so she looked at us and gave us a smile <3. Sayu is like a little doll. She looked really pretty.
Reina also caught us looking at her and gave us a quick smile.
My sister's favorite member was Aika so we both got together and started waving at her and she saw us and waved back with a smile on her face. AWWWW Aika was so cute!


The one we caught more waves and looks was Eri <3 She's so pretty!
Ill write about the autograph session and Q&A in detail another time . But I did write when we saw Yossie at the merch booth.


Yossie at Jpop House Booth:

We were already done getting MM's autographs and my sister, a friend and I were so happy that we thought the day couldnt get any better. But then I suggested going to the merch booth cause I wanted to buy a Gaki and Eri fan . So we went to JpopHouse Booth and we saw the long line and didnt feel like waiting, so my sister suggested I asked if they had Gaki and Eri fans because if they didnt, there would be no point in lining up. So we get to the front to ask the lady and she said she had a few when suddenly my sister says "Isnt that Yossie?!!". I look up and see Yossie coming straight at us and freaked. I had a bunch of stuff in my bag and I was trying to find my camera but couldnt so I just dumped all my stuff on my sister lol and asked her to please find my camera.


OMG Yossie came straight toward us and we said "HIIIIIIIIIIIII Yossie!" and she came right in front of us(the table was seperating us) and said "HIIII!" and smiled. *dies* I told her I loved her She said Oooh thank you!

By this time people were taking pictures like crazy. It was flashes everywhere. She was so nice! She didnt mind photos at all!! She posed for photos too! The little $110 H&A plushies were in front of us and she grabbed 2 and was holding them up so ppl can buy them It was cute.

My sister, friend and I kept saying her name "Yossie~" and she would look at us.
Angelia was playing in the background so she held the 2 H&A plushies and started singing and dancing. Cute!
Then I said "Sakura Con" (I didnt know what to say lmao) and then she looked at me and said "Sakura Con?!" and because she couldnt really hear me so well, she got closer to the table and leaned to hear me (OMG) and I said I went to Sakura con and she said oh thank you and held out her hand to me to shake her hand! I was like holy crap, she wants to shake my hand . So I did and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  <3
Then other people asked her questions etc.

Oh!! There was this lucky baby
There was a lady with a baby and she caught Yossie's attention. They talked for a bit. She asked the little girl's age, I think it was 2 years old. Then the lady gave the little girl to Yossie and Yossie carried her. AWWWWWWW it was so cute! This part reminds me of how good Yossie is with kids <3.

Then a girl asked for a picture with Yossie and she said OK. After she was done we called her and asked her if we can take a picture and she said ok.    So we did. Damn who ever took the picture lol the girl took it so quick, that the 3 of us werent ready at all and came out horrible haha but ofcourse Yossie came out as pretty as always.

I said "sign?" (I saw her with a marker so thats why I asked) and she looked at us and said "ah sign" and she held a pen in her hand ready to sign. Then my sister said something like you'll get her confused. So she looked around to the crowd and kept saying "Sign? Sign?" and then looked at one of the staff and they told her tomorrow. So she said to the crowd "Ah sign today, no ah tomorrow". So we said ok tomorrow =D Sorry Yossie! I didnt mean to get you confused. Turned out the marker was for her to sign these two H&A posters at the merch booth. So she signed them.

What else? She took more pictures with some people and then the same lady from Sakura con said ok tomorrow and took Yossie. The crowd was right in front of the table so at first they didnt want to let Yossie walk into the crowd but then they went for it. We followed them and people where following Yossie with their cameras like crazy lol. Everyone was running to see her.


She then got to the elevator, and went to the left corner and I saw that she had a camcorder and was filming herself! Awww Yossie! We yelled Bye Yossie! and she waved back and smiled and said "BYE!!~"

And that was it.

Yossie is so nice. Seriously thats what I kept thinking, she is such a sweetheart. She smiles and waves at everyone, and makes eye contact with you. She looked so pretty too <3

[shirenuファクトリー]

I'm loving all the stories




So sorry about stuff that didn't work out though