Anime Expo 2010


Anime Expo 2010 is just a month away! We will have a booth at the Exhibit Hall just like last year selling bishoujo game goods and bringing special guests from the industry.

First of all, MangaGamer is pleased to announce CIRCUS and tororo Dancho as consecutive guests from last year. tororo Dancho (Dancho: Head of a circus) is the game producer of series such as Da Capo, and also a song writer and composer.

Likewise, OVERDRIVE and their charismatic president bamboo are invited as well! Not only is bamboo the producer of Edelweiss and Kira Kira, he is a singer himself, leading a rock band called “milktub“.

We will post updates as more guests and merchandise are confirmed!

AnimeExpo 2010
July 1-4, 2010
Los Angeles Convention Center
http://www.anime-expo.org

Updates:


We’ll also be giving away a few promotional goods! Supplies are limited though, so if you want your own pair of Otome’s oppai, you won’t want to be last!

Artists

Katakura Shinji: One of OVERDRIVE‘s Artists, responsible for work on Edelweiss, Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia, Kira Kira, and Kira Kira Curtain Call. He also worked with bamboo in the past for Groover, handling the art for Green Green. Furthermore, he was the character designer for the Green Green Anime, as well as both the anime and manga versions of Melody of Oblivion. He also produces art for the Doujin Circle, Otona Lunch (おとなランチ).

Fujimaru: This year we’re proud to announce we’ll be joined by Fujimaru, one of OVERDRIVE‘s artists who worked on Kira Kira Curtain Call, and Dear Drops, which recently went on sale!

Kayura Yuka: One of the Artists from CIRCUS,  she’s responsible for work on Da Capo II and it’s many iterations such as D.C.II To You, D.C. II Fall in Love, as well as Valkyrie Complex, and Gift. She also draws the A.C.D.C. II and Suika AS+ Manga. Furthermore, she also does artwork for the Doujin Circle kurousagi (くろうさぎ).

Takano Yuki: This year, another one of CIRCUS‘s artists will be joining us. Her works include the various Da Capo II games, the Princess Party series, CIRCUS’s latest game, RPG Academy, as well as la’cryma‘s Sora wo Tobu, Nanatsu-me no Mahou, and their upcoming fortissimo.

Vocalists

UR@N: Joining us with Overdrive this year will be the vocalist, UR@N. In the past she’s worked with milktub on many different songs, included the opening theme for Green Green 2, Like a Green, the ending theme for Sakura’s arc in Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia, Cherry Blossom Diary, the ending theme for Ran’s arc in Edelweiss, 晴れた日の午後に, Ran’s  image song: Give me XXX!!, and more. But amongst the readers here, she’s probably more well known as the voice of Kirari Shiino for Kira Kira‘s music! We’re proud to announce that she’ll be performing alongside milktub this year at Anime Expo!

Kase Aina: Joining us again on behalf of CIRCUS, is Kase Aina. She performed the opening theme for Sora wo Tobu, Mittsu no Houhou, as well as songs in the Da Capo and Valkyrie Complex Vocal Albums. We’re proud to announce that she’ll be performing once again this year!

rino: This year, rino will also be joining us on behalf of CIRCUS! She’s performed many different themes for the Da Capo II series, one ending theme for School Days, as well as participated in performing the ending theme for Muv Luv Supplement and Suika, in addition to performing several anime themes under the name ‘CooRie’. We’re proud to announce that she’ll be performing with us this year!

Special Guest Company:

Age: This year, we’ll also be joined by the company Age, attending as a special guest this year! Age is known for the MuvLuv Series as well as Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (or Rumbling Hearts), and with them, they will also be bringing a set of guests of their own.

Here’s a small sample of some of the goods they’ll be bringing with them:

Frontwing: This year, we’re proud to have Frontwing as one of our guests! They’re most well known for the series Makai Tenshi Jibril, Hoshi Uta, Boy Meets Girl, and Tea Society of a Witch (previously released in English by Hirameki). They’ll also be bringing three special guests along with them!

  • Fumio:An artist for Frontwing, he’s worked on Hoshi Uta, Pia Carrot he Yokouso, and Tomoyo After ~It’s a Wonderful Life~. He also does illustrations for light novels such as Canvas 2 and Hourglass of Summer. In addition, he also does artwork for the doujin circle, Ura FMO (裏FMO).
  • Kuuchuu Yousai: Another artist who’s worked on Frontwing’s Makai Tenshi Jibril series and Nugachu. In addition to his illustrations for Frontwing, he also does many illustrations for magazine covers, and is none other than the creator of Queen’s Blade’s Nanael!
  • Watanabe Akio:For Frontwing, he’s done the opening movie animation for Makai Tenshi Jibril, but he’s also done the opening animation for To Heart 2. As an illustrator, he’s done character designs for Starship girl Yamamoto Yohko, Queen’s Blade: Spiral of Chaos, The Soul Taker, Popotan, Nurse Witch Komugi-chan, and the upcoming anime adaptation of The World God Only Knows. As an animator, he’s animated portions of Kiki’s Delivery Service, the opening animation for Sailor Moon SuperS Movie: Black Dream Hole, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan . As an animation director, he’s worked on Saber Marionette J, Hoshizora Kiseki, and Bakemonogatari.

Here’s a sample of some of the goods they’ll be bringing with them!

A Hoshi Uta eye mask:

A Hoshi Uta PSP sticker set:

Wallscrolls, and more:

Including this Time-Leap CD:

MangaGamer Panel

For Anime Expo, we will be hosting our panel, “The Now and Future of Bishoujo Games”, on July 3rd, at 21:30-23:00, in LACC502. We will be discussing out company, the business, making announcements, taking questions, and giving away free prizes. Our panelists will include:

  • Bamboo
  • Tororo Dancho
  • Katakura Shinji
  • Kayura Yuka
  • Suprise Guest

Merchandise

As you know, we’ll also have lots of merchandise at the booth. Here’s a sample of what we’ll have to offer! (This list will grow.)

1) Love+

No, not the DS game, the brand new album by the Second Literature Club!This is an all new album Kira Kira fans are sure to enjoy! And what’s more? It hasn’t even begun sale in Japan yet! This album will be making its premier debut at Anime Expo!

2) Various Bathroom Poster sets like the one below, brought by Hobibox and other companies!

3) Body Pillow Covers (some with accompanying stick pillows) like this one from Hobibox:

4) Wall scrolls, like this one from CIRCUS:

5) We’ll also have a limited supply of hard-copy versions of Kira Kira (All Ages) and Higurashi (Question Arcs) available at an extra-special AX sale price! If you haven’t tried either of these games before, this will be your best chance yet to give them a go!

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108 Comments

  1. will koihime muso be ready by then

  2. will koihime muso be ready for this

  3. oh c’mon, they had to use comic sans? seriously, its a crap font.

  4. Since I don’t live in California, please give the Circus guys a hug for me for allowing us to play their games in english. Looking forward to see who else is going to be there

  5. Yay,please announces in AE Key and Typemoon VNs *-*

  6. Sounds interesting. Shame I can’t go, but as there’s never any info about these games, let alone anyone from the industry, available in the UK…
    Hopes everyone who goes enjoys it though!

  7. Cool :0 I’ll be at Otakon though, looking forward to see what you have there.

  8. Ugh…now I need to drop at least $50 at the MG booth…

  9. hope we get the mai hime game

  10. I see koihime musou is that a mouse pad or something else..

  11. Clearly Koihime Musou is MG’s Half-Life 2 Ep.3 😛 (it’s not quite at the level of Duke Nukem Forever)

  12. Hmm any idea on how much koihime will cost?

  13. don’t forget to let the staff know that they can give demo disks (if any) to ladies as well, just give them the “it contain sexually explicit materiel” warning, just in case some might get offended by it.

  14. How much of Kira Kira and Higurashi are covered on the demo disc?

    • The Kira Kira demo is probably the same length/material as the adult version, minus the adult content. I’m not sure about the Higurashi one.

    • The entire first chapter (Onikakushi) for Higurashi.

      • Is this likely to be available for download as travelling 6000 miles to pick up a free cd seems a little like overkill.

        • I suspect the trial demos will be since most of the printed trials have been made available for download later. However, I will be revealing other reasons you may still want to make that trip. ^_^

          • I want to make the trip. Love+ and Katakura Shinji have already made me want to make the trip. Afford to make the trip and get time off work to make the trip, ain’t gonna happen.
            Now if you guys would do something this side of the pond…

  15. Will there be any guest from Koihime Muso and Soul Link going to AX?

  16. I would just like to point out and agree with one of the earlier posts, don’t ignore the women who stop by the booth. There are women who like visual novels too. As a proper policy measure though you should warn anyone you give the free demo disc to about the content…or not. Really does not matter to me.

    Look forward to announcements and releases in the future. We had nothing for May and I was kinda sad. Hopefully though we will see something at the end of June or latest July.

    Wish I could be there but sadly cannot afford it. Maybe next year.

  17. (sees the updates, including the Love + CD)

    Why must you torment this poor Texan so?!? ;_;

    Anyway, interesting to see there’s more surprise guests on the way. Can’t wait to see who it’ll be.

    BTW, any chance Katakura-san could put in a good word for you guys if you ever negotiate with Groover for the Green Green trilogy or this game:

    http://cl3.getchu.com/soft.phtml?id=216713

  18. I so wish I could be there :{.

    -sigh-

  19. Such pretty goods… I really wish I could go this year.

    I will be hoping that some age English releases are revealed at the con~~

  20. Damn, I wish I could be there.

    If a deal with age is made, I’ll be very happy indeed (not as happy as I’d be if a deal with Cyc was made (hint hint) but still…).

    With all that you guys are announcing, I wonder if there will be anything to get excited about when Otakon occurs.

  21. Will you guys be bringing any special guests to Otakon as well?

  22. Well, hopefully a partnership with age could be possible in the future. Then we could actually see Kimi ga Nozumu Eien (latest edition) translated lol.

  23. I’m now feeling less jealous, and more sick.
    Really unhappy that this is impossible for me. 🙁

  24. I wish I could go, I live in Virginia, I wish they could have Bishoujo game panels at the cons I go to

  25. Will be there this year. Will stop by the booth and the panel you guys will hold. Can’t wait

  26. So, now that I’m being slightly less grumpy and slightly more realistic, what are the chances of any audio/visual recordings of Ur@n d2b live? (except the possible dodgy back of room recordings on youtube)
    Also, anyone any idea when Love+ is being released in Japan as that seems to be the only way I’m going to be able to get that?

    • Not sure. Though I suppose I can see about it when the time comes, lol.

      As for Love+ I couldn’t give you an exact date, since it’s not up yet, but I imagine information will be posted on milktub’s site after AX, since it’s being sold at AX first.

      • See, if you could get it I’d pay for it (and there’s surely others who would to, although if it were free…lol!)
        Otherwise, I guess I’ve just got to wait for my Milktub DVD to turn up and keep listening to D2B live bootleg CD.

  27. I wish I could be anywhere during these times. Looks like it will be quite fun. I will make it my goal to go to one of these within the next two years.

    Interesting that Age is going to be there. Does that mean we may see Rumbling Hearts in the near future?

    Also if you would not mind clarifying but there will only be one special guest right? Is this guest from Age or is this guest from a separate company?

    Not sure why everyone keeps thinking you’re getting Type-moon (maybe I missed something. People are saying Key because of the bread (clannad) and jam (kanon) comment a while back and if this is indeed the case you may have a good all ages game to sell. Hopefully you bring over Tomoyo After Story if you partner with key, would be a good adult vn to have while the all ages clannad is released.

    Just wondering but do you ever have any plans to merchandise related to the games you sell. I’ll point to the items above as an example. Or if not sell them yourself, then have an area devoted to links and advertising for the places where you can buy these items. Just curious if you had any plans ever to expand beyond.

  28. I need that body pillow >:{.

  29. Will any of these artists have signature sessions? If so, will it be run similiar to the AX method(attend paneol/get ticket/redeem) or some other method? I would love to have a signed/drawn shikishi! Or will you feature signed/drawn shikishi from these artists at your booth?

    Thank you!

  30. I hope someone records or broadcasts the panel if possible, for those of us that cannot assist. It sounds like something interesting to hear.

    … I can just hope, I guess.

  31. Any word on the schedule/time these guests will be at your booth? We’re particularly interested in covering Kuribayashi Minami as press. Thanks!

  32. anime girls are hot, uufff

  33. I might possibly have a small chance at attending and one major make-or-break thing for me is how much Love+ is going to cost. Is there a set price for it? I’d hate to go and find out it’s out of my price range.

  34. Aaaaah! Why are your clues all pointing to Type-Moon at AX! I already wanted that panel and event recorded badly, now my want levels are at Over Limit.

    Perhaps something nice might rise, but I’ll not be that greedy and hopeful.

  35. I will be sure to stop by your booth come July 3. Looking forward to seeing you there.

  36. Great that Frontwing is a guest. It would be great to see some of their titles translated sometime in the future.
    I’m just glad it wasn’t Type Moon.

  37. Interesting fact, it seems Frontwing has some connection with Overdrive as the former had a branch (noiw gone) called Starlight which had a hand in developing Green Green (Groover was apparently one of their branches) along with Hitoyume (this game: http://vndb.org/v649).
    Another branch of Starlight’s was S.M.L. which created Carnival (http://vndb.org/v1001)an eroge that had a now dead fanlation attempt, and another game called RE (http://vndb.org/v2676).
    Now after Starlight broke up, some of their guys went to form Overdrive, but the rest went and formed another company Purple Software (http://vndb.org/p132). So we may end up getting games from that company in the future.

  38. Horrible trolling with the Type-Moon clues and Frontwing. I love Frontwing too, don’t get me wrong, but dammit there has been demand for Type-Moon for a long time already. D:

    • Nintendo Maniac 64

      I never even realized they’ve been posting hints via twitter since I don’t actually use it, but luckily encubed reposted the hints.

      …and DANG, that truly is quite the trolling.

    • Nintendo Maniac 64

      With Type-Moon being up there with Nintendo for me, I must say that was just cruel.

  39. Ooh, Fumio will be there? That information just piqued my interest. Very nice, I like Fumio’s art, though I doubt I can request a sample/commission drawing or an autograph. Not sure how panels and sessions work, nor where they are.

    Now I feel like 1.5 hours might not be enough time for the single panel. Are there other times and locations to spot you? I feel like I’ll get lost my first day at AX.

    • You will be able to line up for an autograph when we hold an autograph session at the booth, so bring something to sign. =3

      You can find us at our booth in the dealer’s room: Booth # 811/813/815/910-915/1010/1012/1014

      • That solves my problem. Thanks kouryuu!

        … which booth will have an autograph session? Or rather, how does one know when one occurs? I guess I’ll have to look at name tags or something.

        For some odd reason I was only targeting the panel, which indeed is too short of time. I didn’t even think about the dealer’s room, really. I’m going to need a map, and a traversing plan.

  40. Out of interest, any idea when Ur@n and Milktub will be performing?

  41. Never heard of Frontwing

    looked it up on Vndb and nothing..so..

  42. i would love to play Makai Tenshi Djibril series and see how they differ from the anime

  43. I love you for bringing Frontwing!!!! I almost started to cry when I saw you say that you were bringing Kuuchuu Yousai. I love you,Mangagamer!!! Will you guys be translating any of their games?

  44. Oh. By the way,wil l you guys come to Metrocon? It’s in Tampa,Florida. I would love to meet Kuuchuu and request autographs.

  45. Any chance of some hard copies being put up for purchase online?

  46. Yeah, me again. The likelihood of me going went up a little. yay. I have another question. Your booth requires you to show ID and I was wondering if my 4 year old, 11th grade ID without a date of birth would suffice? XD

  47. Hey, so I’m under 18, but since Higurashi is an all-ages game I can still stop by the booth and pick up a copy, right?

  48. Man… This is like dangling a steak in front of a hungry dog. Limited print runs AND they’re being sold at a convention in another country… (-_-) I seriously hope those hard copies of Kira Kira and Higurashi can be mail ordered in the near future (or snagged off of eBay).

    I’d be ecstatic if the higher-profile adult titles got similar treatment following the expo (Suika, please…?). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the moment MangaGamer offers physical pressings of its titles is the moment I go on a $1,000.00 shopping spree on their site. You’d think I’m kidding, but I’ve spent over $1,200.00 on imports alone this past month (…my apologies to anyone who was trying to snag anything off of J-List, PaletWeb, and Himeya – I snagged the last copies in stock of a lot of titles ^_^;).

  49. I heard you guys had an all age exhibit booth this year, is the panel on Saturday going to be all ages as well?

  50. I have to ask but what is the deal with Key? You gave that hint a number of months back about the bread and jam you wouldn’t want to eat and nothing else was said about it. What’s the verdict? Or was that a troll on your part?

    Interesting news about frontwing. I never expected you to get them (nice surprise). I do have to say though I am more interested in the Uta series (I think it is a series) than makai jibril (but either would be fine). Just surprised. Hopefully we will get to see some announcements and releases(?) by the end of the week or at least by the end of july.

    Personally though the Age (company) factor is the thing I am most interested in. Specifically Rumbling Hearts. Been wanting to play it forever. Hopefully that is high on your plan to release list.

    Still no word on koihime or da capo II? We’ve gone so far 2 complete months without a release so hopefully we will see one or more by summer’s end.

    good luck at AX 2010.

  51. what new titles were announced

  52. so what games were announced

  53. The Akio Watanabe sketch line was handled REALLY badly, i basically got shanghaied by exhibitors and press and i was waiting out inline since 430am. I respect you guys for bringing over these fantastic guests and artists from japan, but it hurts me and everyone else inline that was waiting for a watanabe sketch, when you do this.

    I HOPE that next year you guys bring back Akio Watanabe, because i’m a really big fan of his work.

    • Well, the main issue here is the time restraint. With their busy schedule, the Front Wing artists were only able to show up for 1 1/2 days in AX. If they were there the whole time like the other artists, it wouldn’t cause such chaos at all.

      Hopefully next year if they come, they can plan their schedule ahead and stay in AX longer.

  54. To my knowledge you didn’t really announce anything that was not already said. Not to mention no release dates for anything nor announcements of partnering. You say you had guests but were any of them actually interested in the english market place besides overdrive and circus?

    Hopefully a game will be out by the end of july (is that wishful thinking?) or august at the latest. I kind of doubt it though. I would prefer the best possible release as opposed to a hasty one so I suppose waiting isn’t that bad.

    I believe you mention da capo if (that’s an all ages game isn’t it?) and the rest were already previously announced. Will we be getting an update sometime later about other titles or companies that have signed on?

    As far as frontwing since you did not get any announcements and they had no plans at the time for english market did they at least seem interested in the future?

    Again what was the thing with key earlier in the year.

    Do you have a hopeful schedule for what games are still to be released this year? Will we be able to see koihime, da capo II, and/or deardrops this year or do we have to wait till next?

    sorry have a lot of questions of which hopefully we can see some answers to soon.

    • Yeah, aside from Bamboo’s surprises, DCIF was the only big announcement that was entirely ‘new’. I’m hoping to have more at Otakon though.

      Higurashi, Matsuribayashi-hen will be out at the end of July, so there’s a game for you.

      As far as Frontwing, I can’t really say at the moment, though they DID release one of their games with Hirameki for all that’s worth.

      I have a hopeful schedule, yes, but I also don’t want to give dates until I’m sure they’re a bit more solid than ‘hopeful’. =p If you want my ‘hopeful’ dates, try re-reading a certain stanza.

      • Though I personally find the DCIF announcement pretty big. That game is available ONLY for PS2, and MG’s translation makes it its PC debut – if that’s not big news I don’t know what else is.

        For one, running English translations of PS2 games requires an uber PC and an emulator usually. That’s not exactly an optimal setup.

  55. Talking about the game announcements, MG’s panel at AX was interesting, but it was quite unorganized with poor translation issues. I hope when you guys host the panel at Otakon, it will run smoothly.

    • I blame kouryuu for not stepping up and doing the interpreting. He was doing a good job at dinner too…

  56. I wanted to thank you guys for coming to AX and bringing all the artists that you did. Manga Gamer made my convention. AX was run so poorly this year that, had it not been for your booths, I would have walked out on the first day.

    I bought shikishi from each and every one of your artists, with exception to Fumio who only did 15 shikishi. (sigh) I would have liked to have purchased a shikishi from all of the artists, but, with Watanabe & Fumio’s limited run, it was difficult. I understand that it is up to your artists, so, I completely understand. I’m just thankful to have gotten some awesome artwork for a really reasonable price.

    I hope that Manga Gamer decides to bring these, and other, excellent artists to Fanime in San Jose, California, next year. A strong majority of AX attendees come from Norther California, and I think that this would be perfect for your company.

  57. Uh, what’s Dengeki Strikers?

  58. Thanks for having all those great guests over at AX. Seeing some of my favorite artists draw live was a sight to behold. Man, they looked so maxed out too since the request demand list exceeded their time capacity, and are so good they finished quickly and accurately! It was intense!

    The guests’ attitudes were great, and I particularly enjoyed greeting and conversing with them. Their appearance made the booths quite worthwhile to spend a lot of time around, along with purchasing shikishi from the artists.

    I suppose what could help next time is the free item rulings. I learned quickly that buying from one section of the booth does not equate to the free items included with a purchase. Well, that’s my own fault for not realizing that buying directly from one company does not directly help another.

    The artists were all fantastic. They had a list of characters they have drawn, and they also can draw a few characters beyond that which expanded the variety. It’d be nice to know what characters not on the advertised listing were possible to draw.

    Unfortunately it was hard to figure out which characters outside the artists’ presented lists they could draw, and there weren’t name tags on the artists either. So what ended up happening was that I matched the artist to the game series they drew in with the information you provided, to find out the artist that drew the requested corresponding character is not present. It’s like “Yes! This artist drew in this game! Can you draw this character? Oh, it was someone else who isn’t here. Doh”. In some cases the artist can still draw the character, and in some, not (and there’s no way to tell other than asking). It’d be great if there was an easier way to provide which characters can be drawn that isn’t by the original artist (that’s in the same game of course). Then people can have a better idea of which characters they can draw that’s not listed.

    Of course this portion of not being able to match the artist with a corresponding character isn’t a big issue at all, it’s more of a lack of information. Another example is that I saw a fan with original Da Capo items, and naturally he goes to a CIRCUS artist at the booth. Well, that didn’t work out since that artist wasn’t the one that drew those specific characters present on the items so the autograph was kindly rejected. There’s no issue here since the intent is to match the artist with the corresponding work, so it was an easy decline, but it’s also harder to know which artist drew what character in a game that had multiple artists.

    I think the lesson from my experience is to do my homework and know exactly who did what work. I failed to do that because I was mauled by information overload (it was great since the updates were pleasing!). And then the irony is that most of the guests I have never seen the faces of before, and there weren’t name tags, and there was a language barrier too. It was fun to ask a lot but it was also a bit straining for the exhibitors.

    And speaking of the panel, I am curious as to why Kouryuu didn’t assist in the translating to make it less rocky at the start. The awareness of the panel discussion is highest with him so I was a little surprised by the event, but otherwise the panel was quite the treat and well worth attending.

    Other than that the experience again, was phenomenal. I’d like to attend AX again next year and see what you have in store! The biggest treat was the guest pool. I can’t imagine what next year could have with the way this year had turned out.

    Hm yes do come to Fanime next year if you can.

    • I’m very impressed with the amount of artists invited this year at the MG booth, it was quite a scene watching them cranked out one sketch after another.

      As a game company, I felt it is important that the booth should display the games on TVs and promote them to the fans. For example, the booth should set up the systems and have the fans to try out the all ages titles, like Kira Kira and Higurashi When They Cry. This would help a lot to promote the brands and sell the related merchandises to the fans.

      • Technically, we did have a TV over in the mini-concert area that was constantly running the Opening Movies for our games while the vocalists weren’t performing.

    • Part of why I didn’t do the translation is because I’ve never interpreted before, so I was really nervous about doing so. Furthermore, even with the mics, it was hard for me to clearly hear what they were saying from where I was standing (Speakers probably projected out to the audience well enough, but they certainly didn’t project onto the stage very well at all). Then to top it off, they wanted to use the interpreters they had with them that they’d been using all weekend anyways.

      Glad you enjoyed it, though!

      • Your explanation is valid. Actually come to think of it, it would be nerve inducing considering you didn’t lead 2009 or earlier either.

        The interpreters did fine, even if it was weaker English, or translate fine, but didn’t know the topic content. Really, it’s tough to do so props to them. (After all the booth language barrier fun I had, I just had to thank the interpreters for doing their best to understand what I was requesting, and to relay what appreciation I had for the guests’ appearances). For that same reason they were confused why I’d want their autograph.

        On a random note, Kouryuu, I didn’t see you at the booth on day 3 and 4 (I didn’t attend day 1 or 2)! Day 3 everyone at the booths there either didn’t know who you were or was there doing some different role (like handing out trial CDs). On Day 4 the bomb was dropped and I heard the line “he’s on his flight right now” from one of your buddies picking up your sketch for you.

        The panel was great but I did have intentions of greeting you face to face afterwards but the panel went way longer than intended (which I don’t mind since it was mini-concert + raffle, can’t go wrong there). Instead, I did a tl;dr question on the Q&A that jacked everyone behind me unintentionally.

        Seriously, the flexibility of communication with the guests and mangagamer was most amusing. To have one of your favorite artists draw one of your favorite characters in a series they did live in front of you, and then have it autographed, is simply unbeatable.

        … now for that same reason, does shikishi purchases help mangagamer? I won’t ask for details but I felt like getting one company artist’s shikishi didn’t really help a different company, so I’m like hm I spent a ton at the mangagamer booth but the proceeds probably split quite a bit, and the actual allocation to mangagamer wasn’t really direct (the Kira Kira game).

        Most importantly Kouryuu, did the guests enjoy attending? It’s pretty easy for the fan to enjoy it as it was a bit of a luxurious ecstasy even with time constraints and other issues, but I think it’s important if the guests enjoyed it. I asked most of the artists if there’s a chance for them to come again (because I sure would like to see them again!). They said yes they would like to (one said he loves America so I responded with I love Japan), so I was happy about the possibility of upcoming years having more companies and artists (or different ones because all schedules are different). Again, the goods are great and all, but the people behind it was most impressive!

        Time to hibernate expenditures until next summer … I’ll go for a 4 day pass to see it all!

        • Ah, well day 3 I was going around the dealer’s room all day, trying to arrange things, grab stuff for me, and so on. I was there for all of the concerts though. And yeah, Day 4 I had to fly home. =(
          Sorry I missed you–I’ll be at Otakon though, if you’re in the area.

          I tried to introduce myself to all the people at the booth who were important, like the presidents, artists and such, but yeah, I was busy all weekend trying to go around to other companies, talk to people, and also stuff with the concerts.

          I’m glad you enjoyed meeting them, just about every one of the guests enjoyed AX from what I can make out on their twitters. Though, yeah, as you guessed, a lot of the ‘proceeds’ went to the company providing the goods. But yeah, a lot of them really enjoyed their time, so maybe they’ll come back again next year.

          • Sweet, if they enjoyed their time, then I sure would welcome them again. That would also mean if they couldn’t come, it’d be due to other things like time constraints and hectic schedules. The opportunity to see them live is the most worthwhile. Makes it easy to hang around the booth for a very long time.

            Yeah it’s like I spent a lot of time at the mangagamer booth but didn’t really buy from mangagamer directly (thus the proceeds question).

            I love the potential of this. It’s like, the niche market I enjoy was accessible in California, where it basically doesn’t exist.

  59. So you will also be at otakon will you? Awesome.

    Personally I don’t care when the games are released so long as they are released as the best they can be.

    As far as higurashi I keep forgetting about the series. Reason being I will probably never have enough money to pay for the entire series. I have to keep my budget open for some of the bigger games (da capo II koihime deardrops, etc…). Perhaps if there is a sale in the future?

    Speaking of 7th Expansion what would the likelihood of umineko being released be?

    In regards to DA CAPO IF will there be anything new in the game? Is it being altered any for the transition from playstation 2 to PC? Just curious. Awesome news that you are going to be able to release that though.

  60. So what happened to all the unsold inventory like the wall scrolls and body pillows? Any reason why that isn’t being sold online? Wish I could buy that Mahoromatic pillow.

    • From what I’ve heard, a lot of the inventory was bought by other dealers in the dealer’s room for bulk prices, the remainder was actually carried back by whichever respective company brought it with them to AX. It was really some pretty good stuff too, the likes of which would be hard finds on this side of the world.

  61. sigh, why cant these be in any of the Canada conventions.

    /sad

    well..least there’s Hendane….

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