[sardaukar58]

AX Album here: Click for album
(Disclaimer: I am fully responsible for the crappy quality pictures taken at this con, as I only had my Ipod touch gen 4 available and I was taking 'em on the go >.< )

As some of you may know, I went to LA last Saturday to the LA Convention Center to attend Anime Expo 2011. I flew first thing in the morning (had to wake up at 4 AM x.x ) and got to the LACC around 8. And there was already a bit of a line just to get in for those that already pre-registered. (Pics 249 and 250)

After I got inside and got my badge, I took a few quick pics of the Miku emblazoned Corollas in one of the lobbies. After a few other things (including waiting in yet another line to get my concert tickets), I went in with the rest of the flood into the main Exhibit Hall, which was HUGE. I first walked around the side of the main exhibits (which contained mostly booths selling a wide variety of merchandise) and then first walked around the Artist's Alley section. (pics 259-272)

Of course, I gotta pick up my Miku merchandise (fan, coasters, concert program, some glowsticks; pics 275-276).

Then passing through some other exhibits (new niconico, kinokuniya books, etc.), being the Gundam fan that I am, I had to go to the Gunpla 'booth' which had a lot of stuff on display AND for sale. Most of my merchandise 'cargo' space was used for some gunpla purchased here. (pics 284-321)

After lunch, I was going to go to the MIku Conference, but decided to change given the line and that I wanted to attend another event that occurred almost concurrently. In this case, I waited in a line (that ended up packing up the entire Concourse Hall) for the World Premier of Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing. (pics 339-340) The 'no photos and videos' rules was heavily enforced here; failure to do so would not only perma-ban the offender, but would force the staff to cancel the showing. Luckily, there wasn't 'that guy' that ruined it. xD (Note: This premiere is the first; Japan does not get a glimpse until another four months)

Then after some more exhibit browsing, it was time to go across the street to the LA Live plaza to head to Club Nokia for the live Kalafina concert. (pics 342 - 344) It was pretty good (once again, restrictions on vids and photos), though the speakers seem to blast the music a bit too loudly where the performers, Wakana, Keiko, and Hikaru sometimes had to 'compete' through the music (the instrumental was not live). Not to mention Hikaru's voice gave out a little ever since the second song but she still tried her best. The experience was great overall though (despite some crazy douchebag fan who hollered out like a little girl and jumped up and down, stepping on my feet numerous times).

Then after a quick dinner at a Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill (pic 345), it was time to head next door to the Nokia Theater for the Mikunopolis concert. (349 - 354)
Once inside, I settled in my seat, which was actually pretty good (I was afraid I wouldn't get good seating since it was first come first serve) and took a few pics of the theatre itself. (356-368) But once the concert started (after a little prologue w/Danceroids), the pics and vids restriction was in place, so much that I saw no less than two individuals near me get booted by staff members. The concert itself was a slightly abbreviated version of the one held in Japan. All the songs sung were complete versions and there was no 'medley' sequence and overall fewer songs. (No Stardust Utopia, Double Lariat, Kororo among a few that didn't show up) The sound quality suffered from the same issue as in Club Nokia in which the instrumentals (which was live, plus a string section) blasted too strongly through. Also, the vocal audio seemed to mess up sometimes where the voices get distorted or nearly nulled out. This was most apparently in the Luka/Miku "World's End Dancehall" where miku's voice was nearly cut off and Luka's sounded far too squeaky. But apart from these gripes, it was well worth it being there.

After the concert, I slowly went back to the convention center and relaxed with a late-night Gunpla model building seminar (378-380). And then that was that; my day at AX 2011 (pic 381).

[haruhi_fan_15498]

Sounds like you had an awesome, enjoyable first con. ^^

[Neopode]

I went aswell, my friends cosplayed Ao no exorcist on day 2 and 3 and on the last day (day 4) we all cosplayed Ano hi mita hana no name wa bokutachi wa mada shiranai :3

[cheshire_cat]

Oh my gawd... I STOOD IN LINE FOR THREE HOURS AND I STILL DIDN'T GET VIC MIGNOGNA'S AUTOGRAPH.... TT.TT *sooooooob*.... well at least I got to see him at the panel so I can't complain too much XD And I did get to buy my Prussia tee which made me happy ^^" All in all it was a pretty good con. My good friend D.O. went over to the yaoi stand and I was like, "Oh hell no... I'm NOT standing next to you, let me just go off into a corner and I'll wait until you're done looking for your Ivan doujin." So while I was standing there off to the side the vendors from the stand started shouting, "GIRLS!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT?" and then they all shouted back, in UNISON, "YAOI!!!" so loud it surprised ME O.O" but it didn't stop there. The vendors followed that up with, "AND WHEN DO YOU WANT IT?" to which the answer was, "NOW! WE WANT YAOI NOW!" and continued that chant for a good minute and a half XD The most embarrassing experience EVAR lol because this group of Japanese guys standing off to the side of me were just staring and one of them said in Japanese, "So they love yaoi here, huh?" and his friend was like, "Yeah, you should have seen them last year. They get weirder every year." I started to ROFL (figuratively) but I don't think they knew that I'd understood so then they gave me a WTF look...... I'm such a loooozer ^___^

[masterlolio]

I'm glad you had such a great time. I hope I get to go to something like that some time.
Did my tips help you at all? XD

@Cheshire
Woah, you know Japanese?

[Lucemia]

Yaoi... lol. Its a smart move though, to work up the crowd, probably get more sales. ^^

Its great when they don't know you understand and say various things... XD

[sardaukar58]

@haruhi_fan: Indeed. I was a little overwhelmed at first, but despite the huge crowds, things were relatively orderly and most fans were pretty polite. ^^

@Neo: Ah, that's cool. I never did get into cosplay, and I wouldn't have had any time at this con. Got pics? xD

@Cheshire: Lol, seems things were hectic on your side as well. And yes, information is power.

@masterlolio: Somewhat. If I knew how much stuff was going to be sold there, I would've brought a larger carry-on bag or something. D:
(I may post a pic of my swag later)

@those who went: Did you all go to the Mikunopolis concert as well? And where did you guys sit?