Climbing the stairs to fantastic Animazement 2009

Since 2001, the Sheraton Imperial has been the homeplace of many fun times and eventful memories. Animazement 2009 has lifted its wings and flew to a new home to accomodate all the ever increasing fans of Japanese anime, games, and culture. The Raleigh Convention Center welcomed all fans of new and old and what a wonderful location it was.

As great as the Sheraton Imperial was, the former home was starting to be a bit too packed. Thanks to the Raleigh Convention Center, being too packed will no longer be a problem as everyone can see, the convention center is a huge step up in space. Animazment utilized a huge majority of the entire convention center. This was a bit of a concern to quadrain.com at first because if the building was too big and there weren’t too many crowds, it could have given off a feeling that the con was empty. Luckily this was not a concern either and the con provided tons of space without the con looking bare. Air conditioning was pretty nice through the whole building (thank you!), the two hotels were extermely close by, easy parking everywhere, and whoever had the hot dog stand right outside was making a fortune. All in all, the convention center was almost perfect.

The only thing that kept it from being perfect was just the vast amount of stairs. There were plenty of escalators all over the place but none of them were turned on. Perhaps this was to save stress on them but with them being off, everyone had a huge workout walking and running around all four floors. Places to eat were convnient with a tasty sandwich store right across the street, a Starbucks also right around the corner, and a McDonalds within walking distance. There was food also right in the convention center that was a bit pricey but its always nice to have options.

Wonderful cosplays of course were displayed all weekend long. Whoever cosplayed Captain Crunch… you have my salute as your cereal has always been one of the tastiest ones for many many years XD. And thanks to the wonderful new space, the masquerade room was able to allow many more to sit and enjoy all the great skits. Two skits that really stood out were the Zelda dating game skit and the “Internet is for porn” skit. The Zelda one was a very entertaining way of seeing if 8-bit Link (in his all pixel glory), 64-bit Link (with his smart attitude and that skept puberty), and Wind Waker Link (groovy) had the right answers to take Zelda out on a date. As for the “Internet is for porn”… it was done so very very well with Orihime singing and Tousen… using his sword. Excellent work! XD

Every year Animazment has also done an incredible gathering of guests. The music band this year was the amazing Uchuu Sentai NOIZ. These guys really showed their stuff and in return, the fans also showed their love and dedication. Not only did the band played their songs to the fullest, but they danced, rocked, and loved their fans. Jumping around, even jumping into the crowds… they truely love this stuff. And the fans returned with their enthusiasm, their cheers, and their amazing dances… they almost broke through the railguard!

Bringing in the tradition along the east coast was the all so famous Cosplay Chess where the battle between the “Cute and Creepy” took on the cautioned taped chess board in 401 A. As the packed room cheered on with the battle of the characters on the board, in the end the Cute won the challenge, congrats to them.

Raving and dancing was a fun mix this year. Friday nights dance consisting of Jpop and Kpop all night and Saturday rocking the dance music all night. Suprisingly there wasn’t much trance music going on but the dance music definitely hit the spot. The dance room had lots of space and was not a sweat room (some parts of the room actually felt pretty nice with the AC). Very good music, actually decent air conditioning, and partying until 3 am. Kudos to Animazment!

Animazement started its first year in the new convention center with a great start. Asides from the escalators, this place is perfect for this fun con. This convention center is more then ready to accomodate even more and we’ll all be looking foward to more years of fun!

Animazement is Over…..

After days of climbing stairs, being deaf from the concert (Thank you staff member who gave me a pair of ear plugs during the concert), and every thing else, the convention is over. The photos are up and a report will be coming soon.

Snack

Nothing much going on lately, except the enjoyment of Meltyblend. Nice soft chocolate with a strawberry taste within, man there’s no other way to put it other than, “iI’s bad ass!”

K-On!

So this series comes to a lot of anticipation of being a good series, and well, it is. Starting off with the first series where Yui is a freshman in her new high school, she is lost in which club to join. During the time Ritsu desperately tries to keep the schools, “Light Music Club” intact. The main problem with the light music club is the previous group had all graduated and risks disbandment if the club does not have four or more members.

K-On! is another school series but with tweaks here and there to keep the enjoyment alive without many fillers. Story does start from the introduction, but then things are added at times with new scenery from other than the school to secrets revealed about the music teacher at the school.

Nothing of this kind of anime is without the fan service, but not to excessive. Unlike anything compared to Strike Witches, everything just blends together; from the breasts jokes, to the usage of moe, it’s all tolerable, well unless you’re some hardcore conservative from the 1950s.

There are a few parts where it was a pain to watch such as when Yui lost her voice during the school festival but with Mio being scared out of soul made up for any problems with the series. It’s great that the series brings out the weakness of each character and doesn’t beat a dead horse with it, there’s always something new to the same joke over and over. One example would be Sawako Sensei herself and her past relation to the old old Light Music Club.

Overall the series is well worth the watch, no matter who you are. If you’re thinking, “oh this is another loli series,” then whatever. The story is great, the jokes are enjoyable, and the storyboard is tolerable. Definitely not the Lucky Star type where things can drag on about one thing (nothing wrong with Lucky Star, just the drag some times).