My adventures at Manifest 2003
Aug. 30th, 2003 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustI can't believe this bloody thing took over two weeks to finish. Here it is at last - my complete Manifest report. Oh, and a warning - it's long.
Day 1 - Friday
I am not a morning person. Having to wake up at 5:30 am makes me cranky, especially after only three hours of sleep. What got me out of bed and kept me going was the exciting prospect of the weekend ahead.
I managed to be at Domestic Terminal by seven.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mirness, hopexd, zero_sum, and sentxd were already there, and we caught the el cheapo, no breakfast Virgin Blue flight to Melbourne. There were no delays, and we touched down by nine.
apsylus was kind enough to offer us accommodation again, so we caught a taxi to her place as soon as we arrived in Melbourne. Usually, we fly in on the morning Manifest begins, so by the time we arrive in Melbourne, unpack the luggage, and make our way to the venue, it's already about noon. This time, it was a pleasant change to arrive a day early and have a chance to settle in without rushing off to the con.
Apsylus took us out to the Crown Cafe, where we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. It also had a mouthwatering selection of cakes we didn't have room left to try. Some say the best thing about Melbourne is the shopping, but I think it's the food - varied, delicious, and cheaper than in Sydney.
There was a tea shop at the Queen Victoria Market that Mir wanted to visit, so, having nothing planned until the bathhouse in the evening, we all went along. The shop was called The Tea Party, and it had an amazing selection of red, green, black, and herbal teas. Most of us ended up buying something or other to sample. I went with the caramel rooibos tea, which was flavoured with real caramel.
The next quest we set ourselves was to find a certain Japanese fan shop where Kaoru could get a fan for her cosplay. This involved wandering around trying to follow some rather vague directions given to her by a shop in Sydney, deciding to *ring* the shop in Sydney to get clearer directions, going back to Apsylus's place to look up the number of the shop in Sydney, and finally getting some improved (but still vague) directions from them.
What can I say? We had time on our hands.
Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we failed to find the fan shop or anything remotely resembling it. However, we did find a variety store which stocked balloons in a very familiar shade of pink. Certain unnamed persons decided we could manufacture our own porings. This was only one of several instances of RO-related weirdness over the weekend.
While the prototype porings were simply inflated with air, it was decided that filling them with water would produce a shape and consistency (ie bounciness) closer to that of the original. However, further trials had to wait until we returned to Apsylus's place.
Since we'd skipped lunch, we had an early dinner at Melbourne Central, where we were joined bypirochan, harukitty, and eiva, who had driven down in Haruka's car. They'd passed the moogle van along the way, meaning that the others were still en route. The main question was whether leenabeans would arrive in time for the bathhouse, which was booked for 7:30 pm.
The bathhouse, Ofuro Ya, was a traditional Japanese bathhouse. Mir had been there with her family last time she was in Melbourne, and she highly recommended the experience to us. It was something we'd all been looking forward to, which is why it was disappointing that the van crew couldn't organise their arrival in time for Leena to be able to join us.
Mir's booking was originally for the girls only, but the guys ended up coming along too. It was dark by the time we set off, and the mild, sunny day had turned chilly and wet. We stood shivering at a tram stop for ten minutes before realising it was the wrong one, and then had to run through icy wind and rain to the next like crazy people.
Fortunately for us (and Mir's continued health), the bathhouse was entirely worth it. I was familiar with the traditional single sex, communal baths from my time in Japan, but this was the first time I'd been able to enjoy a long, luxurious soak in one. It was wonderful, especially compared to what it was like outside.
Afterwards, we relaxed on tatami mats and enjoyed hot sake and rice balls. None of us wanted to brave the weather outside again, so we just caught taxis back. Our driver was very keen on imparting his philosophy on life to us, even calling me back when I opened the door before he'd finished. (I thought he had.)
Leena, Chewie, Mime, and the others finally arrived. They told us about their trip down - the giant moogle costume in the back of the van had attracted a lot of stares. Most of us were starving by now, so we ordered pizza, then checked out Piro's zines, played with the porings, and browsed through Apsylus's contributor's copy of the RO Official Fan Art Book.
Haruka revealed his surprise to us - an RO cosplay, featuring kitty band, long black wig, and purple velvet dress. It was startling but remarkably impressive, especially with his height, and only added to the surreal nature of the weekend.
Leena and the others went back to their hotel, and the rest of us settled down to sleep relatively early (ie around one). It had been a fun and exhausting day, and the convention hadn't even started yet. I was looking forward to it more than ever. What with RO crossplay, make-your-own porings, and the yet to be unveiled giant moogle, Manifest wasn't going to know what hit it.
Day 2 - Saturday
The first day of the con. I was planning to sleep until eight to make up for the night before, but at seven, the sound of everyone else getting up woke me. The con didn't officially start until ten, but Piro and Apsylus had to be there early to set up their tables.
Quite a few of us were cosplaying again this year. We got changed, some of us praying that the Melbourne weather would be mild, or that the venue at least would have heating. There are some costumes more suited to summer than winter, and vice versa. Chewie's Auron, for example, had sweltered during last year's Christmas party, while Leena's Rikku had been perfectly comfortable. Now the situation was reversed.
Haruka's car had room for Piro's gear and a few lucky passengers. The rest of us had to catch the tram to Melbourne Uni - attracting fewer stares than I'd expected, since our costumes were largely hidden under coats. The weather was still brisk, but at least the sun was out.
We got there around ten. The lines weren't as long as I'd feared, and we made it inside within ten minutes. Our first stop was the dealers' room, where we met up with everyone else who'd come down from Sydney. The AnimeUNSW execs were manning a table; most of them had travelled down in the van. The SUAnime execs were there as well. Both teams were busy promoting the upcoming Animania.pelrun had arrived yesterday morning. monkeydan was there too. I also saw rei_ayanami_iv around. Chloe was there in her gorgeous Lulu costume, and kawaii_no_miko had braved the elements to wear her new FFX-2 Yuna costume. Hope and Kaoru met up with pei_ayanami, the third member of their Haruka naru toki no naka de cosplay group. And I saw Mime's giant moogle costume for the first time.
Words don't adequately convey what it's like to see a seven foot tall, perfectly to scale, huggable giant moogle. Everyone who saw it was gobsmacked. When Mime told us six months ago about what he planned to do, most of us weren't sure what to expect. That he managed to pull it off so well is nothing short of amazing.
I took lots of cosplay photos and received photo requests in turn. My favourite cosplayer had to be the Lain in the teddybear suit, who was unbelievably cute. There was also a leatherclad Sephiroth with wild white hair (waving a really big sword), and a number of Yunas (both versions).
I picked up the latest issue of Moshi Moshi, the eagerly awaited Tabeshounen comic, the Anindo Punch! manga anthology, and a disturbingly cute print of chibi Sephiroth and chibi Vincent.
The cosplay competition was at noon. Better planning by the Manifest committee meant that this year there was time for all the entrants to have their moment on stage. On the other hand, they had no direction from the judges as to what they should do once they were up there. Some cosplayers had skits prepared, but everyone else just stood there looking awkward, turned around for inspection, and walked off again. A few questions from the judges would have helped.
Still, there were lots of interesting entries, although none that could compete with Mime's giant moogle, which won first prize for costuming. (It hugged the judges! And did the moogle dance!) Second prize went to Chewie's Auron, which also rocked. Go us! First and second prizes for roleplaying went to the Hyatt and Excel cosplayers.
It was almost two now, and I was starving. None of us had eaten breakfast or lunch. I grabbed a sausage from the barbecue and some chocolate to keep me going before heading back inside to watch the Great Debate.
It was Melbourne versus Sydney, with the topic being 'Power characters in anime: Size doesn't matter'. I haven't been too impressed with the Great Debate in the past, but this year it deserved that title. Pretty much all the speakers were funny, articulate, well-prepared, and had great comic timing. The Super Saiyans PowerPoint presentation was classic. When it came time to vote for the winners, both teams got huge cheers, the moderator (a Sanzo cosplayer who was also a terrific MC) received the loudest cheers, and the Adelaide team (who were sitting in the audience) were dubbed the winners.
I did a bit more shopping after. The yaoi dealer had arrived - she was selling off a collection of over 900 manga. I picked up an interesting looking series called X-kai- by Asami Tohjoh. Back at Piro's table, I found the latest issue of Dylan Bradley and the new OzComics magazine.
I met the others outside, where the Haruka cosplayers were making their own shounen ai photos. It was late afternoon, and the most interesting events of today's program were over. There was still the trivia competition later tonight, but we decided to give it a miss this time.
We went back to Apsylus's place to get changed. After walking around all day in an impractical costume, clinking with accessories, it was a relief to be back in jeans.
The Manifest organisers had invited us to join them for dinner after the con wound up for the day. But that wouldn't be until nine - perhaps even later. Since most of us hadn't had a proper meal all day, we decided to have a quick bite first at the J-Cafe. We also picked up some desserts to have for breakfast the next day. (Mmm, green tea cheesecake!)
When the time came to meet up with the Manifest guys, a number of people piked out, citing exhaustion. I was pretty tired too, but I was determined to go along anyway. We ended up at one of the cafes along Lygon Street. It was lucky we'd eaten first, since the last of the Manifest people didn't arrive until past ten. It was good to mingle and catch up, although halfway through dinner I was already nodding off. Trivia had apparently been stuffed up, so I was glad we'd skipped it. Some of the Manifest people said they'd be coming up for Animania in October.
The walk back woke me up a little. Apsylus pointed out a gelato shop which sold Ferrero Rocher gelato with real Ferrero Rocher pieces. Sadly, it was closed. I resolved to come back when it was open and try some.
Fell asleep as soon as I curled into my sleeping bag.
Day 3 - Sunday
The second day of the con. The atmosphere was more low key, with fewer people around than yesterday. Most of us had put our cosplay outfits away, except for Kaoru, who was Sanzo today.
For me, it was panels day.
AMV Panel
This was run by the Sanzo who'd moderated yesterday's Great Debate. His name was Mitchell Chapman of Booyah Productions, he was a vidder from Adelaide, and he'd won the AMV comp at last year's AV Connection.
His co-panelist had piked out on him, but he managed to run a decent panel anyway. A lot of audience members seemed to be vidders themselves, and there was a lot of free discussion.
Some of the rules of AMV making that came up included: avoid showing subtitles (unless you're deliberately incorporating them into the vid), make sure all the footage used is of good quality (or at least similar quality), relate the song to the footage, and no Linkin Park (way overused).
Mitchell also showed a number of AMVs to illustrate various criticisms or to demonstrate good vidding. Some of the more memorable ones included 'Love (Hina) is so Cruel', 'Failed Experiments in Video Editing', and the classic Cowboy Bebop/Trigun crossover, 'Tainted Donuts'.
Drawing in the Anime/Manga Style Panel
This panel featured a number of artists discussing the techniques they used and in particular their own special areas of expertise.
Apsylus gave a tutorial on how to colour on the computer, demonstrating how to progressively add base colour, shading, lighting, and deeper shadow to an image.
Katherine, a 15 year old artist, talked about how to draw without access to fancy software like Photoshop. She showed some examples of her own art with watercolour pencils and pen.
Dan presented pages from manga he had drawn and went through what was involved at the various stages of creation: scripting, rough sketches, panel breakdowns, inking, adding text, and colouring.
Piro talked about doujinshi and self-publishing, giving a brief outline of the process and encouraging people to submit to Moshi Moshi and to get involved in self-publishing themselves. She mentioned a group in Victoria and two in Western Australia who were also working on doujinshi.
Anime Industry Panel
This panel featured Ben Clay and Dean Prenc from Madman Entertainment, Sarah Finney from Kino Dendy Cinemas, and two anime retailers, Gerard Vong from Anime Anytime and Luke Walker from shin Tokyo.
The most interesting revelations came when the Madman and Dendy reps talked about the behind the scenes process involved in bringing an anime title to Australia.
Ben and Dean talked about things like considerations in structuring a deal (higher upfront payment and lower royalties, or vice versa? depends on estimated sales) and marketing suitable titles to different retailers (what sells at Kmart will be different to what sells at Electronics Boutique).
One interesting point was that it now takes Madman 1000 units on average to break even, whereas two years ago it would have been 4000. The delay between a title's US release and its Australian release has also been dramatically reduced - they have a better network of contacts now and have streamlined the production process. They hope to encourage more people to wait three months instead of importing.
Madman intends to launch an Asian cinema label soon, bringing across Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai movies. They are also looking at publishing their own line of manga, most likely starting with popular titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and .hack//.
Sarah talked about Kino Dendy's involvement with Japanime 2000 and 2002 and confirmed that Japanime 2004 is being planned. She outlined some of the requirements for bringing an anime film to the big screen, including the need for a distributor to secure the rights and put up money to fund advertising and the prints themselves (which cost $2000 each).
Two recent successes, Perfect Blue and Cowboy Bebop, did well on low marketing budgets because the film critics got behind them and generated a buzz in the press. Other strategies involve promoting films to new audiences, like screening the Utena movie at the Queer Film Festival.
Sarah also talked about the importance of selecting a film with strong appeal both outside and inside the fanbase. Fans are used to fast access to new anime, whereas a film can take a long time to reach the cinemas. Will fans still want to pay $14 to see something on the big screen two or three years after its release?
The panel concluded with Madman announcing a list of recently acquired titles, including Azumanga Daioh, Chance Pop Session, Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea, Evangelion Director's Cut, Grave of the Fireflies, Heat Guy J, Initial D, Nadesico: Prince of Darkness, Patlabor WXIII, and Someday's Dreamers.
Yaoi Panel
I'd been looking forward to this panel, but it turned out to be pretty disappointing. Not, however, because of the panelists, who delivered a well-prepared presentation on the basics of yaoi: definitions, subgenres, history, and availability. It was a decent Yaoi 101, although personally I'd hoped for something with a little more depth and scope.
The problem was with the audience, or rather two groups within the audience: the hecklers (mostly male) and the rabid yaoi fangirls (mostly young). A bit of innuendo can be fun, as we dirty-minded slashers know. But to jump on every comment that was at all ambiguous and turn it into a smutty joke - well, that stops being funny after, oh, the first dozen times. I didn't come to this panel to laugh at your witty undergrad humour.
The panel wasn't a total loss, however. The funniest moment came when one of the panelists, discussing yaoi versus slash, asked the audience what their favourite slash fandom was. Straight away, Kaoru yelled out, "HP!" What was even funnier was that three quarters of the room immediately cheered, followed by a slightly shocked silence from the rest.
Apart from the panels, I also watched the day's cosplay competition. What made it entertaining were the impromptu skits by various entrants, including Kaoru's Sanzo facing off against the other Sanzo, a sequence with Sakura which had a totally unrelated Syaoran and then a Meiling leap into the fray (with the audience chanting "Jerry! Jerry!"), and one entrant's call to arms for yaoi which had all the cosplayers dressed as male characters swarming onto the stage. It was moments of sudden, inspired insanity like this which made the weekend for me.
Other notable cosplayers included an adorable No Face from Spirited Away and Dark and Light from DNAngel. Chloe's Lulu won first prize for costuming, and another Sydneysider, David, won second prize for his Naruto cosplay. So basically Sydney made a clean sweep of the costuming awards on both days, which was pretty cool.
There were a lot of things screening which I would have wanted to check out, but it's always seemed a waste to go to a con and sit in a darkened theatre watching stuff when you could just do that back home. The only anime I watched was an episode or two of Kogepan, the tragic tale of a burnt bread bun. Cute and philosophical.
I didn't do much more shopping - my main purchase for the day was a gorgeous Paine pencilboard, which bore the very image I'd used as a reference for putting together my cosplay.
I attended the closing ceremony, where they announced the winners of various competitions. Piro's entry into the art competition won the Judges' Pick, which was really cool.
There were still things on even after the official closing, including a screening of the AMV competition winners and other noteworthy vids. I was hoping to sit and watch, since I love songvids, but I ended up being dragged off to dinner after ten minutes.
We ate at a Japanese place on Lygon Street. The food took a while to arrive, but they weren't to blame since about twenty of us had descended on them without prior notice. I had a seafood fried udon which was delicious. However, I had to leave before dessert - I needed to get back to the con in time for the karaoke, which I'd put my name down for earlier, as had Mime.
I sang 'We Will Win' from Robotech - the Yellow Dancer version, not the Minmay version, since my voice is not in the girly squeak range. I'd succeeded in memorising the lyrics, which made me happy, although the weird vocals remover they used threw me and I had to struggle for half the song to find the right pitch. Mime sang one of the songs from DNAngel - he told us later that the organisers played the wrong version of the song (the fast one instead of the slow one), so he was thrown as well. I couldn't tell from the performance he gave though.
I was one of those who walked back with Apsylus instead of catching a lift or taking the tram. The upside of this was that we got to pass by an open gelato shop, and I got to try my Ferrero Rocher gelato.
My store of energy for the weekend had run kind of low, but I was happy to sit back and watch the others play through a yaoi dating game (clicking through the text options rapidly to get to the pretty pictures). Eventually it was time for sleep, and I was happy to do that too.
Day 4 - Monday
My last day in Melbourne. Didn't wake till mid-morning, then meandered down with the others to have breakfast at Cafe on Elizabeth, where Pelrun and Dan joined us. Leena and the van crew had already left for Sydney early that morning.
After breakfast, we visited Minotaur. Piro arranged to leave some of her zines to sell, while the rest of us browsed. I was impressed with Minotaur's media section, although their fiction range wasn't as good as Galaxy's. I was also amused by their Tekken 4 dolls (or should that be action figures?), the Spike calendar (yes, he has his own calendar, like Buffy and Angel, even though he doesn't have his own show), and the fact that the Aragorn cardboard standup was shorter than the Legolas one (hell, it was shorter than me).
Mir navigated us to Chapel Street, where we spent some time browsing the shops. It would have been quite pleasant if it had been sunny, but it was raining again after two days of fair weather, and the majority of us seemed to have acquired colds from each other.
Certain people took advantage of the Made in Japan sale to add to their collection of household accessories. At the Jam Factory, Kaoru found a white fur wrap she clearly loved but reluctantly decided against buying, so I ended up distracting her while Mir and Hope dashed inside to get it for Kaoru's upcoming birthday.
In the late afternoon, we returned to Apsylus's place to pack. We left there at six, saying goodbye to Piro, Haruka, and Avie, who were driving back the next day.
The flight back was as uneventful as the flight there. When I finally made it home and dumped my luggage on the floor, it struck me how quiet it was. After spending the past four days in the constant company of this group of people, it was strange - and a little lonely - to be by myself again. I do share a household with others, but all of a sudden I was missing everyone badly. I guess it was a testament to how much fun that weekend had been.
If you've read this far, I'm impressed by your perseverance. If you want to see everyone else's views of the weekend, I've collected people's reports under Manifest 2003 memories.
Day 1 - Friday
I am not a morning person. Having to wake up at 5:30 am makes me cranky, especially after only three hours of sleep. What got me out of bed and kept me going was the exciting prospect of the weekend ahead.
I managed to be at Domestic Terminal by seven.
mirness, hopexd, zero_sum, and sentxd were already there, and we caught the el cheapo, no breakfast Virgin Blue flight to Melbourne. There were no delays, and we touched down by nine.apsylus was kind enough to offer us accommodation again, so we caught a taxi to her place as soon as we arrived in Melbourne. Usually, we fly in on the morning Manifest begins, so by the time we arrive in Melbourne, unpack the luggage, and make our way to the venue, it's already about noon. This time, it was a pleasant change to arrive a day early and have a chance to settle in without rushing off to the con.Apsylus took us out to the Crown Cafe, where we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. It also had a mouthwatering selection of cakes we didn't have room left to try. Some say the best thing about Melbourne is the shopping, but I think it's the food - varied, delicious, and cheaper than in Sydney.
There was a tea shop at the Queen Victoria Market that Mir wanted to visit, so, having nothing planned until the bathhouse in the evening, we all went along. The shop was called The Tea Party, and it had an amazing selection of red, green, black, and herbal teas. Most of us ended up buying something or other to sample. I went with the caramel rooibos tea, which was flavoured with real caramel.
The next quest we set ourselves was to find a certain Japanese fan shop where Kaoru could get a fan for her cosplay. This involved wandering around trying to follow some rather vague directions given to her by a shop in Sydney, deciding to *ring* the shop in Sydney to get clearer directions, going back to Apsylus's place to look up the number of the shop in Sydney, and finally getting some improved (but still vague) directions from them.
What can I say? We had time on our hands.
Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we failed to find the fan shop or anything remotely resembling it. However, we did find a variety store which stocked balloons in a very familiar shade of pink. Certain unnamed persons decided we could manufacture our own porings. This was only one of several instances of RO-related weirdness over the weekend.
While the prototype porings were simply inflated with air, it was decided that filling them with water would produce a shape and consistency (ie bounciness) closer to that of the original. However, further trials had to wait until we returned to Apsylus's place.
Since we'd skipped lunch, we had an early dinner at Melbourne Central, where we were joined by
pirochan, harukitty, and eiva, who had driven down in Haruka's car. They'd passed the moogle van along the way, meaning that the others were still en route. The main question was whether leenabeans would arrive in time for the bathhouse, which was booked for 7:30 pm.The bathhouse, Ofuro Ya, was a traditional Japanese bathhouse. Mir had been there with her family last time she was in Melbourne, and she highly recommended the experience to us. It was something we'd all been looking forward to, which is why it was disappointing that the van crew couldn't organise their arrival in time for Leena to be able to join us.
Mir's booking was originally for the girls only, but the guys ended up coming along too. It was dark by the time we set off, and the mild, sunny day had turned chilly and wet. We stood shivering at a tram stop for ten minutes before realising it was the wrong one, and then had to run through icy wind and rain to the next like crazy people.
Fortunately for us (and Mir's continued health), the bathhouse was entirely worth it. I was familiar with the traditional single sex, communal baths from my time in Japan, but this was the first time I'd been able to enjoy a long, luxurious soak in one. It was wonderful, especially compared to what it was like outside.
Afterwards, we relaxed on tatami mats and enjoyed hot sake and rice balls. None of us wanted to brave the weather outside again, so we just caught taxis back. Our driver was very keen on imparting his philosophy on life to us, even calling me back when I opened the door before he'd finished. (I thought he had.)
Leena, Chewie, Mime, and the others finally arrived. They told us about their trip down - the giant moogle costume in the back of the van had attracted a lot of stares. Most of us were starving by now, so we ordered pizza, then checked out Piro's zines, played with the porings, and browsed through Apsylus's contributor's copy of the RO Official Fan Art Book.
Haruka revealed his surprise to us - an RO cosplay, featuring kitty band, long black wig, and purple velvet dress. It was startling but remarkably impressive, especially with his height, and only added to the surreal nature of the weekend.
Leena and the others went back to their hotel, and the rest of us settled down to sleep relatively early (ie around one). It had been a fun and exhausting day, and the convention hadn't even started yet. I was looking forward to it more than ever. What with RO crossplay, make-your-own porings, and the yet to be unveiled giant moogle, Manifest wasn't going to know what hit it.
Day 2 - Saturday
The first day of the con. I was planning to sleep until eight to make up for the night before, but at seven, the sound of everyone else getting up woke me. The con didn't officially start until ten, but Piro and Apsylus had to be there early to set up their tables.
Quite a few of us were cosplaying again this year. We got changed, some of us praying that the Melbourne weather would be mild, or that the venue at least would have heating. There are some costumes more suited to summer than winter, and vice versa. Chewie's Auron, for example, had sweltered during last year's Christmas party, while Leena's Rikku had been perfectly comfortable. Now the situation was reversed.
Haruka's car had room for Piro's gear and a few lucky passengers. The rest of us had to catch the tram to Melbourne Uni - attracting fewer stares than I'd expected, since our costumes were largely hidden under coats. The weather was still brisk, but at least the sun was out.
We got there around ten. The lines weren't as long as I'd feared, and we made it inside within ten minutes. Our first stop was the dealers' room, where we met up with everyone else who'd come down from Sydney. The AnimeUNSW execs were manning a table; most of them had travelled down in the van. The SUAnime execs were there as well. Both teams were busy promoting the upcoming Animania.
pelrun had arrived yesterday morning. monkeydan was there too. I also saw rei_ayanami_iv around. Chloe was there in her gorgeous Lulu costume, and kawaii_no_miko had braved the elements to wear her new FFX-2 Yuna costume. Hope and Kaoru met up with pei_ayanami, the third member of their Haruka naru toki no naka de cosplay group. And I saw Mime's giant moogle costume for the first time.Words don't adequately convey what it's like to see a seven foot tall, perfectly to scale, huggable giant moogle. Everyone who saw it was gobsmacked. When Mime told us six months ago about what he planned to do, most of us weren't sure what to expect. That he managed to pull it off so well is nothing short of amazing.
I took lots of cosplay photos and received photo requests in turn. My favourite cosplayer had to be the Lain in the teddybear suit, who was unbelievably cute. There was also a leatherclad Sephiroth with wild white hair (waving a really big sword), and a number of Yunas (both versions).
I picked up the latest issue of Moshi Moshi, the eagerly awaited Tabeshounen comic, the Anindo Punch! manga anthology, and a disturbingly cute print of chibi Sephiroth and chibi Vincent.
The cosplay competition was at noon. Better planning by the Manifest committee meant that this year there was time for all the entrants to have their moment on stage. On the other hand, they had no direction from the judges as to what they should do once they were up there. Some cosplayers had skits prepared, but everyone else just stood there looking awkward, turned around for inspection, and walked off again. A few questions from the judges would have helped.
Still, there were lots of interesting entries, although none that could compete with Mime's giant moogle, which won first prize for costuming. (It hugged the judges! And did the moogle dance!) Second prize went to Chewie's Auron, which also rocked. Go us! First and second prizes for roleplaying went to the Hyatt and Excel cosplayers.
It was almost two now, and I was starving. None of us had eaten breakfast or lunch. I grabbed a sausage from the barbecue and some chocolate to keep me going before heading back inside to watch the Great Debate.
It was Melbourne versus Sydney, with the topic being 'Power characters in anime: Size doesn't matter'. I haven't been too impressed with the Great Debate in the past, but this year it deserved that title. Pretty much all the speakers were funny, articulate, well-prepared, and had great comic timing. The Super Saiyans PowerPoint presentation was classic. When it came time to vote for the winners, both teams got huge cheers, the moderator (a Sanzo cosplayer who was also a terrific MC) received the loudest cheers, and the Adelaide team (who were sitting in the audience) were dubbed the winners.
I did a bit more shopping after. The yaoi dealer had arrived - she was selling off a collection of over 900 manga. I picked up an interesting looking series called X-kai- by Asami Tohjoh. Back at Piro's table, I found the latest issue of Dylan Bradley and the new OzComics magazine.
I met the others outside, where the Haruka cosplayers were making their own shounen ai photos. It was late afternoon, and the most interesting events of today's program were over. There was still the trivia competition later tonight, but we decided to give it a miss this time.
We went back to Apsylus's place to get changed. After walking around all day in an impractical costume, clinking with accessories, it was a relief to be back in jeans.
The Manifest organisers had invited us to join them for dinner after the con wound up for the day. But that wouldn't be until nine - perhaps even later. Since most of us hadn't had a proper meal all day, we decided to have a quick bite first at the J-Cafe. We also picked up some desserts to have for breakfast the next day. (Mmm, green tea cheesecake!)
When the time came to meet up with the Manifest guys, a number of people piked out, citing exhaustion. I was pretty tired too, but I was determined to go along anyway. We ended up at one of the cafes along Lygon Street. It was lucky we'd eaten first, since the last of the Manifest people didn't arrive until past ten. It was good to mingle and catch up, although halfway through dinner I was already nodding off. Trivia had apparently been stuffed up, so I was glad we'd skipped it. Some of the Manifest people said they'd be coming up for Animania in October.
The walk back woke me up a little. Apsylus pointed out a gelato shop which sold Ferrero Rocher gelato with real Ferrero Rocher pieces. Sadly, it was closed. I resolved to come back when it was open and try some.
Fell asleep as soon as I curled into my sleeping bag.
Day 3 - Sunday
The second day of the con. The atmosphere was more low key, with fewer people around than yesterday. Most of us had put our cosplay outfits away, except for Kaoru, who was Sanzo today.
For me, it was panels day.
AMV Panel
This was run by the Sanzo who'd moderated yesterday's Great Debate. His name was Mitchell Chapman of Booyah Productions, he was a vidder from Adelaide, and he'd won the AMV comp at last year's AV Connection.
His co-panelist had piked out on him, but he managed to run a decent panel anyway. A lot of audience members seemed to be vidders themselves, and there was a lot of free discussion.
Some of the rules of AMV making that came up included: avoid showing subtitles (unless you're deliberately incorporating them into the vid), make sure all the footage used is of good quality (or at least similar quality), relate the song to the footage, and no Linkin Park (way overused).
Mitchell also showed a number of AMVs to illustrate various criticisms or to demonstrate good vidding. Some of the more memorable ones included 'Love (Hina) is so Cruel', 'Failed Experiments in Video Editing', and the classic Cowboy Bebop/Trigun crossover, 'Tainted Donuts'.
Drawing in the Anime/Manga Style Panel
This panel featured a number of artists discussing the techniques they used and in particular their own special areas of expertise.
Apsylus gave a tutorial on how to colour on the computer, demonstrating how to progressively add base colour, shading, lighting, and deeper shadow to an image.
Katherine, a 15 year old artist, talked about how to draw without access to fancy software like Photoshop. She showed some examples of her own art with watercolour pencils and pen.
Dan presented pages from manga he had drawn and went through what was involved at the various stages of creation: scripting, rough sketches, panel breakdowns, inking, adding text, and colouring.
Piro talked about doujinshi and self-publishing, giving a brief outline of the process and encouraging people to submit to Moshi Moshi and to get involved in self-publishing themselves. She mentioned a group in Victoria and two in Western Australia who were also working on doujinshi.
Anime Industry Panel
This panel featured Ben Clay and Dean Prenc from Madman Entertainment, Sarah Finney from Kino Dendy Cinemas, and two anime retailers, Gerard Vong from Anime Anytime and Luke Walker from shin Tokyo.
The most interesting revelations came when the Madman and Dendy reps talked about the behind the scenes process involved in bringing an anime title to Australia.
Ben and Dean talked about things like considerations in structuring a deal (higher upfront payment and lower royalties, or vice versa? depends on estimated sales) and marketing suitable titles to different retailers (what sells at Kmart will be different to what sells at Electronics Boutique).
One interesting point was that it now takes Madman 1000 units on average to break even, whereas two years ago it would have been 4000. The delay between a title's US release and its Australian release has also been dramatically reduced - they have a better network of contacts now and have streamlined the production process. They hope to encourage more people to wait three months instead of importing.
Madman intends to launch an Asian cinema label soon, bringing across Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai movies. They are also looking at publishing their own line of manga, most likely starting with popular titles such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and .hack//.
Sarah talked about Kino Dendy's involvement with Japanime 2000 and 2002 and confirmed that Japanime 2004 is being planned. She outlined some of the requirements for bringing an anime film to the big screen, including the need for a distributor to secure the rights and put up money to fund advertising and the prints themselves (which cost $2000 each).
Two recent successes, Perfect Blue and Cowboy Bebop, did well on low marketing budgets because the film critics got behind them and generated a buzz in the press. Other strategies involve promoting films to new audiences, like screening the Utena movie at the Queer Film Festival.
Sarah also talked about the importance of selecting a film with strong appeal both outside and inside the fanbase. Fans are used to fast access to new anime, whereas a film can take a long time to reach the cinemas. Will fans still want to pay $14 to see something on the big screen two or three years after its release?
The panel concluded with Madman announcing a list of recently acquired titles, including Azumanga Daioh, Chance Pop Session, Escaflowne: A Girl in Gaea, Evangelion Director's Cut, Grave of the Fireflies, Heat Guy J, Initial D, Nadesico: Prince of Darkness, Patlabor WXIII, and Someday's Dreamers.
Yaoi Panel
I'd been looking forward to this panel, but it turned out to be pretty disappointing. Not, however, because of the panelists, who delivered a well-prepared presentation on the basics of yaoi: definitions, subgenres, history, and availability. It was a decent Yaoi 101, although personally I'd hoped for something with a little more depth and scope.
The problem was with the audience, or rather two groups within the audience: the hecklers (mostly male) and the rabid yaoi fangirls (mostly young). A bit of innuendo can be fun, as we dirty-minded slashers know. But to jump on every comment that was at all ambiguous and turn it into a smutty joke - well, that stops being funny after, oh, the first dozen times. I didn't come to this panel to laugh at your witty undergrad humour.
The panel wasn't a total loss, however. The funniest moment came when one of the panelists, discussing yaoi versus slash, asked the audience what their favourite slash fandom was. Straight away, Kaoru yelled out, "HP!" What was even funnier was that three quarters of the room immediately cheered, followed by a slightly shocked silence from the rest.
Apart from the panels, I also watched the day's cosplay competition. What made it entertaining were the impromptu skits by various entrants, including Kaoru's Sanzo facing off against the other Sanzo, a sequence with Sakura which had a totally unrelated Syaoran and then a Meiling leap into the fray (with the audience chanting "Jerry! Jerry!"), and one entrant's call to arms for yaoi which had all the cosplayers dressed as male characters swarming onto the stage. It was moments of sudden, inspired insanity like this which made the weekend for me.
Other notable cosplayers included an adorable No Face from Spirited Away and Dark and Light from DNAngel. Chloe's Lulu won first prize for costuming, and another Sydneysider, David, won second prize for his Naruto cosplay. So basically Sydney made a clean sweep of the costuming awards on both days, which was pretty cool.
There were a lot of things screening which I would have wanted to check out, but it's always seemed a waste to go to a con and sit in a darkened theatre watching stuff when you could just do that back home. The only anime I watched was an episode or two of Kogepan, the tragic tale of a burnt bread bun. Cute and philosophical.
I didn't do much more shopping - my main purchase for the day was a gorgeous Paine pencilboard, which bore the very image I'd used as a reference for putting together my cosplay.
I attended the closing ceremony, where they announced the winners of various competitions. Piro's entry into the art competition won the Judges' Pick, which was really cool.
There were still things on even after the official closing, including a screening of the AMV competition winners and other noteworthy vids. I was hoping to sit and watch, since I love songvids, but I ended up being dragged off to dinner after ten minutes.
We ate at a Japanese place on Lygon Street. The food took a while to arrive, but they weren't to blame since about twenty of us had descended on them without prior notice. I had a seafood fried udon which was delicious. However, I had to leave before dessert - I needed to get back to the con in time for the karaoke, which I'd put my name down for earlier, as had Mime.
I sang 'We Will Win' from Robotech - the Yellow Dancer version, not the Minmay version, since my voice is not in the girly squeak range. I'd succeeded in memorising the lyrics, which made me happy, although the weird vocals remover they used threw me and I had to struggle for half the song to find the right pitch. Mime sang one of the songs from DNAngel - he told us later that the organisers played the wrong version of the song (the fast one instead of the slow one), so he was thrown as well. I couldn't tell from the performance he gave though.
I was one of those who walked back with Apsylus instead of catching a lift or taking the tram. The upside of this was that we got to pass by an open gelato shop, and I got to try my Ferrero Rocher gelato.
My store of energy for the weekend had run kind of low, but I was happy to sit back and watch the others play through a yaoi dating game (clicking through the text options rapidly to get to the pretty pictures). Eventually it was time for sleep, and I was happy to do that too.
Day 4 - Monday
My last day in Melbourne. Didn't wake till mid-morning, then meandered down with the others to have breakfast at Cafe on Elizabeth, where Pelrun and Dan joined us. Leena and the van crew had already left for Sydney early that morning.
After breakfast, we visited Minotaur. Piro arranged to leave some of her zines to sell, while the rest of us browsed. I was impressed with Minotaur's media section, although their fiction range wasn't as good as Galaxy's. I was also amused by their Tekken 4 dolls (or should that be action figures?), the Spike calendar (yes, he has his own calendar, like Buffy and Angel, even though he doesn't have his own show), and the fact that the Aragorn cardboard standup was shorter than the Legolas one (hell, it was shorter than me).
Mir navigated us to Chapel Street, where we spent some time browsing the shops. It would have been quite pleasant if it had been sunny, but it was raining again after two days of fair weather, and the majority of us seemed to have acquired colds from each other.
Certain people took advantage of the Made in Japan sale to add to their collection of household accessories. At the Jam Factory, Kaoru found a white fur wrap she clearly loved but reluctantly decided against buying, so I ended up distracting her while Mir and Hope dashed inside to get it for Kaoru's upcoming birthday.
In the late afternoon, we returned to Apsylus's place to pack. We left there at six, saying goodbye to Piro, Haruka, and Avie, who were driving back the next day.
The flight back was as uneventful as the flight there. When I finally made it home and dumped my luggage on the floor, it struck me how quiet it was. After spending the past four days in the constant company of this group of people, it was strange - and a little lonely - to be by myself again. I do share a household with others, but all of a sudden I was missing everyone badly. I guess it was a testament to how much fun that weekend had been.
If you've read this far, I'm impressed by your perseverance. If you want to see everyone else's views of the weekend, I've collected people's reports under Manifest 2003 memories.
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Date: 2003-08-30 03:40 am (UTC)But! I guess Saturday and Sunday did make up for it ^^
Your Paine costume was awesome though, we need to find you some hair so you can wear it to the Christmas Party =D
Whoo
Date: 2003-08-31 03:50 pm (UTC)Actually, I'd better post mine too XD;
Re: Whoo
Date: 2003-08-31 07:32 pm (UTC)Then xdalbum will be back in business for all of your picture uploading needs :)
(...and I'll do a full backup of all the sites onto my own server at home, so I can do failover the next time k.net goes down. *sigh*)
Re: Whoo
Date: 2003-09-01 01:31 am (UTC)