SMASH! 2010

So for this year's SMASH! the Japanese seiyuu guest of honour was Yuko Miyamura, most famous for her role as Asuka from Evangelion. I thought I would be late for her panel, but I should have known that these things never start on time. Anyway, she came across as a warm and lovely person, and hardly seemed old enough to have been doing this fifteen years ago.

Most of the questions were general, but one I found interesting was that she was the one who came up with the "Kimochi warui" line at the end of the original Eva movies, after director Hideaki Anno asked her what she would say if she woke up to find someone strangling her. On request, Miyamura performed the "Anata baka!" line and demonstrated the Eva roar. But the highlight was the live dubbing session, where three scenes from Eva were played, and she voiced Asuka's part in front of us. The first was a fight with the Angels where she kicked ass, the second was her introducing Shinji to her Eva unit, and the third was where she and Shinji were having an argument after a battle. I was amazed at how swiftly and completely she dropped into character, full of fire and energy. Very impressive transformation.

The cosplay comp was pretty entertaining and largely pain free. Highlights included a guy who danced an Idol Master routine with a dead serious expression and complete knowledge of the moves, the most adorable 12 year old and 8 year old sister pair as winged characters from Touhou Project, an FFXIII group whose white robe costumes were unveiled to reveal another set of fighting costumes beneath, and a Loveless dance that was unsettlingly charged but a genuine example of dance as story that I have never seen at a con before.

I caught a few of the AMVs and some of the karaoke finals, and wandered through the stalls without picking up anything this time. Although I did stand in front of a plush Mokona for several minutes wondering if I really was too old for it.

I have to say, I'm still not completely sold on the Town Hall venue, although it is convenient to be able to just go upstairs from the train station. It's a bit of a maze, and the sound still carries between the main stage and the art stage, with ambient noise permeating both. It is a lovely building though, and to be able to watch the cosplay from plush red velvet seats in the gallery was kind of cool.

I caught up with aerias, kawak, xfire and Chris. Everyone else though seemed like they were ten years younger than me. Some of these kids probably weren't even born when Eva first screened. I felt like a bit of a dinosaur, and kind of wished there were more of my fellow dinosaurs around to chat about the prehistoric days.

I had a caramel mousse cake from the Guylian Cafe for dinner, since there was no one to stop me, and then I headed on to GRAPHIC!

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GRAPHIC

Everyone I knew who was going to GRAPHIC - and a few who weren't - wanted to attend the Neil Gaiman reading. But The Arrival is my favourite Shaun Tan book, and possible my favourite graphic novel ever, so for me the must see event of the festival was Ben Walsh's Orkestra of the Underground performing a live score to projected images from the story.

Despite no one else I knew going, I didn't have to worry about being a nigel, because the Playhouse was packed. And! Shaun Tan introduced the performance. Which I was not expecting. He mentioned that it would be his first time watching it, so he would be experiencing it with the rest of us too. And! He sat in the empty seat in front of me. I resisted the urge to gush all over him about how much I love his work, because the lights dimmed, and the orchestra began to play.


What drives so many to leave everything behind and journey to a mysterious country; a place without family or friends, where everything is nameless and the future is unknown? This silent graphic novel is the story of every migrant, every refugee, every displaced person, and a tribute to those who have made the journey.


Shaun Tan dedicated this book to his parents. It is also the story of my parents, and the story of my friends' parents. And in The Arrival, it is the story of one man who makes this journey to a bewildering and fantastical city, and all those who have made the journey before and after him.

The music was great, by turns sweeping, playful, dramatic, and moving. But the genius was how it was matched with the images from the book. The use of framing, zooming, and other techniques; a cascade of images for motion, or a lingering shot of a splash page for reflection: it added the dimension of time to the work and meant viewing it in a different space. More than once, I wondered whether Shaun Tan had drawn new images for this performance, but of course he hadn't, it was just that I was seeing the story in a new way. The experience was like watching a movie of the book. And it could not have worked so well had the book not been completely wordless.

I wish I could better describe it. I think I'd need a thousand words.

It got a standing ovation.

I missed out on Neil, but it was totally worth it.