For those of you who don’t follow me on twitter (and if you don’t you should) you might have missed my Japan Expo adventures. But how lucky are you?! I am here to report!
As you might have guessed, Japan Expo is a convention, a French convention, THE biggest French convention. It is held every year during the first week of July and this year was its 15th anniversary so, instead of being held for 4 days it was held for 5. And I was there the 5 days and I am completely dead. (Actually, I am sick as I’m writing this.) As every big French thing it happens in Paris.
Japan Expo: Day 1
Festivities officially started at 2:00 pm but since we (I was with others) had a 5-day pass we got to get in earlier. The first thing we did upon arriving at the convention center was queuing. And we weren’t even inside yet. Thankfully this was the line that moved the fastest and the only time we lined up to get in. Bless the 5-day pass.
Once in, the first thing we did was to go line up at the GoodSmile booth. Strangely enough, this was the only time there was actually a line in front of the booth. Then again, the convention hadn’t even officially started yet that some figures were already out of stock. Either way, I got the cleaning Levi nendoroid as well as the two last Snow Mikus! Let me tell you that the boxes for the Snow Miku are awfully huge but they are also incredibly pretty.
Next thing we did was to go see the Sengoku Basara premiere (for which there wasn’t any line, the room was nearly empty actually). The sound sucked and a bigger screen would have been appreciated but the atmosphere of the room kinda made up for it. It was pretty fun to hear everyone fangirling. Not to mention that I was super happy to see my favorite character who I thought was dead in the OP.
And then we lined up to see Shoko Nakagawa. I am not very familiar with her music but I can tell you she’s an amazing performer. She’s super cute and adorable and it showed she was happy to be there. I spent a very good moment with Shokotan. (The translator sucked though, I feel sorry for the ones who don’t understand Japanese because they missed on a lot of her adorableness.)
A friend of mine had joined us to see the live performance and we spent the rest of the day together. We mostly lined up to buy manga and gather editor’s freebies. All hail Square Enix by the way. Their goodies were the best. They weren’t exactly present as a manga editor but, whenever you bought a manga of theirs you got a ticket to redeem at their booth and the gifts changed everyday and they were my favorites. I don’t know what to do with all these manga but it won’t stop me from buying them.
My biggest regret of the day is to have missed Naru
Japan Expo: Day 2
To be completely honest, I don’t really remember what we did this day. I clearly remember having bought a Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei nendoroid. (I had wanted that one since forever, I am SO happy!)
I also remember having played Ichiban Kuji, you know, these lottery things in which you never lose? I won Attack on Titan rulers. Yes. Rulers. That was my most unlucky day.
Oh yeah, we tried seeing Free!! but the line was long and we were told the room was full so we left and then the line started moving and so we were disappointed and so we left. I had already seen it anyway so I didn’t mind so much. Still, this event was the worst in terms of organization and staff attitude, especially in terms of staff attitude. I don’t know that girl was but she definitely isn’t suited to work with the public at all. Everyone else was adorable, everywhere, at every booth.
We left early though. Somehow, this might have been the most packed day of the whole convention and it was very hot too so pretty unbearable.
Japan Expo: Day 3
This day was mostly spent shopping. I bought cute Yousei-sans from Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita. I also bought cute straps and a cute Sonico. And artbooks. I got crazy on artbooks. Bought one Attack on Titan, one Black Butler, an Amano Akira (Reborn!!, Psycho Pass‘ character designer) and a Natsume Yuujinchou fanbook I didn’t even know existed.
It was also the day of Kenjiro Tsuda and Yui Horie’s talk show and I couldn’t stop fangirling. Seiyuu are even more adorable in real life you know. Especially Yui Horie. It was so cute to see her completely shocked by how many people were there to see her and how many people knew her. A really adorable girl.
We also saw the Funnassyi show. Funnassyi is a mascot. An annoying mascot who looks like a pear and who’s actually pretty funny. That was one of the funniest moment of the whole convention. Go figure.
Japan Expo: Day 4
This was the day I saw K: Missing Kings, which left me wanting more. Kenjiro Tsuda did say before the screening that he didn’t have a lot of lines and he didn’t joke, he spoke twice in the whole movie. Overall, it was a movie like the series was, it focused on a few things and did these things well, but so much is left unexplained that you still want more.
Right after there was a “Japan in Motion” event. Japan in Motion is a French TV show and every year at Japan Expo they hold an event to thank the fans. It was based on japanese TV shows, with quizzes and games and such. And this is how I saw Yoshiki of X-Japan try (and miserably fail) to throw a slipper. The even also features Kalafina which is why I stayed for this event as I missed their concert for train reasons on the next day.
I played Ichiban Kuji the AoT version again and got a titan figure and a Scouting Legion scarf. I really like this titan figure.
And then I had to leave to meet another friend and then to attend the Crunchyroll.fr meetup. (Which was a success. I even got a T-shirt. And I was drunk. A bit.)
Japan Expo: Day 5
Last day of the convention, we stayed only for like 2 hours because we had to take a train early. I still had the time to play Ichiban Kuji the Madoka version and, being my lucky self, won Tomoe Mami, one of the most sought after figure of this set when I played thinking I would only get postcards which I could fit easily into my bag.
I missed the un-official CR.fr meetup during which everyone had their T-shirts so I spent the morning strolling around, getting weird stares on my own. I also missed Kalafina. Actually a lot of things happened on Sunday that I missed.
And this is how my adventures at Japan Expo finished. It was a wonderful experience, I might grow addicted to conventions. The thing I liked most about the con was probably all the things there were to do. You could see cosplay shows, concerts, talk shows, random panels, random shows, random activities. There was something for everyone, for anime and manga lovers, for video game lovers, for the appreciators of Japanese traditionnal culture.
I really hope to go back next year. I am definitely going back next year. (I kinda hope I will be working there next year, who knows?)
Last but not least, because I know you are curious, the loot!
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Kuuki
Here is Kuuki, French 20-something anime-baka speaking. I watch too many things, read too much, eat too much and work too much. I'm writing Go for Broke and sometimes more for the Organization. Nice to meet you!
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