Anime Expo® Announces Morning Musume As First Official Guests Of Honor For 2009 Convention In Los Angeles

[makky]

So I've been saving for awhile to go to Disney World (which I've wanted to do since I was seven), and now it's either there or this con and Momusu.

Hmm....

Honestly, I wish I'd have known about Shokotan last year; I'm more interested in her.

I agree with everyone else who said something about why couldn't they have done this back when I cared? I mean, I even kind of like the current lineup, but I like C-ute, Buono!, Ice Creamusume and the other groups a lot more. Why didn't they decide to bring Buono! instead? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whistling:' />

[Red Raccoon]

There was a time I would have been pretty damn excited about them coming to LA and would have been been there in a hearbeat to see them. Now I'm not sure how I feel. I have to echo's Geoff's "why didn't they do this when I cared?" Still, my wife and I talk about going to Anime Expo every year and never do, maybe we will this time and I can finally say I saw MM live. Even if it's not the MM I remember. Better still, maybe if I do show up, I'll finally meet Geoff, Gypchan, and some of you others I've talked to over the years.



I'd offer my couch to someone, but I'm a good 2 hours drive from this thing, not exactly convenient.

[Pflaume]

[quote name='CandleJack' post='59767' date='Feb 13 2009, 02:10 AM']I can and probably will go. I've been to Anime Expo once before but I forget where it was. I'm up for a mmbbs meet up but I doubt any of you know or remember me.[/quote]



I remember you, because anytime I saw you in a thread I made sure to shriek dramatically. If I met you at AX, and knew it was you, I would have to do the same out of principle.

[eri]

[quote name='alita87' post='59780' date='Feb 13 2009, 04:53 AM'][quote name='eri' post='59775' date='Feb 13 2009, 07:19 PM']

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hatthe.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whistling:' /> Are mo-wota crowds any "better"?[/quote]

Actually, yes. Wota might have a bad image, but of all the idol wota I've met, they are much better. Most have jobs and aren't really scary once you talk to them...

having an unrealistic love for someone who is real versus an anime character is a bit better. When you hear the chants in person you really feel how honestly all the fans just want to send their energy to the girls.

[/quote]



I go to anime expo every single year. While there are the typical rude, smelly trouble makers with their big cardboard cosplay swords, most people are just normal (well, geeky normal) and err on the youngish side. So, I'm not terribly concerned by the anime-expo guests. Also, I don't really agree with your position that they are "better" (in what regard anyhow?). Highly airbrushed, highly produced typical J-idols are just a series of media images that hardly seem more "real" than a cartoon character. The one main difference is that real Jidols grow up and lose their fans. Idol master girls are 15 forever.



Maybe you're right...but it might have to do with age. If mo-wota have jobs, well, naturally since the ones you see at every concert have to earn it and will all be in their 20s+. Anime-cons are filled with high schoolers and maybe college kids. The highschoolers are thrilled to be running around with their friends unsupervised and may generally be more immature than your 30 year old nerdy Japanese working man with an idol fetish. It is also probably a cultural thing too since Japanese youth (arguably) aren't really going to act out in public the way American teenagers feel entitled to.



Well whatever. I don't like this Jpop vs anime artificial hierarchy. We're all dorks. Let's move on.

[shadeedge]

Up until now i'd considered Americans friendly, decent sorts. Now I see they're traitorous wretches, getting far more than they deserve. Bah. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /noway.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':whistling:' />



Only slightly kidding. Bah.

[ozu]

I guess I need to start shopping for a Sayumi-sized piece of luggage. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... stling.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hawhaw:' />



I might snag Risa, too, just so you guys'll stop griping about her. Imagine taking her along in your carry-on: "Mmm-mmphh! USO! Mmph!"

[Shoujo Q]

Seems there's going to be some autographing, says the nice mod at the expo forum.



I hope nice mod is right. D: That would be sweet. Still no word on if this costs anything extra.



H!O are so much more organized then us, they might get special seating! So not fair! D:

[eri]

H!O are so much more organized then us, they might get special seating! So not fair! D:

I guess they just want to all sit together - probably have a section for themselves. But it wouldn't be fair if they got "special" meaning, "the best" seats.

As far as GoH duties, they'll do the usual things GoHs do, which includes panels and signings.

Weee! I'm so excited!

[nickorp]

Try to get to the panels early for good seating (or line, most likely the case). Then when the panel is over DON'T forget to get a ticket so you can line up for the signing session. Lines will always be long. It'll be worse if you forget to get the ticket after the panel to line up for the signing. Also, GoH don't stay there forever so sadly, some people my get cut out.

[Kendo]

iwish i could come D:

I love anime and hello!project but i live all the way across the US in michigan : p

but iwould die ifit was the berryz! they were the reason igot into H!P....

[AEUGNewtype]

[quote name='PQ' post='59818' date='Feb 13 2009, 07:51 PM']H!O are so much more organized then us, they might get special seating! So not fair! D:[/quote]

Are you kidding me? That place is a joke, organizational-wise. That would be fucking irritating as piss if this is actually true.

[loli-tan]

I wish I didn't live on the other side of the WORLD D:.

[Special Needs Tricycle]

How could H!O get prioritized seating when they're basically a glorified piracy ring? I don't get it.

[Cyrene]

[quote name='Special Needs Tricycle' post='59838' date='Feb 13 2009, 06:34 PM']How could H!O get prioritized seating when they're basically a glorified piracy ring? I don't get it.[/quote]



I actually wrote a letter to the guy that said they'd see about getting them seating, I hope they don't get it so I don't have to throw a bitch fit to someone higher.



Not fair at -all-.

[alita87]

[quote name='Gypchan' post='59784' date='Feb 13 2009, 11:34 PM']I want to go for the meet-ups and shenanigans (Hey, Pi, where does one find an Aika-sized kidnapping sack, anyway? <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hawhaw.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' /> ), but part of me is still trying to talk myself out of it due to cost, the crowds (in general, I mean. I could care less about weeaboo types. I have dealt with sci-fi fans at D*C with no problem), and flying to someplace I am not familiar with.

If someone were to give me a better estimate on how much the whole thing would cost (con ticket, concert ticket, percentage of hotel crash space, average flight cost, and random additional costs), my head would have a better time wrapping itself around the possibility of attending.



Plus, I found out some old friends from Rochester, NY (where I used to live) are attending the con as their vacation and it would be nice to see them too.

It's amusing to me because they run a fuckin' anime store. They are actually some of the most mature and down-to-earth people I know (OMG the stories they tell about nightmare customers, though!). Can you imagine running an anime store and then going to an anime convention for HOLIDAY? I am lost on the logic there, really, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

Their only flaw is that the female half of the pair is a Risa fan and the male half of the pair only recently noticed the group due to Koharu. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /lmfao.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':D' />[/quote]



You used to be from Rochester!? That's my hometown ^^.



[quote name='eri' post='59800' date='Feb 14 2009, 06:15 AM'][quote name='alita87' post='59780' date='Feb 13 2009, 04:53 AM'][quote name='eri' post='59775' date='Feb 13 2009, 07:19 PM']

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hatthe.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hawhaw:' /> Are mo-wota crowds any "better"?[/quote]

Actually, yes. Wota might have a bad image, but of all the idol wota I've met, they are much better. Most have jobs and aren't really scary once you talk to them...

having an unrealistic love for someone who is real versus an anime character is a bit better. When you hear the chants in person you really feel how honestly all the fans just want to send their energy to the girls.

[/quote]



I go to anime expo every single year. While there are the typical rude, smelly trouble makers with their big cardboard cosplay swords, most people are just normal (well, geeky normal) and err on the youngish side. So, I'm not terribly concerned by the anime-expo guests. Also, I don't really agree with your position that they are "better" (in what regard anyhow?). Highly airbrushed, highly produced typical J-idols are just a series of media images that hardly seem more "real" than a cartoon character. The one main difference is that real Jidols grow up and lose their fans. Idol master girls are 15 forever.



Maybe you're right...but it might have to do with age. If mo-wota have jobs, well, naturally since the ones you see at every concert have to earn it and will all be in their 20s+. Anime-cons are filled with high schoolers and maybe college kids. The highschoolers are thrilled to be running around with their friends unsupervised and may generally be more immature than your 30 year old nerdy Japanese working man with an idol fetish. It is also probably a cultural thing too since Japanese youth (arguably) aren't really going to act out in public the way American teenagers feel entitled to.



Well whatever. I don't like this Jpop vs anime artificial hierarchy. We're all dorks. Let's move on.

[/quote]



Sorry I really didn't mean it in the hierarchy sense. I love anime still too. Was just going on the one personw ho was mentioning the downsides of anime fans at cons and giving my opinion based on what I've seen here. Even when I went in high school most of the fans scare dme. They were just so immature, yet the atmosphere was much better than what I've heard of it now. Mainly as they weren't really strict about younger people looking at the mature artwork (because when you're 14 and into yaoi you've already seen it online anyway) and there were less rules about signs and such. It might just be my impression on how the culture has changed since 6-7 years ago when I first went to a convention.

[eri]

[quote name='alita87' post='59842' date='Feb 13 2009, 07:20 PM']Was just going on the one personw ho was mentioning the downsides of anime fans at cons and giving my opinion based on what I've seen here. Even when I went in high school most of the fans scare dme.[/quote]



No but you're right - J-popculture fans are just annoying. A long time ago, I took my bf to a final fantasy concert. This girl sitting next to us, all decked out her in her emo-cosplay-Clamp outfit, started yelling "hurry up!" in the RUDEST Japanese ever. The thing is, I bet she didn't know how rude she was being. She probably picked up the phrase from a tv show and thought she was cute/clever for knowing Japanese...and then shouting it down at the orchestra while warming up. Awful.



But still, AX isn't so bad because its just so big. Thousands of people are splintered across the entire lot, doing whatever they please. So, you don't really run into the same problem-types all day. Plus, the concert will be packed with H!P fans. The crowds were very bad when they held it at Anaheim, but now it doesn't feel like that at all.

[Lovely]

Well. It would be kind of ridiculous not to go. After all, they've been a long obsession.

[staplermofo]

So, people who have met them before: what are the chances they'll respond with something other than "Hello fat, hairy, sweaty, disgusting, creepy guy. Thank you for allowing me to work 60 hour weeks during high school."

I mean, it's L.A. in July. That many of us, in that kind of weather, it's only natural.



I'd hate to go just to disgust them in person and think "Wow, she is really tiny".

[Farrah]

Oh Gooood I wish I could go. But I live all the way in Georgia, and I'm 14 so I can't exactly go without my mother agreeing, and for my mother to agree we'd have to. . . not be on food stamps anymore.



Ah well! Those who go need to take lots of pics and tell us everything that happened! XD

[Pflaume]

Hi Ang! I was in your neck of the woods today. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol:' />

[BeForJess]

[quote name='staplermofo' post='59865' date='Feb 14 2009, 08:58 AM']I'd hate to go just to disgust them in person and think "Wow, she is really tiny".[/quote]





Haha, you will probably think that anyway when you see them.



I met Ishida Youko at Anime Boston a few years ago (<3) and although I was a girl of only 5'2" and not overweight or anything, all I could think was "OMG she's so LITTLE!". Even though I think I'm only around an inch taller than her she seemed so much smaller.



At least JunJun is tall. In comparison.

[ShinUkyo]

I don't have a penny to my name, these days.

That being said, however... I will be there in July.

I wouldn't miss this for the world. I will find a way.

[vanillacat]

<img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... dammit.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':wheely:' /> Wrong side of the country, ladies. Otakon always gets shafted on these sort of things, sigh.. they better have something fucking awesome booked to make up for this.



I happen to be a convention-attending high-schooler, and I have to say, while a good ~50% of con-goers are annoying, immature, and smelly (oh god, some of the stenches that float around in convention centers..), there's always the other ~50% being... better. There's 4chaniness running about (notables: a Long Cat built like a chinese new year's dragon, a pedo bear running around molesting people like my friend and I, other people who are generally cool) and... I dunno. It may be a con, but I honestly don't find them all that aggravating - you just have to be good at ignoring external unwanted noise. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... umbsup.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' />



Plus - and I am making a generalization here, warning - with the amount of Japanese people on the West Coast, there might be a chance of, well, normal Japanese people being around.

I'm friends with this girl named Sayuri, who is absolutely precious and probably as short as Saki, if not shorter. She said she liked Morning Musume, but she was too terrified to go to a concert for fear of being mauled by creepy wota. I know she also likes anime a lot, so I feel like there might be some girls like her who might show up - fans of MM who think that a convention would be safer than an arena, you know?

I know that when MUCC came to Otakon, the amount of moshing and pit violence was a lot less than I've seen from videos of their concerts back home - same idea, I guess.