.hack @ MindSay

Note: Heavily Loaded entry full of pictures. 56k users, you have been warned!

On Saturday, August 9th, 2008, Cynthia, her brother and I took a trip to San Antonio, TX to attend the San Japan 1.5 Anime Convention. We left Sugar Land, TX / Katy, TX at around 8:45am and arrived at San Antonio at 11:40am. The drive was pretty peaceful. Considering that I was driving my new 2008 Honda Civic Si, it was a piece of cake. The navigation system of my car helped us get around town. We also brought along MP3 CDs of Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop for our listening pleasure, but eventually tuned in to my XM Radio's comedy channels.


It was pretty easy finding the Auditorium. Once we saw a bunch of otakus in costume, we knew that we finally made it. We went in, we registered and we roamed around for a bit.  Now when I saw the dealers area, I came, I saw, I ^_^!!!


About 90% of the people there were in costume.  It was a totally different world for me, but I knew I was going to enjoy this!  Once we got to the dealers area, I started taking pictures.  Here's a few pictures I took while I was down there (Dealers / Artist area):



Ok, so I purchased a few things: [adult swim] t-shirt, a Shinobi Bladerunner ninja sword, and a sterling silver cross (from Hell Girl).  After this, we went to the other side of the Anime Convention, which was held at the Holiday Inn Tropicano Riverwalk.  On our way there, I took some more pics:



Once we got into the Holiday Inn El Tropicano Riverwalk, here are some of the pics I took:



After that, we went back to the Auditorium to find my girlfriend's brother. We ran into a few interesting peoples:




Then we found her brother. We went back into the Auditorium to watch the Chibi Project, no comment... Then we ran into these people:



We decided to take a break from the convention and decided to walk to the Alamo and to the San Antonio River Center:



After that, we returned to the Holiday Inn to get a glimpse of what's left of the anime convention.




The longer we stayed, the more it felt like home was closer... but it wasn't. We drove for about three hours to get back to Sugar Land, but the drive wasn't all that bad.

Here's a list of the Anime Conventions that I plan to visit:

• Oni-Con: November 21-23, 2008 @ George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX
• Ikkicon: February 6-8, 2009 @ Hilton Austin, Austin, TX
• Anime Matsuri: April 10-12, 2009 @ The Woodlands Waterway Marriot Hotel @ Convention Center, The Woodlands, TX
  (this is going to present a bit of a problem because...)
• KamiKazeCon: April 10-12, 2009 @ JW Marriot Hotel Houston, Houston, TX
  (...I planned to attend this one.)

And believe me, I already put a lot of thought into what I'm going to wear as far as cosplay is concerned... 

Yesterday, Cynthia and I went to San Antonio, TX for the San Japan 1.5 Anime Convention. I'd like to tell you guys more about it, but I have to leave for work in 15 minutes. So I'm just going to post a few pics real quick and I'll post some more later with more pics.



That's all I have for now. I took lots of pics. It's a four hour drive from Houston to San Antonio but we were able to manage doing all this within 24 hours. I'll be back to post more pics tomorrow.

Note: The new few entries regarding the anime convention might be friends-only entries.

I just finished watching all 26 episodes of .Hack//Roots.  This is the latest anime series based on the Bandi multi-media franchise, .Hack .  I can express how I feel about the show succinctly.

It was a total mess.  No continuity, no resolution, no comprehensability.  It starts as a team story, as the five members of the Twilight Brigade search for the fabled Key of Twilight.  QUICKLY, the fellowship is broken, leaving us to follow the two LEAST-interesting members as they flail about in angst.  New characters show up, drop out, and interact with no rhyme or reason.  At the end, only two story threads manage to resolve, in unfulfilling ways.  Everything else is left hanging.

Now, .Hack is SUPPOSED to be a multi-media experience.  Bandai wants me to read the books, play the games, and trawl the websites.  I get that, and I'm still disappointed.  It's also possible that the value in .Hack//Roots (which isn't the 'roots' of anything, by the way) lies in the treatment of real MMORPG concepts, like player-killing and Real Money Trading.  If so, I'm not the target audience, since I'm well beyond the rather basic treatment they give these concepts.

Ultimately, I'm disappointed because the first five episodes promise a sense of wonder and mystery that is dropped like a hot rock in the rest of the series.  I kept watching for it to come back; it never did.  Grrr.

Finally, after oodles and oodels of waiting and levelling up, I BEAT .HACK!!!

 

Well, only infection, but it still counts as a game victory! I was jumping up and down and screaming all through the credits, lol. Skeith is mad scary though!

 

So what is our hero going to do next? I was thinking about eating some lasanga and playing Windwaker. (1/2 through that, too! ^_^) before resuming the hardest quest of all...finding .hack//mutation. Five bucks says it'll be as hard to find as the floor in my bedroom. And watch, as soon as I do find it, I won't have any money! Isn't irony a beautiful thing?

Heh, just been hanging around the house al day, just got out the bath, so i feel all soft and cuddly, pity he's not around to cuddle up anymore...
Heh, i still think of him, I still love him...
Vincent... Where are you...?
Going downstairs to dry hair...
Listening To: .Hack Sign - The World
Mood: ^_^
Reixx
Still Loving...