Anime Expo Tokyo 2004
Anime Expo took place in Tokyo for the first time in January 2004. It was a three day event (from 1/16 to 1/18), and it was held in the Bunka Kaikan in Ikebukuro. Some of the events were also held in the Toshima Koukaidou. I only went on Sunday (1/18), and I spent most of the time in the Toshima Koukaidou to watch the Unity and Cutie Pai mini lives. I took a quick look around the corporate booth area, but there were hardly any people. There was a cosplay cafe near that area, but it was almost totally deserted. One girl I knew was working there on Saturday, but she wasn't there on Sunday. I tried to look for another girl, but I couldn't find her, so I didn't go in. I heard that the people who ate/drank there were allowed to take 5 photos of the waitresses. Since they usually don't allow photos in the cosplay cafes in Akihabara, this was a nice system. I went to the Toshima Koukaidou about 30 minutes before the events were supposed to begin, but the doors were locked, and there was no sign of staff anywhere. No fans waiting in line either! Then I wondered around in the game centers for a while, and returned a little later. The doors were open and there was a little table with three staff members, who were checking the badges. I went inside and saw only 10 to 20 people inside! This is a large, multi-level hall that can seat almost 1000. For both of the events that I watched, there were only about 30 people watching the events. I think holding these events in the Koukaidou was a mistake. It's too far away from the main events in the Bunka Kaikan, so only the fans would attend. If they would have held these somewhere in the Bunka Kaikan, it would have attracted a much larger crowd, as the people who just happened to pass by would have watched. Actually I don't know why Unity and Cutie Pai were invited to do events. They are almost unknown outside of Japan, so none of the foreign guests were going to show up anyway. If they thought they might attract some new fans, they needed to have the event on the main stage, not at the Koukaidou.
Unity mini live (13:00 - 13:45)The Unity mini live was around 45 minutes long, and flowed as follows.
Cutie Pai mini live (14:00 - 14:45)The Cutie Pai mini live was around 45 minutes long, and flowed as follows.
Since I hadn't gone to a Cutie Pai event over 4 months, there was one song that I didn't recognize.
photo notesI took 915 photos with my 10D with 515 of them worth keeping. I also used my D60, and took 205 photos with 102 of them worth keeping. Since I was very far away, even with my 200mm lens there were no closeups.The breakdowns were as follows.
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