Tiki’s SpellBook

I know it’s been awhile, don’t worry as I have yet to disappear, but I am posting my AnimeExpo travels as promised. This post will be quite lengthy as it will go over the trip, and my reasoning for not posting about Pangya the past two months. If you’re willing to scroll a bit, this might be the post for you.

This year was my first to AnimeExpo, I’m far more accustomed to smaller conventions such as AnimeVegas, and as such was in for a surprise. I was ideally excited because Sandy and Kibs were making the trek out here. I had met Sandy last year as he drove through Las Vegas, NV to California, but I had never gotten much time with him. For those who have forgotten, Into The Rough involved Sandy, Kibs, and myself. It was my first time meeting Kibs, and we amazingly got along which was nice considering we’re deadly competitive Pangya players.

I had one or two days before the convention to hang out with the guys, and we prepped the day before we had to head out. The convention was being held the 2nd of July to the 5th, but as we were press for the event representing 91.8 The Fan, we had to be there a day early for their Press Junket. Let me make it known that as much as I enjoyed my trip, that first day can go die in a fire.

Originally we had all planned to leave in the morning at about 4:30 AM PST, which seems like a good plan, but Sandy & Kibs hadn’t left my house till about midnight. At this point I still have to back, and considering I was stashing cosplay the whole time, this was about an hour endeavor. At the same time I still had research sheets to print, this was done for a quick reference encase we had an unexpected interview. I remember laying down at 2:30 AM something, and then I remember hitting that half asleep state when my phone rang. Oh joy, they were on their way. I perked up immediately, got whatever else I needed, changed, and helped them pack by the time we got there.

The real kicker was we were about to pull out to leave only for me to receive a phone call from my mother telling me my cat, Smokey, was no where to be found. Kibs and I set out on a search at 4:30 in the morning for my cat. Luckily, I spotted her in the back porch, she had gotten out while we had been taking my things in and out. Only twenty minutes late now, and we were on our way to California. For retrospect, this is about a four to five hours drive depending on various factors.

I had somehow gotten no sleep in car, I’m confident both Sandy and Kibs had, but were so packed that it was really hard to get in a position that was remotely comfortable. Then when that California sun came out there was no way I was going to get to bed. The Press Junket, if I recall correctly, was around 11 or 12 that afternoon. We checked into our hotel and I got about an hour of sleep while the boys prepared everything else. An hour later after our GPS got us lost, we were finally at the Press Junket albeit a little late. I had nervous settling into every fiber of my being at this point. We signed up for what interviews we could do, make question sheets for me, and I drank the largest soda I could get my hands on to wake up. The 91.8 The Fan often uses me as a poster girl, if you don’t mind the term, and a good deal of the time I’m the one on camera. This was my first time doing as such, my first interview, and here I could barely open my eyes. I was pretty damn nervous.

We waited in this Press Junket room for about five hours before they called us. Two of our interviews we had scheduled were pretty much nixed, and we were able to be sent up to do at least one with a Japanese guest named Toshiyuki Morikawa. For those unaware of who this is he’s voiced Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII and Kazuya Mishima from the Tekken series. Pretty much we were told that we have five minutes, no ifs, ands, or buts. Kibs had already claimed this interview earlier, so I was in charge of fixing the camera. Obviously we were nervous with the time constraint, and that it felt like this was our first shot. Mr. Morikawa was a great guy and gave us very detailed answers. Our biggest problem was an AnimeExpo staff pulling on me to tell me we had to leave WHILE I was still filming, thus swinging the camera with me. Thank you, thank you so much.

At the same time we had one other interview that had somehow been schedule at the same time with Kari Wahlgren. I felt so bad for Sandy at this point since he had to run between the two rooms, and beg this goddess of a voice actor to please wait for us. After our time with Mr. Morikawa, Kibs and I rushed over to Kari. Kari, you are such a sweetheart and I could never not thank you enough. You can find the interview we did successfully with her here. Feel free to keep in mind I had had no sleep, traveled between states, sat in a Press Junket room for five hours, and just had my first ever recorded interview fudged up by some staff.

After that, we went back to our hotel and promptly crashed.

Morning time on the first actual day of the convention. I give the boys props as they had to deal with me and my set up time. I had hoped that the bathrooms would have a door so I could close it, easily get dressed and do my make-up. However, this is not the case at Super 8. Instead, I had to be a mirror/bathroom hog while I put on my wig cap, dressed in uncomfortable frilly clothes that wouldn’t allow me to bend over, and half attempt to use make-up (I’m not that girly, my experience with it is very null). I was Mikuru from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya my first day, and quickly grew a hatred towards updo wigs.

Either way, as we were waiting to get our badges I spotted a voice actress I had known from AnimeVegas. Her name is Julie Rei Goldstein, who is extremely awesome by the way, and due to my scouting we had scheduled to do an interview later that day. We were relieved as that meant we wouldn’t have to limit ourselves from the Press Junket. We luckily met her later, and you can see the interview here. I’m insanely short, even in heels, so I felt bad for Kibs who had control of the camera. We also met Julie Rei at AnimeVegas this year as well, that interview will be posted soon on 91.8 The Fan and Kanashimi-Network, so look out for it.

We made a lot of connections during the convention. My favorite had to have been the Pangya booth since we were finally checking out the dealers room after meeting the creator of MyAnimeList.net, Xinil, and I pointed, “Pangya?” Kibs looked up and repeated what I had said, it was like a beacon that apparently got our attention. I introduced myself to Laura, telling her I was wearing my Pangya outfit on Day 2. They seemed surprised anyone knew about Pangya, and I was quickly introduced to Mike Jones who had been ahead of the project. I took my chance and asked for an interview since they seemed so receptive. We had it scheduled for the next day as well as a few others.

Kibs and I are such fanboys/fangirls because we both brought our English PSP copies the next day. We felt that since Laura had basically said yes to them working on the project, and Mike was the one who oversaw it, we felt that it would be an honor to get our copies signed. It was great just approaching the booth in my costume honestly. I remember two Tomy attendants sitting there, overseeing everything at their booth, and one of them spotted me, “My, you look familiar…” He got his friend’s attention, and he pointed and shouted Arin at the top of his lungs. I could only laugh as it felt like a compliment.

I probably asked Mike a lot of questions off camera such as the gender of Dolfini (as, if I recall correctly, is once referred to as he), why fried chicken for Uncle Bob, and a few other things. From my own personal opinion, I feel that they were just so happy not to work on another Naruto video game. You can see the questions I got on camera below, and I really am grateful to have this honor as a Pangya fan. I really thank Laura, Mike, and all of Tomy for bringing Pangya PSP over!

I believe the end of the second or third day, eigoManga invited our team to a little get together after the convention. We jumped at the chance since we were pretty much eating up the exposure at this point. The whole purpose of AnimeExpo was to get 91.8 The Fan’s name out there just a little. All of our days were long, most of the convention consist of running around to interviews or keynotes. I believe we had many days where we would get up at 8 or 9, and only get to sleep by 10 or 11 solely because we were attempting to go through cosplay pictures or edit our interviews. It was just craaaazy.

The only other noteworthy thing is that on the last day I had a girl ask for my picture. She knew I was from Pangya, which I had heard rarely, and said if he knew my blog she could find an interview with Tomy. To my absolute surprise she asked if I was Kanashimi. My brain mentally paused, I realized someone knew me outside of Pangya the game, and I had a mini-freak out moment. Turns out it was Ayasal! It was so wonderful meeting you, Kibs and I loved seeing you at the convention.

By the very end, our group was so exhausted we had to order another day in the hotel since we could barely move to leave. Below I’ve placed pictures of my various co splays during the event, and even after that I have a list of all the interviews I didn’t mention in case anyone is interested. For those who want to know why Tiki’s SpellBook hasn’t been updated lately, please scroll down to the very bottom of the post.

Cosplay:
Arin: [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X]
Mikuru: [X] [X] [X] [X]

Interviews:

• Crunchyroll
• Rockin Android
• The Megas
• Kari Wahlgren
• Dave Stanworth
• Julie Rei Goldstein
• Kroze
• Tomy
• Tony Oliver
• Yaya Han
• Toshiyuki Morikawa (Never got posted!)

As for Pangya, I haven’t played probably since I’ve posted…. Well, at least the American servers, but I’ve been playing a ton of Pangya PSP. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the game, but I got pretty annoyed at the Scratchy Card system. I know many of you think this isn’t a big deal; however, for me personally it was a good deal of why I played. It was in a sense my addiction to the game, having a chance at the next rare always seemed like something to keep me going. With their new system, it’s basically impossible for me to unless I somehow steal money. I don’t have the funds to spend a $100.00 USD for a 100 tries at the system.

I have yet to actually try the Gacha system. I was thinking of doing so tonight, but it’s really still up in the air if I ever go back afterwards. You see, the real factor here is that despite the fact they are giving us the Gacha system, is it actually replacing the Scratchy Cards or will they remain separate? If it’s the latter, there are still rares greatly inaccessible to many people. I can play in the Korean servers or the European servers, though sadly all my friends are on the US ones. Thus my drive to play is sitting a petty zip.

I feel that Ntreev, not NtreevUSA, are the most selfish son of a bitches I’ve ever heard run a game. They don’t care about the US market what-so-ever, and they’re so lazy they just steal Japanese’s next update. I have yet to see much improvement to the US servers, so it appears to me after six or so months that there will be none. I really hate the fact that I keep hoping for it to happen, but it never does. I was trying to cheer them on for so long, and it’s just tiring now.

Many people will come back to my blog, and then they will tell me that they’re happy I left. If you were really happy you wouldn’t be reading my blog. As of now, nothing has changed in my attitude to play. Until I see an improvement, updates on Tiki’s SpellBook will be a little hard to find. Sweatdrop has constantly done his Korean updates ahead of me, Hinano has Japan, and Chako has Europe. If I’m not happy playing on my own server, I’m not happy playing on others, and so it’s hard to post about any of them at this point. I don’t plan on disappearing, but I do plan taking a break until I see something change. If the Gacha system changes my mind, I’ll be sure to let all of you know.

Thank you for your patience, support, and also you’re understanding.

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