by Yosenex Orengo
Normally I would never travel too far from home to go to an anime convention. When I got an IM from my friend saying that Sailor Moon's voice actress would be a guest at animazement I immediately thought Terri Hawkes, she replied no the Japanese one. I bought my ticket right away.
After a 16 hour bus and cab ride from New York City to Durham, North Carolina we finally arrived at the convention. For the precon night on Thursday, I decided to wear my Crisis Compact and received many reactions to my henshin brooch. A few people even took a picture of me as if I were cosplaying.
Friday was the panel I have waiting for, the Keiko Han and Kotono Mitsuishi voice acting panel. I decided to hang out at the Con Survival Panel right before Han and Mistuishi's panel so me and my buddy could sneak up and have great seats. Our plan worked like a charm. I was sitting right by the door Mitsuishi and Han came in from and took pictures right away. The panel began with Han introducing herself as Luna with a cute little black cat mask and Mitsuishi introducing herself as Tsukino Usagi. After Han and Mitsuishi voiced the scene where Usagi and Luna first meet up, audience members were asked to do the same. I held my Eternal Tier high up in the air and was picked in the second pair to shout Moon Prism Power. About 10 pairs presented in total.
Han stated that it was she that persuaded Mitsuishi to come and that she hopes that maybe she will try to persuade Naoko Takeuchi to come next year. Everyone applauded upon hearing that. Eventually we had the Q and A. I asked them what they thought of the Live Action series. Mitsuishi replied that she only watched it but enjoyed the series since it was done in the style it was inspired by but she never actually met any of the actresses. She also spoke about the Sera Myu and mentioned meeting Anza and being asked by her how she should play Sailor Moon. Mitsuishi told her to find her own way to play Sailor Moon. Han said that she thought the girls were cute but were difficult to work with since they were so young, she also stated that she preferred working with the anime voice actors.
I managed to get autographs from both of them at the end of the panel. I handed Kotono Mitsuishi a copy of Warriors of Legend and thanked her for helping me learn Japanese from hearing her voice. Saw her later on that day for another photo.
On Saturday I chased down Akira Kamiya the voice of Prof Tomoe. I attended a Conan panel where he spoke about voice Kokoro and Ryou from City Hunter. It was really fun Kamiya is really energetic and silly in person. I ran up to him after the panel and was able to get my Sailor Moon S artbook signed even though there was no official autograph session. They like it when you can speak a little Japanese.
Later on that day they had the Seiyuu concert. All the Sailor Moon cosplayers were hoping for a performance from Mitsuishi and Han but instead all the other voice actors performed. Akira Kamiya did a great job with the opening to Kinnikuman. The voices actors from Sgt Frog performed the intro to the Keroro as well. We managed to get seats right behind the VIP people which made it more amazing.
Overall I must say this was a great con. About 5000 people attended and the Sailor Moon presence was strong. Sailor Moon cosplay included an amazing Seiya, Tuxedo Mask, Manga Sailor Moon concept art with grey hair and a cape, Beryl, Sailor Kakyuu, Michiru, Sailor V, Sailor Jupiter and many others. The dealers room had a bunch of the Sailor Moon bottle caps and a $70 Cutie Moon Rod as well.
If Keiko Han can convince Naoko Takeuchi to come, I will certainly attend animazement next year. Also I'd like to give a special thanks to William Donaldson and Lizzette Johnson for some of the pictures and video.
Kappei Yamaguchi, the voice of Artemis from the live action will be attending Otakon, time to attack him for an autograph.
And now watch Kotono Mitsushi as she transforms and says our favorite catch phrase.
Moon Prism Power MAKE UP!
