If it's set up anyway like AWA or Animazement then you'll probably see the schedule like three days or so before the con. 9.9

Yeah, that's true. =/ Oh well, no matter when it is, I will be there.

Okay, I am now home after my first day at Comic-Con 2010 here in San Diego.

Ok, first off, I was not able to stay for the Funimation panel. Sorry. I wanted to, but my mom said she didn't think she'd be able to pick me up (since the panel was at a time after the bus to my neighborhood stops running). Nor did I talk to anyone at the Funimation booth, mainly because of the crowds in the exhibit hall. I apologize if I let anyone down on this. Zutto honto ni gomenasai [very truly sorry].

Found a live blog of the panel. Doesn't mention Sailor Moon. Not seeing any Q & A answer reports yet though. I imagine we'll hear something soon.

Okay checked a couple other sites, it seems no Sailor Moon announcements were made at the Funi panel. But they are delving into re-releasing several former Geneon properties (including Tenchi Muyo, which makes me very happy) so they are certainly interested in re-releasing older series. Geneon (as Pioneer) did release the SM anime on DVD, so they had the rights once. We'll see. No news is not bad news.

***
Moving on from the SM drama, I did have a good time at the con today. I didn't buy much because I got low on funds (I get paid for work tomorrow though). My purchases today were a Kim Possible print drawn and signed by the show's lead character animator Stephen Silver and sold to me by his wife, a cool book called CLAMP Mokona's Okimono Kimono (which basically includes designs for kimonos and kimono accessories done by CLAMP's main artist, Mokona Apapa) from the Dark Horse Manga booth, and a cute plush keychain of Chun-Li (from Street Fighter) and a cool Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney DS stylus (made to resemble Phoenix's "Objection!" hand gesture) from the Capcom booth.

I did see some things I wanted that I wasn't able to buy, including some fans at a booth that also sold Asian-style outfits as well as geta (traditional Japanese sandals). Not like I need more fans; I have like 4 now after I bought one at the county fair, including one actually from Japan that my uncle bought me from Narita Airport.

I also got a book sampler I picked up signed by Christopher Paolini, the author of the Inheritance Cycle (aka Eragon books) and saw some other cool stuff. You can see my pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6 ... 775f7a65c2

Hope to do a little more at the con tomorrow. Saturday (if I can make it) will be primarily devoted to attending the WB panel that will cover the 7th Harry Potter film and hanging out with a couple friends of mine. All in all, good so far.

First of all, I apologize for the double post, though I guess since there's a day between them, it doesn't matter.

So...Comic-Con day 2. I made the mistake of not getting a lot of sleep last night so I was pretty tired by the afternoon, plus I had a pounding headache. Those two together never bodes well for me.

On the other hand, taking an earlier train and getting there right after the con opened had its advantages. There were a LOT less crowds in the exhibit hall right after the con opened (mostly because people are usually tied up for the first half hour or so getting their badges, a hassle I got to avoid thanks to having gotten my badge yesterday) and I actually saw some booths I had not seen yesterday due to the sea of people. I also managed to make it all the way to the end of the exhibit area today whereas I'm not sure I made it there yesterday (though I got close cause I made it to the Capcom booth, which, like the other video game booths, is in the very back). I also managed to make it to an anime showing of CLAMP School Detectives, though I was a little late because I lost track of time and then was unsure where to go once I got to the Marriott Hotel next door to the convention center (where the anime and film showings are this year, to clear up exhibit space). It was ok though because there were only like 3 people there when I got there (it's not a well-known series), and, despite the fact that that series was licensed recently for a US dual-language DVD release, the episode being shown was the original Japanese version with subtitles, which I've already seen. But oh well, it was a nice reprieve. Then I went back to the convention center, where I ate lunch until it was time to head to the Dark Horse Manga panel (which I wanted to go to because Dark Horse is publishing those CLAMP series omnibuses). I got in line for it only to be told while still in line that the room had filled to capacity. I didn't feel like waiting around after that, since chances of getting in a full panel if you do that are pretty slim, so I left, finished my lunch, and looked around the exhibit floor some more until I was ready to go, briefly leaving to check out what was going on across the street, then coming back for a book signing that, after it was supposed to have started, got postponed an hour from its original start time. Again, I didn't feel like waiting, so I left.

Not really any Sailor Moon action, though I did come across a senshi cosplay group while waiting for the trolley home and took several pictures, which was an easy task because they were sort of doing a photo shoot of their own (with the Mercury girl taking most of the pictures) so they stuck around for some time. I think they had everyone except Venus, Chibimoon, and Saturn. There was also a Tuxedo Kamen in their group (who for some reason had a black rose). Neptune also had more bluish than greenish hair. (I'll have pics up once the battery for the camera is done charging, as I don't think I can transfer pics from the camera to my laptop without the battery in the camera).

All in all, not a bad day. I'll mostly be at the WB panel I mentioned tomorrow, but hopefully I'll see some more cosplayers or something. One good thing: even though I am now low on money again (I spent a bit too much today) and can't really buy anything else, taking photos is free, and a picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes.

****

Edit: Day 3 (and the last day I'm going this year because I'm wiped out and also due to transportation difficulties) is now over.

I spent this day mostly with my friends Adam and Amanda, who had Saturday tickets. I ended up not going to the WB panel because a guy on the train coming up informed me that the line would probably be so long I wouldn't be able to get into it, plus he said whatever they were going to show of the Harry Potter film would probably be online in a few days anyway. I did a good job not spending money, only capitulating to buy some Sailor Moon trading cards, along with two other trading card packs and a bouncy ball that I bought with it to meet the spending minimum for credit and debit cards. Instead, I picked up lots of freebies, including a free Sharpie. The only planned things I did without Adam and Amanda were hit the freebie table upstairs and get my omnibuses of the manga Amazing Agent Luna signed by the manga's story authors (the art is done by someone else) at the Seven Seas booth (and get a picture with them too while I was at it). The only Sailor Moon action I saw were a few cosplayers (a couple of which I didn't catch, unless the Mars I saw in the women's restroom was the same one I got a picture of later) and the aforesaid trading cards I bought.

So that's it for the Comic-Con report for the year. I do like being able to go more than one day, but if I get a 4-day pass for next year (I wasn't able to buy it at the con this year like last year due to a lack of funds, so I may not be able to get one for next year) I am going to try very hard to budget my time and money much better. I spent almost $200 this year on purchases (not counting small things like buying transit daypasses and ATM fees), and I only bought 19 things. (I did, however, get 147 freebies. I counted). There are other things to do besides wander the exhibit hall; in fact, the hall gets so darn congested it's kind of nice to get away. The anime showings are free and go on all day, and there are the panels of course. I almost wanted to go tomorrow to see the Children's Film Festival, but I was too wiped out today to want to go tomorrow. So next year I'm going to try to be more prepared.

All in all, it was a good con, but going more than one day is exhausting. I may try to get a hotel next time so I don't have to trek there and home again every day. If I can't get one in San Diego, I can always get one near one of the Coaster stations that is cheap and save money that way.

So that's the report.

Ok a little update. I guess Funimation did mention Sailor Moon at the end of the Q & A of their Comic-Con panel, because a couple fans were courageous enough to ask about it. One of these fans (a person by the username TravisB) managed to get some good info.

Basically what we learn from his comment are the following things:

1. Funimation is officially interested in obtaining the rights to the Sailor Moon anime (which makes that no longer just a rumor).

2. Many other companies besides Funimation are after the rights as well (but we're not told who in his comment).

3. If Funimation obtains the rights, they intend to completely re-dub the series and the films.

You can read Travis's full comment here (his is comment #5).

This is encouraging stuff! Not only do we now know Funimation's definitely interested, but also that they plan to do a whole new dub if the rights are given to them -- which should be a really good dub, based on what little I have seen of their dubs (the Tsubasa and xxxHolic movies, as well as some clips in a video someone made about who they would cast in a Funimation redub of Sailor Moon). Plus, we also know now that the rights are caught in a sort of secret bidding war. So someone out there -- be it Funimation or another company -- is interested in making a new dub. Now it's up to Toei to decide who wins the rights. After the fiasco with DiC and Cloverway, I'm sure they're going to be very cautious about who they choose. At any rate, since anime dubbing has improved a lot since the mid-to-late '90's, whoever gets the rights will probably do a better job than the original dubbers.

We'll also see wide distribution of the series if Funimation wins the rights; not only do they sell stuff on DVD practically everywhere (including at Comic-Con itself), but they even have their own 24-hour anime TV channel (which is available as Video-On-Demand via Comcast and linear programming via other services like Verizon Fios) and they also very commonly put up episodes of their series as streaming videos on their website, a service they promote actively on their Facebook fan page. They also partnered with iTunes this year to provide discounts on anime episodes downloaded from iTunes during the days Comic-Con was going, so there's potential for distribution there too, especially since offering TV-related content for download on iTunes is a popular thing right now (American Idol, for instance, makes great use of its partnership with iTunes; pretty much every major TV network puts episodes of its top shows on iTunes as well).

So we'll see what happens. Sounds like the ball's in Toei's court now. Of course, the year's not over so I expect as more conventions happen (like Otakon), we may hear more. The fact that a redub of the series has now been confirmed in Brazil (via Sailormoonworld.it, who got their info from SOS Sailor Moon Project, a Brazilian fansite) is encouraging as well.

Nice! I was going to look at the schedule and decide which companies would be worth going to their respective panels for (also planning on giving my resume to all of them on top of that, should be fun), now it's become a more of a need before Friday. I shall hit up as many company panels as I can!

There's like almost no company panels besides Funi unless I'm just blind. Their panel starts in an hour, going to had back to the con and jump in (or start) the line. Here's hoping for good news in the next couple hours!

Ahhh! My con is next weekend lol. Countdown time. It's so soon! I am anxious. I hope my costumes look good. </3

Have fun!!! I love the build up to a con, hate the last minute sewing crunch and then the let down when it's all over. Starting my Halloween costume now. Dot Matrix from Spaceballs.

Please post pictures when you come back!

Aw yes, I will certainly. ^^ The Sailor Moon photoshoot is on the Sunday, the 15th. There's going to be tons of other SM cosplayers and I'm totally stoked, ahaha.

All I gotta do is get the skirt hemmed on my Uranus costume... then it will be complete!