So what do we know November for? We know it as the month that holds Thanksgiving and as the second to last month of the whole year. But on Friday the 18th, anime fans throughout Philly knew it as the fourth installment of the J1 Anime Experience (J1 An-Ex 4). Returning to the Hawthorne Center in South Philly, hundreds of anime fans gathered to celebrate and enjoy the monthly mini-con once more.
For starters, the game room was (as always) a room packed with contenders ready to duel on the sticks. This time, with the premiere of Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, the chaos was taken up a notch than before. From over-the-top combos to amazing come-backs and even a lawyer shouting "Objection!!!", things got a bit crazy in there. And for the non-fighting game fans, the card game room was packed with players ready to duel in Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon and more. Virtual Tournament Fighters (VTF for short) made its return to the An-Ex, letting players experience the fighting game based dueling that the president of J1 Studios created.
Cosplayers lined up for a photoshoot!
But nothing was more entertaining than the Cosplay Competition. We were greeted with some creative costumes from a Catwoman cosplayer, a Ms. Kreuger cosplayer and a Dr. Stien cosplayer for all the Soul Eater fans. Even though there were no panda sightings this time around, we still had an enjoyable competition.
Finally, possibly the more noteworthy event of the night was the discussion of Anime, from past to present. Held by the president of J1 Studios, he broke down what anime is now in comparison to how it was in its Golden age. From the funny comments - "How many ninjas do you know wear orange jumpsuits" - to the more informative parts, he taught the crowd a thing or two about anime. Overall, it was a great discussion.
The president of J1 Studios schooling fans on anime in the discussion panel.
For a small convention, the J1 An-Ex brings out a great crowd. From returning fans to the newcomers, the An-Ex continually expands each and every month. And there's always something new that happens each and every month so you don't want to miss one.
Who can remember being apart of a convention since before it was incepted? Over two hundred people from the Greater Philadelphia Area can make that claim now, as they were the ones to come out on Friday, August 12th, for the opening of the first J1 Studios Anime Experience. Sadly, there are millions of future fans who missed out on this opportunity, but they will be able to reap the benefits of the growth next time and beyond.
Small photoshoot of the contestants in the Cosplay Contest.
In previous instances, the gatherings were known as the J1 Anime Event. A slightly-more-formal-than-someone's-garage setting where members of J1 Studios gathered people who were as into Japanese media as they were, and entertain them with the same. As the popularity of these Events grew, so too did the scope of which the J1 Staff took to expand and further entertain their growing circle of fans.
Cue the Anime Experience. With the inclusion of full blown Vendors, Professional artist guests, seperate rooms, and a small entrance fee, the small gatherings of like-minded fans evolved into a fully recognized Anime Convention.
J1 Staff member Ben manning the J1 Table.
Hundreds of people lined up outside the doors to the Hawthorn Recreation Center in order to partake of the experience. Once inside, they encountered tables selling everything from Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) to action figures to comic books. Artists spread their wares and opened for commission. Dozens of wallscrolls lined the walls, sometimes mirroring the dozens of cosplayers who wandered around. Some anime was playing on a big screen in one room, while several video game tournaments broke out in the next. Many gathered in the main room for the Cosplay walkoff, others stepped outside to listen to the Korean rock band, and everyone had a good time. Not bad for a couple of hours on a Friday.
2nd shot of the cosplay entries for the Cosplay Contest.
The J1 An-Ex may be small, but it's local. Fans who come by get the full experience of the big conventions, but without the full brunt of their big price. The best thing of all is, instead of waiting an entire year for a repeat or spending entire life savings to travel across the country, the An-Ex operates monthly, giving everyone plenty of opportunities to experience the Anime Experience for themselves.
J1 Culture Force Anime Event!! A first time spectacle for J1 Studios’ fans that love anime and manga. It was held at the Hawthorne Cultural Center: on 12th and Carpenter in South Philadelphia. Mrs. Theresa Williams, the Director of the facility and Mr. Windle, one of the supervisors were delighted to have such a multi-faceted, cultural event held at a center that thrives off diversity. The event was broken into segments for trivia, musical performances, and home movie premier of “Sword of the Stranger.” All the while artists were seated at their commission table; gamers had their fill of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 via Playstation 3, and a space for Yu-G-Oh fans to dual each other. The event was graciously catered by Maru Global with an assortment of their famous pancake balls known as “takoyaki.”
For the trivia, participators were placed into groups of five that numbered in Japanese. Example: Group one was “ichi” and group two was “ni.” This portion of the event started off a little disjointed but became quite rush once the questions were being asked. The trivia proved to be a challenge only after eight or so questions though, the age of contestants ranged from 13-26 years old. Ultimately, group “San” became victorious after they trudged through an array of tie-breaker questions. The group members of team “San” are part of the Community College of Philadelphia’s Anime Club. They won the first three manga volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo and Wayne P. Lammers Japanese-English Translation Book.
Agumon Scarf was the musical talent for the evening with rousing support from family and friends. The band consists of five young men that are all still in high school. Even their manager, Basheer, known as Bazie, still attends high school. They showed no fear, as they were pumped full of energy during their performances. The band played the second season opening of Narurto, “Haruka Kanata”, as well, as originals songs like “Kenturo” and “Zach Fair.”
The artists at the commission table were busy interacting with each other and who ever stopped by to see their creative talent in action. Their skill leveled ranged from silly cartoon characters to very detailed drawings that you commonly see in American and Japanese comics. For some if not most, it was the first time they have exposed their talent to the public. The gamers showed off their flare for card games with a few matches of Yu-Gi-Oh or their skill with a PS3 game controller when dueling on MVC 3. Others displayed their liking for Japanese pop fashion and anime with their cosplay outfits or usual clothing attire.
Though the night was winding down, those who were able to stay watched “Sword of the Stranger.” Directed by Masahiro Ando, the featured filmed surrounded a swordsman with no name and a golden-haired assassin as circumstances draw them toward a mysterious young boy. If you happen to be a fan of Samurai X/Rurouni Kenshin then, this movie is a must-see. Others who managed to stay longer and did not watch the movie, conversed with members and guests of the event.
Mrs. Williams was so taken by the festivities that she was inspired to design a bread bowl that represented the crazy excitement the event brought to the center. Also, she and Mr. Windle were honored to allow J1 Studios use the recreational center as its permanent home to host further anime events and the like. All members and fans are allowed to use the facilities of the center during hours of operations after first, consulting a time frame with either Mrs. Williams or Mr. Windle.
Interesting enough, guests were still arriving even up to the very end. The all around support from members, fans, and guests encourage more fun-filled times to arise. Overall, the event was a success for its first running but there is always room for improvement.
So for a while now, I’ve been wondering why there haven’t been many anime events in Philadelphia. Honestly, the city is big enough and you run into a lot of anime fans if you know where to look. But considering that everyone can’t travel to Otakon, AnimeExpo, Katsu-con and other major anime conventions, you have a good amount of people wishing there was something here.
Then I found out about The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational - or TAKII for short.
What exactly is TAKII, you ask? TAKII is a local Asian culture gathering held at the Rotunda (a small concert/event hall next to The Bridge Theater) right in the heart of University City. From what I know of it, it's been running for almost 5 years on a bi-yearly basis. Anime fans throughout the city come to this event to meet up with others and embrace their love of all things anime and Japanese on this two day event. And it's not just sitting back and watching anime, there are events ranging from a talent show contest (Asian American Idol), a cosplay competition, live concerts, a video game tournament, and even a rave for all the ravers in the building.
From first glance, it seems that TAKII is a mini-con held for the Philly anime fans. However, after experiencing the first day, you can tell that it’s deeper than just anime love. TAKII pays homage to all Asian Pop Culture, including video games, music (mainly Japanese and Korean Pop), cos-play, treats and – obviously – animation.
D-Chan judging the winners of the
Asian American Idol contest.
One of the things that are attractive about TAKII is the atmosphere itself. To be honest, TAKII feels like it’s just a large family reunion rather than a convention. For starters, you get in for free. And that’s something that anybody will fall in love with. It’s one of the things that organizer Damian “D-Chan” Christopher has kept to make TAKII stand out as a gathering with friends.
And does it feel like a gathering with friends? That answer is yes. The atmosphere’s a highly sociable one, meaning you’re guaranteed to be cool with a few people by the middle of the day. Even one new attendee had this to say about it:
“What I like about TAKII was the atmosphere. The atmosphere made it fun to socialize with people while having fun and not making me feel uneasy.”
The TAKII 10 Cosplay Competition's entries.
This being my second time there, I had to make a return trip. My first time there was at the insistence of a friend and well, what I experienced there was more than enough to bring me back again. And when I came back, it was an epic experience despite the cold weather. Just remembering the acts that took place in the Asian American Idol Competition on Saturday keeps me laughing still.
The second – and final – day of TAKII was the perfect end to the festivities. I won’t go into much of it because of space constraints, however I will say that between the musical chairs event that I walked in on to the Cosplay Competition, it was the perfect build-up for the final event: the video game tournament. This season, the game was Soul Calibur 4 but was switched to Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit due to technical difficulties.
And that’s one thing that I give D-Chan: he came prepared for that situation. This is something that I’ve seen some bigger local conventions fail at when it comes to game tournaments.
Needless to say, the tournament was insane. From the opening where two contenders ran onstage and held an air guitar jam session to the opening video – yes, that actually happened – to the matches, it kept everyone on the edge of their seats until the end. Both teams had good matches and for an instant, it seemed that the team that took an early lead was destined to lose in the second round. But in the end, the team that took the early lead managed to make a comeback and take the win.
Saturday night's performer Sin with a back-up dancer as she performs "The Real Folk Blues".
And that’s all I have to say on TAKII 10 at the moment. Even though the memories will stay fresh in my head – and my laptop via .MOV files – TAKII is done for the year. However, the date for the next season of TAKII is already set. So if you want to experience this event for yourself, mark down May 14th and 15th on your calendars because that’s when TAKII returns for its 11th season. And check out the TAKII site here: http://takii.pdnmz.com
