Summer of Anime (Expo)! The Panels

Anime Expo, or AX, as it is known to its fans, it's Los Angeles biggest Anime expo, taking over all of the Los Angeles Convention Center and showcasing anything anime related, with panels, signings, movies, after hour dancing, cosplaying, you never have a dull moment on 4th of July weekend! 
Unfortunately, we can't all be all places at once, so we will concentrate on what we did get an opportunity to attend. 
Every year there is that one "must go" panel, and this year wasn't the exception. We made our way to the Overwatch panel, where we got a full hour with  lead writer Michael Chu and voice actors Anjali Bhimani (Symmetra), Charlet Chung (D.Va), Fred Tatasciore (Soldier: 76), Jonny Cruz (Lucio) and Keith Silverstein (Tjorborn). The energy was very high, with fans laughing and engaging the panelists throughout. They talked about what they do for inspiration, what type of music they listen to, pineapple and pizza? All in all it was a fun hour.

Overwatch Panel

After Overwatch, we went to the Attack On Titan Panel with the Japanese voice of Mukasa,Yui Ishikawa, the English voice actor Trina Nishimura & Producer George Wada for an hour talk about the show, showing clips and talking about the difference between the English and Japanese scripts and comparison between the manga and the  show, which contained lots of spoilers for season two!  

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After Attack On Titan, we went to our last panel of the day for Resident Evil Vendetta:

After the film, panelist included Kevin Dorman (Chris Redfield), John DeMita (Glenn Arias), Alex Von David (ADR Director), and Mami Okada (Casting Band Zoom! Entertainment) came out to talk about the film and have some fun with the audience. We were all glad to have another entry on the animated version of the series, got to hear how it all came to be and what to expect from the future of the franchise! 

More to come on day 2 of Anime Expo! 

Photos by Lauren Label
Text by Humberto Sandoval

Band Aid Premiere - The Dirty Dishes Performance

Tuesday night was the Los Angeles premiere for Band Aid, a comedy with a hint of drama about a married couple (Director/Writer Zoe Lister-Jones and Adam Pally) on the brink of separation. The fights are getting more and more intense until they figure out a way to exorcise the demons, making all their fight into songs. When their odd (creepy) neighbor (Fred Armisen) joins them as the drummer, The Dirty Dishes are born, but not without many more ups and downs (Band Aid is a by-the-numbers comedy at heart, but a very funny one at that) to come.

Lister-Jones introduced the movie to a sold out audience at The Theatre at Ace Hotel, asking the audience to stick around for a performance by The Dirty Dishes. Band Aid is one of those movies where the one liners are coming left to right from its very beginning. The audience (and myself) were laughing throughout, as the situations the couple got into all rang true in one way or another to anyone that has been in a turbulent relationship. But what about the music? Their indie songs are very funny, reminiscent of Sleater Kinney, Imperial Teen, The Moldy Peaches, very "alternative" in a punk rock way.

When The Dirty Dishes took the stage, "on their last leg of their tour", hearing the songs from the movie being played live demonstrated the passion and extra layer that Lister-Jones had to deal with making the movie, as the songs are her character's fights and passions that not only had to be acted, but made into songs that were played lived, and by their performance, you wouldn't be able to tell this was a "made up band".


After their performance an announcement (in jest?) that on June 12, the day the movie is being released in theatres across the US, The Dirty Dishes were releasing an EP "you can buy it or get a torrent of it", Lister-Jones said.
Even if it was all part of the act, make sure you don't miss Band Aid on June 12!

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XBOX Fanfest Halo Tournament

The Microsoft Store on Century City was the place to be one May 6 if you were one of the unlucky souls that didn't get a Xbox Fanfest ticket. A Halo tournament took place for the first 64 Halo players, with the remaining 200 fans being able to participate in a raffle for the another pair of tickets.

Fans were told to start lining up at 4 for the 6pm event, many of the arriving well before 4, some even as early as 1pm!

Once the line started, numbered tickets and wristbands were distributed for those playing the tournament. Once the time came for the event to begin, inside the Microsoft store there were 12 portable Xbox One stations, with 6 players battling each other.

There were chips and soda provided, but the fun was at the stations. The main players projected on a big screen on the wall for those waiting for their turn to come to study their future opponents strategies.

The event was supposed to end at 9 but the action went well over time with it ending at 10pm!


In the end there can be only one, but there was a second pair of tickets given to the second place. For those waiting on the raffle side, there were 2 pairs also given out! All in all, it was a night full of intense VS action for all in attendance, whether you were an spectator or a player, it was a fun night!

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Words by Steve Fraatz, Photos by Humberto Mendez