Tales Of Anime 2004: Fun @ The Small Con

A horror-themed anime convention? Sounds fun.

I admit that I wasn't too excited about this con initially. I'm not too big on themed events (except formal dress events). And I had gone through many events during the August weekends already.

• O-chibi Con (8/06)
• Recca Con Ice Cream Social (8/08)
• Victoria's Move-in (8/13)
• Dearest V-Con @ the Chocolate Square that I can't spell (8/14)
• Great America Trip (8/21)
• Michi-Con (8/22)
• SFSU classes starting (8/25... not a weekend event, but I still had to go there)

I was feeling drained just thinking about going to another event. But another chance to visit Victoria and friends at a convention setting was worth ending August with one more drive.

As for horror-themed cosplay, the only characters that fit were characters that dealt with vampire menaces: Young Walter from "Hellsing" and Lupin the 3rd's Vampire disguise from one episode from the 2nd season (Fujiko was in an Elvis disguise in that episode). Choosing between the two was difficult so I opted with the easiest solution of wearing both of them during the con.

I left early to arrive at SFSU. I arrived at Victoria's dorm bearing supplies. She was teaching her roommate Hang the art of omellete-making. After a bit of breakfast and changing into our respective costumes (Vic: Integral, Tom: Young Walter), we headed out. I got drunk from the Starbuck's drink during the walk to Muni. Muni took us to Van Ness. From Van Ness we footed it to the Tales Of Anime location. I was aleady sweating from the heat and was cursing being male at this point (Males sweat more than females). Along the way we passed by Mel's Diner. A few people from the Recca Social were there. We greeted and introduced each other while gathering some info on what was to come. As expected, it was a small, intimate event to look forward to.

We ran into Lionel, Al, and Ramen & Rice upon arrival. Cosplayers and con-goers were wandering the con floor. The con consisted of a few shopping tables, a video room, a carnival room, a gaming room, and a room reserved for miscellaneous events. I ran into Maiyu and lent her one of my guns for her Heinkel costume (She did the "I want, I want, I want" thing to get it). We paid our registration and checked in our guns.

The gaming room opened and the con-goers poured in. It was a nice selection of console games (Mmm, old school games). They had DDR Extreme and Para Para Paradise for the dancing types. Taiko drum game looked fun and easier than the Drum Maniac game. I got my DDR and Para Para fix. I started seeing more familar faces like Jason, Adam, Kat, Claudine, Dieter, Xel-ko, and Dany at the con. I signed Traveling Valentine and Friends up for Masquerade. Dieter's random comment helped give us an idea for the skit.

Lunchtime approached. Victoria was having her birthday celebration at Mel's Diner. I never ate there and if Victoria liked this restaurant, I suppose I could eat there at least once. Lionel, Ramen & Rice, Al, Masako, Zhin, Adam, Kim, and Ivy were on hand to join us for lunch. With this celebration, gone are the days of me dating a teenager. And gone is our age pothole since we are both in our 20's now.

We fell back to the con area. Andy had arrived in "Castlevania" goodness. Hitori was cosplaying Sara with all that beading. Mutton was cosplaying from "Fatal Frame II." There was plenty of time to kill so I killed it with random chatting, filming, and the occasional picture taking.

I changed from Young Walter to Lupin the 3rd in his vampire disguise. There was an interesting game at the misc room. Half of it was Jeopardy and the other half was naming that picture behind the panels. Eh, the trivia was too obscure for me so I left quickly. Victoria and I saw a bit of "Moonchild" but left after I heard the familar dubbing of "Shinesmen." We switched to that room for some corporate produced fandub parody. After that episode, I spent a few more hours with Victoria, Masako, Jason, and others talking and having random idiotic fan fun.

Masquerade time drew near. I suppose now would be a good time to come up with the final idea for a skit. Yami and the J-Rock Con table were busying themselves with a giant box. That box was almost large enough to fit me. It might be useful...

After a bit of decorating the box and getting stuck inside that box, it was time for the Masquerade participants to congregate. It was quite a group of cosplayers with about 13 entrants. Dieter hosted the Masquerade and introduced each act.

Shiny Things started with their video game skit. The rest of the Masquerade consisted of skits and walk-ons from many series including Gungrave, Castlevania, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Babylon, Full Metal Alchemist, Chobits, and Resident Evil. Traveling Valentine participated with help from Adam and Masako. It was odd having a crossover between Lupin and Hellsing, but it somehow worked.

Skit synopsis: SBC Packing managed to steal a Hellsing coffin and replaced it with Lupin's coffin while Integral fought off Bible salespeople.

I enjoyed shooting Adam and taking pot shots at the over-powered Alucard character.

Masquerade was a very concise show with virtually no delay. While the judges made their choices, they played preview videos for various games. I left to join Kat and others for some photo ops. We returned in time to preview the new Resident Evil game (fighting humans and monks now?) and the new Silent Hill game (pretty creepy stuff).

The judges announced the winners.

It was an honor to have won at this con. Once again, a Traveling Valentine skit received honors when I cosplayed a French person and Victoria cosplayed a British person. We divided the prizes among the members. Masquerade ended and it was nearing time for Yaoi. In other words: time for us to go home (I was supposed to have been home 4 hours ago). Yami, Yamishinta, Claudine, Victoria, and I legged it to the Muni station. Yami and Yamishinta split off to take BART while Claudine joined us on Muni. Claudine and Victoria talked about past AX and other con experiences.

Back at the dorm, Victoria and I wound down the con with a little bit of TV before I drove back home.

Tales of Anime was a fun con. I look forward to the next one.

Why so few pictures (even fewer than my usual few)? Opportunity costs. I cannot film and take pictures with the same camera at the same time. I ended up taking about 25 minutes worth of footage at the cost of taking about 200 pictures. For now, screen capturing film clips too much time and effort for me. Once I have the funding (anyone want to sponsor? ^^) to burn the clips onto DVD, screen capturing will be a LOT faster.

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