) Though I've been going to cons for many years (this was my *cough* 10th Sakura Con), I've never had the opportunity to meet anyone who worked on my favorite show (the Japanese version, that is). So I thought I'd share the Dragonball related experiences I had this year.First of all, on Friday morning at opening ceremonies, both of them appeared on stage at opening ceremonies. Mayumi Tanaka came out in a sort-of Luffy cosplay. Oh, my god, she was so cute. Here's a picture (which was actually taken later in the day at a variety performance she was involved in):
Unfortunately, my experiences with things related to Mayumi Tanaka end there. There were so many other must-see things going on at the con, I was unable to go to either her Q & A or autograph sessions (and she didn't appear at a couple of other panels that she was scheduled to be a part of). It wasn't too big of a deal for me, though, since she was not my absolute must-see guest. That role belonged to Ryo Horikawa. I mean, he plays my favorite character ever, so of course he was my priority for the weekend. When he appeared during the opening ceremonies, I immediately devolved into a squeeing fangirl. He gave a little speech to introduce himself, and it was all in English! I'd heard he knew English pretty well, but I was still surprised to hear him at first (and his regular speaking voice sounds nothing like Vegeta).
After that point, I had to do a little searching to find when/where he would be appearing next, since he was a late addition to the guest list and his events were not listed in the schedule. Still, I was able to find out he had an autograph session Saturday, so I knew my first mission was to meet him and have him sign some Vegeta stuff. I was soooo nervous and excited while waiting in line for the autographs. Once I got up to him, I can't remember what nonsense I ended up babbling, something like, "Dragonball is my favorite anime, and Vegeta is my favorite character ever. I just love the performance you give as him." I had him sign a page from my 2009 Dragonball character, from which I cut the dates off of the bottom to make into a poster:
And then I got a picture with him:
*Sploosh*
Could not remove that stupid grin from my face. My husband ended up in the picture too since he was there with me (and had to tolerate the endless squeeing). Judging from his hair, Horikawa has attained the level of Super Saiyan (and he wears Cosby sweaters
) And I got to shake his hand! *squee*On Sunday morning, he had a Q & A session:
Gah, he's so cute!
*Ahem* Anyway, the Q & A was all audience questions, so the topics varied between Dragonball related and not (though probably about half were DB related in some way). One question that I asked him was whether he was trying to play Vegeta differently in Kai, or trying to do the same kind of performance that he did in Z (his answer was that he's not consciously trying to make the performance different, but it's possible that there may be some differences). Another person asked him what his favorite line as Vegeta was, and he shouted out something like, "Kakarrot! I won't lose!" I really wanted to ask him what was his favorite attack move of Vegeta's (and then hope that he'd perform it!), but ran out of time. There were a few people recording the session, so hopefully it'll show up on Youtube sooner or later. Since he knows a lot of English (due in part to his family hosting an American exchange student when he was younger), he frequently switched between the two languages during the session, so it was pretty interesting to watch. It was in a fairly small room, so it made for an intimate session where he could look you right in the eyes when he answered your questions *squee* Uh, sorry, seems I still haven't gotten that out of my system
So, is there anyone else who attended the con and has DB related fun to share?
