Overload 2013!
Just got back from Auckland, been a fairly long and tiring trip attending both Overload and Digital Nationz, but certainly an enjoyable experience.
Our table, the two Horizon posters belonging to a good friend of mine. The headphones were there as part of a little game we'd set up of "guess the anime opening/ending", which you'd win a free sketch if you got it. We set up a normal and hard list in the hopes we'd have some interesting discussions with people. Unfortunately, the game proved too difficult, and nobody got a single song even on the normal list, so we quickly abandoned it and just gave the sketches away for free without any need to guess. Here's the how the posters ended up:
Oh, and did I mention that the biggest reason I even went to this event was that the legendary Range Murata was to be attending it? God only knows how they managed to pull him all the way down to New Zealand, but I was absolutely thrilled. He was, and still is one of the biggest artists I look up to and respect. He had two live drawing sessions, one analogue and one digital.
Close up of the sketch:
The digital sketch (his process is quite incredible to watch):
Our photo with the man himself:
He also done two signing sessions, I managed to get two of my books signed since I got a friend to go for the second signing. He drew little pictures for the first signing:
And he signed your name for the second one (It says "Pascal" because my friend was gracious enough to call himself that for the signing):
I know these are pretty much all pictures of Range-related things, but it was the largest reason I went and I didn't actually walk around the hall to see much else. It was quite small, especially compared to Comiket, but that's nothing suprising. Overall it was an enjoyable weekend, and people's reception to our Cloud Kingdom Visual Collection was incredibly positive, so that's a huge motivator.
Also, if anyone wants to know what our song lists were like, here they are:
Normal:
- Ano Hana - Secret Base
- Aria the Animation - Rainbow
- Bakemonogatari - Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari
- Bakuman - Genjitsu to Iu na no Kaibutsu to Tatakau Monotachi
- Clannad After Story - Toki wo Kizamu Uta
- Code Geass R2 - Shiawase Neiro
- Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou - Ohisama
- Death Note - Zetsubou Billy
- Eden of the East - Futuristic Imagination
- Eureka 7 - Shounen Heart
- Fate/Zero 2 - Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau
- Full Metal Panic Fumoffu - Sore Ga Ai Deshou
- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Period
- Genshiken - My Pace Daiou
- Gintama - Samurai Heart (Some Like it Hot)
- Guilty Crown - The Everlasting Guilty Crown
- Hanasaku Iroha - Hana no Iro
- Hataraku Maou-sama - Tsukihana
- Kokoro Connect - Cry Out
- Last Exile - Over The Sky (COME ON RANGE MURATA WAS THERE HOW COULD NOBODY GET THIS!?)
- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Connect
- Nichijou - Hyadain no Kakakata Kataomoi-C
- Shingeki no Kyojin - Jiyuu no Tsubasa
- Shuffle - You
- Steins;Gate - Hacking to the Gate
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Minna no Peace
- The Idolm@ster - Change
- Toradora - Silky Heart
- Welcome to the NHYK - Puzzle
- Working! - Someone Else
Hard:
- Akagi - STS
- Baccano - Guns & Roses
- C - Matoryoshika
- Cross Game - Moeru You na Koi Janai Kedo
- GJ-bu - Balance Unbalance Hontou no Watashi
- Gunbuster 2 (Diebuster) - Groovin Magic
- Hajime no Ippo New Challenger - Hekireki
- Honey & Clover - Waltz
- Hourou Musuko - For You
- Joshiraku - Oato ga Yoroshikutte Yo
- Kaiji - Mirai wa Bokura no te no Naka
- Kyoukai Senjoy no Horizon - Pieces
- Love Live! School Idol Project - Bokura wa Ima no Naka de
- Natsuyuki Rendevous - Anata ni Deawanakereba Natsuyuki Furuhana
- Sakamichi no Apollon - Sakamichi no Melody
- Seitokai Yakuindomo - Aoi Hara
- Shiki - Calendula Requiem
- Smile! Precure - Yay Yay Yay
- Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers) - Goodbye Isaac
- Utawarerumono - Musouka
- Yojou-Han Shinwa Taikaei (Tatami Galaxy) - Maigo Inu to Ame no Beat
We were aware that the lists were certainly not "casually" catered, but it was somewhat disappointing to see people not get a single anime correct. Either New Zealand has no anime-fans that watch more than 10 shows, or the rest are all staying indoors and avoiding casuals. There was one person who actually got a good deal of the songs (after we'd ditched the song guessing idea), but he was the host of the official "Guess the song" event for Overload (Which my friend Jason won, no surprises there).
After all that disappointment from the failed song-guessing, it was a nice surprise to meet people who had watched Love Live! and Horizon, even if that was only like 3 people, haha. I guess it's about time to head back to Comiket ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌
