Aya Ikeda
Aya Ikeda is best known for singing anime theme songs for the popular children’s series, Pretty Cure. She has done the openings for Heart Catch, Suite, Smile, and Fresh. The theme songs are very cheery and peppy. It’s enough to keep a crowd of glowstick waving otaku pumped. Aya Ikeda donned on a cherry print classic Lolita outfit as she sang well known tunes from the Pretty Cure series. She asked the crowd, “Do you like Pretty Cure?” While Pretty Cure does not have much of a large fanbase in the states, the crowd still went wild. Deb and I were dressed up as characters from Heart Catch Pretty Cure and we were just going crazy and enjoying every single second. Aya Ikeda opened up with a medley of the best known Pretty Cure opening theme songs and closed with the theme to Heart Catch Pretty Cure. It was an encore not to forget.

Carat
Carat was the next group that followed Aya Ikea. After a brief intermission, the lights dimmed. We heard the familiar chords to “Cruel Angel’s Thesis” from Evangelion. DJ Mona of Carat brought out her blinged DJ stand complete with a blinged laptop. She was spinning mash ups and remixes of anime classics before the rest of the band went on stage. Carat is an all girl dj, vocal, and dance idol unit from Japan. They’re new to the idol scene, but they were full of energy and knew how to get the crowd going. One of the biggest crowd pleasers of the evening was their rendition of “Moonlight Densetsu” and “Hare Hare Yokai.” The best way I can describe this concert is your favorite anime classics covered by an idol unit. It was a ton of fun and I was certainly surprised. Carat did perform their original music. They ended their set list with an English version of their single, “Indirect.”

Lounge 21
There was a huge change up in lounge 21 this year. Originally on the third floor of South Hall, Lounge 21 moved its way to the concourse level. More plush chairs and atmospheric entertainment turned this into a real lounge. Even if you weren’t set on buying drinks, this was still a nice place to chill and unwind with friends. It’s better to hang out where there’s nice seating and drinks aplenty. On the evening ofr fourth of July, we had Lolita Dark, a local band from Long Beach perform in Lounge 21. Their sound can be compared to the likes of Olivia or Anna Tsuchiya; strong female vocal chords alongside a punk and visual kei type of sound. The lead singer was celebrating her US citizen ship, she had recently become naturalized. This was a nice way to celebrate the fourth of July.

The only complaint I had was that the bartender did not know how make a midori sour. No sale for you.

Otaku Parliamentary Debate
Being an academic otaku, I always wanted to check out this debate series. This has been a long time tradition of Anime Expo. It is a part of the late night 18+ programming. About a good number of people showed up; 40 debaters and spectators attended. Because of the 18+ nature, any topic was up for debate. Volunteers came in teams of four and picked out some really prurient team names. The favorite was “Little Monica’s Black Bible.” As the debating teams were preparing, there was a food challenge to see who can handle the spiciest ginger seasonsings. The audience joked that Asians could handle it. For some, the food challenge was dinner.

The debate started with the first topic – which of the two is better than the other – subs or doms? Likewise, nothing was sacred. No matter what side won, it was entertaining to hear both arguments. I liked that the teams were not squeamish and were really hilarious with their not so vanilla answers. The next topic for debate was another “which is better?” This time we had tentacle rape versus ear rape. As mentioned before, nothing is sacred and any issue can be brought up. In the past, some issues were so popular, they spawned their own panels – that’s what inspired the controversial Batman Versus Darth Vader panel last year.

The night was coming to a close. There were plenty of nightlife things to do at the con; the late night dance was poppin’ and various 18+ panels were lined up. The Entertainment Hall was still open for photos and gaming. I curled up into my hotel bed anticipating for Friday; the weekend had only just begun.

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