Friday was also known as the day of the Macross Frontier concert. Many fans of the Macross saga were totally excited about this event. The concert featured Megumi Nakajima (Ranka Lee) and May'n (Sheryl Nome). The concert also talked about a surprise guest of honor. My top three guesses were 1) Mari Ijima, 2) Yoshiki of X Japan, and 3) Lady Gaga. I woke up bright and early to get my tickets into the concert. To show my support for the Macross fandom, I dressed up as Ranka Lee (Macross Frontier).

The concert started at 1:30PM. This gave me enough time to check out the dealer's hall and grab a bite to eat. Friday was pretty busy. South Hall was pretty crowded and people were already lined up in the shade to get into the dealer's hall.

Friday was my first full day at Anime Expo. I stopped by the Natsume booth because their giant plushies of farmland critters caught my eye. They were promoting new games such as Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar. I'm glad that I ran into the cutest booth at the dealer's hall first.

However, it was tough trying to navigate the right side of the dealer's hall. Unfortunately, all of the aisles on the right side were packed tightly. It was hard to look at any merchindise on the right side. I barely perused through Starry Candy Box's racks of brand name lolita dresses. However, the left side of the dealer's hall had wider aisles and it was much easier to navigate and to browse through various products. The majorirty of items sold in the dealer's hall were discounted dvds, lolita and Japanese street fashion, wigs, doujinshi, and erogames. The dealer's room was criticized for not having enough products. However, I felt that that some dealers were short stocked. Popular dvds sold out by Day 2.

After browsing through the dealer's hall, I stopped to take pictures of various cosplayers in the convention center.

The Macross Frontier concert started at 1:30PM. Upon seeing the stage layout, we notice a grand piano on the stage. We were still trying to place bets who the special guest would be. May'n opened up the show with "Welcome To My Fanclub's Night!" The audience was getting really pumped. People were waving glowsticks to the music. There were many fans in the orchestra seats, but it was not a completely sold out show as there were available seats in the mezzanine level. After May'n performed Macross Frontier songs and some of her original songs, we were introduced to Megumi Nakajima. Megumi was dressed really cute. Most of her songs were from Macross Frontier excluding the "Nyan Nyan" song. She encouraged people to do the "kira" hand sign that Ranka does in the TV series during "Seikan Hikou." During "Seikan Hikou," the audience was introduced to the special guest; Yoko Kanno.

For old school anime fans, having Yoko Kanno as the surprise guest was thrilling news. Yoko Kanno has been a guest of honor at Anime Expo 1999 and Anime Expo New York 2002. Kanno has composed music of very well known classic anime titles (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus, Ghost in a Shell, etc). I was sitting with fans of 90s anime and you could hear the sound of jaws dropped on the floor. Kanno appeared right as Megumi Nakajima was finishing "Seikan Hikou." It was also cute to see Kanno dance along to the song. Yoko Kanno accompanied Megumi Nakajima on the piano with a mash up to "Aimo" and "Voices." May'n later joined the duo on stage for a piano accompanied rendition of "Diamond Crevasse" and "Do You Remember Love?" For anyone who is a fan of Macross, this was a huge treat.

The show closed with May'n and Megumi Nakajima doing a duet to "Lion" and "Triangular." Both songs were full of energy and the crowd was totally getting pumped. This was a great way to end the concert. I was actually hoping for an encore of "Nyan Nyan Delivery Service," but once the lights went up, the concert was over. People were pouring out of the Nokia theater. I normally do not cover concerts at anime conventions, but this was truly an event to remember and one that will remain etched in my anime conventions memories. Both vocalists were great and fun to watch, and Yoko Kanno is musical force to be reckoned with.

After the concert, we found a few Macross Frontier cosplayers outside the Nokia theater. I actually took some of my own to make it look like Ranka was touring Los Angeles prior to the concert.

We walked back to the Wilshire Grand since it was a simple walk up Figueroa street. Jared found a waterall set up in the middle of downtown Los Angeles that was perfect for photoshoots. Cosplay photographers, take note.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody . If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Bambino. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.