The day started off laced with poptarts and lemon ginger tea. One of our convention survival tips includes bringing poptarts and several tea bags to the hotel. Most hotel rooms come with a coffee machine used to heat up water. After getting ready for a full day of Anime Expo, we decided to hit the Power Rangers panel.

Power Rangers Q&A Brings Back Memories by Victoria Erica

This is not the Power Rangers' first time at Anime Expo. They had a panel during Anime Expo 2009. Now that Saban has the rights to the Power Rangers again and Power Rangers Samurai's success, much of the original cast form the Mighty Morphin era came to Anime Expo to meet the fans. The stars who showed up included Catherine Sutherland (Kat; Power Rangers Zeo), Karan Ashley (Ayesha; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Nakia Burrise (Tanya; Power Rangers Zeo), Walter Jones (Zach, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Barbara Goodson (Rita Repulsa, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), Felix Ryan (Spike; Power Rangers Samurai), and Blake Foster (Justin; Power Rangers Turbo).

The panel opened the floor to questions. There was certainly a long line! One such question included if cast members would be interested in reuniting for the next season. The cast members staunchly agreed they would love to if will be union work. Cast members talked about the tribulations while working non-union in the early days. Others asked cast members to perform memorable lines from the television series such as Rita's "I have a headache" and various morphing shoutouts.

The panel was a real crowd pleaser. For an early morning panel, Petree Hall was filled to capacity. Highlights from the Power Rangers panel can be seen on our Anime Expo Playlist on youtube.

Bomb Scare: Thousands of Attendees Evacuate South Hall by Victoria Erica

One collective memory people have about Anime Expo is the infamous bomb scare on Saturday morning. As we were exiting the Power Rangers panel, we wanted to make our way to South Hall to check out the dealer's hall. However, South Hall was closed out. We ran into a few people who worked at one of the food stands at the convention center, and they were not sure what was going on. Someone mentioned that there was a bomb found in the dealer's hall.

After about an hour of the evacuation, attendees were slowly let back into the South Hall. I approached an Anime Expo staff person if they had any insight as to what really had happened. Anime Expo staff was not given the hard details, but they were asked to evacuate the premises as soon as possible. Later in the day, we learned a suspicious package containing questionable contents was found in the food court. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Robotech: Over 20 Years of Protoculture Blues by Jared Griego

Harmony Gold was once again at Anime Expo to show off what was new in the Robotech universe. While there were some new toy announcements what really caught people’s attention was the announcement of a new version of the soundtrack. This version is based off of old high quality reel recordings with numerous tracks. These tapes allow them to not only remaster the audio and improve the mix, but it also gives them the opportunity to create karaoke tracks. The audio clips they played sounds better than they ever have.

Beyond the merchandise there was also movie news. It was confirmed that the live action movie would not be a remake of one of the story arcs. Instead it would be within the universe and add to the overall mythology. In addition a clip of a new untitled Robotech animation was shown with a promise of more footage later this year. Finally, they showed off more footage from the Robotech documentary. According to Harmony Gold the documentary is complete and they are trying to finalize a distribution deal.

Patrick Seitz: Leave it to Germany! by Victoria Erica

One of my favorite traditions at Anime Expo is to hit the Bang Zoom Inside the Voice Actors Studio workshop. Though time constraints made me miss the Patrick Seitz Q&A portion, the audience participation segment was just beginning. Anytime Bang Zoom hosts a panel, they do a live dubbing session where they ask people from the audience to dub a scene from anime. Tony Oliver and the featured voice actor (in this case, Patrick Seitz) will give the participant feedback. This year's clips included scenes from K-On, Durarara, and The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Bang Zoom also had an industry panel that discussed what it takes to work for one of the top dubbing and translation studios for anime and video games.

Scarlet Rhapsody also reccomends taking advantage of the JW Marriott lobby and lounges as they make for great photo spots.

Funimation's Licenses: The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions by The Jaded Otaku

Kyle Hebert Coaches Aspiring Voice Actors by Victoria Erica

After the Funimation panel, we decided to go to the voice over for video games panel. Because of the Miku concert, the panel room only had a handful of people. Kyle Hebert was hosting this late night panel. Like the Bang Zoom panel, this was also an audience participation themed panel. Kyle gave a brief summary of what doing voice over in video games is like compared to anime. The fun part began when he asked audience members to give their best "Kamekameha!" and "Hadouken!" In addition, he also showed the audience how post-work on Protools can enhance your voice.

This panel was a fun one. Because it was aimed for older audiences, a few off color and salicious coments were made to please the crowd. Kyle also gave feedback to the participants. Because of the small crowd (only the first two center rows were filled), it was an intimate panel and there were much laughs to be had. Anime Expo can certainly use more of these late night panels that caters to older audiences.

At the end of the panel, Kyle was cool to be up for an interview with Scarlet Rhapsody. In this interview, Jared talks to Kyle Hebert about his work in the Lupin III series. This snippet is part of Jaded Otaku Media's History of Lupin III.

After a productive day, Deb, Jared, and I drove back home to the South Bay where we rested up.

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