I have always heard about how Anime Expo is one of the largest Anime Conventions in North America but I have never once thought about going there myself in previous years. However, the convergence of various factors this year including the chance of meeting some of the friends I have made online at figure.fm, a trip to Volks USA and meeting Danny in person were enough to convince me to make this journey. Not to mention that based on my previous experience at Acen 2010, an anime convention is the perfect opportunity for me to take my Dollfie Dream daughter outside for some intense photo sessions without having to worry about uncomfortable stare from onlookers not familiar with Japanese anime. So, for this past weekend, I have my most pampered Dollfie Dream daughter, DD娃娃 Kiriha Kuze 紅瀬桐葉 to accompany me to Anime Expo 2010 in Los Angeles!
在上個星期,我帶了我最疼愛的DD娃娃紅瀬桐葉到洛杉磯去渡假和參觀動漫博覽會AnimeExpo 2010!
And here is a shot of my lovely daughter Kiriha resting outside of the hotel we stayed in!
這張照片是我替桐葉在酒店外拍的。
We arrived at the hotel a good 5 hours before check-in time but luckily the lady at the counter let us check-in right the way. Here is a shot of Kiriha coming out of her traveling bag right after we got into our room and she was greeted by a new friend Mugi plushie from Lightningsabre!
剛到步, 第一件事使是將女兒從行李拿出來, 以免女兒待在行李多時而受驚。
We got a nice room with a view of the swimming pool too! Here she is sitting by the window along with Tako Luka (also from Lightningsabre).
因為取得好房間, 有泳池望, 所以立即影噃張相。
Trying out the bed we got to sleep on for the next couple of days.
試一下張大床~
After hours of traveling, we finally made it to our destination, the Los Angeles Convention Center~
經過多個小時, 終於到達我們嘅目的地, 洛杉磯會議中心。
And when we went into the Exhibit Hall, surprise surprise~
當我們到達Exhibit Hall….
We found some bedsheet that happened to look like the He is My Master costume that Kiriha was wearing!
發現了兩張He is My Master嘅Dakimakura~
Needless to say, it was time to shoot some more photos against the perfect backdrop!
又即刻影噃張相。
Not long after I finished my photo session with Kiriha, someone stepped in and bought the Izumi bedsheet… talk about good timing. I on the other hand, didn’t waste any time and bought the Anna bedsheet soon after XD Yuri ftw!
We also visited J-List’s booth where I picked up Lightning Warrior Raidy II and Moero Downhill Night 2. And I plan to do a proper review of these games when I get to them.
Since the hotel we stayed in didn’t have free wifi, we headed back to the hotel soon after and tried to get tethering working.
Kiriha was sitting next to me the whole time as I managed to get internet working through USB tethering with my G1 phone.
到咗夜晚, 桐葉又陪我攪USB tethering, 仲準備好宵夜~
And the next day, I caught a perfect opportunity to snap a shot at Kiriha just as she wakes up in the morning! The scenery was just too perfect to not take an advantage of it! This is also one of my favorite shots out of the entire weekend~
到第二朝, 捕捉到桐葉嘅起床姿態, 有夠性惑啲~差不多要鼻血~
We made our way to the convention center for a little breakfast before we start the day off~
在會議中心吃早餐。
Later in the day, we made our way to Danny’s panel to meet Mirai Saber.
和Dannychoo嘅Mirai Saber合照。
Kiriha is happy to finally meet Danny’s Mirai Saber that she heard so much about~
They were soon joined by Mr. Postman’s daughters
and PikaChika‘s daughter
Close up shot of Mirai Saber~
And a group photo!
和其他DD合照。
And after a little over a year since I came to Dannychoo.com and figure.fm, I have finally managed to meet Danny and Mirai Saber in person~
到Dannychoo.com已一年多, 終於和他本人見面了。
Back in the hotel, I caught a shot of Kiriha tidying herself up in front of the mirror~
Then at the Fakku X Dannychoo meetup at ESPN Zone, sitting next to Saber again for another shot~
再在ESPN Zone 和Mirai Saber 合照。
More daughters decided to join in on the fun later on, here are Sinistra‘s daughters
Ms. Geek‘s bundle of joy
tsubasa126‘s Sasara
And they were later joined by The-O’s Fate
And a final group photo with late arrival Jeromaru‘s Natsuki.
又和其他DD合照。
Took a little video fly through clip of the daughters present as well!
During the meetup, I can’t help but noticed one of the Otacool 2 cosplayers was also present, just had to take a shot of the wonderful Maridah Saber.
All of the daughters gathered outside Staple Center for another group photo after the ESPN Zone meetup~
再和其他DD 在斯台普斯中心外合照。
And all the comrades stand together for post meetup group photo! Finally, a chance to finally put a face on the username! Another objective accomplished
Another group photo here with the Nokia Plaza as the backdrop during the Laser and Music show.
入黑後再以Nokia Plaza嘅Laser Show做背景合照。
More daughters showed up at Danny’s Culture Japan Panel~
最後一日, 又有更多DD在Danny嘅Culture Japan Panel出現。
Another group photo after the Culture Japan panel~
After the Culture Japan Panel, it was time to take Kiriha to Volks USA, which is another main objective of this LA Trip.
For the better part of the last 6 months or so, I have been spamming Volks USA with pictures of my DD daughters and they have always been so kind to me so I have made it a point that I must meet them in person during this trip. Many thanks for comrade Yuuichi-kun‘s offer to drive me down to Volks USA. I could have rented a car but I would be completely lost in the highway system in LA! Many thanks to you brother!
在Culture Japan Panel之後, 我便帶着桐葉到Tenshi no Sumika。
And while we were there, I took advantage of their photo space for more photos~
又影噃幾張相做紀念。
By the time we finished up at Volks USA, it was already mid-afternoon so it was time to head back to the hotel.
Since there weren’t any interesting things going on back at the convention, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in hotel~ And what better way to spend the rest of our vacation than with more photo session? After all, Kiriha just loves posing in front of the camera. And here is a shot above the hotel lobby.
之後因為動 漫博覽會已近尾聲, 所以我便和桐葉留在酒店附近影相作留念~
Public telephone is pretty rare these days, but you still got to have them.
Out in the walkway between our hotel and the World Trade Center.
And here we have Kiriha resting by the pool :3
在泳地旁間, 享受夕陽嘅美境。
Back in our hotel room we await the arrival of another comrade AnimeAffection.
And he brought along his Kiriha for double the fun!
And double the He is My Master Maid Set 私の御主人様 メイドドレスセット and pink panchira, this just couldn’t get any better!
A little yuri action is almost a certainty when Kiriha meets Kiriha XD
After the photo session, it was about time to pack up and go home~
終於到時候收拾行李了~
After the flight and we are finally back to our home base.
落機之後, 終於可以噃屋企喇!
And here Kiriha is riding back along with me~
乖女當然要坐前座啦!
DD Kiriha 桐葉 safely returned home and welcomed by her sister Airi アイリ and Asuka アスカ~
噃到屋企, Asuka 和 Airi 早就在等桐葉噃來了。










































































Looks like ya had a blast, Rather envious of the trip.. wish I could’ve made it.. but it wasn’t in the cards, but we’ll hopefully be able to hook up for a bit later this month.
It would have been cool if you were there, I had to resort into going solo most of the time which isn’t that much fun
It was nice being able to meet you! I’m looking forward to when we can have some fun at an upcoming Dolpa! ^^
Indeed!
Ooooh! Lot more photos of Kiriha! I was merely there for the appetizer! Love the double Kiriha. Kiriha waking up and the panchira shots are awesome!
It was very nice to finally meet you! And wow you are always enthusiastic when it comes to Dollfie, not just online. Jounetsu ^_^ It was really awesome looking at these Dollfies in person, especially yours. It somewhat makes me want to get one, but that’ll have to wait, lol. Something is brewing though
I think you’d still get the stare from other people carrying a Dollfie, but unlike other places, it’s more of a stare of admiration for having one ^_^ A lot of people were very happy to see them!
Oh and btw, Mugi now belongs to Yakuri, hahaha. I still own my TakoLuka though
I ended up spending a decent amount of time back in the hotel room during downtime taking more pics, after all, that’s more important to me! Oh yes, caring for my DD has become fairly important to me. As you can see, they are really special in person.
Ahhh, so you have sensed the power of the Dark Side and decided to join us, very well!
I have to admit, Mugi is pretty cute.
OMG! Kiriha overload!!!! XD
Question though, do those pink pantsu come with Kiriha, or did you both happen to buy the same type? ^^;
I always go for the kill, so yes, overloading with Kiriha is just the way I intended.
No, the pink pantsu was purchased separately at Volks lingerie box http://www.volksusa.com/oflba0043.html
Nice. Seems like you had lot of fun ^^
You even met Danny ^^
That custom Kiriha of your comrade AA is rly cute ^^
Yes, thank you ^^
Wow, looks like it was an awesome trip! I’m quite jealous ^^; Meeting all the Figure.fm fans, DC, and seeing all the DDs. visiting VolksUSA… Looks like it was a fun experience.
Well, I’m glad you were able to go and have a good time. Maybe I’ll be able to go next time ^^.
Indeed it was a great trip, and considering I took a boat load of photos at the same time, I think it was worth the trip. I only took the 50mm prime with me and that was kind of a mistake. More often than not, I found myself not having enough space to frame the photo. And I also kind of struggled between either shooting with larger f-stop due to low light condition vs. popping the flash and get a slightly sharper photo with smaller f-stop. But I think I managed to come home with some decent photo ^^; Feel free to comment on quality of the photo
I would love to hear what you think of them.
Looks like you had a terrific trip to AX with tons of DD and other otaku fun. ^^
Some lovely shots in there, Kiriha looks really cute in that outfit, it goes her well. The Kiriha x Kiriha ones are excellent too.
I thought about picking a different outfit, but considering He is My Master is easily recognizable and it fit Kiriha well and that’s why I went with that. The trip cost more than a DD but I managed to take some photos that would otherwise be impossible during my current setup, such as the bedside photo and various others. I am starting to have some thoughts about renting a deluxe hotel suite just to take Kiriha for photo sessions XD
someday i’ll have to make it out to another convention. the last time i went to our local one, fanime, it wasn’t terribly exciting ^^;; i guess i was sad that there could be so much bleach/naruto cosplay and hardly any haruhi/vocaloid or other characters i’d expect to see around akiba.
as requested i gave a bit more thought to that kiriha in the morning pic ^^; still love the shot – pose and color scheme is very nice. i think the sunlight from the window is causing some haze though? think a bit of contrast is lost ‘cuz of that. Also, due to the window frame (alternately, because it isn’t a uniform white background), the blown out white kinda draws attention away from kiriha (blasphemy, i know ^^;). i dunno maybe it’s just me but i do have a sorta squinting reaction to the pic because of the blown highlights. take all that with a grain of salt, especially since i’m not happy at all with my pics w/blown out white backgrounds (i.e. i don’t know much about white bg photography). (and that the shot looks great, regardless
)
neat that volks has a photo space you can use. didn’t notice that in the radio kaikan store though i don’t usually stay there too long and not being a dd owner myself i probably glanced over it ^^;
someday i’d like to meet danny. after all it’s his fault i’m collection figures
now that he fiiiiinally has e-mail notifications for comments on his sites i might be a bit more active there
Ahhh took me forever to get back to your comment, I read it but didn’t know what I wanted to say at the time! Anyway, thanks for your feedback. I have actually taken quite a few shots using various settings. Here is one that’s more blown out white even.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfheinrichsworld/4816921539/
And I also like this one
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/4770244058_e026c9d417_b.jpg