Anime Expo - AX Idol
Writen by LadyPSerenity
Posted on July 15, 2007 at 11:24:15 pm
AX Idol started in a rather interesting manner, in that the staff at the convention center (Not the Anime Expo Staff) took what was once a semi-neat and mostly orderly line and let them into the lobby of the convention center, crowding them into one area where they then set four to five people to stand with their arms crossed and hold this massive group (Now seeming more like a mob) back. At the front of the line was a smaller girl whom I could only imagine must have been a little more than nervous as the line slowly began to inch forward. Here she was not much past 5'4 and she was to hold the line back. Anime fans however deserve some credit, they didn't kill any of the attendants and somehow managed to "walk" into the arena once permitted. Though the term "Walk" is used loosely.
Much larger than it was in the previous year AX idol begins with the first contestant a vocalist that sang a song that apparently he wanted his "Money all back" the song though not really pulling the crowd up was done with an amount of stage control that impressed the judges though the vocals were said to be slightly pitchy.
Next came the first voice actor Jonathan. Unlike with the singing which was a smooth start the voice acting begins with some laughs as the mic isn't on and some technical difficulties begin. Finally making it through the performance, the judges reviews come in with an overall lack of enthuasm. He just didn't really put a lot into it. There wasn't any energy and it didn't feel much like it was the script for him.
The second Singer was Mandy whom sang a song in Japanese. She started out a little stiff when it came to the stage control and her voice shakey but she picked it up and only lost pitch near the end once when her voice cracked. The judges had commented that they "Would've liked to see more stage control." as she spent the time clutching the mic as if letting go would be the end of the world.
Zanty was the second voice actor whom at the beginning had a bit of trouble with the timing and lost it on some pauses. Despite technical difficulties (the engineer couldn't seem to get the japanesse to play) the woman was told to give one of the judges her number at the end of the show because she was wanted for auditions. The response from the judges was an overwhelmingly positive, "You will be a voice actor."
Third up for the singing was Jose. Jose unlike his two predecessors dominated the crowd. He pushed the limits of his voice, he was energetic and he brought the crowd up to their feet to dance. "You have your own star Quality." The judges told him. This was the most reaction from the crowd of any of the performers. (And in our opinion the best performer of the entire group, he should have won)
The third voice actor had some trouble at the beginning and mumbled or spoke in a barely audible tone. Three takes and though he took direction from the judges well he didn't really get the enthusiasm they were looking for. "Good" or "Nice young hero voice" were the comments.
Chantal was next for the singers. Jose however was hard to live up to when it came to floor control. The energy doesn't match but the judges were quick to say they were "Shocked", "Speechless" and that it "gave me chills". Though the crowd didn't seem equally as impressed with the performance her voice had held great rhythm and drew light from the crowd as they waved cellphones in the are with her music.
Kira, the next voice actress that stepped up started out very enthusiastic and while it took a little long on the seventh line she was amazing. "To me you sound like a pro." One of the judges told her while another said clearly "Will be hearing more of her on dubs soon."
Our last singer of the night was MaryAnn. While her enthusiasm was seen she seemed to have trouble singing. Singing in a mix of Japanese and English she sounded like she was having quite a hard time with the basics of breathing. "Very entertaining" was the judges comments but some wonder in which way?
And the last voice Actor Jason, it took a few takes to get it down right as the tech continued to have trouble but Jason was quickly told that he "had a good handle on the character" But when it came down to it the judges just didn't feel like he had the comedy part down pat. Though they told him "it's hard to balance, you did a great job."
Before long the judges returned with their Choices, but not before a presentation to Wendee Lee for "Outstanding Achievements in Voice Acting" Which was amazing for her, but the five page acceptance speech was a little long...
So then, the winners. Mandy won the award for AX's Singing portion of AX Idol and gets to record her very own demo CD and Kira, whom did Haruhi, won for the voice acting and will get to go over to the Studios and do some live voice acting there!
Congrats to the winners and to an overall entertaining show.
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