Day 74 - Eirtakon 2009 Day 1

Today, I was proven very wrong about the anime culture here. The numbers are VERY small, but finally, I've met people who actually watch anime as much as they breath air. Of course, most of them are the big-wigs of their respective anime clubs.

Anyway, the night started off with anime screenings. And more anime screenings... And more anime screenings... Azumanga Daioh, xxxHolic, Disgaea and Black Cat.

Okay, it was all anime screenings tonight and an anime pub quiz.

It turns out pub quizzes are team games, so entering alone is a big disadvantage unless you're a walking encyclopedia of anime trivia. Good thing somebody offered me a place in their team since they only had 3 members. Still, we were at a huge disadvantage. After all, the Cork Anime Society brought a whole bunch of members (about 10+) since there was no limit to the number of members. The other groups also had similar numbers ranging from 7 to 12. My group was the second smallest. Another group had 3 members.

The pub quiz consisted of 11 rounds, with 10 questions per round. Due to time constraints, I only stayed till Round 9. But from there, I learned that the anime culture isn't so dead after all. They threw out all sorts of anime I've never even heard off, claiming they were good titles of the past. And some of the present (most of which I knew).

Round 1 to 3 were deadly trivia quizzes, constantly spamming anime titles I just happen to miss watching. Gurren Lagann, Hayate no Gotoku, Seto no Hanayome, Genshiken, One Piece etc. Round 4 was a guess-the-anime-from-the-picture quiz. And they were careless/stupid enough to use posters, wallpapers, character art etc that have the titles written in Japanese.

Round 5 was a guess-the-anime-from-the-song quiz. I knew only 1 of them. Round 6 was a guess-the-parody quiz. I got 4 for that one, seeing as how they used Lucky Star and Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. Round 7 was another round of trivia.

Round 8 was an "I-can't-believe-I-watched-this" quiz that featured all sorts of titles that you'd likely can't and will never watch, except Disgaea. Seriously, why was Disgaea even in there? The epic moment was when they threw out a Bible Black question. BIBLE BLACK!! WHAT THE HELL!? For those who don't know, Bible Black is perhaps the most famous erotic anime ever and it isn't softcore porn.

Round 9 was another guess-the-anime-from-the-song quiz. I got 3 for that one. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei was the first one! Then there was Soul Eater. I left after that. So, all I know was that I was placed 10th out of some 15 teams before I left.

No references to Naruto, Bleach, Pokemon, Inuyasha, Digimon were even mentioned in this quiz. Unless of course, the final 2 rounds were about popular anime/manga.

Now, for the cosplayers. I'd have to say... disappointing except for 2. Winger should be pleased to know that the 2 best ones I saw tonight were the Franziska von Karma and Godot cosplayers. The rest were so-so. A lot of them had their costumes or wigs ruined by the rain. One of the Kurosaki Ichigo's came down flat onto his head. I have a picture of him :)

Alright! My turn to cosplay tomorrow. Shit, I can't find Ragnarok's mouth. Did I sweep them away by accident last week?