Thursday, July 6, 2023

Anime Expo 2023: One Thousandth Bummer

 

Right next to the Convention Center is LA Live, that has a huge open area for fans to idle after going for big concerts and sports games. You have big screens up high to see what's going on. That was not used for the One Thousandth Episode of One Piece Dub Premiere. Even posting it here on the site I thought that the terrace meant that big open area or that it would still be viewed in that open area. Nope. And so, ANN covered what seems to be a horrible event as barely anyone could make it up top for it at the Grammy Museum.

Here are a few of excerpts, but please read the whole thing that astounds on how bad an idea it was.

One Piece Episode 1000 Dub World Premiere
by Lucas DeRuyter

 "...and the line to enter the Rooftop Terrace event space sprawled nearly back to the convention campus. Would-be attendees stood adjacent to traffic, making sidewalks difficult to navigate, as they received little to no direction from GRAMMY Museum security or local law enforcement."

"While listed as having a standing capacity of 400 people, a significant portion of the venue was occupied by the event stage, tables related to activations, and roped off for VIP guests only. This left only roughly 100 or so fans with room to attend the premiere event. With doors scheduled to open at 6 pm PT, and episode 1000 set to begin at 9 pm PT, there was no cycling out for those who entered. This left the vast majority of people who stood in line—some since 3 pm PT—unable to attend the event..."

"However, the venue did not provide seating. So, once One Piece anime series director Yasunori Koyama, animation director Kenji Yokoyama, and production manager Tetsuji Akahori took the stage, attendees sat on the concrete-tiled floor."

"The premiere of the English dub of the 1000th episode of One Piece was the most understated part of the event, having an energy much more similar to a watch party than a blowout premiere."

Not used for One Piece 1000 Dub Premiere

Why it's so bad is that the event should have given away tickets, perhaps raffling them for fans attending AX. So a limited number of people could have gone and not wasted so many others time. This was a huge waste of time for people who didn't get to make it up there. 

Or they could have just shown it in that big open area or I don't know at Anime Expo. Lame.

That is not a lot of room, sheesh.

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