Animagic 2010 (now with added surprise Hetalia seiyuu :D) (+ photos)

[toshi-hakari.livejournal.com]

This weekend I was at the Animagic 2010 convention in Bonn, Germany. There were some really amazing Hetalia cosplayer, but the really, really awesome bit was yet to come as a surprise. Originally, it was planned that Yasuhiro Nightow, mangaka of Trigun, should have an appearance as a guest of honor, along with Takahiro Yoshimatsu (character designer) and Satoshi Nishimura (director). During the opening ceremony on friday evening however, we were told that Nightow couldn't come. Instead, he had sent someone in his place who is quiiiiite well known in Japan.

Why am I telling you this? He's also quite well known among the Hetalia fandom. Want to know who it is?



Masaya Onosaka a.k.a. France! :D

You can probably guess how excited I was what with France being my favorite character, to be told I would be able to see him and get his autograph :) After announcing him, he and the rest of the Trigun team went on stage to say a first "hi" to the fans:



The pic is a bit blurry because I was sitting at the back, but you can still see him (a better pic will follow in this post ;)). He's in the red kimono.

The Trigun panel on saturday was pretty awesome as well. Masaya Onosaka was taking pics of the people sitting there and he was visibly enjoying himself. Two of my friends and me were the only Hetalia cosplayer during the panel XD People were asking questions and I was thinking about asking him something Hetalia related, but then I thought it wouldn't be okay, since it was a panel for Trigun, not Hetalia. After the q&a, my friends and I got in line for autographs and when it was our turn, we gave Masaya Onosaka Hetalia items to sign (which we had bought before, since we didn't have anything from our personal collection with us, considering it was on such a short notice). He was positively surprised that we knew who he is and that he voices France. Also, he asked me if I had watched the anime to which I replied yes and then he also wanted to know how/where I watched it, which I answered by saying I had imported and watched the DVDs. Afterwards, he wanted to take a picture of us :D

Here's the autograph:



He was super nice and really keen on talking to his fans/taking pictures of/with them. On sunday, he as well as Yoshimatsu and Nishimura went for a walk near the Rhine river with their assistants and my best friend managed to ask if we could take a picture with him, to which he said yes :D By that time I, sadly, wasn't wearing my Austria cosplay anymore, but my Link (Legend of Zelda) cosplay. I cropped the pic because I figured Onosaka san is way more interesting than me XD



As for the Hetalia cosplay pictures from the con, here they are:



secret_secret as Seychelles with a very cute Russia



Me as Austria together with Hungary, Prussia and Russia



Obligatory ex-married couple pic XD Hungary was surprised that I was an Austrian Austria XD



The Nordics minus Norway. Sweden was VERY much in character XD



Group picture with France spontaneously throwing herself down in front of the others XD



France doing what France does best... touching other countries ;D



A great Japan and male Germany :D



All good things come in threes?



A very awesome Rome and Germania :D



Lithuania and Poland



World conference by the Rhine river XD



secret_secret as Russia with an adorable China :D



narcomanic as Sweden and nyoo_nee as Finland :D You guys were awesome <3

You can see some more pics on Masaya Onosaka's official Twitter as well as some tweets on how he liked the con. I wasn't able to understand everything, but he did enjoy himself and he loved the food XD