TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~ was a 2-day celebration of Asian culture's guiltiest pleasures that took place at The Rotunda in Philadelphia, PA on April 25th - 26th, 2009. While entry to the celebration of this 7th season spectacular was free, the moments everyone spent on indulging themselves in everything from yaoi/yuri anime to karaoke were simply priceless. The season's theme design was inspired by the yaoi cult-classic Anime & manga series "Gravitation", with the theme song being "WOW", by Yoo Seung Jun (a K-Pop/K-Hip Hop artist). Competition was particularly fierce in all of our record-breaking festivities this season, many of which we will highlight below. Also featuring guest appearances & performances by D-chan, Jia You Shi De (a K-Pop dance troupe), Matt Myers (Lead Vocalist from the LeetStreet Boys), Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Jr. (a Beck tribute band), & a host of brand new Team TAKII Coalition Sponsors & Affiliates, TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~ was THE place where "big things were poppin'" all weekend long! From the infamous to the amorously-gay, TAKII fanatics dared to compete....dared to defy the odds....& dared to take it to the extreme! So sit back, relax, & indulge once more in Asian culture's "Deadly SINs"ASIAN"s":

 

 

 

   << The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational Show >> Held on the 2nd day of TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~, the TAKII 7 Show featured twice as many participants as TAKII 6 & had plenty more twists & turns. Contestants started off singing their own favorite Asian-language song, then graduated to a random selection of a judge's chosing. As was standard, the 3rd Round consisted of "Dancing To Destiny", a chance for all TAKII Show Champ hopefuls to perform a freestyle dance as chosen by TAKII fanatics. By the time we got to this "final" round, we still had 8 contestants that the judges, nor the audience, could make up their minds on; everyone was just so talented! As such, an unprecedented 4th Round, "Product Placement" was created to break the tie! Featuring TAKII 7's official energy drink sponsor, Glaceau's Vitamin Water, attendees had 30 seconds to create a commercial spot for the "drink of champions", back-tracked by a random Asian Pop song. When all of the shameless plugging was over, we STILL ended up with a tie, as Kawaii-chan & The Philly Otaku's own Ascension became the 2nd-ever co-Champs of the TAKII Show (after TAKII 3's 3 Amigas)!

<< Makenai: Fusion Charity Benefit Concert >> Just as guest MCs D-chan & Matt Myers had promised, this season of "Makenai: Fusion Charity Benefit Concert" proved not only to be highly entertaining, but extremely inspirational. Jia You Shi De kicked the festivities off with an amazing 13-minute dance routine of their favorite K-Pop songs (with a snippet of Britney Spears' "Circus" thrown in there for good measure ^_^). As popular as these ladies were, they even had fans with signs up in the balconies of The Rotunda, shouting their love & adoration for Korean Music's newest sensation! Not to be outdone, TAKII 2 Show Champion & fusion festival favorite, [Ai], performed her own energizing set of Japanese Music selections, including themes from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya). Promoting a theme of love & angst in a chaotic world, her brilliant performance made it no surprise that it would be popular to the point of it being standing-room-only! Specifically through "Makenai" & the rest of TAKII 7 weekend, attendees were encourgaed to donate funds to our Charity Beneficiary for the season, Asian Americans United, & we had a wonderful display of support; domo arigatou, minna-san! 

<< Capcom Showdown SmackDown >> Capcom has so many award-winning franchises under it's banner & through TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~'s "Capcom Showdown SmackDown", all hell broke loose as dozens of Champion hopefuls celebrated the company's epicness through intense battle across a variety of consoles, games, & genres under the Capcom brand! To get to the finals, contestants had to compete in games like Black Tiger & 1942 under a variety of stipulations in a tourney-like setting. Once all of the qualifying rounds were over, 2 teams (Team "Shadaloo" & Team "Interpol") of 5 people were organized for the "Street Fighter 4 Survivor Series", the biggest & most intense SF4 tourney of its kind! Hosted by a former Super Smash Bros. Brawl Champion & Team TAKII Co-Coordinator, Bravo, the teams took turns facing each other & in short order, Team Shadaloo decimated Team Interpol, having only lost 1 team member in the process. However, the fun didn't end there, as Bravo would announce that yours truly, D-chan, would face Team Shadaloo on his own for the Capcom Showdown SmackDown Championship! Back-tracked by various Street Fighter themes from part & present games, D-chan would go on to single-handedly elminate Team Shadaloo & strike a Randy Orton pose of victory!! While he certainly did claim the Championship, Team Shadaloo did get to go home with many cases of Vitamin Water & sweet swag ^_^.

<< HUZZAH: The Even More New "Press Your Luck" >> Formerly a "Vendor Festivity", "HUZZAH: The Even More New "Press Your Luck"" was re-tooled for even more awesomeness as a "Gaming Festivity" at TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~. 3 teams (Team "Wonder", Team "Movin' On Up", & Team "GamerDoc") of 4 people would be introduced to the TAKII audience with their own entrance ambiance & theme songs, ready to do battle in a random console's even-more-random game. This season's "poison" was Seag Dreamcast's Power Stone 2, where team members would do battle for the opportunity to earn spins on our "HUZZAH PYL Board". Afterwards, they would take turns earning points on the Board as it was being broadcasted through our massively-large projection screen. Where someone would earn 5000 points & an extra spin, someone else could earn a whammy, zapping all of their points & a chance at gaming infamy! After many moments of intense drama & cliffhangers, Team "GamerDoc" schooled everyone & became our new "HUZZAH: The Even More New "Press Your Luck"" Champs!!  

   << Community Centrale & Dealer's Dominion >> TAKII 7 ~Simply "SINs"ASIAN"al~ upgraded its "Community Centrale" & Dealer's Dominion" offerings this season, with bigger tables, more variety, & plenty of extreme awesomeness that people worldwide know The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational for! With "7 Deadly SINs"ASIAN"s" being celebrated this season, there were plenty of chances for TAKII fans to purchase things like yaoi paddles, adult-themed manga, cosplay photo ops, TAKII-branded swag & snacks, & so much more. Standard artists & exhibitionists also enjoyed being able to interact with such a highly-desired segment of today's society & promote themselves "to the extreme". We'd like to take the time out now to thanks the following vendors & exhibitionists for making TAKII 7's "Community Centrale" & "Dealer's Dominion" possible:

         # Cosplay Forever
         # Gamer Doc
         # Vitamin Water
         # Anime Sunrise
         # Rent-A-Center
         # Prince Diamond's NegaMoon Zone
         # The Foundation
         # The Lost Otakus
         # Asian Americans United

<< Silent Library Showdown ~Gaki no Tsukai Ya Arahende!!~ >> A TAKII twist to a new-age Japanese cult classic game show, "Silent Library Showdown ~Gaki no Tsukai Ya Arahende!! (Kids, Don't Try This At Home!!)~" had 3 teams (Team "Ichi", Team "Ni", & Team "San") of 5 people gather at TAKII's Main Stage to select a representative that would roleplay a game piece to be moved on our over-sized, neon-colored board. These people would take turns moving in different directions (up, down, left, & right) & selecting a playing card to determine if they would be able to take over their occupied square (kinda like Othello). This is where things would get interesting, as the person with the high card would be forced to do whatever task their suit represented (hearts = wearing a piece of opposite gender clothing, spades = being sprayed in the face with a random liquid, clubs = being hit with large & random objects, & diamonds = all of the above) -- & the catch was that their teammates had to be the ones to do it to the contestant!! While nothin' says lovin' like smelly silly string in the face & blue-haired Sarah Palin sound-alike getting clobbered by pool toys, after all was said & done, Team "Ichi" came out on top!! Thought, you could argue that EVERYONE was a winner in this epically chaotic game reeking of awesomeness ^_^.

   << Yaoi/Yuri YOWZA! >> If you have been to many other similar festivals & conventions, they all have some sort of dating game with the same basic formula: have multiple contestants answer generic "what would you do" questions & subject your audience to forced laughter of jokes that make no sense. In the spirit of doing things a completely different way "because we can", TAKII 7 introduced "Yaoi/Yuri YOWZA!", a homosexual-centric dating game of cosmic proportions! On the spot, TAKII fanatics were asked to pair up with someone of the same sex that they have not known prior to TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~ & the 1st 5 couples to pair-up came up on Main Stage & took their seats. Co-hosted by Jeffrey Branch (Pink Lady enthusiast & seasonal TAKII guest) & D-chan, these lovebirds got to take turns answering questions that ranged from "what is the most romantic Asian language", to completing the end to a hilarious sentence, to random bits of Asian culture trivia & things we can't begin to mention on this site -- the catch being that the opposite person would have to guess what their "signifigant other" would say, right or wrong! While the couple with the highest score in the end was declared our inaugural "Yaoi/Yuri YOWZA!" Champs, it was pair with the lowest score, Team "Philly Otaku", that had to remain on stage. Why, you ask? The punishment for these 2 guys having lost so bad was to have 1 of them dress the other in a lady's gown outfit, hold each other snuggly, then make out for the TAKII fans to some sultry Asian music!!!! As Peter Gerber (1/2 of the losers) would later comment on his Philly Otaku website soon thereafter, ""Yaoi/Yuri YOWZA" was epic win & a moment that will NOT be forgotten" on the Asian festival/convention scene for quite some time. Something tells me he's right....^_*.

<< TAKII Wild Card >> A seasonal TAKII favorite, TAKII 7 ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~'s "TAKII Wild Card" featured free cotton candy, energy drink giveaways, & an extendedly well-attended "Ota-Rave"! Overflowing into the outside of The Rotunda, TAKII fans could be seen mock fighting, singing, & dancing their cares away to some hot Asian tracks, a majority of which were from ParaPara this time around. The sexiness didn't stop there, as a Jack Skellington cosplayer on stiltz (dressed up as Santa Claus) decided to crash the party, to the amazement & wonder of all those in attendance; "WTF", "OMFG", & "LOLZ" couldn't even begin to adequately capture this festivity & all of its glory!! All we can be assured of is that it will go down in TAKII festival infamy as the perfect way to cap off what was the most extreme season of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational eeeever!!!!

 

 

Asian Reality TV/Game Shows, Cosplay, Fusion Gaming, Yaoi/Yuri, Obscene #s Of Characters, Karaoke, & Asian Drama -- these were the "7 Deadly SINs"ASIAN"s" for the 7th season of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational ~Simply SINs"ASIAN"al~. Between all of the festivities & the amazing feedback we received, TAKII Coordinators knew that we accomplished our task of celebrating Asian culture appreciation's guiltiest pleasures & them some! At its conclusion, more fans of "the world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival" came out of the woodwork to show their support & dedicate themselves to assisting us in any Team TAKII Coalition capacity they could (including past acquaintances from the TAKII World Tour's performance at T-Mode 2008, former energy drink sponsors, & Anime inductry officials, to name a few). With a renewed sense of passion & a desire to "raise the bar of fusion festival excellence", TAKII & the rest of the PDNMZ Empire set out to rebirth itself once more, debuting in July 2009 a new site design, details for TAKII 8 ~HoliDAYZE~, & even more shocking surprises to be witnessed & experienced by TAKII fanatics worldwide!! Trust us when we say that the fun has only just begin, minna-san.... ^_*.