Anime is an obsession for me. I have taken the medium way too seriously for decades (according to many real life fans). Welcome to my exploration of how KoiChoco got an Anime adaptation and where that journey initially took me.
It Started with an Expo
NOTE: all images and some information used in next few paragraphs were sourced from Danny Choo’s blog (least NSFW source I could find for research; there were two images shown in the linked post that possibly cross the line, so reader beware if you decide to look further)
While looking for the earliest point when the adaptation was officially announced, I came across a convention called Anime Contents Expo (ACE) 2012. The series was probably originally a part of the 2011 ACE, but a major natural disaster put a halt to that. The Anime began airing live on television in July of 2012, giving substantially less time to market it to general audiences. The reason I'm only speculating here is because there's not enough publicly available information from this time period.
The official expo website wasn't set up until around January 28, 2011 (source - sadly only in Japanese; the English version wouldn't be set up until much later). The hosting convention center's website (luckily in English) and digital ticket sales providers didn't open to the masses until sometime after February 20, 2011 (source). Ticket sales were still available until at least March 16, 2011 (source) meaning that it took almost a week from the tragedy for the event to be fully canceled. If you take into account the release date of the game (October 29, 2010), there were roughly 6 months to prepare if they were to go to ACE 2011.
The official Twitter for the adaptation was created midway through ACE 2012 and remained active until 2014 (for almost 2 years total with the final message releasing just under a month before its anniversary). I can only imagine how stressful running that account could have been in those early days.
The Google translated first tweet from that account:
ACE only occurred one more time in 2013 before being completely merged into the Tokyo International Anime Fair in 2014 (source) to become AnimeJapan. Now, you can find limited archives of both events through Anime-Japan.jp but I felt it wasn't a great resource in my search.
ACE 2013 Official Area Map + Index
If you look to the direct right of the top green arrow, you will find 65, the location where this Anime and its VN brethren were promoted. It was catercorner to the TYPE-MOON booth but personally was in an ideal location to get the most promotion and exposure. Notice the blue star on the map? That meant that they offered special photo opportunities (according to the index).
NOTE: The ACE 2012 digital map doesn't seem to exist anymore. Using Wayback Machine, I was able to find one snapshot that's still somewhat usable. It's just an image of the site but it shows that the "Area Map" existed (see the button for it on that snapshot). Most of 2012's scrapes showed a 302 error instead, meaning that the site sent bad data; there's no way to recover the map if no one saved a copy elsewhere.
these next two images from the official franchise's booths
While the adaptation was primarily being promoted by its network and anime studio, fairys, sprite's sister company, announced its first game, Ima Sugu Oniichan ni Imōto da tte Iitai!, KoiChoco’s all-ages prequel (find out more here). Some of the characters from that release show in the Anime in several background scenes (and kind of make little sense for their inclusion, in my humble opinion) but have a major starring role in the very "Ecchi" later OVA.
Misc Booths of Interest to Me
I'm surprised that Black Rock Shooter made an appearance at ACE. That's a franchise that I've been a fan of for awhile now that I don't personally know too many people who are. I have yet to see Dawnfall (the latest Anime iteration) or complete any of the official games, but seeing it here made me very nostalgic.
Of course, Mayuri would have metal Oopa earrings and Kurisu would be spaced out a bit here. I'm not sure who the artist was for this but I definitely approve. I also love how Ruka was in the photo too. They're playing pikaboo in the center of the frame. Now, if Moeka was in this it would be even better. She was one of the more fascinating members of the lab for me. Anyone else a fan?
I don't remember exactly why I never finished Tiger & Bunny but I do remember enjoying what I saw of it. I love how stylish both of the main characters were here and wish I could personally look as suave as them. I'm a little jealous of fictional characters in this case. Am I a weird fan now? 🤪
I don't have much more to share at this moment, but if you enjoyed this style of content, feel free to reply down below, reblog and vote on it. I'm not fully sure how far I'll go with this or what the next part will be like, but welcome to my brain. Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your night.