Comic Exhibition Taipei 2009 -- combined autograph session of three Reborn! seiyū

The two-day weekend is when highest number of con-goers attend Comic Exhibition Taipei. Most popular events are often scheduled on the weekend as well. Not surprisingly, I stayed at the convention hall for two full days in order to cover those events. The first one on Saturday morning was a combined autograph session of three Katekyo Hitman Reborn! seiyū: Hidekazu Ichinose (as Hayato Gokudera), Suguru Inoue (as Takeshi Yamamoto), and Takashi Kondo (as Kyouya Hibari). While the original manga of Reborn! is serialized in Tong Li's Formosa Youth (licensed version of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump), the majority of its fans are young girls, way more celebrity-worshiping than boys at the same age. The fence surrounding the stage area had been crushed five times due to overcrowding.

Soon after the main gate had opened, all major routes to Stage A was completely blocked by the crowd.

Quite a few cosplayers are among the crowd.

The spectators have filled every square inches in front of Stage A.

Some fans spent a great deal of effort to build this hand-made message board to show their devotion.

MC tossing giveaway souvenirs to the crowds in order to heat up the atmosphere.

The three finally arrived!

Hidekazu Ichinose, who has a quite athletic body, appeared on the stage in cheers and screams.

Followed by Takashi Kondo with sweet smiles.

Finally, the cool-looking Suguru Inoue.

Before the autograph session starts, the three seiyū played some mini-games with their fans. Those who answered their questions correctly would receive prizes couldn't be found elsewhere, such as this wristband taken off directly from seiyū.

Ichinose-san wear the wristband on this lucky fan who answered the question correctly.

The fan proudly showing her spoil.

The prize of the second question was a ring; Inoue-san put the ring on her middle finger rather than ring finger, probably due to size and her safety.

Ichinose-san and Kondo-san started playing with those environmental-friendly shopping bags before giving them away. Fans cheered "Kawaii!"

All three seiyū were very friendly and shook hands with each and every fan.

Three luckiest fans were picked randomly to pose for photo with all three seiyū.

Unfortunately, due to overcrowding fans, they couldn't finished the quota (200 fans) in time, and they had to move to another room in order to finish signing for the last 50 fans.