Alright, been home for about a week now and wish I were still in Japan. :P
Overall, I bought 10 covers (1 of which I unfortunately sold back to Mandarake), a few tapestries, a fat stack of doujinshi (willowywicca can attest to this), and some other miscellaneous goodies.
The trip was an exceptional experience, and I've tried convincing my best friend to save up with me so that we can go sometime next year.
For the juicy details, Ore no Yome was a lot of fun. It took place on Mandarake's 4th floor at Grandchaos, and I think the event space is hidden behind a curtain when not in use; I don't remember it being a part of the store when I went just a few days before. Anyhow, the space is fairly small, maybe 20' x 30' or so. It was enough for two fairly wide aisles, with nothing against the first wall, two tables back to back in the middle (with room for people to sit behind them on each side), and then another row of tables on the opposite wall. Overall, there were something like 30 available spaces, each table offering 2 spaces. Most circles took up a full table and there was one empty space, so I think there were maybe 13-14 circles participating in all.
I was speaking to a few people before my trip, and I had told anko I was coming to the event. She told me beforehand to line up at other tables first, since she wasn't going to have any new works for sale. I'd say there maybe 100-150 non-circle participants at the event. I had woken up a little late, so I didn't arrive in Osaka until about 11:30 and it was maybe 11:50 by the time I made it to Mandarake. Luckily, there was a fairly long line outside of the building forming and position was based entirely on ticket number. Willowywicca and I had purchased my ticket at the Nakano store, where they usually don't sell it physically (only ship it out for mail order), but since it was a special case they sold it to me. My ticket number was 27, out of people in the mid/high 100s (people bought multiple tickets for a chance to get in higher/secure more spots in the drawing near the end.)
Anyhow, they open the doors at 12 and we all make our way to the 4th floor. They were very insistent that the number on your ticket dictate the place you're able to secure in line; I wasn't familiar with the store, so I just followed the first person up that I could and I was stopped at the top of the (unmoving) escalator until until it was my turn to go. I decided to line up at Marks first, and bought two covers; I would have bought them all if funds were unlimited, but I only had 60k on me. So I bought two covers and the 150x50 Snow Miku microfiber towel, for a total of 28k. With 32k left, I looked around a bit but didn't want to wait in any of the crazy lines.
I wasn't familiar with ã®ã³ã®ã³ãƒ•ãƒ©ã‚¯ã‚¿ãƒ«, otherwise I would have lined up there next (other than anko/Marks, this was the only booth that had a fairly large line.) Turns out that it was a combination of the circles/sellers, with Suku Revolution, Recruit, and ã«ã®ã“ã‚„ covers being sold. So as I was still looking around, I decided to buy the Argyle Shimakaze for 13k, bringing me down to 19k cash remaining (and this was all the money I had left.) I decided it was time to line up for anko, since I had brought a batch of goodies for her. The line went out of the building and onto the stairs, all the way down to maybe the start of floor 2. I waited my turn, presented my goods, and she said she'd ship me Mikan (she was taking preorders for her.) I had spoken with her a bit before through email, so I thought she spoke some English, but I guess it was done through Google Translate, because we had a pretty hard time communicating other than that.
After that, I finally made my way to the other set of booths, and it was here that I saw the Suku Revo covers; with Mikan and Golden Darkness. Shit, those are always so expensive, and I want that Mikan cover. So I get in the line, and someone is passing back the laminated page with the items being sold/prices... Mikan and Golden Darkness are only being sold as a set for 24k. Shit.
Actually, going back to the start of the event, I wasn't sure how the lines worked/or where Marks was. So I had to fumble with the staff, when I ran into a collector who spoke English; he asked me if I was Tom-san. Apparently my name had been passed around a bit before the event, maybe because I was the only foreigner to attend, and a few people knew who I was. Anyhow, he acted as a translator for me and got me into the Marks queue. I proceeded to talk with him throughout the entire event.
After I had done my shopping and spent most of my money (I left with 15k and the remaining amount on my credit card used up), I met up with my new friend again and told him I was staying in Tokyo. He asked if I was going to KanColle event tomorrow, and I said yes and asked if I had to purchase a ticket. He told me yeah, but that he'd try to get me one from a friend. A bit later, he introduced me to Aoi-san, the artist behind Verdant Force. I was given a ticket, and to my surprise, it was for circle entry (meaning I got in a full 1:30 before the event officially started.)
There wasn't too much more to the event, other than the rock paper scissors tournament, which took me a few rounds to get used to since I wasn't familiar with the format of it. I didn't end up winning anything unfortunately, and there were some pretty good prizes on the line. A few dakimakura covers, a coupon for a free Stylus cover, a Kirishima model ship, and the grand prize was a huge hand drawn image from the top half of anko's Momo cover (sfw side.)
As the event was winding down, I ended up going out for sushi with anko-san, Aoi-san, and a few other attendees that I didn't introduce myself to. It was a bit awkward not speaking any Japanese, but I still had a good time, and it was really nice to be able to hang out with such friendly people.
Ore no Yome was great, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who has a chance to go.
So moving onto the KanColle event, which was held at the Tokyo Big Sight. I made my way there around 9:30, and met up with my English speaking friend, who showed me where all of my favorite circles would be once the event started. I decided I'd queue up at the Ichigo Size booth, just in case they had the Shimakaze cover (it was a KanColle event, after all.) That ended up being a bust, but I bought the tapestry since I felt like an idiot waiting in line when they didn't have any covers at all. It worked out in the end, since I bought it for 2.5k and sold it to Mandarake for 4k the next day.
After that, I just kinda wandered the hall, buying a few doujinshi here and there. I also bought a cosplay DVD and book from
Saku who is just as cute in person as she is in her cosplay. I have to say that I'm honestly infatuated with her. But anyhow, after that I just wandered around for a bit more; the event took up one full hall, and was fairly crowded.
I had plans to meet up with a friend from Reddit, and we probably met up around 12:30. After that, the three of us (he brought a friend) went to Akihabara, and spent the rest of the day exploring.