The Meloncholy of Marie Nunya

Okay folks I have some news! For one I just bought the Furuba (Fruits Basket) box set so I can finally finish the series (legally). Second, the Team Sakuracon parade is coming up on June 20th so I’m going to be preparing a really simple cosplay (I have exams and SATS only a few days before *barf*, don't get me wrong I will kick butt on the reading, writing, and language parts but I don't expect better than 80th percentile. I got 60's on the PSAT's, I'm a little too good at not worrying about it "Study...okay TOMMOROW!"... God will provide!)

I’m thinking of during Haruhi from…Oh gosh you should know. Anywho. You should know by know that I hate boring, just like Haruhi. We’re actually pretty similar…Except the groping part, so because I don’t have much time I figured I would do her cheerleader outfit and have my friend Jen do Yuki (either which or baseball). The only problem is (well I don’t care but I might regret it if people don’t recognize me) I have curly hair and no bangs….I’m thinking of cutting them…after the SATs…I’ll have to see. Because they could go wrong in a million ways…ug.

What In the World Do You Do At an Anime Convention???

The following is a bit I did for school...frankly its supposed to be about me and stuff but its just ramblings about cons...so I will probably have to do it over again later...anyway, I think its insightful so here you go!

First off, let’s be brief with the history, as I have explained it many times. I have wanted to go to this convention for ages. I had to wait an extra year to go because my dad scheduled a trip over the 07’ convention and I was out of town (“whoot” for colonial Virginia). A year passed and the time finally came. I was sick. I was stressed out. And those three days were probably some of the best I have ever had. Okay more explaining….The con was scheduled for the last weekend of March. This was really bad timing as it was in between two school breaks (mid winter and spring) so the teachers were merciless with the work load. I had been busting my butt to keep up with the work, when what I wanted, was to get ahead so I could enjoy the convention without homework. Yea right.
Well, it sure was stressful, and I will tell you that my immune system is broken by one thing, and one thing alone. Stress. But the cold died down enough for me to enjoy it, and luckily for me, my already bad sinuses plus the dying cold meant I didn’t have to worry about the dreaded “con-funk” (13,000 people in one building plus body odor).

So great, I got to my convention and had a blast, but still, a lot of people don’t seem to understand what you do at these conventions. Well, frankly if you don’t like anime you will probably be a little lost if not completely bored. If I was to go back to the Emerald City Comic Con I would probably be bored as heck because I don’t really like Western Comics (except the Tomb Raider stuff). I went once, at least five years ago, but that was just for merchandise and to get Jhonen Vasquez’s autograph (Jhonen Vasquez is the creator of Invader Zim, a cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon for a short period of time but was canceled due to its dark nature) which were probably the only things I could have done anyway.
You have to like anime, yes, but it’s not essential because there is so much there for you to do. Panels with manga artists and voice actors (both English and Japanese), workshops on how to draw for example, concerts, dances (the only place in Seattle you can rave it up without fear of drugs), photo shoots (where you learn to expect the unexpected), merchandise, cosplay contest (cosplay being short for costume play, and the cosplay contest usually designating funny skits and “walk-ons”), anime music video (AMV) contests, karaoke, and on, and on. But it’s surprising how many people skip the big events and still find things to do. Just walking around, making new friends, taking pictures, watching random dancing, playing spin the bottle outside (glomp style, A.K.A hugging) all can make your con experience more memorable.
The atmosphere of each con is also a deciding factor on what you do. Each one is a little bit different in terms of what to expect. Cons like Kumoricon (down in Oregon) are much smaller then Sakuracon so there is more down time to do the relaxing stuff. Some Cons like Anime Expo, the biggest con in The U.S, are high speed, and you may find your self rushing around to the next event.
Now here’s something everyone needs to know about the taboos of anime conventions. Always shower everyday and wear deodorant. Bring food as there may or may not be available (or just reasonably priced) food. AND NEVER, EVER, watch anime, at an anime convention. My friend Jen confessed to have had a crummy time because all she did was watch anime in the theaters they had. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to watch something to sample it or soak up some extra time, but defiantly do it sparingly. Believe it or not a convention is about the people. It’s about interacting with people who share a common interest and appreciate the culture and art forms presented at the con. In other words what you do is have fun.

Demons of Cosplay: Crossplay

Cross-play....I’m slowly slipping into a bias against guy cosplayers…I just can’t stand it! But! It’s not really their fault… They are GUYS after all. And with the ever increasing bishonen population in the anime world its getting harder for guys. Frankly there ARE limits. Not the ones that I described before, (the more self patronizing limits people put on them selves such as body image and all that).

There is the social standard. Its not socially accepted in most cases for men to dress like girls, though our society has no problem with the other way around (too a degree…well most of the time anyway). Also most guy cross plays are jokes! The Sailor Moon men and “Man-Faye” are….well…laughable…people don’t take them seriously because they don’t take themselves seriously!

This brings up another issue! I take back the “females-can-dress-up-as-guys-without-a-problem” statement because they can’t! I don’t think that most people (unspoken rule) think that its “good cosplay” for a girl to dress up as say Insert very manly guy/anti-Bishonen. Unless! Of course the girl isn’t taking herself seriously. Here is (what I believe to be) a wonderful example. Shunsui Kyoraku from Bleach...hes a pimp, he has a beard, and hes most definitely not bishonen! But I want to cosplay as him anyway....I don't know if I SHOULD but I probably will anyway. Do you think there is a limit to what women can cosplay? Maybe women should only cosplay guy characters when they would look better then if a man would.

For example; Men KILL Inuyasha cosplay! I set out to make a GOOD inuyasha cosplay just to spite all the “five -o’-clock-shadow” inuyashas I’ve seen! Besides a heck of a lot of them don’t just not work, but arn’t even well crafted! All the REALLY good Inuyashas I’ve seen were girls! Same with the shessomarus. And they are only the tiniest bit Bishi! (at least I think so...maybe I need to figure out what bishonen actually dictates, is it just no hair and no muscle?) If you can call Sephiroth Bishonen and we can see some darn good cosplays then why can’t that apply to Shessomaru or Inuyasha? I think it may come down to the group that watches the show or plays the game. It may be that the demographic that plays FFVII is better suited for cosplay than guys that watch Inuyasha. The world may never know.

THE END.

A lot of debate and discussion goes into the endings of animes. All too often the anime starts too soon after the manga and soon passes it up leaving it without reference material. This results in fillers, more fillers, and then a REALLY unfulfilling ending. The characters never complete the main goal, and usually go their separate ways with the hope of resolution in the future. BULL! Either the anime runs out of cash (budgeting problems), hits a wall (runs out of reference because its already passed where the manga is in the story), or just decides to take a different path and be an “adaptation”. Now sometimes adaptations are a good thing. Some times they are a GREAT thing. And some times they just fall flat.

Examples of unfulfilling, “Huh?” or just “What?...It’s over?” endings (in somewhat order of worst to just-not-great);

Spoilers (not horrible ones) will be below in the asterisks (*)

· Inuyasha: amazing series, I personally loved it but saw where it was going with fillers around the 90’s (episodes) and dropped it. The ending was inconclusive, no resolution. They didn’t complete the task at hand.* You are told to read the manga to get your “waste-of-83-and-a-half-hours-of-your-life” ending.
· Claymore: Similar to Inuyashas ending, they didn’t complete the task;what I now call a procrastinator ending (“oh, will finish it later!”)
· Escaflowne: I really liked Escaflowne but endings are supposed to make you feel…something…this ending was so “huh?” or blah, that I don’t even remember the details of how it ended!
· Wallflower: Once again nothing was completed.
· Full Metal Alchemist: Had to be resolved by the movie, and the Movie still left thing to do…still one of the best anime ever though (its at the bottom of the list!)


Here are some good ones!

Now “good” is controversial. A lot of people may feel that these series belong on the opposite list because major characters died and they were sad, or the ending was sad…and they were sad…but hey! I never said a good ending had to be happy! Sometimes it needs to be sad or it goes against the whole point of the story and becomes a waste of time. It took me a while to realize this…it’s a battle of the Reality ending verses the Fairy Tale ending.

· Cowboy Bebop: Sad but definte. It ended! Yay..but still sad
· Witch Hunter Robin: Similar to Cowboy Bebop in that…*
· Full Metal Alchemist: With the movie it was fulfilling and mostly resolved.

I know these are short generic lists but my reference site for my anime database (http://www.anime-planet.com/) got deleted by a technical error on the site.

Just know that sometimes it may be worth the extra money to just buy the manga...its a complete entity. For me this is hard though as I really don't want to keep buying them when I don't know when it will end! 20 volumes is plenty, anything beyond that seems excessive. (ex: Bleach...never ends! Stop at 63! Skip the fillers!...I am considering starting it up again after the Bounty Arc though...anywho..) At least look at reviews (well thats sort of what one whould do on a site like mine) and do some research. (theanimeblog.com has consistant updates and new anime reviews...)

*Ohh! Scary Spoilers!*

*Bad: Never defeat the main villain

*Good: people Die!

Eh...urg

Sooo….wow…um, its been five weeks since I last posted ANYTHING, even an apology for not posting (which was what my last post was…how pathetic is that?) So anyway, I will try to end my I-never-told-you-that-it-was-an-unofficial-hiatus soon. My In depth interview of my English teacher is still going to happen and I really need to tell you about Sakuracon and my plans for the future!

Once again here’s some stuff to (not) look forward to;

Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival (videos of: Aikido, Tea ceremonies, and Dancing)
Sakura-con (three parts; Fri, Sat, and Sunday…with PLENTY of pictures and video)


here are some links to my photobucket (vid and Pics) http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g182/javakat343/?mediafilter=images
and Youtube (video...doy)
http://youtube.com/user/javakat343

ARG...

GACK! I haven't posted in over two weeks! I'll get on it I promise!

Coming up:

Escaflowne review showing , How you should be watching your anime. In depth interview of my English teacher!
Sakuracon detailed three day synopsis
My Finished costume!
Black cat manga/anime review!

Feathers plus glue= one stop closer to cosplay completion

I never actually thought I would see the day when I could say I was covered in glue and feathers, but I did. It wasn’t too bad really. The glue was messiest when it no longer wanted to squeeze out of the bottle and I had to use a brush and my hands but nun the less I managed to make this project work….”what project” you say? Well I was making wings of course!

They were not easy either. They were for my Yuna costume. But I didn’t want traditional angel wings like the Trinity Blood or Ah! My Goddess ones. I didn’t want them to look exactly like Yuna’s wings either as she has her wings curving around her arms much more than the normal curve in wings. I wanted cute little ones that I could use for multiple cosplays, or just to frame at the head of my bed (way better than deer antlers). This was probably the most tedious cosplay I have ever done. Feather by feather I worked. But I really don’t mind that kind of work anyway its relaxing and peaceful, the research and anxiety were NOT. The research I had to do in making these wings was ridiculous, but I finally settled on an online tutorial;
www.paper-wings.org/tutorials/wings/wings.html .

Just so you know this is the constructions process;
1. Gather materials (full list on tutorial at link provided)

2. Contruct frame (with copper tubing and chicken wire, picture above)
3. Add craft batting to frame with tacky glue or better but super expensive Fabritac (pic above and below)

4.Add Feathers liike crazy! (Not really, use the best ones with the fewist imperfections and make sure you have rights and lefts on proper sides, as well as the insides of the featers showing on the inner wing and the feathers layed normally on the outer wing).5. Once feathers are on add craft batting back ove the top to disguise the tops and have a nice place to glue the "fluff". (Notice the pretty layers and boquet in picture above and fluff and face in pic below)

Rare photo of my face *gasp* limited viewing! Short time only!...dorky smile, Bender on stomach..hehe

The wings turned out well but I still have to nit pick at it. My biggest gripes are that I used regular silver duck tape to hold together the frame and you can still sort of see it under bright light. Also the feathers are not perfectly white like my costume and may look…off, I guess. Also attaching the feathers is largely annoying. These wings while light are still heavy enough to be a problem for the skimpy dress that has to somehow hold them up. I figure hooks for attaching and blear straps for extra support. The project took me about a week of work but could of taken me less if I hadn’t been so nitpicky and hesitant to do anything or move on. I just wanted them to look purdy!

I am VERY happy with the results though. As for wearing them, crowded cons will get annoying, also they stick out far enough for me to have to grapevine through doorways, but that’s about it. I figure with the way I’m doing it they are detachable easily enough.

Yes my wings are Big and Bangin', but I prefer the Creation Narritive...

Yes, I can draw...much better than I can write

I wanted a more complete or whole participation in Sakuracon this year. Sooo… I entered a contest! The mascot contest! I am obligated to not actually show you the picture…and I was considering asking them if I could show a draft or something, but then checking the forums they have actually just updated saying that people are not following the rules for not posting there entries and gave these explanations

“1. The art becomes Sakura-Con property-we want our mascot to be UNIQUE and NEVER seen before we announce it. 2. The most important reason: we want a fair contest. We've been criticized in the past because an artist won after first advertising the entry all over the web and asked staff for votes. So we made posting your entry against our rules.”

So Once I can get my scanner online I will gladly show you some of my work.

I’d show you something now but all I have currently is crap.

Takoyaki for everyone...or 7

Finally went to Daiso for another trip. This time I had a few kitchen aids in mind. First off I wanted a tamagoyaki pan, (checked off my list at the regular dollar fifty price) next I needed a cooking grill for making yaki onigiri (also $1.50) and finally the tamagoyaki pan…

No go. They sell out like, like, like…oh I don’t know, the sell out like anything on sale on the day before Christmas. They are never there. They are SO not in stock that I doubt the store ever had them in the first place…Anger.

So after much online searching I decided that 20 dollars was a suitable price…even though if I had waited a week I could have got one for 9 dollars on Amazon…but I am not that patient. Besides! I have wanted a takoyaki/abelskever pan FOR-EV-ER! I waited for an opportune moment but I could never get the 3 (under line the 3 five times won’t you?) dollar pan at Daiso. Okay! Do We Understand the Frustration? I payed 20 instead of 3!!! WTF!

But this really is the wrong attitude. I mean I have the freaking pan now. I should be, like, grateful. I’m so grateful I have already said the word “like” 5 times already. Bad form, bad form…ah well.

I am already scheming ways to use this pan. I have already made spherical crab cakes (yummy!) and will make cherry jam filled pancakes and lavender sugar pancakes tomorrow morning.

Drunk on Anime

I have heard it said that it takes an annoyingly long time for animes be licensed and dubbed before they are ready to sell to us red blooded Americans. I knew it to be true of course as its only logical but I never really had the experience of going through the whole process with a series until XXXHolic. With XXXHolic I read the manga when it first came out, was overjoyed to hear that there was a not yet dubbed anime (which I sort of watched on youtube), and then a good…2 years later learned the Northwest U.S premier of it was going to be at Sakuracon. I mean WOW. 2 years later! The manga is insanely popular with its heavy emphasis on Japanese myths and all sorts of fairy tale and occult stuff. I really do love the manga. But I never got to watching more than…say 3 episodes of the fan subbed anime.

But the best part is not only is the English dub premiering at Sakuracon, but they have two of the voice actors from the series (Watanuki and Moru)!!!

Clamp really is amazing with the stuff they come up with. I remember I used to watch Card Captor Sakura as a kid (but never got to see the entire series) and they have so much stuff out there too. I personally only got into Chobits and XXXHolic. I like others as well, such as Tsubasa, but I like to think that XXXHolic is my thing and Tsubasa is my friends thing (yes it’s weird) just like the way the two mangas connect at certain points. XXXHolic actually connects to many other clamp series in the apperance of the occasional character or item thrown in at times such as the chobit ears used as a communication device or the apperance of Kazahaya and Rikuo from Legal Drug as workers at a Pharmacy (lol). I did finished Chobits with thankfully 8 volumes, but now that I’m older don’t like it as much. This is due to the fact that I actually think about the sex in it and am not as oblivious to the more adult stuff and the more controversial issues brought up in the manga. Chobits is like the anime version of the Notebook (movie) for me. I can’t like it because I’m morally torn between “should she have left her finace?” or “Its’ all okay, they were meant for each other.”

Okay, I’m way off topic now. My point is I’m super stoked for the Premier and can’t wait to hear one of my favorite mangas come to the “little” screen in English.