4 posts tagged “manga”
The big summer convention season is upon us and a bunch of people are discussing their cosplay plans and showing progress photos of their new projects. One of the coolest things about cosplay is that there is no set way to create anything when you're reinterpreting 2D characters to the real world, so half the fun of seeing these progress photos is discovering how things are interpreted differently by people.
Anyway, I figure this may be my big final bang for cosplay, so here's my list for new costumes this year!
Lace from Ibara
Debut: Anime Expo
I'm hella excited about this big obscure group cosplay that will take place when a bunch of us walk out at AX with all these characters on. I'm still worried about my whole thunder thigh problem when it comes to those crotchless pant-things, but I figure some strategic posing will keep me off 4chan. Ha.
For all you Ibara group people, I've been going through Cure and saving random Ibara cosplayer pictures for reference to see what works and what doesn't. I can't guarantee all the characters, but if you're interested here's the link. If you have any requests for more pictures of certain characters, let me know!
I haven't quite figured out the exact design that's going on with her left pant leg, thank goodness for artistic interpretation.
Debut: Comic-Con
What may be HCC's final masquerade hurrah! AJ let me borrow the manga a while back and, after questioning her endlessly about plot points (because, really, that series reads like Memento in comic form) I found I really liked it! Last year, when we picked out the characters we were going to cosplay, we were shooting to have them done for AX... but uhh... yeah. Don't hold your breath.
I have a pretty good idea how that wig is going to be constructed that involves a big fat headband, two wooden dowels, a couple foam pool noodles and heavy gauge wire with a shit-ton of extensions. After this costume is done I'll probably never wonder what it's like to have antlers ever again. Not that I ever wondered to begin with.
This must be the year that I decide to show some leg. What the hell short skirt and green tights (not to mention Lace's crotchless wonder of an outfit). Okay, it had me at the wig, seriously. She could've been wearing parachute pants and a rhinestone wifebeater and I still would've wanted to cosplay her because of the wig.
Debut: Yaoi-Con... I think.
In the spirit of tradition of us (us being Oscar, AJ, Kim, Judy, etc.) doing something completely crazy for a "small" con, we've been looking at the designs for this game and been awed by the uniform look of the... uh... uniforms. I think we're still in debate if we're actually going to do it and, if we are, if we're going to do their standard uniforms or their half-demon forms. Only time will tell, my friends!
I'm pretty sure I'll stick to cosplaying on a much smaller scale after this year, especially since the Best Bud wants to get back in the mix. It'll be fun to do duo cosplays with her with silly characters (like Bust-A-Groove!). I figure all the money I'll save from scaling back on this hobby can be redirected towards... even MORE concerts. Sweet.
Before getting hyphy at the show I talked about previously, I spent most of the day in SF's Japantown nerding it out with some friends at the Japantown Anime Faire. Outside of promoting J-Rock Connection, eating a lot of food and making devious lolita plans for next year, I took some photos.
Pictured is my good friend Judy in her Matsumoto costume from BLEACH. Even without a wig brush Judy oozes sauciness! We'll be heading out to LA later this week to participate in the glorified Final Fantasy walk-on during Video Games Live.
More photographed costumed madness here!
What books are on your nightstand?
I picked up The Lovely Bones after having heard about it from one of my friends. Centered around a young girl who was brutally murdered, it follows her experiences after death and how she's able to follow the goings-on on earth. Definitely not on the "I see dead people." creepy side, it's a really interesting look at the author's view of heaven and life after death. While you and the girl know who killed her the family doesn't and it goes through the frustrations of both the family who can't solve the mystery and of the girl who can't communicate to her family what really happened.
Not quite done with it yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the whole thing pans out.
Another friend of mine let me on to this manga called Red River. It's a bit formulaic at times with all the "girl magically gets transported to the past, becomes famous, falls in love without realizing it, wants to go home, but is now torn because she wants to help the people she's with while at the same time is in danger because people want to kill her" stuff (yeah, if you can believe it, that's actually a fairly common formula in manga). But, I find myself enjoying it because of all the Fertile Crescent references and half-naked warrior guys (did I just say that?).
I wouldn't necessarily call it a "Must Read," (that title belongs to Monster by Naoki Urasawa) but if you like romance-y, angst-ridden stuff with ancient magic undertones then give it a shot. I think my friend who lent it to me described it best, "It's like Fushigi Yuugi without the ridiculously stupid, annoying main character."
