This is going to be a long post so prepare yourself. This year for AX I checked into the hotel on Day 0. This time, there were seven of us sharing the room together. It didn’t feel horribly cramped though?? And no one was fighting over using the restroom or anything. I felt like everything was peaceful. This year I wanted to be more prepared and actually go to events (something I kept telling myself I would do during previous cons, but didn’t really). I thought to myself, “I’m going to go to as many movie premiers as I can!” and circled a bunch in the catalogue. I wanted to watch Violet Garden, Card Captor Sakura, and In This Corner of the World. I ended up watching none. On Day 1 (Saturday), I got dressed as Killia (Disgaea 5) and left the hotel around 10am. In previous years it was usually easy breezy getting into the con at that time, but to my surprise, there was a long line. It took a little over an hour to get in (which was upsetting, but after hearing some people waited waaay longer, I felt I was lucky). Once I was in, I immediately shot towards artist alley, and went to Mightier’s booth and bought a Prompto keychain that she had posted on her blog a while back. Ever since I saw the sketches of her Galdin Quay keychains, my heart was sold, so I wanted to make sure to grab one before they ran out. After I secured a keychain, I went to exhibit hall. I spent the first half of the day looking through exhibit hall and artist alley, and got most of my shopping done Day 1. Because the worst thing ever is when you see something you like on Day 1, and then it’s sold out the next time you go looking for it. In order to prep for Disgaea’s Red Moon Day gathering on Sunday, HB bought a Red Moon Day shirt at the NIS booth. When he finished his purchase, the person who rang up his order gave us a ticket for an autograph session with the President of NIS, Sohei Niikawa, on Sunday. HB and I both stared at each other like, “??!!?” and we agreed that YES OFC we were going to the autograph session. I felt like such a dummy for this, but this is what happens when you don’t properly look at the AX catalogue -_-. I sort of skimmed through the booklet, and I felt I missed so many things because of that! Never again! From now on I’m going to thoroughly check everything. So yeah, I started freaking out, because I didn’t have anything for him to sign. I had a copy of Disgaea 5 for the PS4, and some art books too, but they were all at home, so that was no good. Then HB remembered there was a booth towards the front of exhibit hall that was selling shikishi boards, and we were saved! During some point in exhibit hall, we also went ahead and picked up our pre-ticket shikishi boards at the Bookwalker booth for our autograph session with Fujino Omori. BOTW Gerudo Voe Armor Link in Artist Alley! I actually didn't see him Day 1, but I'm just putting this here. While I was in exhibit hall I saw the Okita standee from the Hakuoki Festival at the IFFY booth. I found out later that there was a silent auction for these though?! Like, I would totally want an Okita standee, even though I have no place to put it. I wonder how much they went for??? At around 3pm I went back to the hotel and got out of Killia, and HB put on his machine cosplay. Then I had to guide him very slowly to the Nier gathering. What was cool was that the English voice of 2B was there! The only sad part of the gathering was that it was during the same time as the Card Captor Sakura screening. It’s ok though, because even if I missed the premier, I’ll be able to watch it eventually! While we were leaving the hotel to get to the Nier gathering I saw this really great BOTW Revali! We saw these three doing a shoot and squeezed in a group pic! HB and Kira Buckland! On Day 2 (Sunday), I dressed as Killia again and left the hotel a little earlier. Getting into con was much smoother than the day before since more lines had opened up. I think I wandered around artist alley and/or exhibit hall for a bit before it was time to line up to see Sohei Niikawa. While we were waiting I could start to feel butterflies in my stomach. When it came to our turn to see him, I had nothing to say. NOTHING. And I just- just regret it so much! I didn’t know what to say TAT! I could have said, “I loved playing Disgaea 5!” or like “I really like a lot of the character designs in the Disgaea series!” or the humor in the game is ridiculous and cute, or how nice it was that Disgaea is coming back to handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch. But nope, nothing came out. I mean… luckily HB said something. I was hoping he would convey my feelings for me lol, but he asked if Disgaea 5 would come out for the PS Vita. Sighsighsighsigh. Apparently, HB wasn’t sure what to say either. But his question was better than nothing. I have all these woulda coulda should’ves. OH, but to answer the question, Sohei Niikawa said it’s not likely for Disgaea 5 to come out for the Vita because of the Vita’s limitations. On a side note, I was super happy because Sohei Niikawa recognized my costume and muttered, “Killia,” with a nod. I’m so glad I finished my Killia cosplay this year!! I got to shake his hand twice. He also drew cute pictures on the shikishi board. He said the rectangular creature is supposed to be a new character that’s coming out. After he finished the board, I got to take a picture with him, and I said thank you to him as politely as I could. All I managed to say in the end was thank you, but I hope he was able to tell that I loved Disgaea by my cosplay haa ; 7 ;. I didn’t notice until looking back at this photo but besides his Prinny hat, he also had Prinnies on his shoes! So cute! Sometime after the signing, I went over to Site 4 for the Red Moon Day gathering, but was really confused because all I saw were Dragon Ball cosplayers. HB and I kind of wandered in and out of the building until we realized, we had actually gone to the correct location the first time, but we had just arrived a little early. Once we saw a giant Prinny walking around we were like, “Yes, this is the right place.” When we were all settled at the gathering I saw a Laharl who did an amazing job at styling Laharl’s antennae. During the gathering, there were group pictures and a trivia contest hosted by the NISA staff. Jupy, one of the staff, asked Disgaea related questions, and we’d shoot our hands into the air to answer. If you answered correctly, you’d get a prize (the prizes were really nice!). Both HB and I were able to answer questions, and we got a Mage keychain and a copy of the game Operation Babel for the PS Vita. Then the staff handed out Disgaea pins, and Jupy announced that there will be a special guest at the gathering. Dun dun dun! It was Sohei Niikawa! So I was able to take pictures with him a second time, but I still wasn’t able to say anything other than, “Thank you.” //internalscreaming. The Overlords! Group! And a silly shot :p ! After the gathering I got out of cosplay and rushed over with some friends to see if we could make the screening of, “In This Corner of the World.” We uh—didn’t make it LOL. I was unable to watch, “Violet Evergarden,” too. Violet Evergarden was the premier I wanted to watch the most since it was made by Kyoani and was bound to be gorgeous. One day… one day! After finding out the room was full I think we all headed over to the arcade???? Or was that later at night??? I can’t remember. I visited the arcade a few times. But I got to play Shadowverse on two different days. It was my first time playing, so HB had to teach me everything while he was going super easy on me. When we got our random card at the end of the game play, I got the Beauty and the Beast card, and HB got the Phantom Cat card. When I saw Phantom Cat, I immediately switched cards with him, because I was not interested in Beauty and the Beast, and he was meehh about Phantom Cat lol. On the second day we played, I got the Wizardess of Oz card, and HB got another Phantom Cat. He ended up trading the Phantom Cat with someone for their Snow White. So we were able to get a total of four gorgeous cards! Shadowverse competition prizes and some Japan-exclusive merch. Shadowverse cosplayer! Her armor looked great :) Next to the Shadowverse booth was Lemon & Sugar! I actually wanted to take a picture WITH them, but then I had a sudden moment of shyness. They look so cute! On Day 3 (Monday), I dressed as Tiona from Danmachi. OR AT LEAST I WAS SUPPOSED TO BUT IT WAS SUCH A WRECK I COULDN’T. Basically, when I was working on Tiona before con, I was tight on time so I didn’t get a chance to try on everything together. So when I actually put on everything on con day, my wig was a monstrosity, and my belt was way too big for my hips. I was heartbroken, and I felt like I had wasted my entire time getting ready, and had to take everything off. So I changed into regular clothes, while HB was dressed as Bell. Then we lined up around 2 hours early for the Danmachi QA Panel. I’m glad we lined up early, because the line got really long pretty quickly. When we were allowed entry into the panel room, we got a seat in like the 3rd or 4th row?? It was pretty close to the front. Overall, the panel was pretty nice, and I got to learn little trivia. For example, how Fujino Omori really liked to read webnovels, but he doesn’t have as much time to read them anymore; how he has another spinoff novel in the works; what his reaction was like when he first saw Hestia’s art design, ect. After the panel ended, free Danmachi merch was being handed to the audience, so I was able to get a poster and a Hestia button. Sometime after, I went to watch the Live Drawing Panel for Akira Himekawa (which is actually the pen name for two artists that work together! A. Honda and S. Nagano). Honestly, this panel was such fun to go to, because while the artists drew, they told tidbits of their lives, and their commentary was so interesting and funny. The translators also had a lot of personality too, so it added that much more spice. And though Akira Himekawa are known for their works for Zelda, they announced that they were creating their own original story called Kamdo. So when that comes out, it may be something I’d like to stick my nose into. Akira Himekawa before they started drawing for the panel. I got to take videos of their live drawing processes too :D On Day 4 (Tuesday), the saddest day, the last day of con, I didn’t cosplay, and I went to straight to artist alley for the autograph session with the creator of Danmachi, Fujino Omori. While he was signing, I told him, with the best of my abilities, “Bete wa kakkoii desu,” and he and the editor laughed, and their reaction was just perf lol. Then Fujino Omori responded that he noticed that a lot of people liked Bete. HB and I then asked if he had played Ragnarok Online before, because Danmachi reminded us so much of it, but he said that he had only heard of it. But he mentioned that he was inspired by the author of Sword Art Online, who had some inspiration from Ragnarok (If I remember correctly). HB also told him how much he loved the show, and Fujino Omori laughed and said thanks. Afterwards, since photography was not allowed, HB and I said our thanks and left. So yeah, that's pretty much how AX went for me. And this is the most insignificant thing ever, but I had so much shaved snow from the food trucks lol. So good. Now we'll end with merch. The first thing I got were these posters from Yuqi. She got them from the FF lounge but didn't want them, so HB and I took them happily huhuhhuhh. Disgaea Red Moon Day pin, Mage rubberstrap, Sohei Niikawa's autograph, and Operation Babel. Danmachi poster, Hestia button, Fujino Omori's autograph, and Danmachi Light Novel Vol. 2. I also had my Danmachi Vol. 1 signed. Kamdo poster! Shadowverse cards! HB put them in a case after con. Bunch of artist alley goodies. Top Row: BOTW: Link, Link, and Zelda Bottom Row: BOTW: Mipha. FFXV: Prompto, Ignis, Noctis, Gladio Small Items: BOTW Stickers: Tepa, Revali, Kass. FFXV: Prompto Keychain Lon Lon Milk Candle and hamster fan.
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Today I got my copy of Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Limited Edition for PS Vita! Everything came in this giant box. Removing the lid reveals chibi art decorating the side of the box. Packaging was super organized. Each item had it's own little compartment, so nothing shook around in the box when you moved the box around. The game came with a reversible cover. It came with an art book that includes mini character bios and cutscene images from the game. You can find out everyone's favorite foods (。’▽’。)♡ ! Bento box! I was sad when I couldn't get a bento box from the Hakuoki Festival, but I think this one is so much cuter hee. It comes with an elastic band to hold the box together. It also comes with a removable divider inside. Furoshiki / wrapping cloth. Rather than wrapping things with it, I'll probably be hanging it up on a wall. And lastly, the soundtrack (and my ominous reflection)!
I'm excited to play this tonight! (Even though I still have to beat BOTW, and I haven't even started playing P5 yet. I just have this game queue that gets longer and longer. Omg I also got Atelier Firis! I love the Atelier series. But since Hakuoki can be played on vita that means I can play it whenever I want. I want to go through ALL 12 BACHELORS.) Yesterday I went to the Hakuoki Festival & Cafe with HB (Although, since I wasn't able to get cafe tickets it was more of, "Hakuoki Festival & If Only I Was Fast Enough to Snag Cafe Tickets"). We arrived at the venue around 11am?? and were greeted by two very large banners as soon as we walked in through the doors. When we entered the room all the activities were being hosted in, there were long lines of people snaking behind each booth. Not knowing where to start, we stepped into the first line that was closest to us- anndd it turned out to be the line to buy merchandise. Oops. When we found out, we left the line to go do an actual activity first lol. Save the shopping for last, yeah? The first thing I did was take a picture with the standees of all the bachelors. There were so many of them that it was hard to fit them all in the frame! After taking the full group, I took a picture with three individual bachelors. No question, Okita had to be there. And I wanted Nagakura in there because you weren't able to date him in Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom but you can date him in Kyoto Winds! I also wanted spunky Heisuke in the picture. I didn't know this until recently, but Heisuke's voice actor is also the voice of Favaro from Rage of Bahamut! That's extra points for Heisuke. Next, I moved onto the Love Notes Wall. Here you got to write gushy notes about your favorite bachelor(s). I wrote about Okita. They also had a chart where you could vote for your favorite. Saito was winning when it was my turn to vote, but I wonder what the end results were. I feel like I don't even need to say this but I voted for Okita lol. At another booth, you got to pull out a fortune. This is what I got: A fortune with Iba! It says it's good luck, but why do I feel like he is silently judging me? The last activity I went to was a photo booth. There was a green screen set up in the back that would display a bachelor of your choice. This was lots of fun to do! If you look at the last photo on the strip you can see HB's pained smile as I told him he has to be touching Hijikata with gusto. In the center of the room there was a giant cake surrounded by macaroons. The macaroons could be won in a raffle by getting tickets from a ring toss, but I didn't participate in the ring toss. I would have liked to eat every single one of those macaroons though. And the cake, I would have liked to eat that cake. I think the cake was only for people who had cafe tickets though?? I'm not sure. All I know is that I didn't get to eat any of it. While we were in one of the lines, HB and I took a selfie. I tried to do Okita's cold gaze. It needs some work. We also took a selfie with a Chizuru! The protagonist of the game sandwiched between two romantic routes huhuh. I always want to take pictures with other cosplayers but I'm never brave enough to ask ;;. Here I am taking a selfie while HB drives out of the parking lot. HB and I stayed a good few hours, but we didn't stay for the entire duration of the event. It was a small event, but still nice! I had fun ( ´ ∀ ` )~ Now onto the stuff I got at the event. A guide/pamphlet. A sticker sheet and pins of all the bachelors. The pins were obtained by completing each of the activities at the event. The interesting thing about the pins is that they have a matte finish? It makes them look more premium. A body pillow cover! I was going back and forth about whether I wanted it or not, but then I caved and ended up getting it. I just need to get a pillow for it now lol.
Last Saturday I went to Anime Los Angeles (ALA) at the Ontario Convention Center. I got there around 10am and spent the first half of my day exploring the exhibit hall, eating food, and taking pictures. Here I am with the Hakuoki display looking very pumpkin-faced and happy. Some of you may already know, but Idea Factory International is going to be releasing a new Hakuoki for the PS Vita with more dateable bachelors! I already pre-ordered the game! There's also going to be a Hakuoki Festival this April. I bought my tickets exactly at 12:00pm when the tickets were released. I was refreshing my phone while on lunch break with much intensity. I wanted to get the Special Lunch Set tickets but they were sold out in literally one minute. I cried in my heart. Then after about six minutes, all the general admission tickets were sold out! I feel lucky to have gotten my tickets on time. But for those who missed the first wave of tickets, they are selling a second batch of general admission tickets here. I think I'm going to do a casual cosplay of Okita (my fav) at the event. Maybe the Sweet School Life version (which I never played but would like to). I'm also going to have HB do either Saitou or Chikage. Now here are some cosplayers I saw con... Isabela from Dragon Age II. She even had the tome! Medli from Windwaker. A sweetie pie Anise from Tales of the Abyss. I looove when I see TOA cosplays. Tidus from Final Fantasy X. Maybe I should have taken the picture somewhere with better lighting ;; but I was already too shy to take his picture lol. HB had to stop him for me. Prompto from Final Fantasy XV. Their costume looked sooo good! I hope mine will end up alright. Another Prompto with a Noctis. I had to chase after them when they were walking past me. I was DYYINNG when I saw the back of the Prompto's vest. And the fishing rod is really cute right?? Dancing FFXV characters. Saix, Roxas, and Axel from Kingdom Hearts. Soma and Erina from Shokugeki no Soma serving free curry. Lunch/snack break with HB, yuqicosplays, and munin742. Yuqi is dressed as Cindy from FFXV. The second half of the day, I dressed up in my Skyrim armor (Because I don't have any new cosplays). I saw lord_gundam cosplaying Fallout. We chatted for a bit. It was nice seeing him again :) I hope to see his Faraam Knight in person one day. And so wraps up my trip! I didn't attend any panels, but I still had a pretty full day. Oh, and this is kind of small but I really liked ALA's badge pick up. It was so fast and easy. I went to Anime California 2016 back in whenever, and badge pick up took soooo long. It was also a little strange because a college fair was sharing the venue with ACA. I probably won't go back to ACA any time soon, but I'll definitely be returning to ALA. (I'll probably give ACA another go later down the line, maybe when it's a little bigger?) Ok, moving on to all the loot I got from ALA. The first was this very adorable shirt I got from Uchuu Summer. I've already worn it a couple times. I want to buy more. A print by parakid. I framed it but haven't put it up on my wall yet. From left to right: Atelier Ayesha Artbook, Yona of the Dawn Vol.3, Tales of the Abyss keychain, Tales of Destiny keychain, and a Tom Nook button. The tales keychains/rubber straps were chance boxes. I was hoping to get TOA and TOX2, but maybe I'll be able to nab the TOX2 another day if I'm lucky.
This year I attended Anime Expo for all four days and stayed in a hotel with six other people. The weekend went by smoothly. For this year's con, I wanted to cosplay both Skyrim and Disgaea 5 (for Red Moon Day!), but I wasn't able to complete my Disgaea costume on time. The wig was killer, and I couldn't finish styling it. It's alright though, because I can just wear it to future cons ^^. Here are pictures of my Elven Armor from Skyrim: I had originally wanted to make an Argonian tail to match my in-game character but I wasn't sure how to tackle the tail. I might attempt to make it in the future though. (I'll include more information on my costume construction in a separate blog post.) Anyways, I dressed in Skyrim for two hours on Saturday and half-day on Sunday. While I was in costume I met an Argonian Maid and freaked out. She was super cute. I also took a picture with the giant NIS Prinny twice. Once while I was in costume, and once while I was out. I bought a Prinny hat specifically to wear it to the Red Moon Day gathering lol. When I got there, the NIS staff gave out free stuff and a very premium looking silver pin. Sometime during the expo, I also found an amazing Tales stand in the exhibit hall. I love Luke, Ludger, and Jude so ofc I had to take a picture. I don't know much about Asbel though. I will probably love him too if I play the game (which I will, eventually). Other interesting things happened while I was at con too, but as usual, I didn't take too many pictures. Now on to the merchandise! Some of these were bought, and some were free. Left: Sprout Clip, Tales Keychains, Nyanboard, Gigi Doll, Prinny Hat
Center: Atelier Sophie Art Book, Ensemble Stars Art Book, OLDCODEX CD, and ticket stub Right (all the free stuff): Mugen Souls Art Book, Prinny Pin, Atelier Meruru Art Book, Natsume Yuujinchou bookmark, Yuru Yuri Pin, Twin Star Exorcist Talismans, The Pilot's Love Song Stickers One more thing I gotta mention! The concert for OLDCODEX and FLOW was really good! I wanted to get FLOW's CD as well, but it was sold out. I never went to any of the AX concerts before, so this was a real treat. Y'know how sometimes bands sound different in-person compared to their audio files? Well, they sounded great in-person too. So I'll be going to future concerts from now on. That wraps up my post. The next cons I'll be attending are probably Anime California and Anime Los Angeles (Not 100% for either though). I had the opportunity of going to Anime Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday (Jan 29 & 30)! I didn't have any cosplays made/prepared for the con so I went with an online-bought costume of Yato from Noragami on Friday (I didn't like the scarf it came with so I bought fabric and cut it up instead. For shoes, I reused the boots I wore for my Dark Souls cosplay). Here I am with a Hiyori ❤ (I should have asked her for her IG) After seeing this picture, I think I have to add more cuts to the scarf... There were a handful of Noragami cosplayers so that was great! But I didn't really say hi to all of them??? I was totally admiring them from afar though. Here are a few pictures from the con: Dragon Age!! They all looked so good! Ladybug from Miraculous Ladybug. Do you guys watch the show? I want to try cosplaying Cat Noir. Danmachi! Hestia and Bell. They looked super cute together but once I got home I realized that the picture wasn't even in focus?! I like a lot of the characters in the series but my dream would be to find a Bete Loga cosplayer since he's my favorite. I will probably shout if I ever see one.
The very adorable Hiyori keychain was given to me by dokitude. She also gave me a Daikoku, but he wasn't included in the photo lol. Sorry Daikoku.
That's about it! If time permits, I'd like to go to ALA again next year. |
AboutHi I'm RQ and this is where I blog about my cosplay and daily life.
*I'm taking a break from cosplay.
Looking back at what I wrote in my posts make me cringe, but I'll leave this blog up in case people still want to use my cosplay progress/WIPs as a resource for their own projects. Categories
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