KumikoNaomi's Blog - MyAnimeList.net

AN 2010 Cosplay Recap

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:17:20 -0700

Wow! So another year has come and gone! There's been many ups and downs (but when isn't there ups and downs in life?) for 2010 so far but I believe that I can still smile - and smiles make the world a better place (even if only a little). SO, my original costume didn't go as planned and I had ONE WEEK to find a replacement costume. Unfortunately, I have bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome now from work and unable to work as well with my hands to make my own costume in such short notice. Also, there are no local businesses that cater to the cosplay-fanatics from what I know and one week isn't enough time to have an order made and shipped to me. I ended up going to just a regular costume shop and picking up pieces here and there to customize it as best I could. Was I happy with it? Not entirely. I think it's just the disappointment of what happened with my original costume. Nonetheless, a number of people at the convention enjoyed my costume. I was still seeing dots in my vision Sunday evening. I personally thought there were more and better costumes at AN '09 and many ex-congoers I've spoken with notes the same. They say every year it gets worse; less and lower-quality costumes every year or costumes that aren't even anime/manga related. I somewhat agree, but I don't think that's necessary. I think AN is fun and should be fun for everyone, regardless of what they choose to do/wear. So since we are on the topic, I thought there were a whole bunch of really awesome and shocking costumes. I noticed a lot more mascot type costumes. I must give them all props because it was insanely warm for 2010 AN weekend. You guys rock! I saw a few wolves. A full white that was gigantic, standing on all 4s, it was the same height as a girl beside it. There was also the wolf form of Link, very awesome. I also saw a pink and white one but didn't get a photo of it. Next up, a female/blue Sesshomaru. I turned a corner in the dealer's room and there she was! I actually gasped, I felt so stupid afterwards, but no shame in showing some loving! She was really pretty. My photo didn't do her justice. Our first night back to the hotel before dinner, I turned around for some reason, a giant panda was there! I actually screamed "PANDA!" xD and Panda made a really cute/shy pose for the camera. Panda made my evening, so adorable. The ANBU Black Ops.. I wasn't able to run/walk too fast in my costume. All I could do was call out to them xD "ANBU Black Ops!" but it worked! They were awesome. Ulquiorra... I actually had a brain fart at the time and I forgot his name, so I just followed him until he turned around - didn't mean to stalk, I just didn't know what to say! xD Bucket Akatsuki... I actually laughed when I saw him. I just had to take a picture so I could laugh some more at home too xD - thanks for the laughs buddy, you made my day! =D Kakashi was awesome. I saw him sitting there with his (I can't really read it off his book, but looks like Icha Icha Paradise) book while some people took his picture. I attempted a run while calling out to him xD I just prayed I didn't trip and fall, now that would be embarassing haha. Gaara, I didn't see too many Gaara's this year. So when I saw one heading back to the hotel, I had to ask for a picture. I do apologize because I know he wanted rest since he was going back, but Gaara is my favourite character. Much love to Gaara-sama =) The two Code Geass brothers, Zero and King Lelouch. They were really cute together. They also asked me for a picture, I thought that was funny how we enjoyed each other's costumes. Saber, I saw a few cosplaying as Saber, but there was one really pretty cosplayer! I took a picture but unfortunately the photo turned out blurry =( I am disappointed in myself. Fate/Stay Night is awesome!! Faye Valentine, she was actually in the artists alley. She looked amazing. She was Faye on Sunday. On Saturday, she wore a beautiful kimono. A lot of Edward Elrics. Many of them had the automail arm. One of them needed to put his shirt on... I didn't take a photo of him. The picture I took is actually a girl, but she looked great. *point* "Mario, Luigi, and 1up Mushroom!!" "1up Mushroom you have been summoned!" *up-see-daisy* o.o Yes, that is actually what happened. My friend was actually the one who screamed out their names. Another guy around us shouted that he's been summoned. At that moment, both Mario and Luigi bent down and picked up the 1up Mushroom! That was awesome, it made me laugh =) I think my ultimate favourite this year is Grimmjaw that was calling the Bleach photoshoot on Sunday. I only have 2 pictures of the photoshoot because my camera ran out of batteries just then. I'll add more when my friend sends me pictures from her camera - that I took on her behalf. Grimmjaw was a hottie =) Anyway, that's it for my AN 2010 Cosplay recap! I won't be adding a Faves section for 2010 because there's so many I wanted to note.

Summer '09

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:24:32 -0700

wow, this summer has been busy! From planning a jack&jill party to making preparations for a wedding as maid of honor and a trip to the east coast, I've had absolutely no time for anime this summer! I've definitely missed a lot of new episodes and shows but I'm back and starting fresh again. There's still much for me to do, I have yet to unpack from my trip, but I've been deprived of my anime for too long. I also have to get back to my club, which has died with my lack of activity on MAL. Anyway, hope everyone/anyone reading this is doing well! -KN

Anime North Con: May 22-24-6 Recap - Final

Sun, 31 May 2009 01:33:58 -0700

May 22-24-6 Recap - Final My Costumes: So no one actually knew who I was on either days! On Saturday in costume number 1 Re-l Mayer, some girl that was taking pictures of everyone stopped my friend and I and asked for separate pictures, she knew we were from different series but she didn’t know who I was cosplaying as – she thought it was from Witch Hunter Robin lol. On Sunday, when I didn’t wear this costume, I saw some girl cosplaying her as well but at least not on the same day! In costume number 2 Diva, while leaving for the centre at the Renaissance (before seeing the Naruto), some guy taking pictures of cosplayers asked me for a picture. I asked, out of curiosity if he knew my character, answer was no, he simply liked the costume. I felt somewhat disappointed that no one knows these two awesome anime and that they are shadowed by the current ‘craze’ of Naruto and Bleach, Nonetheless, I had an awesome time and I’m definitely looking forward to future cons and much more fun to come =). PS: I stand proud not cosplaying characters of the ‘popular’ anime series, I like being unique and true to the ones I personally enjoyed. =) PPS: I suck at cosplaying XD. Here are some of the awesome cosplayers I took pictures of, hope you enjoy them as much as I did! (In my Profile under "Desserts" header) -edit- I actually lied in my previous blog, I DID take a few pictures of some Bleach and Naruto characters. I forgot about them lol... sorry!

Anime North Con: May 22-24-5 Recap

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:32:54 -0700

May 22-24-5 Recap Finally… down to Bleach and Naruto. My friend wanted to go as Nanao from Bleach but I persuaded her out of that – Bleach and Naruto are both over used and we did not want a costume that 50 other people will cosplay as… where’s the originality in that? First off, I have to mention this, after lunch on Saturday while we were driving back to the hotel to get our costumes, I saw a car driving in front of us that had a white piece hanging out the side door dragging on the ground. I drove by and noticed they were cosplayers, but at this time, they slowed down and where much farther behind us. As the nearing traffic light was red, I stopped early and opened my window. The girl cosplayer in the backseat thought I was waving at her and she waved very happily – that was cute, but I was in actuality, pointing and screaming to them “your costume is out the door!” I said it a few times, the girl opened her door to hear me and the passenger up front opened the door and pulled it in. He didn’t look up, while he pulled in his hakama but he sent over the *ILY* sign. When I looked closely, I noticed it was Kenpachi… his wig was amazing, I could see the bells on it from 4 lanes away!! I wanted to hunt Kenpachi down at the centre, but they probably went to Double Tree while we headed for the Dealers room for some shopping, so didn’t see him. =( When leaving to the Congress Centre on Sunday from the Renaissance, while walking through the front parking lot to the main road, I saw a Naruto and his fellow cosplayer that I can’t quite identify… the outfit looked somewhat like Sasuke’s or one of the Sound Four, but not quite there. Some other con-viewer asked to take a picture of them and since the Naruto was eating half a slice of pizza, his friend took it and hid it out of camera’s eye. By the time I got to them, Naruto was back to eating, and I felt bad to have him look for a place to hide/put it once again, so I said “oh, you can keep the pizza with you, it seems more Naruto-like!” lol. He put up a great Naruto face for the camera, I loved it. That’s actually the only Naruto I took a picture of, so congrats to him on giving off great Naru-vibes! Other than that, a lot of Ichigo, Grimjaw, Orihime, and the Shinigami captains. Nothing too special to mention other than the fact that there was a lot of them… a whole lot. I didn’t take pictures of any Bleach characters, no good vibes from the huge lot of them there. Next time: Chocolate Photo Cherry Costumes Dessert (and why did I make a whole new blog just for Naru and Bleach when I only took one photo of Naruto? Just because of the awesome experience I had with those two - "Pizza Eatin' Naruto" and "Hakama Draggin' Kenpachi". If either of you or your friends are reading this, you guys kick ass! Mucho love!)

Anime North Con: May 22-24-4 Recap

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:47:38 -0700

May 22-24 Recap: Things I noticed at this Con: I tried not to be too picky about taking pictures on Sunday. When I went back on Saturday, I noticed I only took pictures of 10 cosplayers... hardly a reasonable fraction of the number of cosplayers there, so I took pictures of everyone in costume that I could catch up to but since I don't run, it wasn't many lol. I also forgot my spare batteries… so I had no choice but to be somewhat picky >_< I saw 4 ANBU cosplayers as well, I really wanted to take a picture of them but they were resting and I didn't want to disturb them. They weren't up yet when we were leaving so I had to forfeit that awesome group shot =(. Although D. Gray-Man was aired in 2006 and ended in 2008, it has only now started reaching Canada (the dealer did not even know about season 2, he only thought there was 52 eps) and a LOT of people cosplayed them in groups. The main cosplayers were the main characters Allen, Kanda, Lavi and Lenalee. There was one awesome Lavi cosplayer (I think it was a girl) but she was the only one wearing his season 2 outfit-yay! Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann … I’m not too sure, but it might have been released in Canada recently too since it aired in 2007. A LOT of cosplayers dressed as Yoko, and I was able to catch a group of cosplayers from the cast of this series, though I am not sure they all know each other. There was Simon, Kamina, Yoko, Viral and Kittan. They looked awesome. Final Fantasy seemed to be real popular in all sorts. I saw a whole bunch of Yuna’s in her FFX summoner and FFX-2 gunman versions. Reno, I saw this amazing Reno and Rude from Final Fantasy VII with his wacky stick (hehe) and he looked great! Rude also had the shades and facial hair… very precise! I tried to catch up to them but they were quite far away and I lost them before I could catch up, so no picture =(. Cloud, another from FFVII, I saw a lot of him around, but the Advent Children CG of him is so beautiful, I can’t take pictures of cosplayers without seeing his face in my head lol. There was also a lot of Sephiroth but one was really amazing, I tried to take a picture but boy, did he run fast! As expected of Sephy =). Code Geass, or its sequel might have also hit Canada’s shelves recently, mainly they were in her season 1 outfit, but one or two CC’s were dressed in her season 2 outfit. I only saw one Zero but he looked amazing – he looked so good, I actually shouted out “Zero, can I take a picture!” lol. Chobits… though I’m not a fan of those ears (or whatever they are) I could tell a Chobits cosplayer when I see one… and there was a LOT of them. Angels… I’m not sure from what anime, or if they just put something together for a costume, but I saw a few Angels. They didn’t have anything really characteristic about them, so I didn’t take any pictures. Next time: A glass of wine over Naru/Bleach

Anime North Con: May 22-24-3

Tue, 26 May 2009 15:52:48 -0700

Sunday May 24, 2009: We woke up a little earlier today since we had to prep our costume number 2 (Diva and Saya) and bring everything back to the car for checkout at 12pm. It took us yet again, 3 trips to the car to bring everything back. We went straight back to the dealers room to buy more things and my friend had to clear something up with a dealer she bought mangas at yesterday. I had my share of fun at the dvd section - I purchased a total of 10 dvds; 8 complete series, 1 movie, and 1 only-season one because season two isn't released in dvd yet. The manager was awesome, we were talking for a long while about different anime and she was quite thrilled to hear we picked up some amazing things at her booth at the Toronto convention in March earlier this year. We also talked about a few anime that will be released in dvd in the fall and hopefully by Fan Expo, so I will definitely see her then! She gave me over 10% discount and a free 25$ plushie of anything I wanted - the lucky winner was Gaara in his Shippuuden attire =). My friend also made a few dvd purchases at the same place, was also given a discount and a free Dunny box with a mystery toy, I'm not sure what it is but I'll ask my friend when I see her tomorrow. During the middle of my dvd shopping a couple of things happened – I was approached and asked “is that your real hair?” No… they apparently said it looked like real hair and kept staring at it lol. Second, I fell into the far depths of doom - a wardrobe malfunction!!! My wig was slowly but surely falling off my head XD. I had to find a corner and readjust my wigcap and set it back into place. It fell off again while we were walking back to the hotel, and when we reached the Renaissance to wait for the shuttle to take us back, I just took off my wig and put it on my Gaara plushie... he looked pretty cute =). The drive to the convention centre was mean and demanding of my wig, as it was set in the back seat, it started rolling around when I drove. I also dropped my wig a few times, Friday once and Sunday twice, so it's in a sad and morbid state now lol. I'm completely exhausted from lack of sufficient sleep and food, but I'm feeling awesome and definitely looking forward to the next Anime Con =) Next time: on to the main course! Steak and lobster anyone? (me and my food relations... what can I say? I love food!)

Anime North Con: May 22-24-2

Mon, 25 May 2009 19:45:24 -0700

Saturday May 23, 2009: So we aimed at waking somewhat not-too-late and hit the gym for about 45 minutes, then headed out to eat lunch at Moxie's. After we ate, we went back to the hotel and started preping ourselves for costume number 1 (Re-l Mayer and Road Kamelot). Once all the pieces of the costumes were on and ready, we headed out for our first cosplaying convention. I somehow managed to see a sign on a small table at the side of the hotel lobby that said something about a shuttle bus.... so I asked front desk and they told me it would take me to the Renaissance hotel and from there, another shuttle would take us to the centre (which we found out later it was actually a school bus... lol). So we took the shuttle. At Renaissance, we met a nice girl, who is also a staff of Anime North, cosplaying as Temari and we ended up walking to the centre together. She apparently bought a pre-made fan (very beautiful design) and painted the back with the 3 moons to resemble Temari's. She also made her own costume, it was great. Unfortunately, since we were all walking I didn't get a chance to take a picture of her and I totally forgot/was psyched out when we got to the centre where we parted ways. We made our way into the centre and got our membership cards, and went to the dealers room... it was amazing!!! There were so many people there, the place was gigantic and the costumes were all amazing. We took a look at all the vender tables and then went to the dealers room. My friend bought some manga and I just walked around taking pictures and looked at dvds and wallscrolls. I purposely didn't bring my wallet today because I knew that being there for two days means I would spend like no-tomorrow on BOTH days. We went back to the hotel very happy even though our feet were quite sore from all the hours of non-stop walking. More beef to come! =D

Anime North Con: May 22-24-1

Sun, 24 May 2009 18:11:21 -0700

Tadaima! I just got home from Anime North in Mississauga, Ontario a short while ago and most of my things still need to be unpacked. This was my first cosplay con experience so everything was very new and exciting to me. There's so much to blog, I barely know where to start... so I'll start this blog from day 1, Friday May 22, 2009: On the day of our planned departure my friend and I still had work, I also had to pick up my medication at the clinic before I could head off to a far away land! So we didn't get to meet up until about 7pm where we went to a local super centre to pick up bottled water and a few snacks for the road trip. We started our journey from there at 8pm and somehow managed to reach the hotel while the sun was still shyly peaking over the buildings. Due to a long and exhausting week at work, we decided to pick up our membership card the following morning. It took us 3 trips to the car to get all our items into our hotel room! We enjoyed the evening though, we went down to gym for a short workout and then hit the lobby where there was free wi-fi and afterwards, we went back up to our room and watched some anime. We went to sleep quite late, some time past 4am. The real-beef still to come! =)

Con Prep

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:00:39 -0700

I'm off to Anime North in Mississauga, Ontario tomorrow after work. This will be my first cosplaying convention and I'm ecstatic. I haven't started packing yet and luckily, it won't be much since I'll only be staying for the weekend. Due to some unforeseen events, I've devoured like a starving boar these past 3 days. I have to work out double, probably triple time today and tomorrow to make sure I still fit my costumes. I'll be cosplaying as Re-l Mayer from Ergo Proxy and Diva from Blood+. My friend who is cosplaying with me will be going as Road Kamelot from D. Gray-Man and Saya (sister of Diva) from Blood+. Unfortunately, her Kamelot wig may actually not make it in time for tomorrow's departure =( I will definitely blog my experience when I return and post up some pictures regardless of how they turn out. I will however put up a warning message on that blog to warn of possible blinding, seizure inducing or other traumatizing affects the pictures may pose upon viewers xD Anyway, until then!

Precious People

Sat, 02 May 2009 21:05:26 -0700

My page finally shows some character. So I finished my Precious People list and thus far it's already over 90 anime characters - doing all of them in one sitting was quite draining. Nonetheless, I am extremely happy with the end result. Logo notes: Beware, staring at my logo could give you a splitting headache! I love my new logo. The one I had before (never posted that one on MAL) wasn't as fun as this. I had a lot of fun making it. I still have lots I want to do! The next piece I'll be working on will be my favourite Couples and after that, Funny Shots. I'm already compiling the pictures for them and I can't wait until they are ready for posting! Let me know how you like it. =)