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Ukyo from Ranma 1/2
I love Ranma 1/2 and because it's an old series, it doesn't get much love nowadays. This was the very first manga I read when I first became an Otaku so I wanna do a cosplay in honor of that. Plus Ukyo and her giant Spatula are awesome. Imagine me walking into a Starbucks with a giant spatula!
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Aeris from Final Fantasy 7
FF7 was my favorite video game from the series and Aeris was my favorite character. However, she's kinda over-done at anime cons. I actually cosplayed her before as my first cosplay - but it didn't come out right. I now have the cosplay making skills to make this better. And instead of flowers, I would do her game version with the giant pole.
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Bulma from DBZ
I like Bulma and DBZ is nogstalgic for me. I remember being ADDICTED to the planet namek saga back in high school. But this cosplay is a MAYBE. Her namek saga dress would be challenging to create and make cheaply.
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Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender
I marathoned this series......... something I rarely do. Avatar cosplays are popular at cons, but not so much that you're tripping over them like naruto or hetalia cosplays. To do something different, I could do Katara's winter parka outfit.......... but I might die wearing it during the summer >_>
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Takiko Okuda from Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden
Fushigi Yuugi is another nogstalgic series for me, but the Genbu Kaiden manga arc has renewed my love for this series. Takiko is an amazing herione and I love her priestess gown. This would be a unique cosplay that wouldn't be as hard as it looks to make. But Im sure no one would recognize my character - unless they are a big FY fan.
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Yuki Cross from Vampire Knight
Yuki is cool........ but she's not my favorite character from VK. But I love her gothic lolita dress. This dress coupled with her artemis scythe would be pretty bad ass. But this is also a MAYBE. It would be hard to make all of this cheaply.
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Yukari from Paradise Kiss
This is her final runway dress. This will be a challenging one to do under $100
Aeris (game version) from Final Fantasy 7
Easy to put together since most of it could come from the thrift shop. The wig would be tricky though
Takiko Okuda from Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden
Another challenging one, but I guess a lot of it could be pieced together with stuff found at the thrift store. But unless someone is a strong Fushigi Yuugi fan, they are not gonna know who I am.
Shadow Play Girl from Revolutionary Girl Utena
I really wanan try this, but no one would know who the hell I am ^_^. Still, it would be interesting to walk around in public like this....
Yuki Cross from Vampire Knight
Yuki is okay..... I much prefer Kaname. But I really like this Gothic Lolita outfit she's wearing. This, and with her Artemis weapon, it could be a hot cosplay.
But cosplay can be tricky for a number of reasons:
1. I have a job and I go to school. The job is to pay for an apartment + bills...... and these two things dont leave much $$ left over for a [decent] cosplay
2. I am a bit older than the average otaku... I do have to consider being seen in public........ especially with cons like Katsucon [in Washington, DC were I live]
3. Making a decent cosplay takes TIME.... time that I generally don't have during the week
4. ....... I could commission but that costs MONEY, plus I kinda feel it's cheating a little bit.
::: sigh :::
Still I try. My first cosplay was Aeris from FF7 last Otakon 07. In retrospect it was a horendous looking thing but I had SO much fun. Decided for Katsucon in Feburary of this year that I was going to try something else..... and went with Akio from Utena. My costume-making skilled increased tremendously with that one ^_^
So now Otakon 08......... Originally it was my plan to do [dont laugh too hard] Vegeta from DBZ. yes, you read that correctly. Why? Because it's something other than Bleach and Naruto, that's why! LOL but seriously......... because DBZ was one of the 1st animes that got me into anime and I wanted to bring back a classic, along with a friend of mine who was doing Future Trunks.
Well, change of plans. The Vegeta cosplay, while going the cheapest route possible, was amounting to WELL over $150. nope nope, cant do that. But I swear one of these days there will be the best looking Vegeta of all time walking around a mid-atlantic/east coast con. Look out for me! [maybe next year?!]
So, since I finished the "Emma Victorian Romance" manga series and I absolutely fell in love with it, I thought I would do Emma. She's not my fave character [William Jones is] but I do like her nonetheless. All it requires is:
1. long sleeved black dress
2. apron
3. maid hat thingy
4. cuffs and collars
5. glasses
.... and thats it! ALL of which can be found on ebay.com and local thrift stores. Easy, ne? not quite. there is a SLIGHT problem: the apron. the apron that Emma wears in the series is very much a historial looking article of clothing.... nothing I can find easily in a thrift store [or ebay, trust me i looked]. and since my sewing skills are non-exsistant I decided to comission it.
the apron in total will cost $80. :::::sigh again::::
thats fine, i guess but i really wanted to go cheap this time. money this year is not being thrown at me like i wish it would. with otakon being about 5-6 weeks away, what am i going to do about this apron? do I go ahead with the commission and just be broke for a little bit? hmmmm........
CONTENT:
Stylized fight scenes and moderate violence: rated PG-13
SYNOPSIS:
Two years have passed since the events of the FFVII game and there is a strange new disease called Geostigma spreading fast. There is also a group of radicals, headed by a guy named Kadaj, who claim to be Jenova's Sons and are threatening the earth's balance trying to find her. Cloud and the gang must join together to save the world again.
REVIEW:
It REALLY helps to have played the original FF7 game in order to appriciate and understand this movie. And, no, Kingdom Hearts does not count! The plot of FF7:AC assumes you've played and picks up 2 years after the game ends. Some guy friends of mine have said they liked the movie even without playing but they were completely lost. Honestly, if you're an action fan you'll like this movie...... about 80 of the movie is raw action and jaw-dropping fight scenes.
There's little plot in the movie because you get the game plot woven in but it does feel like your watching a really good video game. In the first 10 minutes you get a intro into the lifestream, Jenova, and who Sephiroth is. The fight scenes are amazing and if you're not careful [fanboys: take notice] you might find your mouth hanging wide open with drool coming out. The CG animation is so unbelievable; the characters look so real that you can see freckles on the skin and strands of hair. The animation is truly some of the best I've seen
All the popular characters from the game were in this movie: Cloud, Aeris, Yuffie, Cid, Barret, Vincent, Tifa, and Sephiroth. It was really awsome to see all the characters again after playing the game, all with new looks. Reno and Rude of the Turks were the comic relief, as they were in the game. There's no romance in this movie, but you do get some insight into how Cloud feels about Aeris. I wonder why there were no chocobos?!
Voice acting was pretty good in the dubbed..... except for Yuffie and Caith Sith they were hard to listen too. And for some reason Red 13 was British . Vincent's voice was done by Steve Blum [has also done Spike in Cowboy Bebop] who was a PERFECT choice. Blum's voice made Vincent even more sexy. But nothing tops the Japanese voices in the subbed, and this was considered importance since this was the first time these characters were given voices.
I give this movie 4 1/2 stars because I've played the original FF7 game, played kingdom Hearts, and even cosplayed as Aeris Because of this, I have a strong appriciation for this movie and I honestly feel it serves as a good ending to one of the best Final Fantasy games in the series! I am not giving it a 5 because the game really has to be fresh in your mind in order to understand everything in the movie.
FF7: AC lives up to the hype........ so check it out.
* * * * 1/2
4 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5
NOTES:
The special features on the Advent Children DVD include all the important cut scenes from the FFVII game.
The fight between Cloud and Sephiroth plays the entire "One-Winged Angel" theme!