Truely one of the iconic 'singers' of our time. Take that Bieber.

I shall not elaborate much on Hatsune Miku or the live concert. One of the reasons is that what little I could write simply would not do it justice at all. But imagine this, a darkened auditorium, packed nearly to the bursting as a great multitude of voices chant ‘Mi-ku!, Mi-ku!’ together. It becomes louder and louder until a vast ear-splitting cheer from both man and woman alike shakes the auditorium, heralding Miku as ‘her’ 3D projection emerges on stage in all its technological glory.

At a casual glance, it may not be readily apparent why the digital idol might connect so well with her fans, but I would say that with much of her repertoire originating from the communities of You-Tube and its equivalents, ‘she’ belongs to the community as much as ‘she’ does to Crypton Future Media.

But all too soon, it was over, ending to the calamitous call for an encore. Which, ‘she’ provided with aplomb (if that term applies to digital idols), much to the delight of the crowd. I was suffused with an incredible sense of inspiration for some reason I can’t quite explain. Perhaps my faith in humanities’ ability to do awesome was being restored and when I left, I did so with great expectations for the coming days.

–

I was not disappointed.

It was as bustling as expected, with the convention halls full up fairly much from the get go with people swarming the stands and exhibitions under. A quick look showed that business was brisk with the endless stream of event goers streaming out all day laden with replica blades and plush hats.

But as appealing as the souvenirs were, with the Christmas Season looming ominously in the near future, I decided reluctantly that I hadn’t the money to splurge on memorabilia and instead decided to mingle around and enjoy the attractions and exhibits that were free – and to make the most of my $8 pass. And the main attraction of a cosplay event is, of course, cosplay.

Chilling with the Boss

The atmosphere seemed aglow with vibrant energy, and my eyes were bombarded by the full spectrum of color – costumes and fashions of every conceivable design and hue adorned the crowd as they made their way around the convention center. Their enthusiasm  and passion was clearly evident from both the quality of costume and model, with many of the participants eagerly showing their mettle on the open corridors.

Staying Classy

Now I do not claim to be new to concept of cosplay, or adverse to the idea of cosplaying. Nor am I a fashion critic of some sort. All satements written here are merely my opinions on the matter. In fact this was the first of events of such scale that I have attended; since I had to miss out on the previous three year’s worth of festivities. But I intended to have a good time nonetheless and what better way to get into the spirit than by joining in the fun?

You can't see it but his hair defies gravity

If you take a peek at the photographs on side, you’ll see me cosplaying as well, though critically speaking I make a very poor Itoshiki Nozomu from Zetsubou Sensei. Which probably has something to do with the fact that the character himself is slender as a rail whilst I am rather broad. So, overall a good lesson learnt there.

But even though I didn’t have the much of a budget , I managed to do fairly well with my get up, in part due to the ease of cosplaying as the above mentioned Nozomu. Throw on a gii and hakama over a nice long-sleeved shirt and viola’. But I digress, there were other, far superior cosplayers present.

Obviously I did not manage to get good photographs of all of them, in part due to my poor familiarity with my new camera and in part due to the sheer size of the event, so here a few of the freelance cosplayers that made the biggest impressions on me.

The Big Boss

The Essential Camouflage Tool

Standing out amidst the masses of Japanese Animation Characters and the schoolgirls with cat’s ears walked the Big Boss. In stark contrast to the brightly colored casual costumes, he stood elegantly dressed to kill. His costume given an appropriately modern twist by abandoning the tuxedo in favour of a three-piece suit; which concealed both gun and knife. True to the character, our Boss showed his affinity for cardboard boxes and obligating spent quite a bit of time in one. He even answered the few questions I had for him.

And the one I will record here was a deceptively simple, ‘Why the Boss?’

‘Respect,’ he answered quickly with no trace of hesitation. ‘The Boss is a total badass that earned his way – he didn’t get everything handed to him like the “chosen ones”‘ And while I was a little surprised, I couldn’t see anything wrong with that reasoning – distinguishing himself from the many that simply thought their choice of cosplay was ‘cool.’ (Also nothing wrong with that though)

The main draw of his costume was its simplicity and effectiveness. With the well thought out minor changes, he turned an ordinary suit into an excellent cosplay. With the addition of the cloth strip and the eye patch, the Boss effectively conveyed to all present that this was no mere man in a suit.

A prime example of quality work here, the Boss was interviewed by correspondents from GameSpot Asia shortly after. Which goes to show that quality will be recognized. Good work.

Like a (Big) Boss

Saigyouji Yuyuko

The Ghostly Princess

Resplendent in a dazzling kimono, our Yuyuko stood out amidst the crowd with an elegant touhou cosplay. Walking with ladylike grace befitting the character in question, she carried herself well enough that it was quickly evident how much thought had gone into the costume. I thought that the fan tucked neatly into the sash and the pair of ‘ghosts’ she carried were very nice touches which added much to the overall effect. And being one of the few touhou cosplayers that I had seen that day and being a long time fan of the series, I just had to go up request for a photo with her. To which she obliged cheerfully.

The costume was indeed excellent and the photograph describes it far better than anything I could write. With elaborately intricate details and cascades of lace, it certainly was eye-catching.

Having struck up a conversation, I was surprised to find her as charmingly amicable as the character she portrayed. Going by ‘Arishige Aiko‘, it turned out that she was also a fan of touhou and impressively a semi-professional cosplayer with her own blog and an active Curecos account.

It was almost a pity that I did not have more time to talk with her but she left a good impression on me for sure.

–

Indeed I wish I could have written more on this but the sheer number of excellent costumes and people present at the event was staggering and I had no way of seeing everything. Many of them with equally professional looking costumes.

For example, a prime demonstration of innovative skill  from a continent from SCGS.

The group’s Edward Elric’s had an intimidating looking metal right arm, its solid appearance belies its humble origins. (Though admittedly it was showing some wear and tear at this point) But even on a close up shot, I could not detect the tape holding it together – at least until she told me what I was looking for.

-

Metal to the Bone

Well made and well-played, I say.

Quite the expereince. Perhaps I was lost, and more than a little overwhelmed at the scale of it all, which is to be expected. I didn’t spend much or purchase much in the way of anything, which is a bit of a pity, but I did have myself a good time, met awesome people, saw awesome costumes and ideas. Talked, laughed, joked with and offended some of them. All in good fun – which arguably is the whole point.

And with that I’ll end this retrospective on my experience at the AFA2011 and leave you with a few decent photos I had left from the events. I do hope to see you next time.

WTF you writing, Thomas?

Bros?

The Charming SCGS Squad

Interesting Times

It’s rather simple really. This is my way of expressing myself and a single step in the path towards self-improvement.

Self-improvement? For what?

Yes. I have debated internally if I should record this here, but why not? Is this not an exercise is being pro-active? Is it such a pitiful thing to admit that I am corpulent, chronically introverted and inflicted with an overweening ego? Or perhaps would it be more pitiful to claim the contrary and remain idle.

I do not want to sit around idling all day like a NEET and that I have done something about it. A concept which I do hope the blog’s title represents well.

Now, about this blog; it is mainly about hobbies and pastimes, my hobbies and pastimes, other people and their pastimes and my opinion of people and their pastimes. Cosplaying, television, reading, cycling, writing, photography, sketching, music, travel, tabletop gaming, linguistics, martial arts and more.

People improve themselves not through monetary gains or careers, but through enriching activity and I maintain that a person should have many pursuits and fields of interests. For after all, is variety not the proverbial spice of life?

And that being said, let’s get started.