Zenkaikon Part II

After graduation, all the celebrations, and some time to myself, here's the promised post of Zenkaikon long overdue.

All I can say is I really enjoyed myself at my first anime convention! All the people, the energy, cosplayers, and events just made those 2 days very enjoyable for me. I met quite a number of great people and on top of it all, they share the same interest (anime and games!!). I definitely am going back next year again! I wish I can go to more of these conventions such as Otakon although they're rather far away and I lack the transportation as well as housing means *loooooong sigh*... for now that is!

Cosplaying was really fun, especially when people come up and ask for pictures ^_^ I don't think I'll ever attend an anime convention w/o dressing up as someone because this pretty much made Zenkaikon complete for me. I really wish to become close friends with several others interested in anime/manga/games in the future because well... we all want friends who share the same interest, right? And from there, do a group cosplay. Now that will be a new dream of mine come true: interest related friends and cosplaying together. In the meantime, I have even thought about what I should go as next time; I want to do some more cross over characters because well... not much of them are done and I hate being cliche/typical tehehe.

Those are my after thoughts of Zenkaikon and future plans in that area. And now, some pictures to wrap this post up!

My cosplay outfit with everything except the matching color shirt and pants of squirtle, got a lot of help from family in making this because I lack major sewing skills

Kamina's Cape with logo made using a stencil and fabric paint

With everything except my sword

Group shot I got called into of mostly TTGL folks :)

STRenght... that prop is serious business

Another STRenght on the second day! Also made friends with her too

  

Kingdom Hearts group, I like their cosplay a lot

Mario and Luigi pounding my friend (Jon as Mugen)

Panty Anarchy and Stocking Anarchy, they were a beautiful pair

Not sure where they are from sadly

RANKA LEE!!!! I got to watch her performance of Seikan  Hikou during the karaoke contest, a treat for the first night =3

Alice and Lulu desu~!

Don't know the guy with scythe but it looks badass; I love scythes.
And poor little Len on the right in danger!!

Kiari with a wonderfully crafted keyblade, there were a LOT of keybladders there

Another wonderful person I met there, I forgot who she was but she had a tail and  a windmill-fan-spinny thing :)

And lastly, her sister as Kairi as well with many KH dolls

Zenkaikon Part I

Gonna go to my very very very first anime convention today in less than 12 hours! So very excited with my my cosplay outfit 95% completed. I haven't spent so much time and effort on something since making the 3D model for my project on google sketchup. This cosplay certainly won't be possible without my family; literally my entire family. Sister helped make shell, mom helped with cape and gloves, and dad helped with the kamina glasses. The results are decent although it'd be better if I had more time to prepare instead of doing it last minute due to school work overload the week before. Will post pictures in a later update =]

Squirtle x Kamina

Ditto Previous Title

Being almost done with school... why not start another anime to celebrate the occasion? This time I went with Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai and unexpectedly as always... I stumbled into another emotional high point.

"whaaaaa?"

That's right, Menma, you nailed the reaction perfectly.

This one however was different from Macross Frontier. This time, it made me tear up, which was built up over the 11 beautiful episodes. Now animes that make me tear up are very rare. Looking at my list, the very first one was Kanon, then Clannad Afterstory and thats it with this being the third. This is why I love watching them.

And now... I feel like this.. tired and need sleep. Vanvi out! (Thank you for everything Japan, I love you)

This might as well be an anime blog...

Emotional high point of the week: watching Macross Frontier episode 20. 

I wishn't reveal what the scene was about since I would hate to spoil it for anyone who reads this. No one reads this anyway.. maybe some stalkers. But see how caring I am even to the stalkers? But once again, the scene was snapped together perfectly with a wonderful track and timed at the best moment. I should also note that my emotions are locked off most the time for me. That is, I don't feel emotions in real life towards anything much, sadly; whether it be joyous, fear, anger, hopeful, etc. 

I like watching anime in that it is able to make me feel more emotion-ful. Besides, fan service! (just kidding)

Just for One Night, or Two

Dreams are a really wonderful phenomenon. For a while, I was within a vibrant and beautiful fantasy (cough) of  mine before being abruptly awoken. Having so, I went back to sleep wishing I could continue where I left off but instead, I was thrown into another world where I was standing up for a good cause - being a hero if you will. It felt really powerful and at the best part, I was abruptly awoken again... this time by my alarm for school.

2x epic yet different dreams within one night = amazing

It feels disheartening when I return back to reality but the bright side is another chance to experience this tonight.

I'm poor, kinda.

I'm quite positive I'm addicted to Japanese anime figure collecting now after getting the nifty WoW ones. Having spent a great deal of my time looking online, I picked up a few along the way. I can't believe how expensive they are but I think its worth every penny! Especially ordering direct from Japan: the shipping is murder. There are shops based in the US but pricing is rather high since they themselves imported the products too. Today, two more arrived bringing my total to 5. Of course, I'll share my thoughts and some pictures!

Dizzy from Guilty Gear

This figure is incredible, awesome, amazing, epic, incredible, and incredible. I think I forgot to mention it's incredible. I thought it would be bigger based on pictures I saw and her price tag (it's rather big). Her wings/spirit things are so detailed and amazing. The tail is pretty glossy, smooth, and lively too.

Kuroneko from Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Her pose and expression is very serene and emotion-ful. I think it fits her personality from the show really well. And the slight drift in her hair from the wind adds a very fine touch to the overall figure.

Sanada Yukimura from Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls
This figure was pure love at first sight in all seriousness. Her dynamic pose, the massive fans, the clothing design, the hat... they just all come together so perfectly. Everyone's got a thing they just love and difficult to put into words.

Char Rhousemann from Shuraki Trinity Box
She's really nice, probably the most Bishōjo figure and piece in my entire room. She comes with a ripped battle-set of cloths but this one she has on is best. Its really difficult to change the clothing too so she's gonna stay with what she's wearing for a damn while.

There's also Kanade from Angel Beats that I didn't really take pictures of. Overall my collection so far is lovely. Gotta find a job for post graduation to continue buying these ^^

My First World Problem

> Story of my life =3

Moonlit Night

It wasn't until last night (around 5:45am) that I realized how bright the moon actually shines at night.

Short story of this event:
About 100% of the time, my shades are usually down day or night. But yesterday, I forgot to let them back down since I've been using space in between the two panes of the window as a mini refrigerator for my drinks. I don't know how many people do this but it's really convenient and saves me the trip downstairs for something cold to quench my thirst. When I was trying to sleep that night, I noticed a really bright light shining near my toes on the blanket. I thought it might be the neighbor's backyard lighting but long and behold... it was the moon! I was amazed, never have I realized moonlight was so bright, beautiful and dazzling. I could stand there and watch it all night but I had school in the morning (well when I went to sleep it was technically "morning" already hahah)

I wanted to take a picture these cameras do inadequate jobs at capturing it. Well this realization makes me love the night even more as if I wasn't already a night/nocturnal person enough, tehe.

PS. Over the weekend, I saw a bits of a traveling show of people in Japan. When I have the money and maybe someone to go with or a tour guidey friend, I want to visit the place. Anime have already drawn my attention deeply... like really deeply and now it's rather officially on my mental to-do list.

New Years Then, And Now

>Happy Be-lated Lunar New Year!!

Just a picture post of what I got. Its more than I usually get recently, don't know why but no complaints here :)

My Hobby

More of my "kids" arrived in the mail today!

Now I almost have all the WoW figures I want except for Thrall... until I can find one that is reasonably priced. On a side note, I just love getting packages in the mail. It always makes my day better. It feels a bit like Christmas when I open the box and go =D omgomgomg, haha.  Well here are my kids on their shelves:

(Lo'gosh is alone on my papercraft shelf but he got Mr. Fel Reaver and the cute little nether whelpling with him.)

Even though I don't play WoW anymore, I still like collecting these figures because it keeps me close to the game at heart along with all the fond memories I had with everyone. The gaming community was wonderful especially my guild GamblingRedSwords. Well it's official, I'm running out of space in my tiny room to display all of them (19 in total) until I figure out how to make more space somehow.

In this world, there are people who splurge on one end and pinch in another. For instance, some go all out on clothing, or jewelry, or electronics. But for me, I splurge on toys =]

Afterthoughts on "School Days"

Since it’s winter break, why the heck not watch a ton of anime, right? I completed a few series and one that I have been putting off for a while but wanted to watch: School Days. The delay was due mixed reviews, which contained extreme hate and love, and this intrigued me. Here are my afterthoughts on it with minor spoilers. If you're reading this (lol? people actually read my blogs), exit this page and go check it out now! I highly recommend it.

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To sum it up in one word, I would say BRILLIANT. Completely unlike any other anime I have watched. The closest comparison that I can draw to this is Clannad. While the storylines differed dramatically, the climax build-up and reference points to real-life were similar. It was the first one where I clutched my fist and started pounding the desk because a character pissed me off so much. I couldn’t put it into words as to why but someone nailed it “he doesn’t feel the least bit of guilt or emotion for his actions where as those around him were suffering.” He pretty much dragged an innocent, gentle girl and literally drove her insane.

Aside from that, the anime was rather psychological, funny(?), tragic, teeth-grinding, and heart-aching; all of which are pros and why I love it so much. As for the ending, well it’s one of the most satisfying endings ever. Satisfaction not in terms of what I wanted/expected, but rather

• not left open-ended
• left a really deep impression
• perfectly expressed how the characters changed from episode 1
• was simply beautiful with the song

All I can say is that the ending was executed perfectly (no pun intended), especially the moment the song began and the past flashed by his eyes. I re-watched the last part about 10 times. I'll have to give the song a lot of credit, it fits so well.

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As I said, people have been giving reviews on this anime rather extremely on both ends of the spectrum. I’m really glad I watched it and am interested in what others think - maybe this reveals a lot about individuals. I recommend it to everyone!

First Blog Entry

The first time I wrote blog entries was back in highschool but for some reason, I stopped as with most of my friends. I think it got a bit boring or something else came up and I eventually left it there. But I suddenly felt like starting it up again, this time perhaps with different intentions and reasons.

Well here goes it again: TAKE TWO, GO!! =D