Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans

 I am sorry this post is not about anime terminology, but I have been so busy for the certain otaku event…that is a cosplay event. Yes, I have decided to give it a try for cosplay. In a way, in some ways, in many ways, this year is going to be the greatest one in all of my life. So I shall write about this tough process with some words I learned during the production.

 What I had to decide first is which character I shall cosplay, so I mulled it over well among all the characters I like. And it’s him,

 He is Oono Suefumi(多季史) who shows up in the anime film, Harukanaru toki no naka de Maihitoyo(遙かなる時空の中で　舞一夜) that series stems from the otome game I played for the first time. Unlike any other regular characters, he shows in this movie only though the additional game where you can pursue him came out after this film (How shrewed KOEI is!). Trying not to give away any spoilers, I shall tell you about him…Akane(our protagonist, she is worshipped as Miko[神子]) encounters him on the bridge in a rainy day. She is so tired of being Miko that she can relax in front of him because he never asks who she is. However, he doesn’t remember who he is. So Akane tries to help him get back his memory. But actually he is…

 I can’t make costume though I am an otomen(they must be good at any chores), so first I tried some costume shops where those who can’t make clothes like me can order. But the price was incredible so my eyes almost popped out. It was beyond my one month salary. When I almost gave up, I learned my aunt is good at sewing. When I showed his costume, she said she could possibly make it. So we started to buy cloth we needed.

 My aunt took me to this place, 布の道[nuno no michi, Fabric Street] which is well-known among cosplayers. Now that there is Otome Road for fujoshi, I must say this is what’s called Cosplayers’ Road, otherwise レイヤーロード[reiya road, reiya is an abbreviation of cosplayer(コスプレイヤー).  Most customers are either elder women or young girls...when I listened to those young girls, they were talking about the characters they might cosplay...

 After we finished, I left the cloth to my aunt, and started to get some other items I needed. I dashed to the costume shop again to buy a wig. Fotunately, it wasn't so expensive. But it was a bit long, so I had to cut somehow...

 But actually, I am not a barbar, so I had to ask someone else...ugh, who else can do this? So I ended up going to the hairdresser though I was so embarrassed. Yes, here I learned a useful line which is well-known among cosplayers;

1. 文化祭で使うんです。[bunkasai de tsukaundesu, "I shall use it for the school festival"]

 If you buy a really weird stuff and get embarrassed, you can say this to the casher who might frown upon you. Unfortunately, this excuse works only while you are a student. I am not, so I can’t use this anymore. orz

 I have seen those nice cosplayers even copying the eyes’ color…well, I didn’t even necessarily have to do this, but I couldn’t go back. So I got this,

 Yes, Suefumi is a talented dancer,  so he carries a fan most of the time. Above fan costed 100 yen, but I guess much professional cosplayers would buy a much gorgeous fan…I made these earrings briefly.

 My aunt did a good job, she completed my costume just in two days.

 But the hardest work was left to me…yes, that is some patterns on the 水干[suikan], the blue kimono. Of all the cosplayers who do Suefumi, what kind of pattern shall be chosed is up to the person. Having said that, it seems like most of them dislike those patterns which are shown in the movie…I changed the original somehow in order to make it easier. But even that, it was a very tiring job.

 Placing a stencil on the 水干, I painted with a white ink, and dried it one by one…This took more than a week.

 Done. I was quite pleased to feel a sense of achievement although most of the work was done by my aunt. Oh no, I used to see a lot of cosplayers making a pause automatically when I tried to take a photo of them. Does that mean I should do that? Here I learned another common line among cosplayers;

2. 振り向きでお願いします。[furimuki de onegaishimasu] 振り向く[furimuku] means to look back, though, it is supposed to mean to make a pause. So if you are told like this, you would have to make a pause somehow…and one more, if an event you attend didn’t go well as you expected because well, your camera got broken or none of the pictures were good or whatever, let’s say like;

3. リベンジしようね。[revenge shiyou ne, "let's do revenge"] Yes, if you want to do better next time, revenge against your failure, yourself! But forgive me, when I learned this, I couldn’t stop laughing…

 So I shall hereby post some photos I took at the cosplay event I attended for the first time. At the same time, this is my first time posting a photo of me. It’s worthless, but if you don’t mind, I hope you could see the photos.

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 Something is getting gradually popular among anime fans…yes, this is it, キャラ弁[charaben] which is an abbreviation of キャラクター弁当[character bento]. To get to the point, it’s a lunch box which is decorated as certain characters from anime or manga. Of course, it doesn’t mean the design of the lunch box, but inside of it…yes, as if painted onto a palette, a lunch box gets decorated with food. Before, this kind of thing used to be mothers’ thing for kids, so most of them used to make a キャラ弁 with an easy anime series such as Doraemon or Pokemon. I think this must be a very tiring work, so female otakus might be good at making a キャラ弁. Having said that, lately it has been getting more popular among anime fans. I don’t think even those who make this are willing to bring it to the company because it sure takes hours. How could they make such a gorgeous lunch box in a busy morning? Yes, mostly they bring it to otaku events such as Comic Market or cosplay exhibition, and enjoy to show each other. Of course, they shall take a photo before eating…

 Okay, as an otaku, as an otomen(they must be good at cooking. Actually in this manga, the protagonist can make a gorgeous lunch box himself) I shall give it a try. So I made a charaben last night, and below the recipe of mine though it is so pathetic.

 So this time, my first charaben is to be these two boys, 秋月耀次郎(Akidsuki Youjirou) and 神無月左京之介(Kannadsuki Sakyounosuke) in 幕末機関説いろはにほへと[Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto]. Nothing particular in reason, but I thought it seemed to be easy to make. But it wasn’t as a matter of fact… It took about two hours because I messed it up a couple of times…orz

1. First I worked on Sakyounosuke. I used a slice of cheeze to make his blonde hair.

2. Most charabenmakers use ham to make a face, and I used sesame seeds to make his jacket, and peeled carrot as the edges of the collars.

3. I used baked albumen to make his white shirt.

4. Next I worked on Youjirou. I used pasted seaweed to describe most of him.

5. This is the most tiring work. To decorate a face, I cut down dry seaweed like a needle…It should be treated very carefully.

6. Done. Salmonflakes are meant to be petals of cherryblossom…I mean.

Pathetic. I’ve got to practice more. orz

 This post contains some pornographic contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »