[Cosplay] Katei kyoushi Hitman REBORN! Ⅱ
Omg, come to think of it, I have been very lucky since the end of last year as I have had a lot of oppotunities to cosplay with someone else. I think I have cosplayed myself for a long time because I have few friends, however, there was a time other cosplayers asked me to cosplay together. It is my pleasure, I am so happy.^^ This time, too. A cosplayer who I got to know on the net spoke to me and we joined the cosplay event together. The series we did is Katei kyoushi Hitman REBORN![家庭教師ヒットマン REBORN!], and we cosplayed Rokudo Mukuro[六道 骸] and Hibari Kyouya[雲雀 恭弥] respectively. This anime might be popular depending upon the country. As far as I am aware, it is not that famous in America, but it is in China, South Korea, Philippine, or so. Of course here, it is really popular. You can see Reborn cosplayers anytime and anywhere for sure. Since there are so many characters in this anime, it is easier to form a group.
Hibari doesn’t need that much. He is just like a normal schoolboy, so you can cosplay him right away. Nonetheless, he is so recognisable. If you cosplay him, you had better find Mukuro, Yamamoto, or Tsuna. I finally got Mukuro! What about our Mukuro x Hibari, khursten? ^^ I got even Hibird!
And this cosplay slightly contains some Boys’ Love contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »
スカトロ[sukatoro]
This post contains some pornographic contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. And do not read this if you are eating something. Read the rest of this entry »
[Cosplay] Lamento -BEYOND THE VOID-
Omg, I must say I’m sorry before I start this entry because, well, it is going to be the most horrible cosplay I have ever done. I think I have done a lot of unforgivable cosplays like shirtless, taisougi, or BL. And most of my cosplays are students although it is too late to be. But this time, I must make sure you put on a google to protect your eyes. Because the cosplay I am going to show you is this.
This is a BL game from Nitro+ CHiRAL, Lamento-BEYOND THE VOID-. If you have played Togainu no Chi or sweet pool, you would be definitely sure of this game, and why the cosplay is too painful to your eyes. Yes, all the characters in this game are humanized cats[擬人化]. So? Well…you know, every one of them has cat’s ears and tail. Oh no, an elder guy like me cosplays a humanized cat? オッサンのくせに猫耳なんかつけてやんの! I know this is really painful(we say 痛い[itai]), but あのね、言い訳させて! I really wanted to challenge a 猫耳[nekomimi] character when I cosplayed with Zander-kun who did Chesha-cat from Pandora Hearts. He got a lot of “Kya～kawaii!” when we walked around the venue. I am not defintely young like him, but it is not bad that I challenge such a character once in my cosplay life.
The reason why I cosplayed this series is that my cosplay buddy suggested. She is a big fan of this game, and cosplays the hero, Konoe. Then she asked me to cosplay someone in this game, so I decided to cosplay him.
He is one of the lead characters, Asato[アサト]. Darn it, I made a mistake. I should have chosen someone else because his skin is so dark. I have to get tunned before I cosplay him! Asato is a man of few words, and not so smart, but tries to protect Konoe. Well, I think I’m starting to like him. This Konoe cosplayer is an ex-cosplayer, not anymore. However, she remembered the promise we would collaborate together so she came back just for this. Glad to cosplay with her, even I became a criminal.
I shall explain the summary briefly; the story takes place in the forest in which all the animals are in a desperate hunger. They even try to kill each other to eat. In such a time, Konoe decides to leave the forest, however he finds a dark mark appears on his skin all of a sudden. It turns out to be a kind of curse, and it is going to kill him. He learns about a way to break the curse so departs from his home, but…
Such is the prologue of this game. Konoe meets other characters, and you can choose who you work on. No matter who you choose, Konoe ends up being an uke. At any rate, Lamento is a BL game, but the storyline is so good that the Konoe cosplayer cried over and over. Most fangirls like Lai x Konoe, but I prefer Asato x Konoe. Because once again, I tend to like a clumsy character.
In case you don’t know this game, I shall upload the video. Once again, get ready a google for your eyes. Are you ready?
萌え起こし[moe-okoshi]
While ago, I watched a show on TV in which the people in a small village of northern area in Japan planning to activate the village so that more and more people come. I still remember the story took place in Akita Predecture[秋田県], and the leader in the committee was…yes, an anime otaku. He was trying to revitalize the village with a power of moe[萌え]. We say 村おこし[mura-okoshi] and 町おこし[machi-okoshi] to mean to revitalize a village or a town. The most frequent ways are to make the most of the popularity of a famous manga or anime which the scenes are actually from the village or the town. Or to make a monumental stone of the characters those are from the manga or the anime. Otherwise, it could be a totally original character they create. All of this is to attract more tourists and visitors This is a new type of revitalization, 萌え起こし[moe-okoshi].
This has become more frequent since 2007 when a hit anime らき☆すた[Lucky Star] came out. The village is Washimiya-chou[鷲宮町] in Saitama Prefecture[埼玉県], you can google it now. Well I am pretty sure some of you have already heard of this village if you have been to Japan or lived for a short time. The spot where countless fans go is defnitely Takamiya Shrine[鷹宮神社], the model of Washimiya Shrine[鷲宮神社] in which Kagami and Tsukasa live. This small village, 鷲宮町[Washimiya-chou] is designated as Holy Land of Lucky Star by the fans, and more and more people are paying a visit on New Year’s Day or the other time…anytime…Until Lucky Star came, there was not a word 萌え起こし, but we used to say 村おこし, 町おこし, or アニメを使った町おこし[anime wo tsukatta machi-okoshi] or revitalization with anime.
I think I have mentioned this kind of thing as 聖地巡礼[seichi junrei]. If not anime fans, some people like to pay a visit a filming place. Actually, before I became an anime fan, I paid a visit the filming place of Korean soap opera, Winter Sonata[冬のソナタ]. オトメンだからロマンチックな話が大好きなんで（笑）Nami Island is one of the places, and there were quite a few spots where the filming took place.
Anyway, when the monthly anime magazine, Newtype introduced Takamiya Shrine as a Holy Land, more fans started to come even though some maniacs used to come from the beginning. Because of this, Yukite-shi[幸手市] which is a model Konata lives also tried to revitalize the town. They made some commercial goods and launched events. Around the end of 2007, this shrine was officially designated as Holy Land, monumental stones were built, some voice actresses came for the event, and they sold commercial goods…things became more fabulous than before. The amount of the visitors on New Years Day in 2008 were 300,000 people though it was 130,000 in the previous year. And Hiiragi Family officially got a certificate of residence.
This is the most successful example of moe-okoshi, but there were some more before Lucky Star. Even in my town Chiba Prefecture[千葉県], there was a small amusement park named バンダイミュージアム[Bandai Museum]. It was like a big game centre where the commercial goods from Bandai are sold or displayed such as Keroro Gunso, Sailor Moon, or Gundam. Now it’s closed. Speaking of Gundam, I must mention the full-lenghth Gundam in Odaiba last summer. Besides, every summer Pokemon Stamp Rally[ポケモンスタンプラリー] by JR takes place. At some main stations, there are Pokemon stamp desks so that kids can get a stamp. In this way, kids go to one or another to collect all the stamps. I always see some kids with their mothers on the train every summer and they are holding a stamp list.
I am not quite sure this is the same thing as what I saw on TV, but in Akita Pref, Ugo agricultural cooperative[うご農協] would succeeded in 萌え起こし years ago. They made a moe-bishoujo for the local product, あきたこまち[Akita komachi]. It is actually one of the most popular rice brand such as koshihikari[こしひかり] or sasanishiki[ササニシキ]. And the bishojo was designed by Aoi Nishimata[西又葵] who did the character design for Shuffle. Also, they auditioned portraits of bishoujo for the upcoming summer festival, and chose some bishoujo for the advertisements. As a result, they could get more visitors. I think Akita komachi is really nice, so I want to buy if this rice is available near my place. It is an irrelevant note, we say ゆるキャラ[yuru chara] to mean an original character to promote the local service or whatever. Especially when the design is not so good, it is often labelled as a ゆるキャラ. ゆる[yuru] is from ゆるい[yurui] or too mediocre.
Why did Lucky Star’s moe-okoshi go so well? Accroding to some visitors, they said the service is so homey but they are strict for rude fans, and dropped a line between fans and sheer visitors so that they don’t get confused.
There are other machi-okoshi, however, some of them didn’t go well. One of the reasons is price for goods or service. When machi-okoshi features a TV-drama like a samurai one from NHK, the price would be very expensive because the railway service or the travel agnecy get in to commercially promote the Holy Land. The price for drink or food would be also too expensive. Because the popularity wouldn’t last forever, they seem to make a killing while the drama is still popular. This is what most otaku do not like. To promote something is good, and to revitalize is also good. But to exploit money as much as possible is not the same thing. This may be why Lucky Star could succeed. It wouldn’t be moe-okoshi if it annoyed fans…
By the way, the amount of the visitors at Takamiya Shrine this year is quite well although it is in this recession. Moe conquers all, really.
包帯[houtai]
When you step into the classroom in the morning, you see a classmate sitting by the window. She is looking out of the window…something is weird. Yes, because her left armband is wrapped in bandages. What happened to her? Did she have an accident? Or else…did she do…?
Have you ever had something like this? If yes, did you feel something hot? I don’t mean to be rude, but actually bandages have been a kind of fetishism, especially in the porno industry. I think I should have mentioned this when I talked about an eye patch[眼帯]. First, we say 包帯[houtai] to mean bandage, and ギプス[gips] is to be immobilize in a plaster cast. 医療プレイ[iryou play] or medical play is a classification among porn video, and this kind of genre is called 医療もの[iryou-mono] or medical thing. Of course this is a genre of moe[萌え], yes, it’s 包帯萌え[houtai-moe].
Why is this moe? Sometimes I see a porn actress being swathed in bandages on the cover page. Not only porn actresses, but rock vocalists like Ringo Shiina do something like this. Why do they do this? What does this embody? Speaking of a houtai girl, I can think of Ayanami Rei in Neon Genesis Evangelion. In a certain episode, she shows in bandages and even has an eye-patch. I am pretty sure there are a lot of Ayanami fans who feel hot. Do you? If you see a houtai girl, would you think you want to protect her? Or you want to have her while she is severely weak? Can you resist this desire? Houtai might wake up your inner sex drive, and at the same time you would feel remorse that you won’t do something like that to her. If you happen to be ドエス[doesu], would you like to torture her more? If you happen to be ドエム, would you like to be tortured? Such is something houtai makes you feel. Even if you have no wounds now, you might hallucinate that you are being tortured when you are wrapped in bandages
As I have said, visual-kei musicians use bandages as a unique fashion, which might embody destruction and death. For exactly the same reason, they make fake scars or use 血糊[chinori] or fake blood. Come to think of it, cosplayers often use fake blood when they copy some battle scenes. But this might require some patience and understanding because such a fictitious injury is not sound even if it is not really. Actually I have tried fake blood when I cosplayed Higurashi no naku koro ni[When They Cry] in which the hero, Keiichi finds himself covered in blood in the morning. Ugh, it’s not fake blood, but just a red painting though. Read the rest of this entry »
Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans 