"Link, you must find me"

!! Spoiler version under cut !!

The Dragon's Tears

Fanime’s Blast from the Past: Q&A with Aya Hirano

For Fanime’s 25th anniversary, they managed to bring over a name that every anime fan knew back in 2007 but has since faded in popularity. Nonetheless, Aya Hirano, the voice of the heroine of the insanely popular The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, brought all the old fans out of the woodwork to attend her panel, Q&A, and autograph sessions. Judging solely by the size of the lines and crowds, she was no doubt the most popular guest of the convention, but I luckily managed to skip the lines thanks to being granted a press badge. With a front row seat, I was able to intently watch and listen to her talk about her career and past experiences as a voice actress.

The panel begins with Aya talking about her early career. By 10 years old, she already knew she wanted to become an actress and by 14, she had already gotten her first role. Like many girls in her generation, her favorite anime is Sailor Moon, but surprisingly, she also named Magic Knight Rayearth as another one of her favorites. When she was around 17, she auditioned for the role of the now famous Haruhi. After she got it, she was brought in with the rest of the cast to explain how the story would work. At this point, Aya kept speaking in Japanese and the translator had to stop her because she was speaking too much without an interpretation being given, haha. She explained how the cast weren’t really sure about the unique take Haruhi would take, but the director and producer were quite confident that the work would be a success. However, what nobody expected was that Hare Hare Yukai would become so popular among fans. It’s always the unexpected that become the memes…

The topic switched to one of her more recent roles in Parasyte. Apparently Aya was already a big fan of the manga so she was familiar with the story beforehand. Even so, she was surprised to learn that they wanted a voice like hers for Migi. When she read the manga, she always imagined a man’s voice like a prince (TL note: I’m not sure if she said old man or prince, since the Japanese words are very similar in oji and ouji. I heard oji, but the translator heard ouji so we may never know the truth). She explains how Migi starts out as an emotionless being while Shinichi is full of emotions like fear and happiness that is typical of a human. However, as the story progresses, those roles reverse as Shinichi becomes the emotionless one and Migi learns from observing humans and becomes more emotional. That was the kind of thinking that went into the story of the two characters.

Regarding Fairy Tail’s final season, she hopes everyone is looking forward to the finale. Over the last 10 years, the characters have changed a lot, and she feels like she has also matured alongside them. And speaking of growth, it was brought up that she has recently been doing some stage plays/musicals. From the beginning she had always wanted to be a musical star. When she first started acting, she realized how different it is compared to voice acting. With voice acting, she has to convey everything from emotions to body language only through her voice. Since things such as facial expressions and body language are not captured by voice recording, she can do those things during voice acting without a problem. However, with stage acting, doing those things can result in overacting so she had to learn to restrain herself.

Aya then talks about her stint in New York in 2016 where she studied English. She had always wanted to go there (like 90% of Japanese people), so she was happy to finally get a chance to. Although it was a short time, when she got back, she got told by many people how much her voice had changed, likely because of all the English speaking influence. She said more than her voice, she felt that she had gained a different sense of how to live as a person. She enjoyed New York so much that she actually visits it twice a year. Since there aren’t many opportunities to use English in Japan, she wants to practice it as much as she can since it is easy to forget when you don’t use it. She has gotten to go to more events overseas lately, and she is surprised by how many fans outside Japan there are. This time she didn’t get to sing, but she hopes that she can do more concerts and spread Anison and Japanese culture across the world in the future. For example, when she went to Shanghai, she was greeted at the airport by all the fans. She was really moved by that, and her best memory is that the egg tarts were really delicious (well, those are some good priorities).

Opening it up a Q&A session with the audience, Aya goes over some of her other works. When she got the role for Danganronpa, she was instructed to just do whatever she wanted (sounds like Ozawa Ari’s performance for Chiyo). She had played some of the previous games and had the impression that all the characters had strong personalities, so she wanted to be able to voice something that didn’t lose to that and tried to act in a way she had never done before. Even so, it was difficult because they actually did the recording before any of the art or animation was done, so she was acting without anything to go on. She wonders if that’s why she got told to do it however she wanted (this sounds like anime production problems 101). For Girls & Panzer, she had absolutely no clue about anything regarding tanks when she got the role of Alisa, so she tried to study a bit. One day she saw Girls & Panzer featured on the front cover of a JSDF magazine, so she bought it and started reading JSDF magazines because of it (literally Japanese war propaganda working even on celebrities. Japan truly mastering the power of cute girls).

Someone asks Aya what her favorite role of all time is. She says she’s done too many different things to choose but if she were to limit it to voice acting work, then it would have to be Haruhi. To this day, thinking about Haruhi and the love fans have for it makes her happy. In contrast, one of her biggest regrets is not getting the role of Kim in Miss Saigon because of her age. But Konata from Lucky Star is the character she feels is closest to her in real life. She was really excited for Haruhi season 2 and when it first got decided, the producer brought all the cast together for a meeting about it. They opened up the scripts and she saw “Endless Eight” and turned the page to see it again. She kept turning the pages and it all said the same thing. She was just like “what the heck is this…” and the director explained what Endless Eight was. No one in the cast actually understood his explanation as they just kept nodding their heads and saying “okay.” The only person who wasn’t responding though was Sugita. She thought it was strange so she turned to him and saw that he actually fell asleep during the explanation! Sasuga, Sugita. The other thing about Endless Eight is that they really did do the episode recording 8 different times. Everyone’s lines changed a little bit each week but the director said that Haruhi was the one person who must not change, so her lines were the exact same every time. By the end of Endless Eight, Aya had her entire script memorized and could recite her lines on demand. As for Haruhi season 3…she gets asked this question every time. She says she’s sorry she isn’t a producer who can decide that. The entire cast would love to do a season 3 but it’s not up to them. Stay strong Haruhi fans!

And with that, my report of Aya’s panel is complete. Stay tuned for my next report on Nobutoshi Canna!

Link Tank: Nickelodeon’s NFL Playoff Coverage Is The Real Winner

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Nickelodeon broadcasted an NFL playoff game for the second year in a row and it was a viral hit with kids and football fans alike. We interviewed the game’s broadcasters for a behind-the-scenes look!

This year’s slime-filled, kid-focused event took place on Sunday at AT&T Stadium as the Dallas Cowboys took on the San Francisco 49ers. Things didn’t go the Cowboys way, and despite their best efforts for a late game comeback, they fell to the 49ers, 23-17, but regardless of the score, the broadcast could not have been more exciting and several key moments went viral.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, last year’s game between the Saints and Bears had just 3,000 fans in attendance, but yesterday there were nearly 95,000 screaming Cowboys fans in attendance. Little did they know, they were all getting slimed! The augmented reality graphics were on another level this year, as Nickelodeon partnered with The Famous Group to provide real time AR graphics such as a giant slime monster lurking behind the defense, SpongeBob in the goal post, and even the Nickelodeon blimp sliming the field before kickoff. Den of Geek’s Colby Olson and Jack McMullen sat down with play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle and Nickelodeon star Gabrielle Nevaeh Green for an interview ahead of the game. Watch below for Noah and Gabrielle’s full thoughts on covering this epic game for Nickelodeon.

For more coverage from Jack McMullen and Colby Olsen, check out our new Den of Geek Network sports brands, Just Baseball and Just Gridiron.

Fanimation Week is coming! Check out all the exciting things in store.

“We are excited to share a great new social activation, Fanimation Week, that our FanologyPV team is executing beginning this Monday, January 17. FanologyPV’s Fanimation Week is a social/digital celebration of all things adult animation on Prime Video from 1/17-1/23. From Invincible to Undone, to the much-anticipated The Legend of Vox Machina and The Boys Presents: Diabolical, you will find exclusive content pertaining to each show. A lineup detailing the day’s content will debut every day throughout the week across FanologyPV’s social channels at 8AM PT and programming will start at 10AM PT.“

Watch more here!

Cable TV might be slowly on its way out, but Yellowstone remains a genuine bona fide cable-television-smash-hit.

“Conventional wisdom has it that no linear TV series can capture a huge audience in the age of streaming. ‘Nah,’ says Yellowstone. The Kevin Costner-led drama about a Montana ranching family just aired its fourth season finale on the Paramount Network, and according to Deadline, it crushed it. ‘Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops’ brought in 9.3 million total viewers, which is up 81 percent from the season 3 finale. Add in the viewers from the simulcast on CMT, and you’ve got 10.3 million.”

Read more at Mental Floss

MJ from Spider-Man: No Way Home is in Euphoria, but will her Marvel costar Tom Holland make an appearance? 

“Zendaya and Tom Holland have been the talk of the town since their film Spider-Man: No Way Home dropped. The pair (seemingly dating in real-life) had a wonderfully fun press tour that resulted in questions about the upcoming season 2 of Euphoria and Tom Holland making jokes about how he wanted to be a part of the hit HBO series—something that then had fans wondering if we could see him show up at East Highland High School in season 2.”

Read more at The Mary Sue

Love it or hate it so far, but The Book of Boba Fett undeniably changed our view on Tusken Raiders in the Star Wars universe forever.

“The Book of Boba Fett’s second episode, ‘The Tribes of Tatooine,’ not only shows a new side to the iconic character but allows for a fresh perspective on the Tusken Raiders. The nomadic people of Tatooine have always been heavily influenced by Indigenous cultures, but the latest Star Wars series is taking them beyond the stereotype and providing genuine representation.”

Read more at Gizmodo

Succession star Brian Cox turned down a role in Game of Thrones because of one simple reason; not enough money.

“A new excerpt from Biran Cox’s memoir, Putting The Rabbit In The Hat, revealed that the Succession star almost had a central role in another HBO smash hit: Game Of Thrones. In the excerpt, published in GQ, the Scottish actor didn’t pull any punches about why he didn’t join the show.”

Read more at The A.V. Club

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Blood Raining Night{Chapter 30}

(Kat)

Yes, I know this is late, but I decided to finish the story. This is the last chapter that’s been posted, but it seems to be ongoing. Anyway, let’s begin. 

The last night was very stimulating from conversation about Reicheru's sister growing within Mew. It was not morning.

How is Mew pregnant is my qiestion? Pokemon lay eggs. 

Elaine came out of her room rubbing her eyes. "What's up mama?" She groggily spoke. "Don't worry about it Baby." Reicheru said as Elaine hopped up onto her lap. Breakfast was laid out. 

You know, I still wonder when the next episode of the fanime  is coming out. 

"Gimme fork please. nyu" 

Elaine instructed to Amirru. He gave her the fork and she shuffled a mouthfull of salad into Reicheru's mouth. "Good mama?"

Who eats salad for breakfast?

"Mmmmm yes. Very good. THank you sweetie." Reicheru and Elaine smiled. "Your like a mommy...BUT DON"T be one because its very hard to be young and have babbies. But every hardship is worth every moment with you, Baby."

This is too sugary. 

Off on the other side of the table Mew stirred her Captain cruch tragically, "What will I do..." Mew said.

Die.

Also, how do you stir your Captain Crunch* tragically? I’d like to learn to do that. 

"We'll help you raise your baby. I'll have a little sister and Tenshikuzu will have an aunt."

After all this time I’ve never gotten over TEHNSHIKUZU. 

"Yeah you're right..." Mew said. "This could be good for everyone!"

Teen pregnancy is not good for everyone. 

Reicheru had the tiniest bit of a smile on her face and turned her head towards Mew, "I wish times were better. I'm sure my daddy will be back for Tenshikuzu. There is no normal family right now...But we will be one once all this is done."

Mew left and Reicheru nuzzled her hair against Elaine's ear and spoke very softly into it like a babbling brook,

Oh god I forgot about the bad similies. 

 "We're going to go shooping for Mew's new baby! It'll make her feel more at ease and ready for her new life!"

That exclimation mark does not imply that she  ‘nuzzled her hair against Elaine's ear and spoke very softly into it like a babbling brook.’

Elaine put her hands on her big full cheeks and squeed, "SOUNDS FUN!" she said and was immediately hushed by a smiling Reicheru. Amirru wiped off Elaine and Reicheru's dirty ass faces and spoke, "Will you need assistance mam?"

Was that really necessary?

"oh thanks Ami! But no there are times when Tenshikuzu

or Yuki can allow me to look through their eyes. Elaine will be up for it today. You need keep Mew-chan calm." Elaine and Reicheru left, holding hands. "Nya~ON!"

The mall was full and loud with the heat of a woman very fat and angry.

I can’t even anymore.

 You could smell the cinnamon rolls, and that's all Reicheru knew was there until Elaine let her look through her eyes.

I’ve run out of anything to poke at this with. 

As the light came into her mind's eyes she gently squeezed Elaines hand...It had been the first she's seen since she was at the island with Yuki when Elaine was kidnapped. "What do we get mama?" Elaine walked her mom through the many shelves. "Well she will need baby clothes and a few how to baby books, and some baby chewable food..." BUMP! Elaine was so short and without noticing she ran Reicheru right into someone. "HEY! WATCH IT!" Came a very demanding and manly feminine

voice from giant pudding lips.

Does that seem racist to anyone else?

 "Do you just let your daughter lead you around like that?? You knew I was standing here!"

She’s blind.

Elaine looked up at the girl so Reicheru could see her, "Oh sorry," Reicheru sweated "I cant see too good and my daughter is helping me out..." Reicheru furry cat ears flatted in embarrassment. The girl had on a purple and black bikini with black short pants and had pink eyes with pink hair that was light blue at the tips almost like sharp cotton candy. "Baby we should go look in the clothes section..."

Rude people are rude to blind people. 

The girl thought about something hard and then stepped in front of Reicheru, "Eh!" She said stepping in front of Elaine, "you guys seem like you need help with taht. I'm Shartara Akainiku. you can call me Shart-San

HER NAME IS SHART. 

 or Sha-San if your lazy," she shookhands with Reicheru. "Oh hi..." Reicheru nervously shook her hand which was painted with pale blue nail polish. "I'm Reicheru and this is my daughter Elaine." "NYU!" Elaine squeeked. 

Die.

Shartara looked very unamused 

Same.

at the child and rolled her eyes to the other side of the store, but petted Elaine on the head and faked a "What a cute little girl."

She is literally me.

As they were picking out clothes and other things Shartara stayed behind them not saying much but texting a lot. "Ugh," she sighed, "this is kinda boring. I think your a bit late anyway your daughter isn't a baby."

Wow, Reicheru sure treats Elaine like a baby, so I’m not surprised that’s what she thought. 

"These things aren't for me their for a friend who will have a baby soon." Reicheru said as Elaine put a bib in the shopping basket. "She's really scared and she needs some help preparing. It's gonna be my little sister!" "AND MY AUNT!" Elaine said excidedly holding toilet paper. Shartara looks confused "Um...Okay." She grinned about something and then bent down to talk to Elaine, "Hey you know what sounds liek fun?" Elaine's eyes bugged in mystery and wonder like two red bubbles, "What Shart-San?"

I’m dying her name is shart.

"If we got...Cinnamon rolles!" she got Elaine very excited!

Cinnamon rolls are really good.

"Mama can we get some? PLEEEASE?" She tugged at Reicheru's pink dress. "Uh...Welll..." Reicheru was put on the spot, "Sha-San we really need to finish shopping for Mew and then we can get cinnamon rolls." Shartara took Elaine by the hand and started walking them to the food court, "live a little bit you guys," she said, "This is gonna be tons more fun then shopping for baby stuff!" They sat at a round table in the middle of the food court and stuffed gargantuous fluffy cinnamon rolls into their moths. Sweet cream cheese icing drooled from the corners of their lips and Shartara and Elaine looked very happy.

Reicheru shouldn’t be letting some woman she just met do this with her daughter. 

But this is Reicheru we’re talking about. 

"Now this is my kinda thing” Shartara said. "Isn't it Elaine?" Reicheru stood up and grabbed Elaine's sticky frosting hand, "Sha-San it was fun having you tag along and all..."

Good. Reicheru is actually being moderately responsible. 

Kill me.

"Oh yeah I didn't bring any money..." Shartara quickly threw her napkins down and backed away from the table "Your right Reicheru it was very fun. I'll see you guys around." She ran off texting.

Also, PAY FOR YOUR FOOD YOU MEDIOCRE DUNCE. 

"What the hell..." Reicheru was angrier than the bull "What a load of crap and that was weird. Id like to smack her!" "Shart-San is sugoi!" Elaine beamed with a glowing look on her face. Reicheru sighed.

Don’t speak bad Japanese please. 

"Sweetie I need to go to the bathroom. Could you take me there?" Reicheru asked. They walked thorough the mall until they found the bathrooms. "Okay Baby just wait on the benches in the hall. I can feel my way around in the bathroom door." Elaine did what she was told and sat on the benches which were in a different hallway next to the bathrooms.

Shartara is gonna kidnap Elaine, isn’t she.

As Reicheru was washing her hands and feeling her way to the door, she could hear something very strange. SCREEEETCH...CLUNK! Reicheru leaned her ear against the door. The noise was stop. Through Elaine's eyes she could see a smiling figure walking towards her from the bathroom hallway. It was Shartara. She was all happy and saying SOMETHING to Elaine but Reicheru could not hear what. 

Help.

Shartara got on one knee and told Elaine, "Hey you want to go do something fun?" She grabbed her hand.

Oh no. 

"But mama needs me to wait for her!" Elaine pouted.

"Don't worry kid women take a long time in the bathroom you know? You wouldn't understand it's lady business." Shartara pulled Elaine off the bench.

I called it. 

Frantically Reicheru jerked the bathroom door handle but the door wouldn't budge. She could see Shartara quickly lead Elaine away. "Elaine!" Reicheru screamed. "Don't do it come back! Come back! Don't trust her!!" She threw her body against the door over and over again. She kicked the door and felt around for something big, but nothing seemed hard enough to break the door. "Help!!!!" bloody tears of fear and pain dripped from her orange crush colored glass eyes.

It was like watching a horrible silent movie. She saw them looking at toys and having fudge fingers. Two figures walked up to them. One of them was Mew!

"Oh thank Kami..." Reicheru cried. "I can't believe it!" Another figure stood with Mew. It was... ...Reicheru?

We’ll probably have to wait a long time for the next chapter, so I’ll levae you guys here. Until next time!

~Kat

Fanime experience, merch, autographs, and more. Quick info blurbs if you click on the images!

Quick and wordy thoughts of the event after the jump. (Warning there’s a lot)

Quick takes: -I had a good time. -Spent too much money. -Met some great artists/people. -Missed out on a few autographs/merch(notably Shigeto Koyama & Hiroyasu Kobayashi...). -Cons aren’t really what they used to be for me anymore. -Sorry I missed a few names for recognition.

Long takes/thoughts:

Overall I had a pretty good time. I usually just go with one of my old friends I’ve known since forever and almost only see maybe once or twice a year due to various reasons. Fanime has sort of become an annual trip now, possibly, maybe. We did discuss it after going this time around since it’s our I think 3rd or 4th time. If it does become our annual trip it’ll be interesting once I talk about other stuff later. It’s hard to describe since I enjoyed my time there due to hanging out with my friend and then other friends who came along after so the day was good but the convention itself I’ve got some mixed feelings about.

I went there mainly to hang out with my friend and going there I figured I’d be spending money since when I go I tend to try to support artists I like or just when I find something I find interesting. I told myself, “I’ll only spend up to this much but I probably shouldn’t” and then ended up spending it all anyways with the only thing stopping me from spending more was the fact that the vendor’s hall and artist’s alley closing which was both a blessing and a curse! Also later on in the day my friend’s brother and his friends also joined up for more shenanigans. Bought lots of merch as you can see posted today, play or watched a few of them play some video games, went out for some food late at night, and had some good conversations before, during, and after the event.

Some things I found for the first time at the convention in the vendor’s hall at a booth were animation cels from various old school shows! There was Ranma animation cels, Ronin Warriors, Tenchi Muyo, Macross, and a bunch of others. I was totally surprised and it was one of the things I found early on that I wanted to come back through after we went and explored the event first, but sadly I ended up missing out on because of waiting in line for autographs that I didn’t even end up getting. T_T   I also missed out on some prints for the same reason as the animation cels and because I did the wait and see, go browse everything then come back for it later which gotten sold out. That’s entirely on me though and realistically not that big of a deal since I have so many posters I’ve no clue what to even do with them at this point.

So, thanks to all the artist who talked to me, signed my sketchbook, or that I bought merch from. For the most part I don’t think I had any problems with anyone other than a little too shy to their customers but that’s a typical occurrence. I know some didn’t seem very enthusiastic about signing my sketchbook so for that I’m grateful that they were still willing to do so. It’s always a bit of a tough deal because I know sometimes people don’t want to do it and I do make it a point to say they have to sign it at all but I understand that feels like added pressure too. I’m just honestly a fan and like to collect things from people I find of some interest in. One could argue I’ve become a bit of a hoarder because of that but that’s something for another time. There’s a few notables that I met and had a good to sizable conversation with at the con, and even more surprising was how long I had one with someone who was super busy manning their own booth. I did feel bad but he kept telling me it was ok. I hope I do meet him again in the future be it at another convention or just outside. 

On to the not so great part(s). I was waiting in line for the  Shigeto Koyama & Hiroyasu Kobayashi ‘s autograph session but sadly it was cut off before I could get there. About 2/3 of the way through, which was about 45-50min into the session they had decided that doing both drawings and signings at the same time was too time consuming so the staff announced that they had to cut off the drawing portion and see if they could get to everyone. At the time only maybe about 10-15 people got to meet the both of them, and then only about another 10-15 people got only autographs at the time. The thing that I was a little upset about was that the time for only signatures portion wasn’t that much different from people who got drawings and signatures. I thought to myself once it was announced that we’d only get signatures, “well at least it’ll be going faster since it’s just signatures” but then I don’t know what went wrong. I don’t get it, were the ones that went in for only signatures allowed to talk to them for nearly the same amount of time as those before who got drawings to go with the signatures? I’ve no clue and I couldn’t tell either because the line was blocked off by a wall to the signing so you had to walk passed the wall to go into the signing section and since I was in line I couldn’t check it out. It killed 1hr-1hr30min and around that time it was close to closing time for vendors and artist alley. That was probably the worst part of the adventure since I was really anticipating this autograph session. It’s fine though, can’t win them all.

Now onto probably a bit of something else a tad more negative. The event itself was kind of lack luster and felt kind of like just a straight up cash grab. There wasn’t anything spectacular on Sunday going on that you wouldn’t really see anywhere else. To be more clear on that point, I meant there wasn’t anything over the top or anything that stood out like “Ah, this is why you should have gone this year or you don’t want to miss out on this.”. It felt kind of watered down to me as honestly a lot of conventions have been recently, at least to me. It’s great to meet artists, it’s great to go to panels, vendors, etc., but I felt the vibe wasn’t there that would have made this one this year really special. I know after you’ve gone to a few it can start to feel like more of the same o’l, but isn’t part of the point of these events to make them memorable and exciting? I can go on about this a lot deeper but I’m just going to leave it at that for now. I’m a little disappointed as far as how the event itself was, but I still enjoyed the people I met and the things I got. It might sound completely weird to some for me to say that at the same time, almost hypocritical but it honestly felt like the effort to make it a show was not there. This is just my opinion so anyone out there that went and would say otherwise I’m ok with that. 

I gotta apologize to the artists that I missed giving credit to who signed my sketchbook. Yesterday was a long but eventful day and I truly do appreciate everyone who signed the sketchbook. Next time around I’ll keep better track of everyone. Til next time!

I know there was a significant portion of this post that was ranting but I honestly had a good time and I’m glad to have been able to go with my friend and others who met up with us later on in the day. Also it was great to see and talk to everyone I met. Thanks for anyone who read this far!

Well, it could have been worse.  I could have spent =more= than 2 hours thinking about the past instead of sleeping... ===== Yesterday was a really interesting day...I had a really hard time getting out of bed for some reason, and fell pretty soundly asleep during the morning train ride as well.  After getting off the train the city was oddly quiet in a way that made me wonder whether there was some holiday going on that I was totally unaware of.  I was feeling pretty cranky too, for some reason, imagining negative scenarios in my head, as one is prone to do when feeling grumpy.  Maybe I just have some sleep to catch up on. Feedback has been coming in for our game, Raven Delivery Service, and people have been liking it!  I'll try to do a post-mortem post about it, as well as just advertise it via posting in general so we can get some more plays. Aivi & surasshu are performing later this month at Fanime!  What a pleasant announcement to hear -- it actually makes me quite excited to go.  Steven Universe is also getting an official soundtrack release next month -- about time!  More importantly, I overheard that their next original artist album has a name, "valk hollow"?  That's actually more exciting than anything, as you know the main reason I'm a fan of aivisura is because of their debut album "The Black Box".  I am not-so-secretly hoping that once they release their next album I will be able to do a full remix album of their works again, as I did with "Love Everlasting".  That album was one of the most interesting and rewarding projects that I've undertaken as a musician and I'd love to try something like it again. Big dance is also coming up this Friday!  Everyone should enter the dance contests, especially the ambi ones! Looking back at my records, here were the themes for those years, to help people remember: 2011 was Firefly 2012 was Star Wars 2013 was Last Airbender 2014 was Game of Thrones (2015 was a Little Big Dance) (2016 was a Little Big Dance) 2017 is Back to the Future (old-timers will remember some other ones, like pride and prejudance, etc) Remember, Little Big Dances do NOT count as all-nighters! (since they didn't last all night, of course)  So this'll be my 7th Big Dance, but my 5th all-nighter.  Hopefully it'll be fun, despite the fact that I've been shying away from people interactions lately.  I was half-wondering whether I should take a page out of the past and try and compose a song real quick for big dance so that Richard could play it.  But I don't think that will happen, hehe.  Not ruling it out as a possibility though -- inspiration could strike at any moment!  It would actually be pretty cool to start a tradition of writing a new dance song every year for Big Dance specifically.  Maybe! Speaking of dance music, next month I'll be going to a ballet performance set to my Celestial Melodies album!  Super interested to see how that will be, and never thought as I was writing it that my music would ever be used that way.  This is also a good point for me to try to design some (long overdue) business cards.  Hopefully I'll be able to use the All in a Day's Work 3 artwork, as that has become so iconic to me, but perhaps there are other options as well.  I'll have to decide what urls to put on there as well -- probably ddrkirby.com and ddrkirbyisq.bandcamp.com for sure, but I should really clean up the ddrkirby.com landing page.  I guess if I make a more proper landing page for ddrkirby.com I can just feature that, DDRKirby(ISQ), my name, and possibly a contact email (?) and have the landing page direct you to everything else.  More work that needs to be done!  Looks like a lot of designery work is in my near future... My birthday having passed now, I decided to go ahead and order a whole bunch of stuff online as I was in need/want of quite a lot of things here and there.  Yesterday those shipments finally started to get to me, so I now have an anova sous vide machine, a whetstone for sharpening my knives, a jaccard meat tenderizer, a mortar & pestle, new earbuds, a car vent mount for my phone, and a zojirushi vaccuum-sealed food container.  I also did a ton of grocery shopping last night, so I basically have a ton of new stuff to play around with and eat, whee!  I'm pretty excited about all of the items, haha. The Risk of Rain devs are apparently working on RoR2, in 3D??? (using Unity, as of course is the trend for everyone and their mothers now)  That's...cool, I guess?  Of course, it's still a project early in development, so it's barely even worth thinking about when or whether they'll finish, but...I guess that's cool?  It's not the most -exciting- thing because I don't think 3D is really necessary, or even a boon to the gameplay, but maybe they are just trying to take a page out of Overwatch and such games.  It makes me a little sad for my pet project Zenith Fighter which I abandoned, which was aiming to be an arena-style game with platforming and RoR-style abilities, as well as a bunch of upgrades. Speaking of pet projects, Rhythm Quest is on very shaky footing now as I haven't touched it in so long.  I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but the fact that I'm not regularly working on it is a red flag and I wonder whether it will actually become a thing, or whether it's not actually exciting anymore.  We'll see I guess, but for now I am going to remind myself that the reasonable thing to do is not to worry about it because I have other projects that are more pressing -- namely, finishing up my Sentience album, designing the business cards and redoing my landing page. Speaking of my Sentience album -- it's getting close to being complete!  I'll probably aim to do one or two more songs and then package it all up for release.  Very exciting to be doing another original artist album that is getting a full physical CD release, especially since this one has such a strong theme and could be called my first ever "concept album", I guess. I've been continuing to make my way through Hyper Light Drifter, which has still been great!  It's cool that, just like with Shovel Knight, I feel much more well-versed in the sort of "vernacular" of its level design, and am starting to really become familiar with where to look in order to find hidden areas and secrets.  I'm currently in the last of the four main "areas" (at least, that I know of!), though the game has made it very clear that even when I've beaten the boss there I will have to do quite a bit more searching and exploring. ===== I told someone recently that while many people find themselves needing to let go of their past before they can move forward, I find myself unable to move forward if I feel like I am letting something go.  I've been asked before just =why= the past is so important to me and there are many reasons -- I think loss is painful, letting go is painful, I'm strongly motivated by nostalgia and memory, I would much rather stick to what I know than embrace new experiences, I value lasting connections, I genuinely want to believe that things will last, etc. -- but in the end the answer basically is just that's the way that I am and I have learned that that is the way it has to be.  After many years of questioning myself and my feelings toward the past I came to a realization that even if it "slows me down", connecting with my past is ultimately something that I just have to do, out of necessity.  And if I try to avoid it and break free, I would only end up circling back again and not moving anywhere at all -- because "breaking free" is something I would never want in the first place.  And that is the reason that I can be so sure when I tell people I will always be here.  Always and forever. ...or at least, that's what I'd like to think.  After all, the girl of the stars also chose to leave her tower.  The story of the star and the girl is one that is incredibly important to me because represents a central conflict in life that I must always come to terms with.  The fact that "always" is not forever, and that despite my feelings and intentions, in the end I must accept that I cannot bring the past forward with me, and that I =must= by the nature of life move forward.  It pained me a great deal thinking about how the girl left the tower.  It still does, and always will.  But it's something that I need to understand too.  I think in the end, sinking deep into memory, holding traditions, treasuring artifacts, and "living in the past" are all ways of coping. Who can say where the girl is now?  But no matter where she is, the tower and the star will always be an important part of her.  Maybe she will be able to come back to the tower someday.  Maybe she will be able to see the star again someday too.  But even if she does not, it will still be in her memory, as something precious and treasured.  In the same way, my friend Kiki is someone who is always on my mind when I think of the past.  My relationship with her, in many ways, represents my relationship with the past, and that is a reason why it has always held such significance to me.

=====

I actually feel significantly better today.  Maybe all I needed was to feel like I am paying my respects to my memory...

(More to come later.)

Hosting A Cosplay Gathering

Hey, hi and hello there fellow cosplayers, photographers, con attendees and other humans!

This is a post I have been wanting to make and am now finally getting around to it! With the help of some friends on the Unofficial Fanime Fan Club page and instagram for your chiming in an helping me come up with this this list of tips when it comes to hosting a cosplay gathering. 

Now what is a cosplay gathering? A cosplay gathering is when cosplayers, photographers and fans gather together and hangout. However, conventions offer cosplay gatherings as a way of bringing people passionate about the same fandom, series, movie or meme together to celebrate it. This is honestly one of the best ways to find friends at a convention and is my persona favorite part about cons. Not only do you get to hang out with a bunch of people who like the same thing as you do, but you get to see a lot of cosplay and get photos with a bunch of wonderful people. 

Anyway, I have been attending conventions for 8 or so years now and cosplay gatherings has been a huge part of my experience that has introduced me to a lot of my bestest friends. I have participated, hosted, covered and photographed a good number of gatherings/meetups so I am talking with experience but how you host is entirely up to you. So, without further adieu here are some tips for hosting a cosplay gathering!

1. Start the gathering late & end early! Now you, the host, should be at the gathering spot before everyone and take a photo to post on the event page to help people find it in the event they need some help. Then at the designated start time announce that the gathering is about to begin but wait a few minutes (no more then 5) to actually start taking photos. This gives the lost and late sometime to arrive and also for any stragglers of the previous gathering to leave. Which is why you should also end the gathering a bit early as to allow for some casual conversation and for folks to clear out before the next meetup starts. I typically play the whole bar card of “You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here!” 

2. Be assertive and set boundaries This is really important especially to help everyone squeeze into the photos and for photographers to get the best possible photos. So chat with your photographer to get their input. You want to have a center line (lines in brick, concrete or wood are really helpful but a prop or human can also work) that the official photographer can shoot with and then setting a line for people to stand behind so they are far enough back and fit into frame. You will have to repeat this to everyone over and over again but it is so worth it! Also, remind people to lay down, squat and crouch down to give levels so everyone can be seen. 

3. Have a shot list This is SO IMPORTANT to any gathering since it gives the gathering direction and purpose. And actually have it written down on a piece of paper, your phone or something as to minimize you forgetting something or someone. This list does not need to be totally exhaustive but I always suggest beginning and ending with a group photo. 

4. Keep things moving There are a lot of people and people can get bored quick so keep this gathering moving. For every photo I will allow for two poses or two takes so that there is a bit of variance for each shot. I also typically count down from 10 even when people are getting into position to help them pick something instead of spend forever figuring out a pose. EXTRA TIP: Have some pose ideas handy to help confused groups figure out how to pose together, awkward prom, split middle or what have you.

5. Project! A gathering is typically loud because a bunch of excited people are talking and getting excited together. Just accept that but endevour to be heard by project and not yelling. If you struggle with projecting get a megaphone/bullhorn to help you or ask the official photographer, a friend or someone at the gathering to help you. Being able to hear the host is super important to keeping things going smoothly. Also if you are in cosplay for the gathering and will be in photos ask someone to count down for you, just please! Or if you see someone counting down in the photo help them out and start doing it please! It would be super appreciated!

6. Bring a buddy As a host you are super preoccupied with making sure people are centered, in view, calling the shot list, counting down and taking requests can be overwhelming. I typically bring a friend to help by taking photos, watching my bag and counting down when I’m in a shot. 10/10 would recommend this! 

7. Do Requests As important as your shot list is, it is just as important to leave room for requests. What I suggest is at the beginning of the meetup let people know that you will be taking requests which gives people time to think and ask for a shot so when you get to the requests you have some. Usually, I will do my shot list beginning and ending with a group photo and then open it up to requests. That way it allows folks to leave if they want and you still go everyone at least once.  Also, requests are easiest as a first come first serve but take note if someone or some character is going up repeatedly and spread the love to people who may not have as many photo opportunities! Finally, apologize short and sweet when you don’t get to all of them. Blame time and then no one can get mad at you!

8. Take your own photos Or have a friend take them for you. Does not matter which just do it and have someone way of people finding them. Either by passing out contact cards or posting a link onto the event make the photos available. People want to relive and see all the fun they had. Also, there is typically an official photographer at gatherings however it sometimes takes a while for those photos to become available. Just make it very clear they are not the official photos. 

9. Be excited! Most of the time hosts are super excited and thrilled to be hosting however shit happens and they can’t make it or become uninterested and that can really drag the gathering. So somehow stay excited and high energy. Either by loving the fandom, series, cosplay or what have you get excited. 

10. Have fun! Gatherings are supposed to be fun and celebrate fandom! So enjoy it! You have worked you butt off to make this gathering happen so take pride in that. Breathe, smile and enjoy! So often hosting a gathering is thankless work but remember you created an event that may be the highlight of someone’s-including your own-convention

Hope this helps any current or future hosts out there!

SATURN, DONE! I honestly can't believe I'm only three scouts from having completed the set??? And and only TWO of them (Mercury and Chibs) are just for me for display. Between the lot of you, you've placed enough orders for me to be able to bring 8 out of the 10 scouts to life to be able to show you all. And I am L I V I N G for it. I love doing these. I love the glitter frenzy, I love how soft they are. I love how I get to pass them on to all of you. I honestly can't wait to make even more of them once I launch the Etsy listing. Thanks for joining me on this crazy ride of creating new merch! I know it seems like this is all I've been doing lately - but once I get my Fanime orders cleared, I've got some wedding invitations to make for @slytherinslittleprincess, a couple of overdue commissions for an absolute saint (Mercy in her Year of the Rooster skin, and the three cats from Sailor Moon!), and then we're off into new content land!!! Up first is going to be my Madoka girls getting their color. Then following that, likely an Utena piece I've been dying to do since last October, and then after that my Cardcaptor Sakura piece! Summer is just getting underway, and I'm excited for all that is has to offer this year. So thanks for sticking with me this far - it's gonna be a good time! #sailormoon #bishoujosenshisailormoon #sailormooncrystal #pgsm #prettyguardiansailormoon #magicalgirl #sailormooncosplay #casualcosplay #moonie #sailormoondrops #セーラームーン #かわいい #sailormoonmerch #sailormoonfan #sailormoonfanart #hotarutomoe #sailorsaturn #jersey #revolutionarygirlutena #utena #cardcaptorsakura #clearcardarc #cardcaptors #mahoushoujomadokamagica #puellamagimadokamagica #madokamagica #madokakaname #usagitsukino

It's that time of the year -- Fanime is upon us again! My last writeup (for 2016) can be found in 2 parts: Part 1 and Part 2. It's currently the night before Fanime "proper" starts on Friday and I'm just doing a bunch of mental decompression as I'm getting ready to go to bed, including this post as well as working on my post-mortem for Raven Delivery Service. Also!  My business cards from Moo came in, which is super duper exciting!!!  They are beautiful and I'm so happy to finally have them in my hands.  Will try and take some photos of them tomorrow morning! Every year at Fanime is a bit different.  Last year the main takeaways from my experience were that I was a lot more chill about the con in general -- sometimes leaving earlier, not going to ALL the things, etc. which was to great effect I think, and that I was able to spend more time actually hanging around friends, which also was great.  There was also no TGM (sadness) but we did stop by the B&W ball for some fun times (yay). This year I'm hoping to replicate the more easygoing approach and mostly take it easy while spending time with friends and in general just having fun being around, being in my wonderful Journey outfit, and basking in the general Fanime atmosphere.  I've got three whole days at con and I don't actually have very much planned! Friday there is a Melee tourney but I feel like I'm like 25% to enter; I do feel like I will probably have better things to do and don't want to just wait around in the gaming hall forever.  There is also swap meet that night!  That said my dance friends are also putting on a dance that night and despite the fact that I have been off of dance recently I might actually be feeling up for it.  So maybe I'll go and do that instead!  It would be a shame to miss swap meet, but....actually, not really.  Last time the only notable things I got from there were some new card sleeves, which were great, but I don't even get to play MtG at all at the moment so that is no longer a concern of mine.  So the only things I would really pick up would be cheap sanrio stuff and random stationery, probably, haha. Saturday night I'm going to see Aivi & surasshu perform live which should be super great!  Ahh, I hope they'll perform more original works >w<.  I have a couple of my business cards which I made with my Love Everlasting album artwork that I want to show them too :) Sunday morning I have to drive to SF to play chauffeur a bit (zzzz) but I'll also be doing a WCS private lesson (whee!) and probably having fun with the other social dance kids at B&W ball. Other than that I really don't have much planned, besides doing the usual rounds of everything at con.  I may also actually (?) register for speed dating this time (actually as in, don't just show up too late and be "eh w/e" like i did last year) but even that is not really too big of a deal.  What IS a big deal is that TGM (TAP i believe???) will be back this year which means awesome Tetris funtimes ahhhhhh so excited for that.  Ooh, and Bishi Bashi will be there too!  And I hear they'll even have Metal Slug there; I actually want to just play through that entire game with someone if possible :)  So maybe a lot of fun gaming is to be had at con this year! I've packed up most of my stuff in preparation for tomorrow and will probably be making it to con lazily sometime in the late morning or early afternoon depending on whatever I feel like (I've taken the day off of work).  My costume is the same as it was at V-ball, but with a minor addition -- I now have two Journey-themed messenger bags and will be using one to carry my stuff around with me at con!  Not to mention I still have my Journey lanyard for holding my Fanime badge (the badges look awesome this year btw!).  So yeah, pretty cool :)  I will have a bunch of stuff that I'll be leaving in my car, like my portable melee setup, extra controllers, watercolor supplies, etc, as well as just-in-case stuff like my ironing board and scissors, etc etc.  I won't need 80% of those things but it doesn't hurt to be prepared! Main thing tomorrow is just to wake up, shower, do makeup, and make my way to con!  Since it's Friday perhaps there will actually be parking in the convention center structure?  If not, I'll head to the old standby--the Safeway parking garage, hehe. Hopefully I don't get super tired of wearing makeup for the whole weekend.  I never put any on nowadays.  I'll have to try and put it on in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, ha ha ha... I'll try to be blogging about each day as it happens.  I know it seems I never really do that for things these days but I actually think it's great for me to just type out everything like this as a way of relaxing.  You know, for the same reason that journaling can be great. Hope to see people at con tomorrow!