cosplay

Spring 2024 Anime Con Haul!

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Hi all!

I’m interrupting the flow a bit to share all the neat stuff I picked up at the anime convention I love attending each spring!

While I have a blast at the con every year, this year in particular shaped up to be one of my favorites. One of those reasons is the special guest interactions I was fortunate enough to be a part of (as you will notice with the signed art below, heh heh). The other major reason was my cosplay choices. Yes, I DO cosplay at cons! You can check out my insta @ takutoac for all my recent cosplay photos. After enduring the huge pandemic slump, this con was able to jumpstart my love for cosplay. I really hope to return to prop making so that I’ll be able to get into character even more next year.

To no one’s surprise, the big obsession this year was Genshin Impact. Cosplaying as Gaming (or Ga Ming) was like having pretty privilege ISTG. If you were cosplaying as any Genshin character, I guarantee you would’ve been showered with kind words and cute freebies!! In the photo below, the Pyro Vision keychain, Genshin Wish pin, and Yun-Jin sticker were all gifts bestowed upon me by fellow Genshin cosplayers (the last of which also came with mora that I earned from completing a Katheryne cosplayer’s commission, AKA a set of jumping jacks :P). Fans can be so creative and supportive when they put their minds and spirits to it!

If you’re unfamiliar with Genshin, Gaming is a fairly recent character (from February, I believe . . .) which meant that virtually no one had art of him yet. You can only imagine my sheer delight when I stumbled upon THE ONE and only Gaming art—a small acrylic charm that is now a crystallization of my cosplay memories. (Did I mention that many attendees told me that I was the only Gaming cosplayer at the con and the first they’d ever seen IRL? I was shocked at such an honor.)

In the vendor’s hall, I came across a Place Promised in Our Early Days art book that I needed to fill out my Shinkai art book collection. And of course, never does a con go by where I don’t pick up Evangelion art—I love the expressions and vibrant color tones in this Misato and Ritsuko print.

The greatest catch of the con, though, was meeting with two of my favorite voice actors: Anne Yatco and Amanda C. Miller. Oddly enough, I had signature requests for two game characters rather than anime characters this time. Meeting THE Raiden Shogun was truly electrifying. After all, it was the Shogun’s launch trailer for Inazuma (uploaded almost three years ago now) that got me into the game! Anne is the sweetest person ever, and we talked about her recent roles in GKIDS dubs, too.

Later, Amanda and I shared A JUICY TEN-MINUTE CONVERSATION about Danganronpa, Sailor Moon, and hobbies in general. I invited her to scribble on my imported Danganronpa art book as if Junko Enoshima herself was signing a student yearbook, and Y’ALL, she delivered. Amanda is just as cool as the Sailor Guardian of thunder she voices. I can’t recommend the work of these two artists enough. Absolutely inspiring people to get to meet.

And that was pretty much Naka-Kon 2024 for me in a nutshell! Easily one of the best con experiences I’ve ever had. Go check out those cosplay pics (and photos of the special guests) on IG if you haven’t yet! Thanks for reading, and ‘til next time!

– Takuto

My First Time Using EVA Foam! || Cafe Talk

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Evening all!

I finally decided to get off my butt and take some half decent photos of that sword I previewed on Twitter a while back. Eugeo’s Blue Rose Sword from Sword Art Online: Alicization, and I wanted to make it because I love both the look of the blade and the good boy who wields it. 🙂

Here are some before pics:

And here’s after it was painted. My dad helped with a lot of the highlighting since he uses an airbrush all the time!

These all have slight filtering on them since I posted them originally on Insta. Here are some pics with a different filter:

Here is a cool filter that makes the sword look like it’s straight out of a live action film, so cool!

And lastly, here is an environmental shot with the sword floating in our little river of rocks. 🙂

I had a really great time putting the sword together. Surprisingly, fewer things went wrong than I thought, but perhaps that’s because I did lots, and lots, and LOTS of research prior to buying all the right supplies and getting the right techniques down.

Kamui Cosplay on YouTube was a HUGE resource in learning about the nature of EVA foam, how to heat and cut it, and how to properly seal and paint the material. For the basic shape of the sword, I actually used another tutorial on YT that I can share if you’d like it!

From the base shape, I incorporated elements from the anime’s design, the game, the figures I own, and even my own creative background to bring Eugeo’s sword of ice to life. For example, would you believe that the rose is made entirely out of origami? Took me just five minutes to fold! It’s not bad for an amateur build though if I do say so myself!

Have you ever made cosplay materials out of EVA foam? I definitely encourage using the stuff, as it creates smooth, beautiful, and sturdy crafts like this one. Let me know if you have any crafting tips for future builds, as well as if you’d like to see other cosplay creations on my end. Thanks for sittin’ with me, I hope you enjoyed reading. Oh, and it’s April 10th—Happy Birthday, Eugeo! 🥳

– Takuto