Blood+: Miyagusuku Kai

Eldest of the Miyasuguku siblings, Kai was once a popular student and a star athlete. Shortly before Saya’s arrival, he was more rebellious and got into fights in school. His father’s kidnap and death forced him to grow up quickly and make amends with Saya and Riku, his 2 adopted siblings. He struggled to keep his only family together and eventually even took in Diva’s daughters as their father.

Quite an impressive, though simple cosplay. He is quite an interesting character, though I need to finish watching the series to find out what happens to him more… Great job! And I must say, I love that motorcycle!

Technorati tags: nanao, research, blood+, miyagusuku, kai, saya, riku, diva, motorcycle, cosplay, anime, athlete, popular, student

Gundam Seed Destiny: Rey Za Burrel

The cool and collected elite gundam pilot, Rey Za Burrel is not one to meddle in other people’s affairs. He is a good friend of Shin Asuka, and is very close to Chairman Gilbert Durandal.

In the past, Rau Le Creuset is also shown to be very kind to Rey, making him quite devastated to find out Rau was killed by Kira Yamato. He becomes even more infuriated at Kira for being the only obstacle to Durandal’s “Destiny Plan”.

This photo was actually taken by the same person who took Cagalli’s photo. This is quite a convincing cosplay of Rey. I just hope he doesn’t shoot anyone who is reading this blog.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, rey, za, burrel, gundam, pilot, seed destiny, seed, destiny, kira, yamato, chairman, gilbert, durandal, rau, le, creuset, shin, asuka, destiny plan, cagalli, ros

Bleach: Kyoraku Shunsui and Ise Nanao

Wait, wait, wait!!! This may be a feature on a Nanao cosplay, but that is not, I repeat, not me!

And now that everything is clear… :D

Kyoraku Shunsui is what would be known as a “lazy” captain. From what we know of him in the series so far, we is often drinking sake or sleeping, to the irritation of his lieutenant Ise Nanao. Nanao is a resourceful researcher with high respect towards her captain.

Apparently, when Nanao takes off her glasses, she can intimidate anyone, even Mayuri, Captain of the 12th squad.

Cute cosplay! This is probably the most accurate pair I’ve seen so far. Great job to both!

Technorati tags: nanao, research, bleach, ise, cosplay, kyoraku, shunsui, mayuri, captain, lieutenant

Granado Espada: The Scout

Not a lot of people will be able to recognize this cosplay… Unless they’ve reached level of their scout (I believe it’s level 84?).

The female scout is the healer of the game. She is a valuable character (unless you don’t mind having to spend a lot of vis/game money for potions). She can also use daggers in combat, but most people use her for her healing abilities and buffs. Some people even say that a scout’s buffs can be a lot better than a wizards’s.

The only thing I’m not too sure about is the color of the costume… I think the default color is red, but there might be some options in the game in order to change her outfit orange. Beautiful detailing, I would say.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, granado espada, scout, female, healer, wizard, sword of the new world, orange dye

Final Fantasy VIII: Rinoa Heartilly 02

Hm… What do you guys think? Does Shirokumapan rival Shibata Ina’s version of Rinoa?

I honestly can’t decide the two of them… I suppose there’s also the problem that in the original game, it’s a bit difficult to know Rinoa’s “true” personality when we never heard her talk! But I think Shirokumapan and Shibata Ina both do a brilliant job portraying her!

View more of Shirokumapan’s cosplays in her personal website.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, shirokumapan, final fantasy, cosplay, cosplayer, final fantasy viii, final fantasy 8, shibata ina, rinoa, heartilly

Kanon: Misaka Shiori

The younger sister of Kaori Misaka, Shiori is a first year student who has been ill since birth. Because of this, her sister chooses to keep her distance from Shiori, thinking that it would be much easier when she eventually does pass away.

Because of this, Shiori became very lonely, and eventually wanted to kill herself to relieve everyone’s burden on her. But a chance meeting with Aizawa Yuichi and (the spirit of) Tsukimiya Ayu changes her decision to take her life. Her life was expected to have only lasted until her birthday of that year. She later confesses that she never wanted to die, and had a miraculous recovery.

Isn’t this a cute cosplay? This is actually Kipi, the same cosplayer we’ve seen as Asuka, Shana, and even Misa-Misa! I think she’s become a reader’s favorite now…

Originally posted by Tori Avalon of the Anime Illusions Forums!

Technorati tags: nanao, research, misaka, shiori, kanon, cosplay, aizawa, yuichi, terminal, illness, tsukimiya, ayu, spirit, kaori, asuka, langley, shana, misa-misa, amane, misa, kipi

More Costumes; More Sword Changes

As is typical, the idea and process for creating the Suigintou sword has changed yet again.

I spent hours with my dad (definitely a two-person job) creating a blade out of foam to cover in plastic, and it was just not working out. We got stuck trying to make the difficult angles in the blade, and worried how the plastic would adhere if we couldn't get the foam perfectly smooth. It was all blowing up and we were at a standstill for a while.

I finally came the conclusion that I should just make the blade out of wood/MDF and deal with the consequences should there be any. That way, the sword would look the way I wanted it to. I will take it to Anime Boston and hope no one thinks it's dangerous (it certainly will not be). If they do, I'll just leave it at security, pick it up at the end of the day, and go on without it. But at least I will have a sword the way I want it to look for other cons and photo shoots. That seemed more important, in the end, than a particular cons potential rules, particularly when I'm not being entered in any formal competitions.

In the realm of more costumes... MORE COSTUMES. I will be making myself another costume for Anime Boston to wear to the formal ball, which will be Gwendolyn's ball gown from Odin Sphere. I bought all the fabric for it this weekend and I'm really excited about it.

I also bought fabric for my friend Mike's costume, who will be going to AB as Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. It's a pretty simple costume, which are some of the most fun to do, because every detail is important. I got great fabric for the hood and burlap to make him some shoe covers. He's (supposedly) taking care of his own sword and (maybe) bow.

I'll be working on 4 costumes - the two mentioned above, Suigintou, and the Urd commission - over the next month leading up to AB. Spring break is definitely my friend this year (first week of march). I'll be posting all kinds of photos over the coming weeks, including of sword construction.

This is the fun part!