Photography and more for the Cosplayer
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This was my first anime convention, and wow! what an experience!! There was always something to do. The unfortunate part is that Friday evening we were all exhausted, mostly me though. I was chaperoning a group of kids from my daughter's HS. She had worked hard at forming an anime club/group at her school. Being the first year of the club they decided to attend Fanime. They talked to other kids who had attended in the years prior, did anime viewings, worked on their costumes, and did what ever they could to be prepared. For most of them, this was the first con they would attend. I will tell you that the idea for my business started just before attending Fanime, but when I got there it solidified as the perfect idea. Every day after Fanime some portion of my day has been about Blue Saphire Productions. When we arrived I saw lots of great costumes. Most of them I couldn't tell you who they were or what they were from, but there were a few I recognized. Some kids were very sweet and would answer my questions about who they were dressed up as and tell me about the anime or game. I admit I was overwhelmed, but some of them were so passionate about cosplaying their character. Some would telling me about what they wanted to do after school and what colleges they wanted to attend. Their passion made me want to do my business even more!! But where to start???? That's where the group I was chaperoning came in. I heard kids constantly saying "Such-n-such took my picture!" Or "Did you see all the photographers when I did that pose from such-n-such?" Yes, it was about the pictures. I heard good and bad, but that's what they wanted... to be noticed, and who could blame them? Don't we all have an inner desire to be noticed? Thus BSaphire ~ Cosplay Photographer ~ was born. If it wasn't for Hiei loaning me her disposable camera, Fanime last year would have gone un-photographed (I left my 35mm camera at home because I was so tired). I had just gotten off of two, 6 day work weeks and that is why we couldn't get to San Jose any faster. I had to go to work, so the kids going down with me met at my house and waited while I picked up the rental van after work. Not to mention, staying up late to finish working on Youko Kurama's outfit. With my work schedule, we weren't able to go get the wig for Youko Kurama before Fanime, but we remedied that before Tales of Anime (TOA). Now for a photo break...............
We arrived late Friday and were unable to pick up our badges.. (yes, it sucked) but we made the best of it. So Saturday morning the first thing we did was pick up our badges. The convention staff that helped us were friendly and got all four of us registered and out the door in under ten minutes. As we left we saw the long line of non prepaid attendees and were very glad that we had purchased them in advance. The other line seemed to move pretty fast and I didn't hear any complaints coming from the line, just a lot of anxious con goers who couldn't wait to explore what Fanime had to offer. Fanime
Registration rated There was lots to do, but first stop was the dealers room. There was tons of anime related stuff from figurines and wall scrolls to swords and DVD's (and everything in between!^^). There was quite a variety and we found a couple of things we had been searching for. None of us brought enough money, but I don't think that anyone ever really brings enough money *LOL, so we bought a couple of items and decided we would wait and come back. Besides, we didn't have time to see everything the first time through. I
give the Dealers Room at Fanime Saturday and Sunday was an absolute blast!!! We took the time to check out the video rooms and watched some of the anime we hadn't already previewed. I really liked the fan parodies we watched. During the anime learning/review process prior to Fanime 04, My daughter and I watched a bunch. There was: "Chobits," "Crest of Stars," the first disk of "Blue Gender," the first three disks of "Vampire Princess Miyu," and "Ah! My Goddess!" (the movie and EP.1 Moonlight and Cherry Blossoms and EP.2 Midsummer Night's Dream.) From there we went on to watch "Gundam-W Endless Waltz," "Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Shadow War," and "Escaflowne." (I told you we watched a few and that isn't even including games *LOL.) Having seen the entire series prior to Fanime, it made the fan parody "Nescaflowne" an absolute riot!! Between being a major lover of coffee to thoroughly enjoying Escaflowne, I fell in love with the characters all over again!! So that I don't ruin it for those that haven't seen it, I won't go into any more detail. Make it a point when you go to Fanime to at least watch the parodies if you watch nothing else. Do your research first though. Try to watch all of the series for each parody so you can really get the little puns, jokes, and innuendos. We also watched Evangelion Redo ~ Redux (I literally LMBOTMSH) and I thought it was awesome since I did watch the entire series Neo Genesis Evangelion. Later on Youko_Kurama and Gendo got into a stripping contest while waiting in the Henti line *LOL and Youko won!!.... I know people took pictures of that and I would love copies!! Some how the copies we were supposed to get mysteriously disappeared.... Hummm!! ^^) We checked out a couple of the foreign films too...^^). What a difference from the English dubbed martial arts movies I watched when I was younger. I'm glad that we took the time to watch new videos and movies. I both enjoyed, learned and was entertained by the immense variety that Fanime had to offer. I give the Fanime Video Programming
And now.... Photo break.....
So as you can tell so far I was having quite a bit of fun on Saturday. There was lots of "Youko Kurama!!" & "Hiei!!" Can I take your picture!!" everywhere we went. There were "glomp" signs starting to filter their way out into the crowd, lots of action happing on the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) & arcade machines on the second floor of the convention lobby. I asked some con-goers if that was the gaming area and they weren't really sure where that was. It wasn't till we met up with our new found friends, that were also cosplaying Yu Yu Hakusho, that I found out that there was an actual gaming room some where in the Marriot hotel. I saw signs for the table top gaming and I tried the Karaoke room several times thinking maybe it moved in and out of there? I took the time to listen to a few of the Karaoke performers and I can only say that not only do they have the guts, but to actually be able to sing it in Japanese too!!! WOW!! Good job guys!! The bottom line is that I found the gaming room on Sunday evening and I couldn't bear it!! It smelled like my brother's football bag when he brought his stuff home for my mom to wash... EEEWWW!!! In case anyone else is wondering about where it was... well it was on the third floor of the hotel. It is my understanding that things will be much better with all of the gaming at Fanime 05, but until then... I
give the Fanime 04 Game Room The
Fanime Karaoke Room gets Club
Fanime
Saturday Night gets The music festival was quite entertaining and the MC (Master of Ceremonies) did an awesome job keeping us all entertained in between sets. Nami Tamaki and her dancers treated us to several songs off of her cd Greeting. Many of you may know her songs Believe and Realize from Mobil Suit Gundam Seed. These are but two good songs on this cd. The performance of "Shining Star" was exciting to watch. The
Fanime Music Festival gets On a side note... I wanted to
say that I give the MC of the
music festival When all is said and done I had a wonderful time. I would recommend Fanime to Otaku's everywhere. It has something for everyone. I hope that Fanime stays a "For Fans By Fans" con because it has a unique flavor all it's own. That's all for now. Till next time.... Anime Wishes & Cosplay Dreams .... BSaphire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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to make the room smell better.....
because you did
your job very well. Thank you!!