Cherry Blossom Festival 2012
So, it's been about half a year since I last cosplayed! @A@
And it's probably my first time in a very long time cosplaying solely from a show that's not Hetalia! xDD
No. 6!
This was my first try putting makeup on, and I'm rather pleased with the result, though my next try won't be as rushed xDD
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to research good poses before leaving (I'm a bad poser and I need to learn how to pose properly in cosplay >A>;; ), so most of my photos were badly improvised, and standing up (the only good poses I could remember involved sitting down, reading a book, holding a mouse, etc. but I didn't bring any props with me even though I considered it "orz )
Anyway, at the parade, the first surprise was that there were a bunch of tents, big and small, pitched right on the area we were waiting at, apparently because it was Earth Day. (you'll see some of them in the background)
One of the tents I remember was selling medical marijuana... oAo;
It was also slightly awkward when small groups of obviously non-anime people passed us by xD
One of my friends I've accompanied with in past Cherry Blossom festivals.
Because my parents didn't drive me to San Fran this year (I got a ride from someone else), I had to meet up and hang out with my friends the entire time.
She already knew about No. 6, which made me happy, since, apparently the show isn't as popular as I thought... ;m;
Some of the many awesome cosplays...
There was a group of Black Rock Shooter cosplayers (and I found one of my friends cosplaying BRS, but I never said hi to her! I'm a terrible friend!! QAQ )
AHHHH :D
Apparently the only Tiger and Bunny cosplay I've seen over here in the actual suit!
And well made too! (I think the person won in the cosplay competition, but I don't know what place xD; )
I also forgot to mention there were quite a few Avatar/Korra cosplayers (of course because of the latest Korra hype xD )
Speaking of which, I finally finished the Aang series and started up the Korra series :D
I loved her Zuko cosplay! :D (lots of great cosplayers this year!)
The cosplayer on the right was the first person, besides my friend, who recognized who I was! (after an hour of being there?? ;7; )
We got to have a small chat about several animes (she also likes Kimi to Boku! The first person I've met who loves it as much as I do! (seriously underrated show in our opinions)) and getting sunburned xD (like last year)
One of the parade hosts then took her away (I noticed afterward that they were sorting us kinda by cosplay colours, and since I was blue and my Korra was blue, we could stand nearby each other, though I couldn't find any sign of my new friend.
We were then told by the hosts to get into lines, but it was only several minutes past 11, and the parade is supposed to start at 1! (and yes, we had to wait (and stand!) in line for a LONG time)
Just a photo I took of the building in front of me while I waited xD
While I continued waiting (and our lines were slowly looking less like lines, and more like a blob of people, or "amoeba" as I called it), I heard the sound of small wheels, like from skates or something, and thought, "Oh no, a skateboarder is coming along, what is he going to do??", until I saw...
This dog was just casually skating over, and stopped almost in front of me (great photo opportunity), and almost immediately, a bunch of photographers surrounded the dog!
I thought it would start skating again, but it only began woofing at everyone around itself. xD
At some point the dog went away, and after a couple more times of our hosts trying to line us up and us slowly "amoeba-ing", my friend and I got to look at some cosplays while we still waited...
Arrietty!! QAQ (she even had the hair clip! Too bad I wasn't able to capture it ;~; )
There were a few other Ghibli cosplays, like a Nausicaä, Haku and Chihiro.
Warrior!Sokka! (Apparently he's the Aang from last year :P )
My friend and I were also waiting to see if another friend and her friends would be meeting up with us, but they ended up getting stuck in traffic and had to opt out of the parade and be in the audience instead :C
At 1:17 we finally got moving in the parade!
The weather hardly bothered me (despite not wearing a very light outfit), though the sun didn't show any mercy again this year, and it left me with a sunburn only on my hand (from holding my bag the entire time).
I also wasn't wearing very comfortable shoes, but it wasn't uncomfortable enough for me to get blisters (maybe my feet are getting used to walking a lot?? xDD )
Some other cosplays I saw included human Lorax, some Vocaloid cosplays, Durarara! (same Izaya and Shizuo (plus vending machine(!) from last year), and others.
Once in a while, some cosplayers who were in the audience would jump into and join the parade at random xD
Even a few minutes before the parade split up, an Aladdin and his friends jumped in xDDD
We also bumped into another Korra!
Even though I didn't capture it very well, this photo is just too epic: Two Korras infamously glaring and pointing at each other while Sokka photobombs xDDDDDDD
We got to see my friend in the audience (cosplaying Shiemi from Blue Exorcist, ASDFGH--her costume was so cute!!)
After trying to squeeze through the crowds in narrow pathways (and getting squished and occasionally separated), we finally met up with them and went inside the Japantown Mall (already coming prepared with a handheld fan, which helped somewhat, though it was still hot D: )
We first got to buy food and drinks (I got the usual apple tea, though I didn't get soy sauce dango, although my friend's friend shared some with me, so it made it up :P )
We browsed briefly in the manga store (my friend wanted to show me a No. 6 artbook, which almost sounded tempting to buy, but I hardly had time to look at stuff and I hadn't eaten an actual meal yet and I was hungry, plus there was someone reading the book, and it looked like it might have been the last of its kind, I couldn't tell! ;A; )
After hanging out a bit outside, we decided to separate, Korra and I were going to eat food while Shiemi and her friends were going to walk a bit.
Of course I was hungry and tired from walking, so I opted to stay and eat food, so we had to part ways... ono
We chose to eat at Izumiya (a restaurant that serves FANTASTIC okonomiyaki, which I eat there almost every time I visit Japantown *u* ), we had to wait for a while though.
I got to meet up with my driver, who we've originally planned to leave at around 4 PM (and it was already around 3:45 then, and we were still waiting for our table!)
But we agreed to meet up and leave about an hour later as soon as I was finished eating.
By the time we were finished eating, it was at least 10 minutes before we met up, and so we had less than 10 minutes to hang out, and I had an idea to go to a small area near the crepe shop where there was water and make a "waterbending" photo.
(oh look there's me. Didn't notice at first, whoops xDD )
Not quite a waterbending photo just yet.
I want to try my hand at photoshopping it to make it look like there's water flying in the air and being "waterbent" by Korra xD
Hopefully I'll update with it soon...
Then when it was 5, it was time for me to meet up with my driver and head home.
I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked to this year, hopefully I'll be going to Japantown again sometime soon.
All in all, it was very fun, and nothing bad happened at all, which was partly why I was worried that morning. (and I was recognized at least 5 times, not bad ouo )