Cosplay: Literally “Costume Play.” Dressing up and pretending to be a fictional character (usually a sci-fi, comic book, or anime character).
Cosplay is often a fun way to express your fandom. It helps show others what you like, escape into a character, and bond with other fans be it characters from sci-fi, comic books, or anime.
I have cosplayed. My sons have as well. I have done Kensei Ma from Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple and Yuugo Tennouji , aka “Mr Braun” (Steins Gate). My son has done Kululu from Sgt. Frog.
It’s fun. And I have had nothing but good experiences, as has my son. In fact, earlier this year at Anime Milwaukee, my son got invited to participate in the Masquerade (Cosplay competition) where everyone was very welcoming and supportive to him.
This, however, is not everyone’s experience.
I became aware that bullying was a thing in the cosplay community last year at Anime Midwest while attending voice actor, Greg Ayres’s panel: “Why Your Fandom Sucks”. He told a few horror stories where some fans take things too far and ruin the experience for others. It was through Greg Ayres’s Facebook page that I became aware of the documentary: “Cosplay With Kindness”.
The film maker was inspired to do this documentary after attending Greg Ayre’s “It Gets Better” panel at Anime-Zap. It is to address, and hopefully combat, bullying in the cosplay and convention going community.
Cosplay and conventions should be fun. I remember when I saw the “Why Your Fandom Sucks” panel Greg saying (and I paraphrase): “There is no wrong way to cosplay. If you are not the same size, race, or gender as the character that you are cosplaying as: Who cares? You are being a fan. If your outfit is not professionally perfect: It doesn’t matter. You are being a fan and sharing your love of something with others.”
That struck a chord with me. As a parent, and as a bit of an outcast myself, I appreciated this message. Support this project.
And more than anything else: Be kind!
-As a side note. It was my experience at Anime Midwest and seeing the Greg Ayres panel in 2014 that inspired me to start this blog.
Ore Monogatari (My Love Story), which is currently airing, has been the biggest surprise show of the spring season for me. In short: It is too cute for words! Now I am not normally one who seeks out, or gets excited about, cute shows/ things but this show has won me over. It is a sweet love story that has characters with more depth than I initially expected, and it’s funny.
I love this this show and so do my boys. Right before we went to Anime Midwest I had the boys and their cousin and my older son’s best friend over. They all sat down to watch Ore Monogatari. I was shocked as my older son’s friend loves this show! She is a “Left For Dead”, black wearing, zombie loving, teenage girl: but she loves how cute Ore Monogatari is. Consider me dumbfounded.
The story follows Takeo Gouda, a first year student in high school. Takeo is a big guy. I mean, huge. He is an athlete who is admired by other males for being a cool, strong, athletic, nice guy. Takeo is not popular with girls. He is a bit awkward. He stares, invades people’s space, and is not the “bishonen” (pretty boy) type (which his best friend, Suna is).
One day on the train with his friend, Makoto Sunakawa (Suna), they spot a girl being groped by a stranger. Takeo stops the sexual assault and apprehends the perpetrator. The girl, Rinko Yamato (who is a student at a nearby girl’s school), is grateful for Takeo’s help. Yamato later finds where Takeo lives to bring him a cake that she made as thanks.
Takeo really likes the cake.
And from there “My Love Story” begins.
Of course the love story is about Takeo and Yamato. And that is what sets the show apart. My older son was pointing out that it was refreshing to see someone who is the comic relief (and normally would be a supporting character) be the main love interest.
The love story between Takeo and Yamato is deeply sweet. It is slow in it’s development, it is sweet and genuine. The two adore each other and are self conscious about it which makes the show all the more enjoyable.
Takeo is very traditional, conservative, and slow to act. He cares about her deeply and finds her very cute. He wants to make sure he acts honorable towards Yamato and treats her with respect. He is head over heels for her.
Yamato finds Takeo to be the coolest person ever. She wants to hold his hand, she bakes for him, wants to spend time with him, and watches everything Takeo does through rose colored glasses.
This is how Yamato looks at Takeo.
Another aspect of the show that I enjoy is the friendship between Suna and Takeo. It is not glossed over. It is treated with respect. Suna is, unlike Takeo, popular with the girls. He is a pretty boy and girls swoon over him and want to date him. The thing is, Suna doesn’t want to date any of them. He has seen too many girls over time talking crap about Takeo behind his back and he doesn’t accept this: he is a loyal friend. Since they lived next to each other and their mothers were friends, Suna and Takeo grew up together. Their childhood friendship is shown at several points in the show.
Attention Parents: Watch this show. There is no cursing, fan service, or difficult themes. In fact there are a few things are that are worthwhile lessons: Loyalty in friendship, respectful treatment of others, love that is sweet, the value of hard work, and to be yourself.
I can’t recommend this show enough. It is too damn cute! It is cute. It is funny. Give it a watch.
Anime Midwest has come and gone. I am tired, but really happy. It was a blast and is my favorite Con so far. I packed up my two sons, their cousin, and my older son’s friend (my best friend’s daughter) and headed out early for Chicago. A nice option from the con: this year they started mailing badges for pre-registered attendees. However, I forgot to click the box for my boys to get their badges mailed so we had to pick theirs up at the con. Since we got there early, there was no line: no problem. We checked into the Hyatt Regency O’hare, got our badges, and brought all our stuff in to get ready for the con. The first panels, merch room, and other events began at 12 noon. My younger son and I went to see the opening ceremonies and the teens went their own way. It was a packed weekend and I had a hard time figuring out how to divide it all up to explain it, so here I go.
Panels and Guests
As I said earlier, the first panel that we attended was the opening ceremonies. This is where the convention staff do a little intro and introduce the many guests in attendance. It was running a little behind so we did not see the entire thing.
We left to see the “Meet Billy West” panel. Billy West is the voice actor known for Futurama (playing Phillip J. Fry, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, Dr. John Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan), Ren and Stimpy, and a host of other roles. A great speaker and seemed to be a genuinely humble guy who really enjoyed talking with the audience. If you ever have the chance, go and see him.
We also caught the tail end of “Meet David Matangra”. He has a much larger catalog of anime credits than I was aware of but some of his more notable roles are: Bertolt on Attack on Titan, Daichi on Say I Love You, and Tomoya in Clannad. We only were able to hear about the last 10 minutes of his panel where he was talking about theater and some upcoming work he was doing. One thing you find is that a lot of the American voice actors have a background in theater.
Most of the other panels we caught were on Saturday.
We started off with “Reviewing 101”. This was an interesting panel, but more focused on You Tube style reviews. It was put on by a person who was a My Little Pony reviewer (among other things). It was informative anyways and a good slow way to start out the day.
We also caught part of the “Meet Caitlynn French” panel. I found out from that she has serious nerd cred being not only a anime fan, but a video game player, and table top gamer. She was recently announced as the voice for Shiro in No Game No Life (which she was very excited about). My son’s main reason for wanting to meet her was for her roles in AKB0048 (Suzuko) and Girls und Panzer (Hana). She is also a pre-school teacher in her non-voice acting life. My son spoke to her briefly after the panel and she was very cool to him.
The highlight panels for me on Saturday were the Greg Ayres panels: “Why “Your Fandom Sucks” and “It Gets Better- Anime Con Edition”.
“Why Your Fandom Sucks” is a panel on how fans can go off the rails, take their fandom a little too seriously, and how this can ruin things for others. Greg told horror stories of where fans did dumb things, outrageous things, and sometimes downright hurtful things all kind of tied to their various fandoms. It is a panel well worth attending if you have a chance. Greg is a good storyteller and the over-arching message of the panel is a good one: Be a good fan, don’t be a jerk, make a supportive community of fans, and that as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else there is not really a “wrong way” to be a fan. As a parent I can get behind this kind of message and find it to be important.
“It Gets Better- Anime Con Edition” is based off the “It Gets Better” project which was started in response to a series to teen suicides where kids were being bullied for being (or perceived as being) gay. Greg hosts this panel to talk about bullying of LGBT teens and bullying in the fan community as well. Being the parent of an openly gay teen, this is another panel I truly appreciate.
The only other panel attended that weekend by my younger son and I was the “Boxers or Briefs- Multi Guest Q&A” on Sunday morning. This was a rapid fire Q & A panel where any silly question was asked. Many of the guests were recovering from heavy partying the night before and it got pretty raunchy. Oh well…I knew there would be some questionable parenting moments at the con. I have come to accept this will happen.. he did find the repeated answer of “three dicks” to be hilarious (best in context I guess) as any 11 year old would. Guests : John Swasey, Caitlynn French, Greg Ayres, Chris Rager, David Matranga, Joel McDonald, Chuck Huber, Sonny Strait, Spike Spencer, Chris Cason, Blake Shepard, DC Douglas, and Eric Stuart.
There were many other panels I would have loved to seen, but only so much time in a weekend to see it all.
Concerts
Anime Midwest really shined in the amount of musical guests they have…really quite a great line up of acts. I saw more than I planned on seeing (which was great) and wish I would’ve seen more.
Face Time Police
We wandered on this performance on the mini stage off of the Con Sweet ( a place for con-goers to get free rice, ramen, and soda). The duo does songs inspired by anime and video games. They had a lively acoustic set which was pretty enjoyable.
Brentalfloss
A comedian and musician who has a popular You Tube channel where he does video game music “With Lyrics” put on an entertaining performance. We ended up in this show thinking we were coming to the end of the Mega Ran and K-Murdock concert so we could be early for Steam Powered Giraffe, but everything was behind schedule so we saw most of Brentalfloss’s set. He was very fun and my son liked the “Mad Libs” song he did (a largely inappropriate version of “Let it Go”).
Mega Ran and K-Murdock
After Brentalfloss these guys came out and..damn! I am thrilled I got to see them! I had no prior experience with Mega Ran, but he was awesome live. He is considered to be the best known video-game influenced musical artist out there and is licensed by CAPCOM as their official rap/ hip hop artist. They ended their set with YT Cracker coming up on stage with them: it was awesome! I have gotten a couple of his recordings since the con and really like his stuff. Check him out!
Steam Powered Giraffe
We saw them last year and had to go see them again. The steam punk inspired robots putting on their show that is both music and comedic performance. They put on an excellent, entertaining show and are well worth a watch. My boys and myself were all looking forward to seeing them again.
Raves
There were Rave dances on both Friday and Saturday nights. The teens attended the rave on Saturday until around 1:00 am and I checked it out a little as well. While I don’t really dance to rave music, I could appreciate anyways. I like what I saw of Greg Ayres set more than the first and my older so liked his more as well. The downside of curfew for teens: they happened to leave right before $1000.oo in small bills was thrown into the audience. They weren’t happy to hear they missed that.
The Cosplays
There are always so many great cosplays, so many that I don’t know, and I always mean to take more pictures, but never seem to get enough.
Holy Madoka! There were a lot of Puella Magi Madoka Magica cosplays at this con. I got so many pictures since my son was stopping everyone to take his own pictures of them. I have thought it would be hilarious/ disturbing if I cosplayed as Mami Tomoe sometime, but not shaving my beard and walking with an exaggerated “man” walk while complaining about the other magical girls and about getting older…
Metalocalypse
Zapp Brannigan cross-play and a minion.
Not sure who they all are, but video game related I think. They all did great jobs on their costumes.
Nudist Beach (Kill La Kill) and Mekakucity Actors
Clannad (Tomoyo and Tomoya) and Full Metal Alchemist (Lust and Greed)
Danmachi (Hestia), Ouran High School Host Club (Tamaki), Dragon Ball (Master Roshi)
Nisekoi (Chitoge and Onodera), A Spiderman, No Face, Winry Rockbell (FMA), and Stein (Soul Eater).
A few more pictures I took. A Jon Snow, some colorful people, and “Kawaii-Vader”.
It wouldn’t be a con without a couple of furries…
My favorite photo I took. A cross-play of Death The Kid (Soul Eater)
The kids
My son finally got Chuck Huber to autograph the headpiece for his Kululu cosplay, which was awesome.
Lesson: Never leave a horse mask unattended..
A ramen lunch at Mitsuwa is always a good idea.
Exhausted kids on the way home means a job well done.
It’s time to pack up the kids and go to another convention! This time I am taking my 2 boys, their cousin, and a friend all to Anime Midwest in Chicago this coming weekend. 3 teens and a pre-teen. When I tell most people this, they shudder. However, the 3 teens will probably ditch me for most of the time and so it will just be me and my younger son.
We attended this one last year and really enjoyed it and I have been looking forward to this con more than any this year. There is a ton to do: concerts, panels, gaming, raves, a maid cafe, and much more.
A truly enjoyable steam punk inspired musical act that are a lot of fun!
Greg Ayres
Voice actor ( Clannad, Ouran High School Host Club, Deadman Wonderland, Free! Eternal Summer), DJ, and Project Beck. I saw Greg’s “Why Your Fandom Sucks” panel and really enjoyed it due to it’s (despite the misleading title) message of inclusion and trying to maintain a supportive community of fans. As a dad I can get behind this message.
Chuck Huber
A voice actor known for roles in: Full Metal Alchemist, Soul Eater, Black Butler, One Piece, and most importantly, Sgt Frog. As some of you may have read before, my younger son is a Sgt Frog fan and cosplays as Kululu. Chuck Huber was the voice of Kululu and so he (my son) wants his head piece autographed badly.
David Matranga
A voice actor who has been in several shows including Attack on Titan, but more importantly for me: Clannad. My first real show that drew me into anime. I’d be interested to see a panel with him.
Billy West
The voice of several characters on Futurama including the role model for all men: Zapp Brannigan. Also known for tons of other American voice work ( Jimmy Neutron, Ren and Stimpy). ” Brannigan’s Law is like Brannigan’s love, hard and fast.”
Samurai Dan & Lady Gillian
They know martial arts. They teach you a few things. They are hilarious. Enough said.
There is so much more going on, many more talented voice actors and other interesting guests attending. Check out the website to see all of what they have to offer. I will post some updates about the convention sometime after.
-Most images are from the Anime Midwest website. I do not own them.
Also known as “DanMachi’ or “Familia Myth”, this anime has been both a light novel and manga before it was picked up by J.C. Staff for adaptation.
Set in the world Orario, adventurers set out for fame, money, and glory to a dungeon where they gain experience fighting monsters and other kinds of beasts. The adventurers are set up in “familias” which are led by gods (who have made the choice to live among humans at a loss of their divine powers). The gods in the show are taken from all sorts of mythologies: Greek, Roman, Norse, and Hindu.
The story follows Bell Cranel, a young (and new) adventurer, who is the only member of the Hestia familia. Bell is an earnest kid who just wants to be the best adventurer he can be and to become a hero one day. Hestia (named for the Greek Goddess of the hearth) is a low level goddess who is portrayed as a big chested “loli”.
She is very protective of Bel and tries her best to support her only family member, but she can be a little too clingy/ possessive when it comes to Bel.
In a nutshell the show is largely an adventure based show (that has a few harem elements) that is largely modeled after Dungeons and Dragons or an MMO, with gods manipulating things in the background.
I liked the show, although it was not a stand out for me this season. The animation was done well and many times it reminded me a little of Sword Art Online. Although my older son pointed out that this may be because both Kirito and Bell are both voiced by Matsouka, Yoshitsugu. The story is decent and I think if it continues, has the potential to become more interesting as you see what the gods are up to behind the scenes.
It also has a decent OP:
Attention Parents: There is fan-service in this one. Big, bouncy, anime chests and some skimpy outfits is the most regular offender in the show. There is also a nude scene at one point. Monsters are getting killed so there is some blood as well. If any of these things offend you: you have been warned.
This was a good show, not great (in my opinion), but worth a watch if you’re looking for something to do.
While it is still ongoing and I’d guess it will go for the 20 episode stretch, I will weigh in with my thoughts on it so far.
It follows the manga really well and that could be it’s undoing. The episodes (and the manga) I feel are inconsistent. The manga often doesn’t really go anywhere at many points and has a fair amount of filler. Sometimes these stories are amusing, sometimes weak.
There is the introduction of new characters which is good and needs to happen.
Kosaki’s little sister, Haru.
Paula McCoy a member of the Bee Hive Gang that looks up to Tsugumi.
Often episodes with these introductions are short, or weaker as a whole show, but they are also pretty close reflections of the manga.
There was the candy making episode where Haru and Raku have to get along and find common ground. It is a short episode, there’s not much to it. It does serve it’s purpose, which is to show that the two characters can get along and do share some common ground.
And I am not about to say it’s all bad. The episodes with Chitoge’s mother are some of my favorite bits from the series.
This is my little opinion. Second season: not as good, but it is largely loyal to it’s source material. It is still worth a watch, but be aware it may feel like (and be) filler at times.
We shall see how the rest of the season plays out.
Hibiki Amami can see ghosts. She can not only see them, but interacts with them on a daily basis. She leaves offerings for them, talks with the serial killer victim, knits for the ghost of the young girl that haunts a bathroom, and plays with the spirits of dead children. She has a generous heart to those who have passed on.
This sets her apart from others. She is a new student that has transferred to a new high school and has always had a hard time making friends (besides ghosts) because of her “gift”. Other students are mostly scared or weird-ed out by her behavior.
And if you saw someone being dragged off by spirits you might be put off a little as well.
Luckily, the classmates at her new school seem to be a fairly tolerant bunch and she makes friends fairly quickly. And that’s what the show is about: a high school girl who can talk to the dead.
Overall I liked the show, it didn’t amaze me, but it was a fun diversion at times that had a few problems.
First off, the stories were a strange mix of comedy and sometimes really touching drama. The drama was usually done fairly well and there were some very touching moments. And then there was the comedy which could be a mixed bag. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I didn’t find the perverted cat that funny, but they didn’t over-use him and they tried to vary how he showed up at least.
The animation was fine and had some good points to it, except one thing bothered me that I could never get past:
Kana Urehara and Kyoko Esumi’s eyes through their hair!!! I found it so annoying! It definitely distracted me. I know it’s petty, but it did.
Attention Parents: Overall the show is pretty harmless. There is the perverted cat yelling about panties in several episodes, but that is about the worst of it. The show does deal with spirits and issues of the afterlife, if that conflicts with your religious ideals then you might want to give it a pass.
Overall I liked the show, but it definitely has it’s faults. What it does have is a good sense of compassion and interconnectedness (spell check says this isn’t a word, but you know what I mean). Hibiki’s compassion for the dead comes through in all the things she does for them which is often being a liaison to the living. It is when she is afraid she has lost her “gift” that her friend shows her the impact that she has had on the living. This is something that we all forget. Our impact on others. We, for better or worse, affect others. It is something to remember in your daily lives. Be nice, take a lesson from Hibiki. Sometimes a small kindness goes a long way.
I know I come late to the game in this one, and that it has been out for a while, but it showed up on Crunchyroll so I decided to give it a try.
I watched it with my 11 year old. It is fine. There is nothing that I would call objectionable. What I will say about this film is it tends towards a somewhat mature story line that may not hold a younger viewers interest.
The film (with a run time of about 60 minutes) is stunningly beautiful. The story is subdued, dealing with love, loss, and unrequited feelings. I watched the dub (which is rare for me) which was well done. I enjoyed it a lot and honestly found myself just saying: “Wow” a lot in response to the animation.
If you think your kids can sit through the story, have them watch it. Heck, if you want to explain to a friend or your parents how beautiful anime can be, have them watch this!
Until next time, keep watching and doing what you love. So will I.
I can’t tell you how badly I fanboy-ed when I found out “Puella Magi Madoka Magica; Rebellion” had been added to Netflix (yes, sad for a 40 something man). I had previously watched about half of it online on my computer, but knew it was something that needed to be experienced on a bigger screen if possible. How true that is.
This series has been a surprising favorite of mine and (as many know) was put out by my favorite studio, Shaft.
I have now watched it twice. Once alone, and once with my boys.
It is beautiful, confusing, and wonderful.
First off. The animation is beautiful. You can tell the studio went to astound audience in a theater with the animation of the film. It is detailed, creative, and downright surreal at times.
The confusing.
The story is confusing. This I’ll admit. I have read some of the criticisms and agree it could have ended half an hour earlier. However, after a second watch I found it more agreeable than the first time around. So to those who watched it once and got mad: Watch it again. You may come away with a different impression.
And there are things like the cake song that make you go: ????
The Wonderful.
It is ultimately a love story. If not a romantic one, a one of a deep love for your friends and those you care about. I won’t give too much away, but this scene was a great one that nearly made my older son cry:
And who can blame him? I came to tears as well. But that was true in many parts. As the title of this post suggests: “Rebellion” is not the feel good film of the year. It is sad, touching, and a bit maddening at times (hence my son’s loud declaration that “No one can be happy! Can there just be an AU where they can just be happy lesbians where no one dies or turns into a fucking demon?!”).
He’s got a point.
A dramatic, teenage, point.
But if it wasn’t good enough…There was another ClariS song: Colorful
After a long break my son and I got back to Steins Gate: Episodes 5 and 6.
More exposition occurs. The IBN 5100 is gotten up and running. Daru hacks into SERN and the larger fears are confirmed: SERN is (and has been) doing time travel experiments and people have been dying.
We find that Suzuha is not a fan of Kurisu and warns Okabe not to trust her.
Why so intense Suzuha?
Further experiments are done with the microwave and the emails that go back in time (now dubbed “d-mails”). They do experiments and deduce some of the rules around how and what can be sent through time.
We also get Moeka Kiryu back into the story as she shows up on the lab’s doorstep with a decided interest in seeing the IBN 5100. After everyone inadvertently spills the beans about the time machine microwave in front of her, Okabe feels compelled to make her a lab member as well.
The most socially awkward Moeka.
And that is a minimal synopsis of what happens in these episodes.
From a parenting view there is not a lot that is new. More “hentai”/ “banana” jokes and a few yuri jokes thrown in as well (some of which my son caught, some not).
There are the scenes of the dead SERN experiment volunteers which may be uncomfortable for some, but they weren’t so graphic that I worried and my son didn’t seem to bat an eye at them either.
Gruesome? A little, but not overly so.
What I find the biggest challenge for my son is the content. This is not on an appropriateness level, but a complexity of the subject matter. While he enjoys Okabe’s madness and Daru’s perverted jokes, the content of the story is confusing. He admitted that the characters speak fast and it is hard to keep up, but has a general idea of what is happening. But this is a time travel show with lots of content and explanation of made up theory. It is really well done, but for an 11 year old who may not be giving it his full attention, it can be a hard show to follow.
Does this stop the experiment? No. We’ll keep watching as long as he’s enjoying it.
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