Utawarerumono: The False Faces Based off a visual novel for the Playstation platforms, Utawarerumono is the biggest disappointment for me this season. Sure, I dropped a few others (Comet Lucifer, Attack on Titan: Junior High, and Mr Osomatsu) due to a lack of interest, but for some reason I had higher hopes for Utawarerumono.
I think I had placed my expectations higher for mostly 2 reasons. One, I thought (based off the first couple of episodes) that the world it was set in looked interesting. It has a kind of mixing of Chinese and Japanese aesthetic in a fantasy setting which I found appealing. Two, the animation was really pretty good. Some beautiful scenes are featured, especially in the OP.
And the show keeps good animation throughout. The story however is another matter.
The pacing of the story is slow. It starts with potential and kind of fizzles out. You get an idea that something interesting may be happening in the background, but this doesn’t get fleshed out. Instead we get:
Fan service. Animal-eared and tailed girls acting pointlessly “cutesy” and multiple bathing scenes. You also have the main character ending each sentence she utters with: “I think”. It is annoying. I can forgive some fan service here and there if the story is good and going somewhere, but this just feels like it is exploiting it for it’s own sake.
Now maybe if I had watched the other associated anime or played the visual novel I would appreciate this show more, but I didn’t and I don’t.
Attention Parents: Overall the show doesn’t have a lot wrong with it, but there is nudity and some ecchi situations that may not be appropriate for younger viewers.
Go ahead and give it a try. Just because it wasn’t my thing doesn’t mean it won’t be yours.
I just finished Silver Spoon and found it to be a really well done, thoughtful anime.
The show follows the daily life of Yuugo Hachiken as a student at Ooezo Agricultural High School in Hokkaido. Yuugo is the fish out of water character. He grew up in Sapporo with no previous farm experience, but after not doing well on his high school entrance exams chose Ooezo Agricultural High School as a way to distance himself from his self perceived failure and from the disapproval of his father.
The show is an entertaining, fish out of water, slice of life, school anime. Watching Hachiken deal with a new life is fun and entertaining, as he experiences things his peers take for granted (as most of them are from farming families).
Early on in the show, is Hachiken’s revelation that eggs come out a chicken’s anus during his practicum time working in a hen house. This is a mental hurdle as he had never thought about his food (like most of us don’t). He gets past it, and also realizes he level of freshness of the egg he is getting at school is something great that he’d never experienced before.
This is not the only hurdle he has to overcome. He also names a pig that was the runt of the litter and takes the pig’s care as a special project. His classmates (and teachers) warn him against this kind of attachment to an animal that will be slaughtered once it is big enough to go to market.
Hachiken doesn’t listen and cares for the pig anyway. Later, when the pig has to go to market Hachiken is saddened, but uses money he had earned helping at a friend’s farm to purchase the pig’s meat and makes bacon out of it. His perspective on the pig he raised (he named it Pork Bowl)also has an effect on his friends and how they think about what is normal for them. In the end, he shares the meat with everyone (including sending some bacon to his parents).
Like most fish out of water styles of shows, Silver Spoon is largely about the main protagonist’s journey of self discovery and this show delivers just that in a satisfying manner.
The animation is good, story enjoyable, and the are characters fun and generally likable. It is well worth a watch.
Attention Parents: This is a good show for kids. No cursing, no fan service, and not violent. Where it might be questionable for really young children is the realistic depictions of farming. There is poop. There is some blood. But overall I think the benefits are greater as it may give some kids to thinking a little more about where their food comes from and how it is raised. Sure this is just a show, but it does touch on these issues to a degree. In fact, I’ll probably make my younger son start watching it next weekend (I’m sure he won’t object).
And did you know that Edward Elric made a cameo in Silver Spoon?
Just kidding! Gotta love Deviant Art though….
*all images in this post are not the property of the blog*
I finally got around to watching Kimi ni todoke recently. It has been a well liked series by both of my boys and I can see why it’s a very well done show (albeit a bit “angst-y” as my older son puts it).
Based on the ongoing manga, it follows Sawako Kuronuma. Sawako is a socially awkward high school student who was dubbed “Sadako” for her resemblance to the main character in the Japanese horror film “The Ring” (because of this people falsely attribute supernatural abilities to her). Sawako is socially isolated and has no friends. This changes as one of the more popular boys (and someone Sawako admires),Kazehaya, starts talking to her at school. And through the year Sawko starts to gain new friendships (something she’s never had) and her feelings for Kazehaya deepens.
This show is strongest in it’s characters. Sawako is a hilariously awkward character. She takes everything thing people say seriously and to heart. While this can be viewed as a good trait to have, it can also prove problematic for her (misunderstandings abound). And her facial expressions are priceless.
Sawako develops two good friendships with her classmates: Ayane Yano and Chizuru Yoshida. These two are great. They are who’d you would want in your corner. They are loyal and great friends to Sawako, supporting her and helping her grow.
Kazehaya and the rest of the supporting characters are wonderfully written and enjoyable to watch. It is the care in which in the relationships between the characters are treated that makes this a fun show to watch (although it does get a bit “angst-y” as my son said).
Attention Parents: The show is largely harmless. There is no fan service, cursing, or violence. A younger viewer may not be interested in the teen drama interactions, but for a teen or tween viewer it’s a good watch.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show (although at times you wanted to yell at Sawako and Kazehaya for being so angst ridden about each other). The art is Shoujo style and good for the subject. The characters and their relationships is where the show shines as I said earlier. And the music is not bad either.
I was thinking the other day that it may seem like I am always vetting every single thing my younger son watches and he is always asking to watch things that aren’t appropriate for his age (in my view).
That really isn’t the whole story.
Yes, I do pre-screen many things to see if they are okay for him to watch.
And yes, he does ask to watch things that aren’t appropriate for him at times.
But there is much more that he watches.
One Piece
Among his favorites is the sprawling epic of Monkey D Luffy and crew. I have barely watched this show. I’ve seen it when it is on and have watched one of the movies, but never have dedicated any time to the show myself. Now I know it is a bit fan-service-y and there is some cursing, but over all this is a title that I never felt like I had to restrict (or just never did).
Fairy Tail
Lucy joins the magical guild Fairy Tail and encounters Natsu who is on his quest to find the dragon, Igneel. Much like One Piece, it is a long form anime with many characters and long story arcs (not as long as One Piece mind you). It has many of the same qualities as One Piece, but probably less cursing that I’ve noticed (although I could be completely wrong on this). My son loves it. Watches it. A dedicated fan.
Naruto
To me it was the show where the kid (Naruto) is always yelling for some reason. I didn’t watch it. My younger son, however, dedicated a lot of time to catching up to the entire show this year (in all of it’s incarnations). I never felt like he needed to be steered away from this title.
And now for the “cute” stuff…
My younger son likes “cute” shows. He really does. and this makes some viewing even easier since there are rarely things that I find objectionable in these shows.
Love Live!
A show about school idols (singing group). I never watched it, and never felt like I should have to. His older brother had already watched some of it and would have said if it was bad in any way. He really loves his idol shows.
AKB0048
Idols fighting for freedom in space and singing. What’s not a 12 year old to like? This is a favorite of his and he owns both seasons, thank you very much. I actually was the one who introduced him to this show and I was surprised at how much he took to it. The only thing that bugs me about this show (and many anime with teen girls) is how they sit around and have them talk about their breasts. This is such weird fan pandering that is so consistent that it is an accepted part of the landscape of these kinds of shows, but I find it annoying nonetheless.
The Everyday Tales of a Cat God
A goofy comedy about a lazy cat god that gets kicked out of the god’s realm for being too much of a slacker and has to spend time here on earth without many of the special privileges they enjoyed before. It is a silly, cute show. Admittedly, I have not watched much of it. But it seems largely harmless.
Place To Place
A cute,slice of life, school comedy. It’s clever. Well written. Amusing. And very cute. He loves this show. It is his favorite comedy net to Sgt Frog. I have watched a bunch of this show and it is largely good, harmless fun.
So there you have it. Shows I never really said no on or screened too in depth. Sometimes you do need to throw caution to the wind and not assume everything out there is harmful to your child. There is a great amount that is very accessible to younger viewers. These are among his favorites.
Soon I’ll be back to more regular writing I hope.
Thanks for reading.
*I do not own any of the images contained in this post*
There is a double-edged sword sometimes of being a fan of media and being a parent I find. While I write this blog often referring to what I see in shows that might be red flags to parents of kids who like to watch anime there are times when we make exceptions. I guess what I am saying is: I can be a hypocrite at times.
It is not intentional hypocrisy. It is more that exceptions are made at times that overrule our normal censoring.
The first case in point for me was : “A Certain Scientific Railgun”. Now I have written about this, but to recap. I had watched the show. I thought it was well done. It was entertaining and had good animation. The show did have some ecchi bits without a doubt. I kind of glossed over those in my mind in favor of what I thought was a compelling story that took the issue of when science goes to far and a moral center is lost for the sake of progress. I weighed the options: story vs some ecchi scenes. It did backfire on me. My son’s mother was upset with one of the scenes and I suppose I can’t blame her (I had forgotten about the shower scene), but choices were made and what was done was done.
It happens that sometimes that one will have different measures of what kind of violence is okay. The more realistic: the less likely I am to let my younger son watch it. “Chaika: The Coffin Princess” is one of these cases. His mother was disturbed by the dark nature of the show (ie; a girl collecting body parts), whereas I saw it as so far removed from our reality that it’s premise, while gruesome, was acceptable since he could see it as unrealistic fantasy. Sometimes the compromise in my brain isn’t just the gore or gruesomeness, but the context in which it is presented.
Sometimes there is something you want to watch and the kids are there and you think: How bad could it be? This weekend the boys and I watched “Kung Fury” (obviously not an anime). It was 35 minutes of over-the -top violence. Arms getting ripped off, peoples heads exploding, etc. But it was so ridiculous that no one could truly take it seriously. It was closer to reality ( as it was not animated), but it was also far from reality in it’s complete ridiculous nature (Hitler traveling through time and dinosaurs shooting lasers from their eyes). Was it a hypocritical choice? Holding one standard, but making an exception due to “reasons”? I don’t know. Maybe?
And then there was the issue of: “I had already started watching this thing with his older brother”. I was watching the first episode/ movie of “GTO” (Great Teacher Onizuka). Now, I’m not going to let my younger son watch this show. Onizuka is a bit of a pervert and this is highlighted in the show often. We had started watching it one morning while he was asleep. He woke up and caught the tail end of it. Will I let him watch more? No. Is it bad that I let him watch some of it? Not too much happened that will scar him. Is it hypocritical that I let him see some, but won’t let him watch more? Perhaps.
I guess sometimes, for myself, parenting isn’t straightforward. It is filled with grey areas and these grey areas are different for everyone. The goal is that we keep trying to do the right thing. Measuring what is appropriate for a kid’s age vs not. Letting them see things and have a mature reaction to it as well. Every kid is different in how they react to media as is every parent. I will keep swimming through, making mistakes, and having successes. I am confident of one thing though: They will be fine and that perhaps I worry too much.
BTW: I am not letting him watch “Crayon Shin Chan”.
So recently I just finished Soul Eater (late in the game I know) and then followed up with the more recent Soul Eater Not. Two vastly different shows set in the same general universe, produced by the same studio (Bones), but (the anime) written and directed by different people.
I know it is unfair to compare the two and I will try not to, but I am sure my bias will seep through.
Soul Eater
Students a the DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Academy) train to become proficient at defeating witches and humans who have strayed the path to become evil and thus their souls have become corrupted. Students generally work in pairs as weapons (students who can physically transform into weapons) and the meisters that wield the weapon. After a meister and weapon have accumulated 99 evil human souls and 1 witch soul (which the weapons absorb) they can become an official “Death Scythe” that can be wielded by Death himself (who founded the academy and the fictional “Death City” where it is located).
The show follows primarily pairs/trio: Maka Albarn and Soul Eater (a Scythe), Black Star and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa (who is able to transform into several weapons associated with ninjitsu), and Death’s son: Death the Kid and his partners Liz and Patty Thompson (both pistols).
The show has a lot going for it.
The story is enjoyable. However, for me, the first six episodes (or so) are a bit annoying and mostly exposition: necessary, just not my favorite part of the series. I know a lot of people prefer the manga story-line, but since I haven’t read it this doesn’t bias me.
The artwork is my favorite thing about this show. It has got it’s own cartoon-ish, nior, Halloween feeling to it that appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities. I love the sun and moon (my favorite background creepers)!
I watched the English dub and it is absolutely fantastic. I often watch subs since I watch a lot of new material on Crunchyroll, but the dub of this is really good and I highly recommend it if you haven’t watched it.
The soundtrack is really good and I am an absolute sucker for the 2nd OP: “Black Paper Moon” by Tommy Heavenly6.
Attention Parents: Overall this show, while not harmless, is probably good for the 12 and up set. There is some ecchi stuff early on, mostly with Blair, but this is minimal in the overall picture of the show. There is blood. Black blood and otherwise. There are also themes of abuse, mental illness, infidelity, and madness. All of these themes could be a really interesting talking point with your kids if you watch the show with them.
I loved this show and highly recommend it (as I know many other do as well). And this now brings me to the other Soul Eater….
Soul Eater Not!
Last year’s Soul Eater Not! jumps into the same universe as the original Soul Eater (Anime ending in 2009). It is classified in the ecchi, comedy, and shounen categories which I don’t think is exactly accurate. It seems to be more of a slice of life, seinen style of show with some yuri suggestion thrown in for good measure. Whatever it is trying to do, it never seems to firmly achieve it.
The story revolves mostly around 3 freshmen students at the DWMA: Tsugumi Harudori, a weapon (halberd) and two meisters, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. They are all weapons of the NOT class (Normally Overcome Target) who are there to learn to control their weapons and abilities, as opposed to the EAT class (Extraordinarily Advantaged Talent) which takes their abilities into the field to fight evil humans and witches (ie: the original Soul Eater). Much of the show revolves around Tsugumi’s indecision around which person to pair up with for her meister.
Soul Eater Not! was meant to take place slightly before the main story-line of Soul Eater. Because of this you do get cameos from most of the Soul Eater series characters. Pre-zombie-fied Sid is most heavily used and is treated fairly well as a character. Stein also makes a couple of appearances playing “the wacky doctor” to an annoying effect, I found. Maka serves a small role as some inspiration for Tsugumi as well. The cameos from the original series (with the exception of Sid) felt kind of contrived and forced, but maybe that was me.
The yuri undertones (or maybe overtones?)… I know this is a standard in the “cute girls doing cute things” shows (and this was essentially “cute girls doing cute things” at the DWMA), but my god did they beat you over the head with it. If Meme wasn’t sleep-molesting Tsugumi in some part, then it was Anya getting all tsundere-style jealous that Meme was touching or rubbing up against Tsugumi (maybe I exaggerate, but not much). And then there was the whole side story of Kim Diehl and Jacqueline O’Lantern Dupré (who were both in Soul Eater as side characters) and their whole romance/ friendship/ partnering which seemed largely unnecessary.
And can we talk about boobs for a minute? I know if there is a school anime with a bunch of girls there will be a scene where they talk about their boob size. It’s a given. It is an immutable law of anime. But for gods sake! In Souls Eater Not! they wouldn’t shut up about it!! Fine, mention it one time *eye rolls*, we’re done. But repeatedly???!!! Can you tell that this annoyed me?
The animation was clean and well done. Is it what I liked from the original? No, but it was meant to be different, so if you accept that, it was animated fine.
The story is weak. It never quite gets a foothold of what it is trying to be. I liked some of the end where it got a little action oriented and thus the characters got some development, but otherwise the show felt largely directionless.
The OP was actually pretty good. Monochrome by Dancing Dolls.
Attention Parents: The show is a bit more ecchi than Soul Eater and has yuri undertones. Otherwise there is no blood and little fighting or challenging themes to deal with.
I do realize I may be being unfair to Soul Eater Not!, but I do feel like it didn’t make clear what ever it was it was trying to do. As a slice of life, or even as a “cute girls doing cute things” show it didn’t live up to it’s potential. If you haven’t watched these shows, maybe Soul Eater Not might be one to watch first and perhaps then enjoyed more?
As I’ve stated in postings past I often screen various animes to see whether my younger (now 12 year old) son can watch them. Some I’m watching because I wanted to watch the show and others are just a brief screening for to red or green light a show for him to see. I often don’t get around to every request he has since I don’t have all the time in the world to screen eveerything he comes across.
Sometimes it’s just a: “Nope.”
First episode. First 5 minutes. First impression. All screaming: “This is not appropriate for him” or “If I let him watch this his mother will kill me”.
This season had a few “nopes”.
Gangsta
A gritty, bloody, crime ridden show. It’s got killing, blood, abuse, prostitution, and all other manners of organized crime. I like the show (even though the plot seems a bit convoluted at times). The animation is good. The main characters are interesting and likable in their own ways. There is an interesting story going on (although it does seem a bit muddled in it’s presentation). But given all that I stated in the first two sentences it is not appropriate for my 12 year old. Hell, I could tell it was a “no go” from the OP sequence.
A good song though….
Monster Masume
AKA: Everyday Life With Monster Girls. I was pretty suspicious about this one when I clicked on it to watch it. Aaand within the first 5 minutes: “Nope!!!”
It is basically about a guy who has various “Monster Girls” foisted upon him to live in his home as part of a Inter-species Cultural Exchange Program of which he never volunteered for. It is a harem show, except they are monster girls instead of just girls.
It is ridiculously ecchi and, admittedly, it made me crack up a few times at is juvenile sense of humor. That being said: it’s all body part and sex related jokes (and some of the resulting embarrassment along with it). It’s not a bad show I guess. I haven’t felt compelled to keep up with it though. So, it a “Nooo…you can’t watch that…just no.”
My Wife Is The Student Council President
Okay. I only found out about this show the other day. I didn’t know about Crunchyroll’s Mature settings. I was talking to a coworker and he told me about this show (he likes more ecchi comedies than I do). I told him I hadn’t seen it available and he mentioned the Mature content filter. It comes defaulted to being “on”, so I switched it off and there this show was.
So, I know ahead of time that my son cannot watch this. But curiosity gets the better of me and I watch the first episode. It’s about two high school students who have just found out that their parents arranged for them to be married when they were younger. The girl (the student council president), is taking this arrangement to heart and has shown up at her betrothed’s door step ready to live with him. He tries to scare her off the idea by acting like a “pervert”, but she doesn’t back down from her commitment. And by the end of the episode there is exposed nipples being licked.
Nope. Can’t give the go ahead with that one either.
It’s funny. There is nothing inherently wrong with these shows. Ecchi humor is just that: humor. As a parent, however, I have to decide not what is necessarily “wrong”, but what I will advocate for him to watch. I think my hesitance comes in not with the jokes themselves, but with his maturity to understand the jokes and to take that information into his brain (and out into the world) in a mature fashion. So that is why I will censor these things out. Not because they are bad, but more because I want him to be able to process mature subject matter in a better way than he is able to now. This is not the same for all kids, some can handle it earlier, some later. Just food for thought…
My 11 (12 tomorrow) year old watches a lot of anime. And a lot that I watch, I am “vetting” to make sure that it doesn’t have any content that I deem inappropriate (or that I think his mother will object to).
That being said: he is always after me to check out shows to see if he can watch them, but I don’t have all the time in the world. I work. I socialize. I even watch non-anime related shows.
Luckily he does find titles he can watch. And watch he does….He’s a binge watcher. He can sit and watch a show all day. And then re-watch it again. I cannot do this. I rarely binge watch. A few episodes, yes. Watching for 4 hours, no.
But he found some things to keep him entertained that are good for his age with not much objectionable content. I have not watched many of these except seeing some of them while I was in the room.
Toriko
A gourmet hunter on the search for more food to complete his ultimate meal. Fighting impossible beasts and eating the most absurd things. This is very much a Shonen anime in the vein of One Piece (there are a couple of crossover episodes in fact). I had started to watch this and set it aside and my son has now finished the series of his summer break. Much of it I didn’t watch, but I did see the Durian Bomb episode which was hilarious.
Love Live! School Idol Project
My son started watching this one because of his older brother. As some readers will know his older brother is a Utaite (or You-Taite) who does English covers anime theme songs. Well, my older son was covering a song from this show and thus his younger brother liked the song and started watching the show. I have not seen any of it, but know it has a loyal following. It wasn’t surprising to me that he got into it as he was a huge fan of AKB0048. I think he has completed all seasons of this anime.
Stella Women’s Academy High School Division Class C3
Another in the vein of “cute girls doing cute things”. This time it’s survival games where girls at an all girls rich school are hunting each other with pellet guns in simulated war games. He had bugged me about this show and I think I watched one episode and figured it was harmless enough. Being that he was a huge fan of Girls Und Panzer, I guessed this would be up his alley. And it was. I, however, have no idea if it’s any good (it looks mostly harmless at any rate).
Waganaria!! (Working!!)
Now I have actually seen most of the first season of this. It is a funny show, absolutely hilarious at times. One could argue at times that some parts may be inappropriate. There are drunken sisters, a lazy boss that has a girl in love with her, and the main character could be seen as potentially creepy with his obsession with young, cute things and/or people. However, it’s mostly harmless and he loves the show.
Luckily he can find shows that he can find shows that are okay to watch and then binge-watch because I can’t keep up with his anime consumption….maybe I should’ve sent him to camp.
If there were two standouts from the spring season for me it would be Ore Monogatari and Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars).
If you follow my blog you know that I, and my boys, love Ore Monongatari and often watch it together. That, however, is not the case with Shokugeki no Soma. My 11 year old keeps asking to watch it and I keep saying: “No!”. I am a mean dad who never lets his kids watch anything, but I am comfortable with this fact (please read as sarcasm). But I do have my reasons.
Shokugeki no Soma follows Soma Yukihira, a boy who grew up cooking along side his dad (Joichiro) in his dad’s small restaurant. He wants to surpass his dad’s skills and take over the restaurant one day. As Soma is about to start high school, Joichiro shuts down the restaurant to work overseas and enrolls Soma in an elite,and highly competitive culinary school where only a small percentage of the students graduate.
While shocked, Soma adapts and decides to do his best. Of course making enemies of the first day of school by telling everyone that he’ll be better than them.
I am a bit of a “foodie”. I love to cook. I have worked in the food industry for a long time, so this show hits the spot for me. It is really, in my mind, a cross between a school anime and Iron Chef with a bit of shounen posturing and ecchi-ness thrown in for good measure.
I wish I had these kinds of knife skills!
The show is often focused around a cooking challenge of some sort designed to test student’s technical skills or creativity under pressure.
Besides being entertaining I find Soma’s determination and confidence while having some humility as an appealing aspect to the show. He likes when he has satisfied a person eating his food and is supportive of his classmates while still striving to be the best he can be.
If that was all there was to it, I’d let my 11 year old watch it. But then there are scenes like these:
Which perhaps wouldn’t be so bad, but it resulted in this:
While I find this hilariously absurd, it is something he probably should wait on. The kid is in puberty for god’s sake: How might this mess with his budding development? (I’m kidding).
Scenes like these aren’t going to help either (especially if I have to explain to his mother what I let him watch).
So I tell him:
“No.”
“Stop asking.”
“No.”
“You already know the answer. Why are you still asking?”
Attention Parents: This show is ecchi at times. Most of the the show is actually pretty tame, but then they eat and you get scenes like the above and below.
That being said. I love the show and am glad it was running on into the summer as well!
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.
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