Innocent Sorrow

Isshi, formerly the vocalist of Kagrra, and currently of Shiki Project, passed away on July 18th, 2011 in his home. We don't know the circumstances, and may never know, but it is a tragedy nonetheless to lose such a brilliant and talented person at such a young age.



I had the privilege of meeting Isshi and the other members of Kagrra, while I was in Japan. Isshi was very polite and grateful, always saying thank you, even going so far as to say it in English to me and the other foreigners who attended the Hyakki Kenran handshake events. He seemed like such a kind and considerate person.

We will all miss him and the light he brought to our lives with music, but now he will live on in our hearts along with Kagrra,.

Rest in peace, Isshi.
(December 7th 1978 - July 18th 2011)

Just posting a short entry to let friends here know that I'm okay after the earthquake this afternoon. I was at home when it happened, so I was pretty safe. Only a few things fell down off the shelves, but nothing worse.

The trains and subways are down here in Tokyo, so I'll be staying in the area for the next while, I think.

Okay, so now that I'm a little more coherent (though still just as squeeful!) I am going to post about Comiket. It was just as crowded as I expected it to be, even on a weekday, as this particular Comiket fell on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

I skipped the first day, because I didn't really have the money to go all the way to Odaiba twice in 2 days, let alone enough to be spending frivolously on more doujinshi. I missed the Hakuouki ones, but I decided to be good. It still seems that most of the Hakuouki doujinshi feature one of the guys with Chizuru. There are a few other circles that have yaoi doujinshi, but not many. Pity. There is such massive potential for yaoi in that series. Not that I hate Chizuru, I think she's adorable, but just not in doujinshi. She has that sort of wholesome feel to her. I'd like her to stay that way in my mind.

The main reason I wanted to go to Comiket was for Higuri You, as I had read that she frequents Comiket. She wasn't at Summer Comiket, but I read on her website that she would be at Winter Comiket on the 30th. Awesome. With the hope of meeting her, I had brought my Cesare costume with me, and so I packed it in a suitcase and dragged it to Odaiba. Just as well. It was far too hot to wear my heavy satin and velveteen Cesare costume at Summer Comiket.

One of the downsides of Comiket is the fact that, because it's such a huge venue and so many people frequent it, that there is no parking and thus somewhere to store your gear. It's not uncommon to see everyone dragging suitcases around the venue. There are coin lockers, but usually those fill up almost immediately. You'd be very lucky to find one at all. Good thing Japanese suitcases are easy to wheel around.

Another downside is, because of the lack of parking and insistence on the use of public transportation (which is utterly fabulous in Japan, period) you are not allowed to wear your costume outside of the venue. Even though Japan is the birthplace of cosplay, it's not nearly as accepted in public as it seems to be in Canada and the US. Not that I would say it's accepted there, either, but people are more likely to flout the rules of "normal society" there. It would be unheard of for the restaurants near the Big Sight to see cosplayers come in for lunch or to see people in costume on the train. Part of the fun for me is seeing the faces of the normal people (mundanes? Or maybe muggles?) when one parades about unabashedly in costume. Japan lives by the book, and considering some of those costumes and the space they take up, as well as how crowded the trains get before and after the event each day, it makes sense that such rules are in place. Staff at the nearby train stations are on hand with megaphones to keep the craziness to a minimum. That alone should say something about the amount of people that attend.

Nevertheless, even with my knee on the mend after it dislocated again on Christmas Eve, I made it my mission to go and see Higuri-san. I arrived, took a short time to find the women's cosplay dressing room, and quickly got into costume. They had one large conference room designated for changing, so you had to grab what space you could among a room full of girls. I was expecting actual changing rooms, but this is much better, given that the changing rooms would have taken up a lot more space and there would have been a longer wait for them.

Once I was ready, I repacked my suitcase and wheeled it along with me. I remembered to bring some extra bags with me this time, as the first day of Summer Comiket I hadn't thought to. I learned that lesson fast. If you plan to buy several books, an extra bag or two will come in extremely handy. Now it was off to the West Halls to meet Higuri-san.

I got nervous when I entered and began to look for her booth, West Hall 1, hiragana "re", table number 21. I wondered if she would be there at all, or if she would recognize me as Cesare. Those silly thoughts went clear out of my head when I approached the table and one of the ladies behind said "That's Cesare, isn't it?" They'd recognized me immediately! There were a few women there with Higuri-san, and all of them were quite impressed. I tried my best to say everything in Japanese, but my language skill, though intermediate, is not quite enough to express myself quite as eloquently as I would have liked to. Fortunately one of the women there asked if I spoke English, and then offered to interpret. Lucky! I told her how I really wanted to come today to see her and support her and show that I was an avid overseas fan of her work. She asked me if I made the costume myself, and I answered yes, and she and the others looked impressed yet again. They also asked where I was from, and I said I was from Canada. I am so glad I did bring that costume with me, even if it did take up space in my luggage. For that experience alone it was entirely worth it.

One of the women wanted to take a picture of me with Higuri-san on her cell phone, so I asked if she could take one with my camera as well. She was happy to, and so I have a memory of my meeting of one of my all time favourite mangaka. I wonder if she will post the picture or talk about me in a side column or atogaki in one of her manga. I can always hope! I bought a Gakuen Heaven book from her and wished her luck in the future. I hope one day she'll draw some Cantarella doujinshi. (I kind of wish I'd told her that, though.)

( A pic of me as Cesare Borgia with Higuri-san, mangaka of Cantarella )

I didn't buy many books, In fact I think I only bought about 4 or 5 for myself and a few for sailormac, totalling about 10 or 11. I didn't have time to get to the photoshoot area, but with such a huge venue I wasn't sure where it was, and I was hungry, so I opted for food instead.

I did see several recognizable characters and many beautiful costumes. Of the recognizable costumes I saw there were a couple third versions of Kanda, Lavi, Allen and Lenalee, as well as Cross Marian and Howard Link from D.Gray-man; Okita Souji, Harada Sanosuke and Yukimura Chizuru from Hakuouki (both versions of Chizuru and first version Souji, one with Shinsengumi haori and one without, and first version Sano) a boatload of various versions of Sheryl Nome (black bunny, white bunny, cowgirl) and Ranka from Macross Frontier; Akira and Shiki from Togainu no Chi; Judith from one of the Tales of games, I believe it's Tales of Vesperia, but I may be wrong about that; as well as Beatrice and Virgilia from Umineko no Naku koro ni. One that really stands out in my mind is a beautiful tutu-like dress made of blue and yellow and orange roses with organza bows. I don't know what character she was, but I had to tell her that her costume was really pretty.

A few of the circle artists I bought books from commented on my costume. They really liked it, and I am pleased with it. All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I fulfilled another one of my goals I'd set for myself before I went to Japan. Yatta! >w< What a way to end a year!

Last friday I had the chance to see the theatrical performance of Hakuouki starring Saotome Taichi as Hijikata Toshizou and Kimura Ryo as Chikage Kazama, based on the anime of the same name; Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan and Hakuouki Hekketsu-roku. The play itself has an original story, but there are many elements from the anime in it, and many similarities.



Cast list:
Hijikata Toshizou - Saotome Taichi
Yukimura Chizuru - Kurokawa Tomoka
Okita Souji - Kubota Masataka
Toudou Heisuke - Takeda Kouhei
Saitou Hajime - Nakamura Michiya
Harada Sanosuke - Hashimoto Jun
Sannan Keisuke - Kawaoka Daijirou
Nagakura Shinpachi - Nakamura Seijirou
Kondou Isami - Sakamoto Sou

Chikage Kazama - Kimura Ryo
Amagiri Kyuuju - RYO (ORANGE RANGE)
Shiranui Kyo - Isaki Yuusuke
Yukimura Koudou - Kinoshita Houka

Inoue Genzaburou - Sugiyama Hirohiko
Shimada Kai- Hashimoto Nozomu

( How I found out about Saotome Taichi and a little background about the anime )

I was not sure if I could get a ticket, as the Loppi machine had said all performances were sold out when I went to a Lawson Station in Nagoya. I spoke with one of the hotel staff, a very nice lady who said I should try going to the theatre and buying a ticket the day of the performance, so I decided that was what I would do. I did manage to get a ticket, even though I was in the back, it was worth it. Surprisingly there were several free seats, perhaps because people didn't show or for other reasons. I am not sure.

The plot centers around a girl looking for her father, a doctor who was ordered to go to Kyoto from Edo to work for the Bakufu. When she doesn’t receive letters for a month she decides to go to Kyoto herself, disguised as a boy, to find her lost father. She falls into the hands of the Shinsengumi, who at first threaten to kill her but then find her more useful alive, as they are also searching for her father.

The story is wrought with action and historical events and the character interaction is endearing and emotional. Though it is different from the anime in that scenes are rearranged in order to condense it into a 3 hour performance instead of a 12 episode anime, it captured the essence of the anime and the character relationships.

While I was far back in the theatre and I could see all the action, I could not see the facial expressions. Still, I was riveted to my seat for the duration of the play. I do not speak Japanese fluently, but I am amazed how much I understood and could glean from the actors and the dialog I did understand. I believe they were also speaking in Kansai-ben, which I found fitting, as the setting is Kyoto.

The stage sets were minimal, but anything fancier would have taken away from the action and the characters. The lights set the mood and the actors took it from there. There was nothing to distract one’s eye from the actors themselves, which meant the actors had to be that much more talented to keep your attention. The sword fighting scenes were beautifully choreographed, so much that they looked real. The actors spoke in rough male speech patterns. You could hear the emotion in the actors’ voices in the poignant scenes, and death cries sounded like the actors were truly dying on the stage.

Saotome has got to be, without a doubt, the best actor I have ever seen. (Yes, there is bias in there :P). He may only be 19, but given the fact he was raised in the theatre and bred as an actor since he could walk, he dwarfs most of the actors I have seen in both stage and screen. Saotome’s performance was nothing short of amazing, the costumes were spot on with the anime, and I really liked the haori. They were made from a semi-sheer light fabric, not solid and heavy, so they flowed with the actors’ movements. It was entirely likely they chose a light fabric for that exact reason.

The cast received a standing ovation for their performance, and it was certainly earned, I assure you! They came out on stage three times, and in the last bow Saotome got the fans involved with a clap pattern. It must be something he does at his own shows, and since this is the first time I'd seen him, I was not familiar with it, but it was cute. I will certainly be attending more of his plays in the future.

For some more visuals and interviews with the actors, here are a few clips I found on YouTube.

http://www.anti-acta.com/

I'm not sure how much weight this holds, what the validity is, or if it will be implemented, but the very thought that we will have to be policed by our ISPs and the government just because a few bureaucrats think it will stop piracy or child pornography is ludicrous. If this is to be believed, we'd be denied the basic rights of free speech and privacy. I don't like this one little bit.

It's not up to the government to say what I can or cannot do, unless it clearly breaks the law. They could be using the money they spend on this for education, health care, social assistance, scholarships and grants, to catch the real criminals, not policing ordinary people.

It's ARROGANT to think we as human beings are the only species on the planet. We CANNOT destroy more rain forests for the sake of producing ethanol. We CANNOT stop producing rice in order to use those fields to grow corn. We CANNOT continue to pollute the air and water with OUR waste and kill the animals that live there!

The world's dirtiest cities

Looming eco-disasters

Industries that need to shape up

Five ways we are killing our planet

Now, I don't know how much of this is hype or how much of it is actual fact, but the fact is we ALL have to start using recyclable products, or better yet, no plastic plates/paper cups/paper towels. We can use ceramic or metal utensils and wash them out, effectively reducing waste in our environment. I don't care if you say "It's not my problem", it IS. It's everyone's problem to fix this, no matter how old you are, starting with turning out any lights/unplugging appliances, etc. WE are killing ourselves and every other form of life on this planet in our greed! That is incredibly unfair!

Artist: nurissa
Pairing/Character: Meine Liebe - General Series
Theme set: Beta
Theme(s): 4, 11, 22, 34, 51, 52
# of icons in post: 6
# of icons completed total: 6

Teasers:
  

( icons and credits )

I honestly thought we'd seen the last of this months ago, but I guess not. Now LJ is targeting fanartists. I am absolutely disgusted! I have been a fan of Ponderosa121's art for years. Does that make me guilty too? NO.

Fandom is NOT reality, art is NOT reality and fiction is NOT reality. If you think you're making the site better by banning people without notice, you're sadly mistaken. Why don't you go after the REAL LIFE criminals instead of people who are simply expressing their love of a fictional work through art and not hurting any real children in the process?

So, in this case, does it mean that since one draws their favourite characters in sexually explicit situations, they are a child molester? NO. What the Hell are you thinking? There is no logic in that whatsoever! This censorship has got to stop!

Even though I've been here for close to seven years, I WILL leave if this idiocy continues. Why listen to groups like Perverted Justice and Warriors of Innocence when they don't have any real proof of guilt whatsoever. They're on their own perverted quests to remove what they dislike from the internet under the guise of protecting children. How about listening to the FBI or some other reputable source before proceeding on this witch hunt and leave us alone!

Guilty until proven innocent? Congratulations, LJ.

I'm making this entry for stamps from rating communities to clean up my info a little more. You can find the stamps under the cut! ^_^

( I've been rated as: )