Perona

There have been a lot of anime characters that have been coming out lately with goth-loli girls who carry umbrellas.  This is one of those characters.  Not to be out done by this growing trend, One Piece decided to come out with Perona.  One Piece, in my opinion, has to be the most popular anime now-a-days.  It is one of the few anime that Japanese people will admit to liking without being   considered an otaku.  Funny, here in the states it isn't really a bad word, but in Japan it is like being crucified to be called an otaku....  

Moving on, Perona is a cool character who is very sure of herself and somewhat bossy.  She is one of the antagonist from the series, and gives a little trouble to the Straw Hat Pirates.  The outfit was really well done, by a very cute little Chinese girl.  As soon as she sees these and gives permission for her name to be released, I will do so.  A very special thanks to her, and again my lighting assistant Ian.  If it wasn't for them, there would be no photos.

Homura Akemi

This was a character that looked so familiar, but I couldn't figure out who it was.  The model: 'Tako', kindly pointed out that it was Homura Akemi from Puella Magi Madoka Magica.  As soon as she told me, I was zapped with that, 'oh yeah!  I watched that!' feeling.  Although, I have to admit, I never finished the series.  Thank you to Tako for modeling for me (and making me want to go finish an anime)!  Also a special thanks to Ian, my assistant, who patiently waited, moved lights, and adjusted everything for me!  "It's good to be the king!"

Tako was very true to character, and that help lead to a lot of these poses.  She was actually quite the star at Fanime, with lots of people who knew who she was.  I was quite impressed.  I really did like the costume, and might I say, the rifle was a metallic airsoft model, and was quite heavy.  A Styer Scout with a modified stock, I believe.  Well, it was awesome!  I need more girls with guns photos!  

Neon Genesis Evangelion Bunny Girls

There was this awesome site when I was at Fanime.  I was wondering where I've seen them before, and then it hit me.  Neon Genesis Evangelion!  One of the most popular titles around the world, this was definitely a throw-back.  Of course there was no playboy bunny version of the girls in the anime, but this anime series has to have the most off the wall advertisement in Japan.

You can literally find Rei Ayanami everywhere in Japan.  In pachinko parlors, on cans of coffee... You name it she has a spot there.  These two cosplayers were really awesome renditions of the two, and they came together!  That was awesome in itself.  Unfortunately, I don't know who was modeling Asuka, but Rei was being modeled by: Burloire.  If you know who Asuka is, please let me know.  They were both really fun and easy to work with.  

On top of that, the Rei costume, I found out, was actually for the Asuka model!  Burloire really pulled it off though.  They both did a wonderful job, and I hope that they like the photos.  I really do hope that more people do some of the older anime series in the future.  I would like to see Ah! My Goddess and Tenchi Muyo cosplay again.

Elektra Natchios

The long awaited Elektra photos.  I know a few people were waiting for these ones, and with the little amount of actual photoshopping that was done to the photos, I don't know why it took so long, other than working over time every weekday sucks.  Sorry, I guess I will have to work harder!  These photos came out particularly well, and I wish that I had more poses with this cosplayer, Darth Kitana.  Her real name will be withheld until permission is given to be used.

I did notice one thing though as I was moving the photos from one computer to another, and that is that the colors on all my computers except for my HP laptop were exceptional.  Why is it that the photos look so flat on that darn HP?  Well, if you think the colors are flat, then please let me know.  The Mac powerbook, and the PC desktop that I have (dual monitors) all show great colors.

Enough with the ranting on the mechanics of getting the photos, and much kudos to Darth Kitana for her costume and poses.  She was very easy to work with, and it was a lot of fun.  Well most of the shoots are fun.  You will see more of both Darth Kitana and dead pepper!  There was a large Marvel cosplay in attendance at Fanime this year.  I was surprised.  It was cool, and there was very little Steam Punk Cosplay, even though Fanime combined with the steam punk con that was right around the corner.

If you don't know who Darth Kitana was cosplaying look up the name Elektra Natchios.  She is a sexy assassin, created by Frank Miller.  I don't really think I need to say more....  Enjoy the photos!

This last photo was actually the first photo that I took.  I was testing out the lights, but the photo came out pretty well, that I had to post it.  It is a really cute/funny shot of her!  Love it!

Monster Story's Hanekawa Tsubasa

One of the best stories, or group of stories rather, is Ghost Stories, (a.k.a 化物語 [bakemonogatari]).  It was turned into an anime, I'm not sure if it is also a manga, but am positive that it is an enjoyable small novel series.  The stories are about demonic possession of people, with slight twist here and there.  The people are attacked by demonic: vampires, crabs, cats, snakes, monkeys, and a snail.  Although it sounds silly as I write about it, it is actually the writing itself which is amazing.

Of course if you cannot read Japanese, it does put you in a tough spot, but the anime, which is subtitled, is a good representation of the books.  The anime is divided into arcs, in which the individual's stories are told and match up with the books.   Characters then later come back and interact with the new characters in the differing stories, which helps give you,more insight to the normal, un-possessed them.

That being said the anime/novel is slightly harem themed, although the main protagonist only really has one love interest.  This brings me to the photos that are with this post.  They are of the "girl who knows everything", who is better known as Hanakawa Tsubasa.  If you couldn't tell she was the one possessed by the cat demon.  She was eventually freed from the demon, but not cured.  If you want to know what that means, then I advise watching the anime, or reading the book.

As for the photos, I decided to do something a little different.  Usually, I like clean and bold photos, but after going over the anime again, I decided to change the look of these photos a little.  They are a little brighter and with a softer focus.

The cosplayer (dead pepper), did an amazing job on the costume.  She really did go all out silk screening the fabric with the little kitty heads to match up with anime so well.  You will actually see dead pepper a few more times later on, because I actually ran into her, and had the pleasure of shooting her all three days that I went to the convention.

This was actually the first set of photos that I took whilst at the convention, and I'm pretty happy with them.  Although, I have to admit, I didn't really do too much, I just clicked a button..  Great job dead pepper!

Vocaloid's SeeU

Here was an awesome character.  I thought she was a form of Alvis E. Hamilton from Last Exile, a brilliant anime/manga with amazing artwork from Range Murata (beware, not all of his stuff is PG), but I was very wrong.  She is actually cosplaying SeeU from Vocaloid 3.  The thing that is special about this vocaloid is that she can sing in both Japanese and Korean (Vocaloid Wiki).

She is quite the cute character, as most of the Vocaloids are, and this cosplayer did an awesome job.  The cosplayers name will be withheld until permission to release.

What do you think?  Leave a comment!

Fanime 2012 Stocking Anarchy

So, it has definitely been a while since my last post.  I will put up something about the job that I recently got, but I am being kept pretty busy from it.  I am going to start out slow, and work my way up.  I was able to go to 3/4 of the Fanime 2012 convention with the sole goal of taking photos.  I will say that I did take less this time than I thought I would, but I was able to meet some really great people from all over, and hopefully will be able to work with them again in the near future.

I will keep blabbing about the things that happened at the con, but let me start with these photos.  The first of a good amount.  (I would say many, but to my standards I didn't really take all that many photos.) Here we have a super cute Stocking Anarchy.  The cosplayer, who we will call Stocking, did an awesome job on the outfit.  I love the way that someone doodled on the wall right behind her, and it kind of adds to the photos.  I will say this about the cosplay this year, it seems that the bar keeps getting set higher and higher.  Wonderful job!  Hope you like the photos!