Last Friday, while other people sat at home celebrating May the 4th by torturing themselves with Star Wars films, there was a gathering of anime fans at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix for Ani-MAYhem. And that's where I was, too. I meant to take pictures but alas, the camera died. Caj diiid manage to get a couple of photographs of my cosplay first, but we'll get to those in a moment.
We started with a stroll around the garden. There were so many trees that provided refuge from the heat of the afternoon sun. They were beautiful and exotic and I could only imagine how much work it must take to keep it looking so alive in this desert. I'm lousy with growing plants. Every time I tell Caj that I want to grow something, he tells me to leave it alone then. t_t
A few sculptures dotted the path adding variety to the scenery. Through the center of the garden was a large pond with a waterfall towards the east end. This was the home to dozens of koi that we were permitted to feed their special koi food - cheerios. Just a small handful was enough to bring the fish together in a frenzy, twisting and squirming around each other in a fight to reach the little cereal first. Fish can be so aggressive!
We arrived at the event a little late, so we missed several of the demonstrations. I did get to enjoy seeing the performances by At Your Service cafe, based off the maid and butler cafes that can be found in Japan. It looked like a lot of fun, and I couldn't help but think of them as the cheerleaders of the cosplay scene. I think it's something I'd love to try sometime, but I don't think Caj would like me calling other people "Master" while serving them. Even so, I went ahead and came up with a maid design anyway. I think as a maid I'll be called Honey-chan~!
Not long after that I noticed my friend Ally, who helped me to meet some new people there. She even convinced me to participate in the cosplay contest. Even though my cosplay wasn't quite finished and I had to grab a suit jacket from my closet and flip it inside out to complete the look as best I could with what I had - I placed Third in the competition! It completely blew my mind, but I'm really grateful. It has really encouraged me to continue working hard on sewing and performing for my next competition. The best part of the evening? Meeting Banzai Productions again! At least, I got to chat briefly with Oz and SWP, I didn't see the others. I think my nervousness during the contest was due more to me geeking out about Banzai than being on stage. Afterwards, SWP even asked me about where I got my shoes because she was looking for some just like them. It makes me feel good that I can talk to them about these things. Later, online, Oz even told me that I should try a Masquerade next time. Yay~ I believe the night could not have been more perfect.
(Okay, so I mentioned I'd post my pictures, but the camera is at school. I'll come back and edit this post with pics later, okay?)
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