Showing posts with label Japan (Kiku Honda). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan (Kiku Honda). Show all posts

December 22, 2015

Hetalia photoshoot: the Rising Sun – Japan!

Konnichiwa! ~

Today I had a photoshoot with Sacchan behind the camera! I decided to dress up as Japan (human name: Kiku Honda) from Hetalia and have a photoshoot outside – I've been wanting to photoshoot this new (and still undebuted) cosplay ever since I didn't get to cosplay him at Kitacon this year. I'm not a super-huge fan of Hetalia, if I may say so, but it was a show that I enjoyed nonetheless because of all the silliness, haha. My favorite character ended up being Japan, which is not a surprise at all.
I've been wanting to have a proper photoshoot this whole year and I've actually felt quite shit because of the lack of new cosplay photos. :/ But now I can finally leave this year behind me with a satisfied mind because hey, I got some fresh new shots!
But with all good things comes a bad thing – I was freezing my ass off during the whole shooting! It was like -3 °C outside, which is not much, but the thing is that there was a cold northern wind of like 5 meters per second so... yeah. I couldn't feel my toes and neither could I move my fingers after I had been standing outside for like 15 minutes or something – we had to go inside to take breaks and warm up! I also ended up having my legs shaking so damn much that it was out of my control and yeah, I was happy I was wearing a kimono because it didn't show at all, lol. Oh well, enduring the cold was worth it because the photos turned out fabulous! 
What won't we do for cosplay? xD

Cosplayer: Shiro Samurai (Japan)
Photographer: Sacchan
Photo editor: Shiro Samurai






Before anyone asks this is technically a closet cosplay for me and that's because all the pieces of clothing are authentic vintage kimono items from my collection, with the exception of the obi, which is borrowed from Jäätynyt Enkeli. The wig is from another cosplay and it was a perfect fit for Japan too. Generic Asian hairstyle lol.
I decided to take the sword as a prop because I seriously don't know how to pose without anything, lol. Besides, Japan does use a sword at least in one episode, so it's legit!
By the way, for anyone curious the circle lenses that I'm wearing are the I.Fairy Ruby Browns – just click on the name to get to my review, if interested. ^_^




On those photos above with the sunlight I was actually facing/watching the rising sun, literally. Fun part is that the clock was 10:00 in the morning... yeaaaaaah. ._. You see, I live very high up in northern Sweden; we have the darkest time of the year at this very moment and that's because of a thing called polar night, aka right now we only get 3 hours of sunlight per day try to imagine that. Yep, that means that if we had extended the photoshoot for a few more hours I would have been watching the sunset as well. Go figure.

Only fullbody photo.
Oh and yes, I don't think that Japan wears a kimono outift in exactly these colors in the anime so yeah, consider this an original version. He does wear almost the same thing on a promotional artwork for the World Series though, except that I basically used the reverse colors meaning that I used a plum colored haori instead of a blue one and a blue kimono instead of a plum one. 
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Why are you looking at me like that?【・ヘ・?】
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Ehrrm.
Actually... I honestly just forgot to check my reference picture when I dressed on the morning so yeah, I had somehow managed to swap the colors in my mind. xD Not like it's a big crime or anything; it's still something I can easily see him wearing I mean, he's friggin' ~Japan~ himself after all, he should own plenty more than just two sets of kimonos... LOL.

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Eeheeeey, that's all for this round!
Shiro Samurai out! Thanks for viewing ~

November 4, 2015

Kitacon 2015 plans – I'm gonna be so Japanese that I'm Japan

Hello guys!


It's finally time again for me to attend a convention! Last time I was at a con was back in August, can you believe it?? Well, I can – it's called the autumn-winter syndrome, aka the major lack of anime/cosplay events up here in the land(s) of the.... reindeers. lol


Ehrrm. Yeah.
But seriously, Kitacon's seventh return is coming up next – more exactly on 14th November. o/ Actually, at the beginning of this year there was a lot of uncertainty regarding if Kitacon would even make it this year; there had been some kind of money/funding issues and, well, when early spring rolled in and there hadn't been a word about Kitacon on their social media pages etc I wanted to contact them and ask what was going on. I don't remember the exact reply I got but it was basically them heavily implying that if they didn't get the cash to make the con happen (it's a free entrance event for all visitors) it would either be postponed until the later half of the year or there would, likely, be no Kitacon 2015 at all. But luckily, somehow, they got the money problems solved and –BOOM!– we get a Kitacon after all, even though it got reduced to a one-day event instead of the usual two days.
I'm happy that Kitacon is back after all these uncertainties and rumors going around that it wouldn't happen this year. Sure that it's a small con and all but it has its charm; it's cozy and a great way to go and be a colorful geek for a day and hang with friends. C:


But yeah, I'm obviously heading for Kemi, Finland, to take part of Kitacon. Just as always. Gotta support the local cons!
Regarding my cosplay plans.. or well, plan, I haven't written anything in stone just yet. Fairly recently me and Jäätynyt Enkeli watched all seasons of Hetalia, save for the newest one. While he had already seen them I hadn't.
See where this is going? ... Yeah.
So, while I didn't really get into it as much as he did it was still a mostly enjoyable way to kill off some time. I can't call myself a part of the fandom but I guess I'd be something like a, err, casual fan? I did like some of the episodes a lot better than others and well, I did get my fair share of laughs and facepalms lol. The thing is that because I didn't have any clue what to cosplay to Kitacon I started wondering if I could easily throw together a cosplay from Hetalia – partly because there's a lot of room for canon casual outfits and inventing your own designs and also because... I want something new but still simple.

Who can see it coming?


Character: Japan (Kiku Honda)
Series: Hetalia

Yeah, I know. Of course – the obligatory kimono guy is the one I can pull off the easiest, who, in this case, is Japan himself. DUN DUN DUUUUN. He was my favorite in the show anyway, so why the heck not? :') I should have a black wig somewhere that should work just fine for him, huehuehue... ~

In case anyone noticed then yes, this is not the usual color version of the main kimono outfit he's most commonly wearing – the one with the blue-gray kimono and brown haori. I randomly saw this image of him and thought that the colors were nicer (less dull lol) and, yeah, I can totally closet cosplay this, thanks to my kimono collector/wearer hobby. xD
If I'm not mistaken it's official art from/for the fourth season, The Beautiful World. I can't remember this outfit actually being in the anime; I've only seen it on this one and only artwork so far so... yeah.



But yeah, I might be doing some quick costest before the con, just to check so that what I have in mind to use for him actually is passable (in terms of color) and, well, that the wig works for him too. :s I also reserve the right for any changes, which basically means that if it's raining of super wet outside on Kitacon day then I'm likely to not cosplay at all because duh, I don't want to risk ruining my vintage kimono...

That about wraps it all up nicely, see ya there!