September 8, 2016

Black Bullet Rentarou Satomi cosplay test

Hi there!

A couple weeks ago or so I had a realization – remember my Rentarou Satomi cosplay? Yeah, the one I finished but haven't debuted yet. Yeah, that one. I suddenly remembered that, even though the cosplay is done, I haven't ever actually tried it on. Now that needed to change!

Character reference.
Today I had some free time so I decided to do a quick costest to see what the whole shebang looked like when worn. And by quick I mean quick – I lazied out on all makeup, save for eyeliner and darkening my eyebrows; I honestly just can't be bothered when I don't have a photographer at hand because yeah, it won't show well on crummy self-taken mirror pics anyway...

I know that his eyes are actually blue in the manga but I'm only familiar with the anime and in it his eyes are brown. I thus decided to go with brown eyes and, besides, I think it looks better anyway.
The lenses I'm using in this costest are the I.Fairy Ruby Brown but, sadly, I will have to throw them away soon since they'll expire. It's one of my favorite brown lenses for cosplay purposes. :)

Obligatory cosplay selfie.
I originally had another wig for Rentarou but it was wayyyyyyy too small for my head and so I had to buy another. The previous wig was a bit nicer when it came to the colors but it was basically child-size for me so I couldn't even get it to stay on my head, ugh. ._. So yeah, this new wig I bought from a random Chinese eBay seller and, much to my surprise, it's actually wearable! It's still a bit tight (I can't use the hooks at all) but it shouldn't give me any major headaches. I sometimes quite often wish I had a smaller head because buying from eBay is pretty 50/50 for me if I get a wig that fits me or not...

As I said, I had no photographer available so to get any kind of full body shots I had to use the mirror, which also means that everything's reversed so yeah, it appears like the jacket's stripe is on the wrong side etc – it's not in reality. I apologize for the shitty yellow light, the mirror is placed on the bathroom door and there's only a crappy yellow light there (the window is too far away to really help bring in any natural light).



I'm not happy with the shoes because the blue colors are much more gray-based than the jacket so yeah, they don't match. :/ I'm thinking about repainting the shoes but I'm not sure what would work since the shoes are made of some kind of faux leather; need to research into that...

Regarding the debut of this cosplay I don't have a set con in mind, but I've been considering to get Rentarou debuted before this year is over – I still have a couple cons left to attend that would require a warm cosplay and Rentarou would fit the bill; the jacket is warmer than it looks so this cosplay would be a good choice unless I suddenly get inspiration to do something else, which happens way too often...

That's about all I had to say for this round ~
Are there any other Black Bullet cosplayers out there?

August 29, 2016

[Sponsored] Lens review: GEO Crazy SF-34

Hello people! ╰( ・ ᗜ ・ )╯

I'm happy to inform that the lovely Swedish contact lens store, CirclelensesEurope (also known as Cirkellinser), has sent me another lens pair to review! ♥ You might remember that I reviewed the popular EOS New Adult Green from their shop last time but, this time, I was sent something quite different! :D I decided to try out the GEO Crazy SF-34 lenses it's an ice blue lens with a black rim. I've always been curious about trying out more of those crazy/animation lenses and now it's time to step deeper into that part of the circle lens jungle! Let's roll-ahoy ~

The lenses I'm reviewing in this post were kindly sponsored by CirclelensesEurope, aka Cirkellinser. Rest assured knowing that all my reviews are purely 100% my honest opinion. I don't ever compromise the truth.

The discount code "SHIRO" gives you 10% off on any order placed on both CircleLensesEurope and Cirkellinser – feel free to use it! ♥



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 38%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)


Note: To all my Swedish readers, please scroll to the end of this post for a summary in Swedish. // Till alla mina svenska läsare, bläddra gärna till slutet av detta inlägg för en sammanfattning på svenska. :)


Before I start with the actual review of the lenses I want to tell you all a little about CirclelensesEurope, also known as Cirkellinser. You might wonder why I'm mentioning two stores but the catch is that it's actually the same store, just for two different markets – CirclelensesEurope is for the European market in general while Cirkellinser is catering especially for Sweden. Both sites have the same people behind it, the same products for sale, ship from the same place etc so yeah, the only difference is basically that the other one is for Swedish customers only. Neither of them is a copycat or a scam site so no worries there – you can buy from them with confidence. :)

Both or their sites are fresh, inviting, cute and easy to use. There might not be as many circle lenses to choose from as on other more well-known stores (only GEO Medical and EOS brand currently) but what CirclelensesEurope has going for them is that they sell genuine and safe lenses, have cheap shipping (only 3€ for anywhere in Europe, no matter the amount you buy!) and, also, that they have crazy fast shipping. The rapid shipping is what really sets them apart from the myriad of Asia-based lens stores because CirclelensesEurope is located in Sweden and thus, if you live in Europe, they will be the number one store where your prayers will go if you ever need to buy circle lenses urgently in, say, one weeks notice or less. *coughcosplayerscough* They will save your costume without a sweat when all other lens shops would require you to use expensive shipping methods to race against time.

Regarding the shipping and handling time I want to say that I've always received their lenses really really fast. Both times the lenses were sent out on Sunday and arrived directly in my mailbox on the following Monday! Even though it was domestic shipping (aka within Sweden) it's still crazy fast! 
I actually asked about their delivery times and they said that shipping to Sweden is 1-2 days and to the rest of Europe it's 3-7 days so yeah, if you ever needed to order circle lenses in a pinch then CirclelensesEurope is here to save you with their bullet-speed service! o/ They really prioritize quick handling and speedy shipping and that's amazing! I honestly swear by them.

If you wonder to what European countries (note: they do NOT ship outside of Europe!!) they ship to then this is what it says on their site:
We deliver to following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Austria.
Regarding customer service they seem to always answer within 24 hours, even during weekends. :) Customer service is also really kind and easy to approach while still having that professional air to it. All in all CirclelensesEurope is very easy and smooth to deal with, safe to buy from and I would warmly recommend them to all fellow European (and Swedish) cosplayers and circle lens fans! Go and give them your love and support. ♥ They are amazing!


 ~***~ Lens review continues ~***~

The lenses arrived in a small regular bubblewrap envelope. On the envelope was a cute little 3D smiley sticker and, better yet, a Pride motif stamp that's currently available in Sweden! As a person who really cares for, and is part of the LGBTQ+ community, it made me extra happy.



Inside the white envelope the lenses are packed in a small cute drawstring bag! With the order also came a free lens case, a business card with a hand-written 'thank you' text on the back, a GEO Medical information sheet (because I received GEO lenses) and, of course, the shop's own note with information about their guarantees, wear & care etc – a really good papery piece of advice for all the first-timers!

~***~

I put the lenses to soak the night before wearing them. I had no problems putting on the lenses and they were instantly comfortable – but as with many similar crazy lenses my vision is a bit obstructed and blurred because of the small pupil hole. The good thing with a small pupil hole is that your real eye color won't show in the center and the bad thing is that you'll have colored corners in your vision field at almost all times, except in places where it's really bright – like outside when facing the sun, lol.
I can quite easily wear these lenses for 2 hours while staring at a screen (aka playing video games) non-stop, which is a pretty good sign. 4 hours tick in nicely too and I don't experience any discomfort like stinging, itching or anything of the sort. After 5 hours the lenses start to feel dry for me and I need to blink more often – I think I could perhaps wear them a bit longer, if needed, but I decided to take the lenses off after 5 hours had passed. Overall these GEO animation lenses are surprisingly comfy. Please note though that I do have rather sensitive eyes that also dry quite easily.

One lens in.
As is to be expected these animation lenses are REALLY PIGMENTED. The color ranges from an ice blue to an almost whitish blue, depending on the light – it's an extremely unrealistic color but it's hella eye-catching and it stands out a mile! I can mention too that in your average crummy (yellow) indoor light these lenses look like an intense, almost possessed, pale blue. On photos though they look really striking!
I'd say that it's a really funky and fun color to have because it sure will get you noticed and it makes your eyes look borderline scary too, especially up close, hehe... But yeah, whatever color your real eyes are these will cover them 100% – so high is the color coverage!

Lens photos!
All photos taken by me during an August evening with a clear sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.


Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
Yellow light in the staircase.
Facing a weak orange lamp in the staircase. Natural light coming from the side (window).
Outdoors, back against sun. Facing the wall.
Outdoors, facing the sun while sitting under the roof's shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
Regarding size these are slightly bigger than your average Halloween lenses but not enough to be noticeable or give you any sort of real dolly look; the black limbal ring does give an illusion though that the lenses are a bit bigger than they actually are – the black rim also helps bring attention to your eyes. Otherwise the design is extremely simple, just a single bold color with a thin black rim, similar to all those 'manson' lenses out there. C: Some might think that the design is too plain and fake-looking to really look flattering on human eyes but I honestly think that these are REALLY FREKKIN AMAZING. ♥ It's the kind of extremely noticeable lens that completes gothic looks, cosplays, monsters and fantasy creatures, some more daring j-fashion styles and whatever else with tons of attitude! Don't ditch it before you try it – these crazy lenses will crown the right outfits and take them to the next level!

Now for some distance photos!



Regarding CircleLensesEurope I need to mention that they and their Swedish counterpart sadly don't carry prescription lenses – at least not for the moment. I don't know if they plan to start selling those anytime soon but I really hope so since a lot of people don't have perfect vision and CircleLensesEurope would get more potential customers if they took that into account and expanded. My own vision defects are so small (-0,50 on my weaker eye) that I'm perfectly fine with plano lenses but yeah, if you can't wear lenses without power I'm really sorry to say that, sadly, CircleLensesEurope doesn't cater to your needs just yet. :(

Remember, if you make a purchase at CircleLensesEurope or Cirkellinser you can get 10% off any order if you use the discount code "SHIRO" during checkout – enjoy! ♡

Short summary:

Color: 10/10 
Extreme ice blue lenses – not for the faint of heart!
Design: 7/10 
Solid color with a black rim, really simple but sometimes simple is what you want.
Opacity: 10/10
These will cover up your eyes... and all of your sins.
Enlargement: 5/10 
These are small but slightly on the big side for being crazy lenses.
Comfort: 7/10 
Pretty okay. I can wear these for around 5 hours before they start to feel dry but, because of the small pupil hole, I do get blurry corners in my vision, especially indoors.
Naturalness: 0/10 
Watch out so that you don't scare the bejesus out of any nearby grandma...



• Sammanfattning på svenska

Vad är cirkellinser? 

Cirkellinser är kosmetiska linser som till en början mest användes i Asien av idoler, modeller etc men som har, på sistone, blivit alltmer populära i västvärlden – särskilt bland ungdomar som har ett intresse för japansk populärkultur. :) Det som skiljer cirkellinser från vanliga färgade linser är att dom kommer i otroligt många olika designs och färger (även onaturliga färger så som röd, rosa och lila etc) samt att dom får dina ögon att se större och vackrare ut! Cirkellinser finns att köpa både med och utan styrka. Cirkellinser används mest av unga kvinnor världen över men även män, transpersoner, ickebinära och andra har insett hur roligt det kan vara att byta ögonfärg lite nu och då för att få en helt ny och fräsch look!

~~~~~~~~~

Cirkellinser är en svensk online-affär –högst troligtvis den första och enda i vårt avlånga land som säljer äkta "circle lenses", numera även kända på svenska som cirkellinser. Tyvärr så säljer inte Cirkellinser linser med styrka i dagens läge, så om du har synfel så får du leta vidare. :'( Själv så har jag så pass svagt synfel att plano linser (utan styrka) inte stör mig alls.

Denna gång valde jag att recensera ett linspar som heter GEO Crazy SF-34 (bilder finns ovanför!) då dessa verkade härligt fräna och iögonfallande med sin extrema färg! Linserna anlände i ett litet vadderat kuvert på en måndag fast dom hade skickats med söndagsposten, wow! I kuvertet fanns även ett visitkort med en handskriven hälsning på baksidan, ett gratis linsetui samt linserna själv som var förpackade i en fin liten snörpåse.

Linserna är galet coola med en väldigt ljus isblå färg som täcker mina ögon fullkomligt! Storleken på detta par är inte för stort utan just lagom. Dessa linser ser vilda ut på ett onaturligt men snyggt sätt och är verkligen något att testa om man håller på med cosplay, fantasy-utklädnarer, klär sig i japansk eller gotisk mode etc! Extremt balla linser helt enkelt, och dom syns på långt avstånd!
Dessa linser är hyfsat bekväma för mig – jag kan ha dem i ungefär 5 timmar innan de börjar kännas torra och här tål att nämnas att jag har relativt känsliga samt torra ögon. Dock så gör dessa linser så att hörnen i mitt synfält blir suddiga, främst inomhus. Den blurriga effekten sker då linsernas pupillöppning är mindre än på din typiska cirkellins, vilket gör så att när du vistas i ett utrymme med sämre ljusförhållanden så blir din pupill naturligt större och "krockar" därmed med linsens extremt opaka färg. Detta är inget som stör mig mycket och man vänjer sig rätt fort vid det!

Som sagt jag blev sponsrad dessa från Cirkellinser, en professionell och pålitlig hemsida med kanonbra kundservice! De säljer endast äkta cirkellinser som är tillverkade i Korea. De har även en äkthetsgaranti samt öppet köp i 30 dagar – allt för att du ska känna dig trygg och nöjd! Beställningar som gjorts före klockan 14:00 skickas samma vardag och frakttiden inom Sverige ligger på 1-2 dagar och kostar endast fjuttiga 19 kr jag älskar verkligen deras shop! Jag kan inte annat än att helhjärtat rekommendera deras online affär till alla!
 
 Kolla hit! Om du knappar in rabattkoden "SHIRO" i kassan så får du 10% avdraget på vilken beställning som helst, glöm inte det! Alla vi älskar ju att få lite rabatt, eller hur?


Thanks for reading and I hope you found this review helpful. ^.-
A biiiiig thank you to CircleLensesEurope and Cirkellinser for sponsoring me!

~ Shiro Samurai says sayonara.

August 25, 2016

SDK Hotaru wig tests – Which wig should I use?

Hi everyone!

I did today a quick wig test for Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo. The thing is that I have two wigs for him and I really can't decide on which one I should go with – maybe you guys can help me out? :') The first wig is a rather vivid darkish blond gold, really poofy with a lot of fibers and hair sticking out in all directions. The second one is a standard golden blonde wig, really typical cut and not with a lot of fluff to it but it frames my face better than the first one. Both wigs are completely unstyled and will of course be styled once I figure out which one I wanna go with.

Hotaru reference.
Hotaru's hair ranges from a lighter gold to an orange-ish yellow, depending on the art. I decided to not be too picky about the color since it's inconsistent anyway. I do want to have the wig flare upwards a bit in the back though, like his hair does. I always thought that his hair was a reference to that he's a fire user and that's why I always pictured his hair as fairly poofy and wild-looking, but not in an overkill way – that's how I imagined it would translate in real life.

I didn't use any makeup because I did this quick test as soon as I got home from school and I was all tired and sweaty from the biking. My face looks like shit and I apologize if anyone gets cancer. :-D I'll do a makeup test separately later on, so stay tuned for that... I don't want to open my yellow lenses just yet.

But now, wig photos!

First up is wig number 1.

This wig stands up on its own.
Side view.
Just to show the back.
I remember I didn't really like this wig when I first got it, but the more I look at it the more it starts to win me over. It doesn't look very natural but instead it looks very... shounen. This is the wig I'm currently leaning a bit more towards but I'm not sure. The main issue I have with this wig is that it frames my face poorly mainly because some of the fibers (especially the bangs and the sides) kinda go "outwards" instead of just falling down nice and flat, which leaves that small but oh-so-ugly gap between the wig and your face where one can see your wig cap (or a "dark spot") etc... if you know what I mean. It's hard to describe but I'm sure most cosplayers have experienced it at least once. Then again, I'm not sure if this wig is heat resistant but, if it is, then I might be able to lessen this problem by straightening the problematic areas...

Pros:
• Bigger cap size (aka no headache)
• Really poofy
• A lot of fibers in the back
• Color is deep and attention-grabbing

Cons:
• Doesn't frame my face all that well
• Maybe a bit too yellow/dark?
• Really poofy

Next is wig number two!

Tried to show the wig a bit from above...
... and from the side.
As you can see this wig looks more natural and toned down. I bought it from eBay and it has a very typical anime style and cut. What I'm worried about is that the cap size on this one is smaller (Asian brand) so it might give me a headache for prolonged wear; I have a large head. Another thing that might turn out to be a problem is that this wig doesn't have nearly as much fibers as the other one, so this one might not do as well if I want to style it to liven it up – especially the back part, which I should style anyway. If I go with this wig I would definitely need to style it because it somehow appears flat in comparison to the other wig, like the top doesn't really fluff much at all (unless you tease it).

Pros:
• Frames my face
• Color is a safe card
• Looks more natural

Cons:
• Cap size runs a bit small
• Isn't as full as the other wig
• The back is maybe too thin to be able to style well
• Appears flat in comparison
• Front bangs are a bit too short

~~~~~~~

Errr. And as one might expect the wigs of course don't photograph their true colors. *badamtss* The first wig is a warm yet slightly dark golden yellow, quite intense in color but not in a bad neon way. The second wig is a cooler yellow blonde and it's notably lighter than the first wig in real life – it has mixed fibers of different shades so it looks more realistic too. 
I tried to snap camera photos of the wigs next to each other so that the color differences would be more obvious but good lord how hard it was to get a photo that was at least somewhat close to reality...

This is the closest shot I got:

This is the closest I could get but my camera still pales down
and washes out the colors. The wigs are warmer and a bit more vibrant in person.
...
...
...
Okay so yeah, I'd love to hear your suggestions – which one would you choose? I'm really sorry if this post is messy and all over the place but yeah, just wanted to keep it from turning into a kilometer post. ^^" I'm gravitating towards the darker wig at the moment but I'd really appreciate to hear what you guys think! I've been changing my mind back and forth for months now!

August 20, 2016

[Sponsored] Lens review: ColourVue Crazy Lens Mad Hatter

Hi everybody! ~

I have a new contact lens review to treat you with! This time it's a crazy lens and not an ordinary circle lens, wohoo! I present to you my review of the ColourVue Crazy Lens Mad Hatter! This pair was sponsored by LensVillage for review purposes, yay! Be sure to check them out – they have a lot of authentic and safe to wear lenses (both crazy and circle lenses) available in their established store! ♡

This review is all 100% my genuine opinion and that's because I value being honest to all my readers. Always.

Discount code "SAMURAI15" gives you 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!



Base curve: 8.6 mm
Diameter: 14.0 mm
Water content: 45%
Life span: 1 year (I recommend 6 months)



As you can see from the photos above these lenses come in a nifty cardboard package with a cut-out "window" where you can see the lens vials! On the package all important information is written (expiry date, diameter, base curve, lens design, contents etc). Inside the package is the lens bottles themselves and an information sheet about lens care etc, as well as illustrated images on how to insert the lenses.
Important! On the packaging it says that the life span is 1 year but the website (LensVillage, in this case) says 3 months, thus I'm unsure which one is the real one. 

~~~~~~~~~

Looking at the lenses in their bottles you might notice that their color doesn't seem quite as opaque and solid as crazy lenses tend to be you know, ultra pigmented. Of course these lenses still look vibrant and have an interesting color but when worn they darken a bit (even on light eyes!), which is not bad, but they don't look as cartoony and unnatural as all other animation lenses that I've worn so far. The color turns into a really eye-catching green, think like a bright slime or radioactive green. :D The Mad Hatter lenses also sport a unique dark orange inner rim that separates the lens from your real eye color – the effect it gives is pretty rad!
A good thing with these lenses is that, despite being a crazy lens, these don't hinder my vision in any way also known as that I don't see any colored corners when I move my gaze around. With that said the pupil hole is just the right size to cover your natural eyes well enough but not obstruct your vision! Yeah!

One lens in.
I had no issues inserting these lenses and, if anything, I thought that they seemed pretty thin! About comfort I'd say that they are quite good but have tendencies to randomly feel uncomfortable – like I can quite easily wear them for approximately 5 hours, possibly longer (even though I have sensitive eyes), but they are a bit on-and-off and unpredictable. What I mean is that while they are generally comfy and I don't feel them in my eyes they do have sudden bouts of discomfort, mostly minor stinging and/or a drying feeling; it goes away within some minutes and then the lenses are back to being comfy and as if nothing happened. :S I wore these a couple times, just to be sure, and they did both times give me those random moments of discomfort, most often at the 2-hour mark I got the first dryness attack. Then again, it might also be because I changed into a new lens solution brand that I've never used before...

Lens photos incoming!
All photos taken by me during an August evening with a clear sky.
There's no color filters or such on the close-up photos and that's so that the colors would be as true to real life as possible.


Bathroom light.
Flash photo.
White light in the corridor.
Yellow staircase light.
Facing a weak orange light in the staircase, with my back against a window.
Outdoors, back against sun. (aka facing the wall)
Outdoors, facing the sun while being under the shadow.
Outdoors, facing sun.
Indoors storage room. Natural light coming from the side (window).
I like how the patterning of my real iris really really subtly shows through in the green part of the lens – it makes them look natural yet mystical at the same time! It's honestly a really cool effect because it makes the unnaturally vivid green look deeper and thus, somehow, more realistic. I wish that more lenses with extreme colors would do this kind of effect!
One thing though is that because the lenses aren't super opaque they do appear darker and less obvious and pronounced in poorer lights, despite the unnatural colors. These are crazy lenses that look the best in bright lights and tend to "blend in" more with my real eye color (light blue-gray) in average indoor light conditions – you can still easily tell that I'm wearing lenses but they won't jump at you and I won't look possessed or anything of the sort. Hope you understand what I mean. ^^

Another thing worth noting with these lenses is that the enlargement is minimal, which means that if you don't want your eyes to look much bigger than they are in reality then yes, you can safely invest in this pair because these surely won't give you big doll eyes!

Distance photos ahead!
I went for a Mad Hatter inspired look because of obvious reasons, kjeh kjeh kjeh ~




Okay, so these lenses are seriously a lot of fun – they are magical and invite to creative costuming and funky styles! I'd heartily recommend this pair if you've been wanting to try out a Mad Hatter-like lens. ;) This is indeed a colored contact lens for all your wild fantasies!

 You can use my discount code "SAMURAI15" to get 15% OFF on your purchase from LensVillage!

Short summary:

Color: 9/10 
Really cool green & orange crazy lens. Vivid color and looks awesome in better lights!
Design: 8/10 
Simple design but it's super neat and gives the effect I want!
Opacity: 8/10
These are not completely covering (the green part shines through slightly) but they do a really good job, at least on light eyes.
Enlargement: 2/10 
These have minimal enlargement.
Comfort: 7/10 
Generally comfortable but can be unpredictable with sudden bouts of dryness, good thing is it goes away after like 15 min (for me) and then the lenses feel nice again.
Naturalness: 2/10 
Since when were crazy lenses natural? I give points for the small size, slight see-through effect of the green part of the lens and for that they "dull down" a bit in poorer lights.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this review! ^.^
Thank you LensVillage for being my amazing sponsor! ♡
~ Shiro Samurai out. 

August 17, 2016

Oulun Animeseminaari 2016 – Back to being good

Hi guys!

This summary is a lil' bit late since the event was held last Saturday, on 13th August. I know I have not informed anywhere that I was going to Animeseminaari this year and that's mainly because it was a rather sudden decision. You see, my original plan was to go to Nerdcon in Sweden instead because they both were held on the same weekend, aka 13-14 August, except that Nerdcon was a 2-day con while Animeseminaari was just one day. What made me change my mind was that I was really broke at this time still am and Animeseminaari had free entrance while Nerdcon did not – and, also, traveling to Umeå would be notably more costly than going to Oulu. Another thing was that I was to hang with Sacchan on a Saturday party after the "con", which directly affected how long I could stay at Animeseminaari and also completely ruled out Nerdcon for us. 

But now let's get to the summary!

Animeseminaari poster.
Saturday morning. We had prepared so that I'd be at Sacchan's place the night so that we'd have an easier time leaving and a little bit less to drive, since she lives closer to Oulu than I do. So yeah, the two of us woke up in the caravan (parked next to the house, aka our hangout place) and crawled out of it to get breakfast; the night prior we had decided that it would be better if we didn't cosplay because we had to be able to leave quickly and be instantly ready to move on to the night party.
We had some random breakfast, grabbed Sacchan's little brother Joni with us and then we left for Oulu – just the three of us. The drive took approximately one hour and the weather was shit – it was raining constantly for the whole day and we didn't regret one bit that we decided to opt out of cosplaying. Thank god we did because it would have sucked.

At Oulu we parked our car near where my aunt lives (2 hour free parking!) and then we headed to centrum to... do some shopping. Yeah, we totally went to check out a game store, a toy store and Anttila before heading to the con. :D Mind you, I had some geeky business to do and it was more important than being early at the con, lol. Oh well, after we were done shopping we went to refresh our parking time and then we headed to Valve, aka the con building. We walked through the streets of Oulu that were soaking wet from the constant rain that just wouldn't cease. There were pools of water everywhere and dumb me of course forgot to take my umbrella and a jacket so I walked through centrum with a soaked hoodie, soaked jeans and soaked shoes.

Valve entrance.
The cafeteria area, seen from above.
I must say that since my last visit to Animeseminaari it felt really good to see that they went back to their roots, aka holding the con in trusty old Kulttuuritalo Valve. Truth is that I had sorta boycotted Animeseminaari since that one disaster at the library, aka 2014, which was shit. It was a relief to see that said event had reverted back to being that comfy but small little local con that I was used to and which, although small and sorta crammed for space, did its thing. It's not a con that you go to with any high expectations, more like a con where you go to hang with friends and chill in a corner – and that's what I do.

View of the Dealer's Hall.
Fantasiapelit selling manga and art books.
Collectible figurines, rubber straps etc.
Eeveelution rubber straps! ♥
Ginga Densetsu Weed plushies for pre-ordering!
I even found some Monster Hunter merch! :D
I can't remember when exactly we arrived at the con but it was a bit late-ish, maybe 13:00 or 14:00 something. We first went to check out all the merchandise vendors and I must say that it felt like there were fewer bootleg products than previous years but, then again, it might just be me – but it did seem like it. I know that in the north there are some sellers circulating with the same fake items in all the local cons but yeah, it seems like even in the north people have now started caring and being able to tell apart the real deal from the counterfeit shit. I certainly don't want to support the illegal market and I hope that one day there will be no fake goods for sale at all – it's always a bother having to worry about accidentally purchasing a counterfeit product because you get ripped off on your money and, sadly, many times at cons the fakes are sold for the same prices as the legit products. :( The bootlegs are so widespread and it's the reason why I'm always super careful and sceptical of buying anything at cons so yeah, unless I can safely say or simply know that it's an authentic product then I tend to pass on it, just to be on the safe side.

I was happy to see that Touken Ranbu merch is finally
getting more common, even up here. C:
Pokémon stuff. Those Wailmer mascot plushies were too damn cute!
Of course there was a Pocky and Ramune candy booth.
The merchandise sellers were where they've always been; it's kinda crammed and narrow but it still works since there aren't that many vendors in the end. What I did notice though was that the Artist's Alley had moved to the second floor – it used to be in the cafeteria area but not anymore!

In the second floor there was a water drinking spot. That's new!
Artist's Alley was in a small and really dark room in a corridor on the second floor. By really dark I mean that the room was basically black. Items for sale ranged from your usual prints and stickers to magic wands. I ended up buying an adorable derpy Magikarp scarf, it spoke to me and I instantly knew that if I had not bought it I would have regretted it... deeply. We were meant to be.

Yes, that's the Magikarp scarf that I purchased soon after.
Magic wands and woodwork items!
Random stuff, including Pokémon Go team pins.
Super adorable legendary bird trio stickers. ;A;
I wish these had been magnets instead, would totally have bought a set!
Our trio spent about 2 hours at the con and then we had to leave – we had a time to pass because of the party, which was actually held to celebrate Sacchan's mom's birthday. The party was awesome by the way, rock 'n roll all the way! But yeah, even though we didn't stay long I didn't really feel like I missed out on anything. In 2 hours you had plenty of time to see what there was to offer and yeah, because I wasn't interested in any panels or programs it was easy to just go when we were done. Sadly I didn't meet any familiar faces but it didn't hinder me from having a good time.

In the third floor was a board game room.
They had some stuff for sale. That tower was a game on which
you picked your favorite dice from the cup, put it in the tower
and if it came out with the highest number you got to keep the dice!
Okay, so to conclude this short summary I'd say that it was a comfy small con and worth a visit – definitely better than that shitty library edition ever was. There isn't really much to do (unless you like dance games or board games) but it's not really a problem since I don't expect much from a 1-day con with free entrance anyway. :) The amount of merchandise is satisfying, considering the size of the con, and there's also a cafeteria in the same building where you could buy something to snack on if you got hungry. Valve, the con building, is good in the sense that it's in the middle of centrum so you can easily just walk out and explore Oulu city if you get bored. So yeah, Animeminaari is a nice little event to brighten up an otherwise dull and ordinary week and I'd definitely keep attending it, as long as they don't move to a bad location again.

Thanks for reading!