I’m Back

Well, I am more or less. I’m still dealing with some lingering illness (I have horrible problems with dizziness and caught a chest cold in the meantime). I am feeling better than I was. The holidays are a terrible time to have any kind of illness.

So, what does that mean?

That means content. That means that I will try to get out my impressions of Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest. I have a new story that I’m itching to start. It’s something I’m kind of excited about. I have a lot more of the story I’ve written to share.

I do want to write the end of the year post that I didn’t quite get to last week, so if you’ll humour me, I would like to write it. I also picked up a new Vita… and finally get a chance to play Persona 4: the Golden. I’ll write a bit about that.

What else is there?

There’s Comic Con and Fanime coming up, plus an event called Rockage that I’ll also be writing about… and so much more. What all that is, I’m not entirely sure as of yet. Talking about anime and manga as well as video games are a definite.

So, I’m back. I’m going to try to write more. I just hope that I don’t get sick again. I know that’s asking a lot, but it’s a goal I can go for. Who knows what this year will bring?

Into the Geek Realm: Fanime, pt. 7: This is the End

A tale of two Zeldas

After Badasses of Japanese History it was time for dinner. I had 2 hours to kill between panels… so it seemed the best time to have dinner. So, I decided to eat at the Grill on the Alley. The restaurant happened to be inside the hotel where all the panels were. The restaurant looks like a steak house. It has that stereotypical steakhouse look. They also have a GIG certified kitchen which means if you’re ordering gluten-free food from them it is made with the utmost care. I sat in the bar. The cocktails were great. Their signature cocktails were tasty. I ordered the chicken breast.

Now I know, when you get chicken breast it generally winds up being dry and in need of something to make it edible. That was not the case with this chicken breast. It was so incredibly moist. It was the most moist I’ve ever had a chicken breast outside of making fried chicken at home. The seasoning was minimal. It was simple a simple salt, pepper and garlic rub. And while it was minimal, it’s all that was needed. It came with some mashed potatoes. The potatoes were also sublime. They were creamy and just the right amount of butter. I topped off my meal with a lovely glass of port.

Prophet of the Helix

After ordering, it took some time for my food to get to me. I’m not entirely sure how long it took as I

was reading manga. I realized it had taken a long time when I saw my waitress talking to the restaurant manager and gesturing in my direction. The manager came over to me and told me that my dinner was on the house. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time that they were late. It also took a while to get my port. It wasn’t because they were busy. It was fairly quiet. It took them sometime to pour me my glass of port. They wound up comping me both my meal and my glass of port. They were incredibly apologetic. While it took me a while to get both my food and port, they did a wonderful job of serving me despite the hang up behind the bar and in the kitchen. I highly recommend them.

After dinner, it was time to head up to my last panel for the con, Gametrailers.com 7.9 Out of 10. It was an interesting panel. They talked about where they came from. It was nice to get an idea of where Gametrailers had come from and how it morphed in to what it is today. They talked about the programming that they’re currently running on their site. They also did a Q&A session where they were asked questions about their shows,

Naruto’s Sexy no Jutsu Picture by Jeanie Butera

 

 

talking about covering video games as a media outlet and even some personal information.

One of the questions was if they were looking forward to any video game event in the near future. One of them mentioned that they’re looking forward to the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest. The fest will be in October in Las Vegas. I will be attending the Fan Fest as well and will write about it afterwards.

Fanime this year was different this year for me on so many levels. That’s not a bad thing. That’s a wonderful thing. I felt more fulfilled this year. I had more fun this year than I have had previous years. I’m not entirely sure while that is, but it was fun. It was another succesful Fanime. So, until next year, this is it for my Fanime write-up.

Nightwing and Starfire
Picture by Jeanie Butera

Into the Geek Realm: Fanime 2014, pt. 6: Sunday Morning… Ouch, it Hurts

My start for Sunday was a rocky one. That’s not entirely surprising as I went drink for drink with someone drinking beer. I woke up at about 5 or 6 in the morning and eased my way back in to being human, one sip of water at a time. I wrapped myself in my blanket and sat in my chair and sipped a

Ryu fighting in the light of day

glass of water while occasionally dosing in my chair.

I decided to take it easy dressing wise, after all, I was nursing an initially brutal hangover that managed to tune down to a headache.

We had to get an early start on the day as I wanted to hit a panel at 9 AM. So, its bright and early back down to San José for another fun-filled day at Fanime. Of course, I was still feeling a bit dehydrated and had a headache from drinking too much.

But I managed to make it there a little late to see a panel on how to make your own props.

I must say, the panel on how to fabricate your own props was incredibly enlightening. They talk about the time it takes to create something entirely from scratch, largely using MDF.

The props they made had an amazing amount of detail. It was interesting to finally have some idea on how to make props. It’s something that everyone who cosplays will need to do more than likely.

After that, I headed over to a panel called Sewing Lolita. I was hoping that the panel could give me more information on how to do tailoring as a lot of Lolita clothing, while designed for multiple body types, still requires a bit of tailoring in design.

Zelda, Groose and Ganon from Skyward Sword

Boy, did it give me a lot of information. I learned a lot of places to go and find patterns for Lolita clothing that I had never thought of. It even talked about tips with taking care of finer details and trims which can be more complicated if you’re not used to sewing.

They also covered things that I had never thought of… like irons. They also talked about something that I’ve always wanted to do, drafting your own patterns. I’ve always wanted to draft my own patterns for designs that I have thought about making. It was a great class to go to and I kind of wish it was longer than the period it was. That’s OK, because I truly enjoyed it.

After the sewing panel, I met up with Craig and we headed out for brunch. The goal of brunch was to try to get rid of the headache that I had leftover from drinking the night before. We hit a local café that has some amazing gluten-free baguettes. I had a great breakfast sandwich. La Lune Sucre is a very good café that has gluten-free options for those of us who can not eat it. They have gluten-free quiches and a wonderful gluten-free baguette that rivals Mariposa Bakery’s baguette. They also make a fabulous hollandaise sauce.

After a wonderful brunch on a warm Sunday morning/afternoon we headed back to con. We wandered

Everybody was Gundam fighting…
Picture by Jeanie Butera

around Artists’ Alley and picked up some awesome art pieces. A large piece that shows the seven sages from Ocarina of Time, a Persona 3 piece and a piece that puts Winry Rockbell from Fullmetal Alchemist as Rosie the Riveter. There was another piece that I saw that had Mikasa as Rosie and said I can do it. There was also a picture in the same scheme as the Obama Hope poster, but it had Shibe Doge and it said Wow. We also ran in to someone who does commissions of Final Fantasy XIV pictures. I e-mailed them, but I have yet to hear back.

After Artists’ Alley, I made my way to my next panel. It was also a sewing panel. This time it was a panel about reading patterns. I was hoping to get some more enlightenment about patterns that I hadn’t learned about before, but alas it was largely everything that I had known from having sewn. It was a great panel and addressed a lot of questions that people had. It was nice to see patterns torn down to the nuts and bolts explained like my grandmother had taught me.

Right after that panel, there was another panel that was about Japanese history. This one was called the Badasses of Japanese History, It was an interesting panel that talked about some amazing people in

Morrigan from Darkstalkers
Picture by Brit Cossel

Japanese history. Many of them were shoguns. Some of them did other things. All of them were considered incredibly badass. Some of the badasses were Oda Nobunaga, Miyamoto Musashi, Fukuda Keiko, Uesugi Kenshin and more. It was a thoroughly entertaining panel.

Checking In

Today’s post is gonna be a quickie

I will be back on Monday. Losing my job has been a huge punch to the gut nd I’m trying to navigate the emotional minefield that is figuring out how to adapt and get back to looking for a job.

I feel like I’m on a bit of a better standing and would be able to handle most things now. I’m still angry. I’m probably going to be angry for a bit. I don’t like passive aggression. I don’t like people who handle things that way. So I’m dealing with that anger. It sucks, but it needs to be done.

So, what are we looking at for next week?

I will have the last post for you about this year’s Fanime. I’m going to talk about some personal life things. I would like to write the second part of the Final Fantasy XIV review including a compare and contrast of PS3 and PS4 platforms and a bit about the latest patch, 2.3: Defenders of Eorzea.

That’s what’s coming at ya next week. Until then!

Into the Geek Realm: Fanime 2014, pt.5: What Happened to Saturday?

So, after a somewhat good nights sleep, we headed back down to San José. After all, we had the weekend to commune with our fellow otaku. Besides, there were more panels to go to.

Forest spirit from Princess Mononoke

After parking we make a beeline to my first panel of the day. One of the neat things they have at Fanime is a martial arts dojo where they have all sorts of different demonstrations. They also have classes where you can learn as well. I attended the Self-Defense for Women class.

One of the reasons they started teaching this panel was because women have been getting increasingly harassed both on the streets and in conventions. And while that may sound silly, it’s a fact that a lot of women have to deal with.

To be honest, I found the panel both a lot of fun, a great place to socialize with other girls and highly educational. I learned some good moves to help fend off someone if they are giving me unwanted attention. They taught us pressure points which can help fall someone who is taller or more powerful. In the end, they have you run a gauntlet where they do everything they can to stop you from getting to the end. It was a great way to practice the skills that you learn in the class in a more life-like setting.

After the class, I had plenty of time to kill before my next panel. That means a lot of time to kill. I had 5 hours in between panels. So, what do you do with that time? Do a lot of looking around.

We did another round through the dealer’s room. Taking in everything that’s in and seeing if there was anything that I really wanted. Sometimes you just have to look and figure out what there is. There was a good amount of stuff (as I have stated before). We also got a tasty lunch at Il Fornaio.

Jack and John from Torchwood

While we were waiting, we decided to get a drink at the bar in the Hilton. It was there that we met a wonderful couple from San Diego. We proceeded to spend the rest of the evening drinking and talking. We went from the Hilton bar to the lounge at the Fairmont.

There was a lot of drinking involved. So, parts of my memories are fuzzy… which is not entirely surprising. It was a fun evening though. It was definitely worth it.

So after a while (not sure how long), we came back home and I promptly passed out in bed. I was out for most of the night except to get some water.

Into the Geek Realm: E3 and Friday Comes to a Close

I thought that it would be interesting to see “Don’t Believe the Hype: E3” that was done by contributors to Gametrailers.com. They started out talking about what their experiences have been at E3, including how hard it is to get in to E3 as press. They also talked about the reality of talking about how much tickets cost. At $400-500/person, I think it’s going to be some time before I go there myself. They talked about what to expect from the major consoles. Then they went in to the games that will be talked about at E3… like Persona 5 (I am super-pumped to hear more about it), two new Tales of games, new Metal Gear Solid, Bayonetta 2 and more. Since we are in the midst of E3, I’m super-excited to see some of the new things they’re going to be talking about (especially Square Enix AKA Squeenix).

Riddle me this, Batman…

After talking, they showed trailers for titles that will be talked about at E3, most notably (for me) is Persona 5. I’ve waited years (though not as many as Kingdom Hearts III) for Persona 5. I would love if they had a date or something. I am highly anticipating it.

So, what other trailers for games did they show besides Persona 5 (OMG)?
Tales of Xillia and Zirithia (not sure about the second one, I can’t seem to find any information about it)
Mirrors Edge 2
Metal Gear Solid: the Phantom Pain
Star Wars Battlefront (maybe)
Bayonetta 2
Super Smash Brothers 4
Xenoblade 2

There is speculation about whether we’ll actually hear anything about what is currently known about now or whether we’ll get any more information about what I known as Project Beast* made by the same studio that produced Dark Souls. We’ll have to wait and see what will happen at the end of this week.

There’s still speculation as to whether or not Last Guardian will happen. Since the title has yet to appear, it’s still a big question mark. Maybe we’ll get more information this year. It’s a beautiful title and I hope it does see light of day.

Other trailers seen:
Arkham Knight
Final Fantasy XV (aka Final Fantasy Vs. XIII)

DDR Competition
Picture by Brit Cossel

After spending a long day at Fanime, I was ready to head home and get some sleep before heading out somewhat early in the morning to start my second day of Fanime. I was disappointed that there was no Yaoi on Friday night… nor was there Yuri, They did, however, run Hentai.

*Added note, they did. I’ll more about that when I talk about what it’s like viewing E3 from a speculators point of view and not being in the hustle and bustle of the trade show.

This Week in Preview

Here we are, once again Monday morning.

So, why am I writing this what I’m doing this week post instead of posting more Fanime?

Easy, I am catching up to the point I had completed. This will give me an extra day or so to write more content and bring you more.

So, yes, that does mean that there will be more Fanime. More stories about convention shenanigans… OK, Fanime shenanigans.

What else will I write about?

If I manage to finish my Fanime report, I will move on to write more short story. I think it’s time that I write more of my monster short. It’s been some time since I’ve written and posted some. It’s about that time.

I might write the second part of my Final Fantasy XIV post, though I’m starting to think it might be best to wait until 2.3.

I will talk a little about E3. I took some time to check it out and am ready to share my impressions of the things I saw.

So, what else is there?

I’m not really sure. We’ll have to wait and see.

Until next time!

Into the Geek Realm: Fanime 2014, pt. 2: Viz Manga Edition

The first panel I attended this year was the Viz Media panel. This year there was a lot of news… lots of new things coming our way. So, I’m going to try and wade through it.

This year at Fanime, they had con-specific merchandise available at one of the booths with a $20 purchase. That’s neat as they haven’t had something like that before.

The graphic novel and the novel for “All You Need is Kill” is now available. “All You Need is Kill” was

Shan Yu, Captain Hook and Maleficent

adapted in to the movie, “The Edge of Tomorrow” starring Tom Cruise. It’s a movie I won’t pay to see, because I am not a Tom Cruise fan. Sure, I get to see Tom Cruise die repeatedly, but I don’t think it’s worth the $15/adult. The manga, which is being serialized in Shonen Jump will be available on 11/4.

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, also known as the prequel to the Dragonball series (you actually see Bulma as a child) is coming out as a graphic novel. It will be available 1/6/2015. It will contain a Dragonball story that focuses on Goku’s parents.

Another series that has been regularly serialized in Shonen Jump is also coming to manga form. World Trigger will be coming print form on 10/7. It’s an interesting series. I still haven’t quite formed an opinion on the series. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.

They’re also releasing a series called Assasination Classroom. It’s the story about a group of outcasts who are being taught by a tentacle monster. This is not hentai, but I can see some interesting doujin coming out about this series. Viz describes it as GTO with tentacles. That will hit the shelves on 12/2.

Kiss of the Rose Princess is also coming to print. It’s a reverse harem story (one girl with multiple males) in a vein similar to Roasrio+Vampire. It will be available in November.

Another title coming to print is Yukarism. It’s the story of an author named Yukari. He writes incredibly accurate historical fiction, that’s because he can see his past lives in his dreams it sounds like an interesting story… I’ll have to see when it comes out December 2014.

Sad news, the Vampire Knight series will be ending soon. In the meantime, they will be releasing volume 19 (limited edition then standard) on 11/19. The limited edition will include a mini art book. Also coming out on that day is the Vampire Knight box set that will contain volumes 11-19 (volume 19 will be the limited edition version).

Kiki
Picture by Jeanie Butera

There will also be a Resident Evil manga. It takes place before 6. It’s a 5 volume series, so it’s fairly short. That will be available 11/18.

They will also be releasing a manga with the name “Master Keaton”. It essentially is the “story of a badass”. It sounds very much like Indiana Jones. It will be available 12/16.

There are two more Miyazaki books hitting the stores. The Art of Princess Mononoke and Mononoke: the First Story are both due in stores on 10/7. As the title states, Mononoke: the First Story is a prequel to the movie Princess Mononoke..

Also, the big manga news is that Hunter x Hunter is coming out of hiatus. The first new chapter just ran last week in Shonen Jump Weekly.

In to the Geek Realm: Fanime 2014, pt. 1

I would like to start by thanking two people who are allowing me to use their Fanime pictures, Jeanie Butera and Brit Cossel. Thank you so much for allowing me to use some of your pictures. I truly appreciate you helping show what Fanime was like this year.
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Every year, we make a trek southward to go to Fanime, the local anime convention. It’s a time to gather together with other people with similar interests and spend our weekend geeking out, having fun, spending money on geeky things and staying up as late as possible watching anime. While that may not sound like everyone’s cup of tea… it is, in all actuality a ridiculous amount of fun. It’s something I enjoy doing every year. This year was no exception.

He’s a dandy guy… *insert finger gun here* in space.
Yay for Space Dandy cosplay!

Every year does have its drawbacks… and last year it was the registration lines. They were all sorts of fail. For people picking up their badges on Thursday night, we had to wait a whole of 6 hours. Getting us home at one in the morning. Maybe it was because they opened up registration at 3 PM instead of 7 this year… Maybe they finally got better organized. Whatever they did, it worked. We were in and out picking up our badges in 8 minutes. It was painless. This is what it used to be to pick-up badges if you pre-registered. I’m glad they found something that seems to work well.

There was one thing that I was surprised to see, and that’s the prevalence of panels I wanted to see earlier in the convention. Because of that, instead of skipping Friday entirely or heading there later in the evening… I had to be there earlier in the day. It wasn’t something I was happy about. I wasn’t allowed the time to decompress from work. I like my little buffer times.

So, I left home early on Friday, being dropped off at the Redwood City CalTrain station at 10 AM. Going the whole way on public transportation, the commute time took me 2.5 hours, that includes picking up some medication.

So, that means trying to find stuff to do until the convention officially opens. I made a beeline to the Hilton to sit at their bar and get a bite to eat. It was there that I had a nice 3 hour conversation with another con goer who was dressed as Squall from Final Fantasy VIII. It was a fun conversation were talked about a bit of everything. In that time we both had a bit to eat and a couple of drinks. It’s been sometime since I just sat somewhere and had a great conversation. It was nice to do.

At about 2:30 or so, we parted ways to head in to the now open convention. I wish I had seen the opening ceremony. I’ve never been in San José to see it, and I wound up missing it again this year in lieu of good conversation (it’s a weakness, I swear).

Nightwing
Picture by Brit Cossel

The first thing I saw was the dealer’s room. They had a good assortment of costuming goods, otaku collectibles and other sundry items. I noticed that they opened up the dealer’s room more. While it wasn’t full, I think that they may be toying with having a larger dealers room. I would like to see that. See more stuff available. Who knows, maybe they might get to start being Comic Con big. OK, that would be difficult at best. The Comic Con dealers room takes up the entire bottom floor of the San Diego Convention Center. I wouldn’t be surprised if that room is 2 miles across.

After making my way through the dealer’s room, I made my way to my first panel, the Viz Media panel. This year they moved the panel rooms from their normal spot of the Marriott to the Fairmont. It made getting there from what is essentially the base of operations a bit more problematic. It meant factoring in the travel time between two points. They’re not too far apart, but when you need to walk back and forth between the two several times over a day… it gets to be a bit tiring. I didn’t have a hotel at Fanime this year, so I didn’t even have a place to rest during the lulls in the day. I did miss that fact. Having a place to kick back and relax would have been better with all the walking I did this year. I believe that the rooms might be a bit larger… and there are certainly more of them. I’m not sure there’s a good solution to this… it also seemed like there were more panel rooms available than previous years.

SNAFU

I know I said there will be a Fanime post… and there will.

However, I’ve run in to a big problem.The camera that has dutifully served us for the last 10 years has recently given up the ghost. The shutter will no longer open on the camera. We discovered this on Saturday at Fanime.

So, what does that mean?

There will not be the dearth of cosplay pictures that I have brought you in previous years. That doesn’t mean that there are none. We did manage to capture some on our phones’ cameras. It’s just a matter of shifting them.

What does that mean?

That means the Fanime post won’t be up until next week whilst we figure out the pictures.

Will this be a problem in the future… more specifically for Comic Con?

Nope. We are narrowing down choices for a DSLR. We hope to have come to that decision soon enough that both of us will have started learning how best to use a new camera.

So, there you have it. We’ll work out the picture issue and continue with the posting.

Until then!