Month: July 2014

Yeah, didn’t make it to AX yesterday, but here’s the cosplay crop for today:

Continue reading “Anime Expo 2014 Day 3 (because I didn’t make it to day 2)”

AnimeNEXT returned to the Garden State Exhibit Center from June 6-8 for a weekend of anime, cosplay, video games, fashion and music. Heavy on the fashion and music. The organizers really outdone themselves this year, inviting Studio Trigger designer Wakabayashi Hiromi and animator Koyama Shigeto to promote their latest series of action awesomeness, Kill la Kill. For the fashion line, we have h.Naoto’s Acryl agitt with designer Ishikawa Daisuke for the latest in Japanese punk and galaxxxy’s Arai Jun for their spin on Harajuku fashion. This year, they have their own celebrity models with Kawaii Ambassador (yes, that is an officiated position) Kimura Yu and MATENROU OPERA bassist, yo. The range of punk and lolita extends to music as well with Friday’s concert with ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D and Sunday closing with Luna Haruna of Sword Art Online and Fate/Zero fame. Stateside guests does not lose in caliber as they include AnimeNEXT favs Bill Rogers, Michelle Knotz as well as new guests Matthew Mercer, Alexis Tipton, producer/director Jonathon Klein and husband/wife VAs Ellen Steryn and the epic Richard Epcar amongst others. The highlight of the weekend besides the concerts, the fashion show and the panels would have to be the North Eastern World Cosplay Summit preliminaries, the winner which would move ahead to the finals at Acen and obtain the chance to represent as Team USA in Japan. For a con in the middle of New Jersey, it is definitely a weekend that would put it on the cosplay map! Let’s get started!
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014: a con in review”

Luna Haruna stepped out on stage to the chants of her fans. Purely a singer, she danced a bit about the stage in a short white dress that was adorable and classy. When she waved her arms in the air, the crowd followed suit. We were only able to shoot the first three songs.

Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Luna Haruna Concert”

The new host for the masquerade is Uncle Yo which is hilarious as always. He had an awesome opening that is reminiscent of other masquerades that he hosted back when NYAF still existed. Definitely was super entertaining. You can catch the entire show on the Anime Next youtube channel.
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Masquerade/World Cosplay Summit Northeastern Prelims”

Currently working as part of studio TRIGGER’s staff, Hiromi Wakabayashi has been involved in several works with Hiroyuki Imaishi. He began setting production for Gurren Lagann and has also worked on Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt from its beginnings as an original idea to assisting in plot development, and participated in directing. For KILL la KILL Hiromi contributed the plot development for episode 4 and directed the 2nd ending sequence. Most importantly, he assists and oversees the design team of KILL la KILL as creative officer.

Shigeto Koyama is an active designer in Japan’s media industry. He has participated in various popular anime titles such as Aim for the Top! 2 Diebuster, HEROMAN, Eureka Seven, Gurren Lagann, Rebuild of Evangelion, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, and Star Driver. Koyama plays a vital role in KILL la KILL as a creative director and also created the storyboard and illustration for the 2nd ending sequence. He is also responsible for conceptual design on Inferno Cop, which is available legally on YouTube. Currently, he is working on production for the anime series Captain Earth, which is available on Crunchyroll.com. ~AnimeNEXT info
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Kill la Kill Studio Trigger Panel”

The Acryl agitt segment opened with a grungy black and white video showcasing the models with classic jrock designs. Acryl agitt has a flavor that is uniquely it’s own, a flair of the wild yet utilizing subdued colors like gray and white. I love the way the soft fabric move and sway as the models walked.
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Fashion Show”

Luna Haruna was born on October 11th, 1991. Luna’s original voice and special talent soon attracted great deal of attention after releasing her original song “Binetsu no Tsuki” on the magazine “Lis Ani!”. On May 2012, she made her major debut with the song “Soraha Takaku Kazeha Utau” (Ending theme song for the second season of animation “Fate/Zero”), written and composed by Yuki Kajiura. On the same year in November, she released her second single “Overfly” (Ending theme song for animation “Sword Art Online”). Her latest single, “snowdrop” was featured as the ending theme song for “Koimonogatari”, second season of series). ~AnimeNEXT info
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Luna Haruna Panel”

ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D is a 4-piece rock band with Mixture style, incorporating various music styles with emphasis on rock, punk, and emo. Since formation, the band has been actively producing heart-touching Japanese lyrics, one & only melody lines with expressive band sound to spread messages to fans to live straight forwardly in this day and age at performances all over Japan from their home ground of Shibuya. ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D does not stay within just music but branches out in other areas as well. In fashion, for example, SHiNNOSUKE models for Japanese street fashion brand, “Subciety” while the band gets endorsement from West Coast apparel brand, “srh” and crossing over with other subcultures such as extreme sports and anime (“Durarara!!”, “BLEACH”, “Blue Exorcist”). Their new single, “Reclimb” released in November 2013 was chosen for the opening theme of a hit bicycle anime, “Yowapeda”. ~AnimeNEXT info
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – ROOKIEZ is PUNK’D concert”

Creator of the most pink in the world. A multi-talented magazine fashion model turned creator, kimura U has been appointed Japan’s official “Kawaii Ambassador” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to promote pop culture and represent Harajuku Fashion to the world. Having visited countries all over the world such as France, America, Italy and China, kimura U has been a guest at Japanese pop culture events such as Japan Expo and fashion events like Paris Collection. She is the leading emissary of the Shinjuku “kawaii” aesthetic. In 2013, she worked on the cover illustration for a photo collection by LiSA. Then, in 2014, her talents flowered when her original fashion brand, “KOKOkim,” opened at Shibuya 109, establishing her as a creator unbound by genre. This star of Shinjuku is recognized all over Japan! As the world’s #1 creator of pink, kimura U is unstoppable! ~AnimeNEXT info
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Kimura Yu Panel”

I headed to the Doubletree and checked out the Kimono for guys panel which was already very much underway. In truth, it was purely a kimono panel with interesting tidbits about wearing a kimono and the different types. The panelist made her own kimonos and was able to demonstrate proper wear by putting it on another attendee.
Continue reading “AnimeNEXT 2014 – Kimono for Guys”