I went to Otakuthon with my friend Suzy last Saturday. I didn't even know about it until I called her and she told me that she was participating in a contest at the anime convention on Friday. Since I've never been to one before, I asked her if she'd like to go with me and she happily agreed.
Within seconds of arriving, I immediately saw a lot of cosplayers. That's obviously normal since it's an anime convention but it was soon apparent that I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I was one of the weirdos who wasn't in costume. I felt out of place for wearing normal clothes. Crazy, non? I was immediately relieved when Suzy showed up sans costume though.
Instead of just lining up and paying for your ticket, you have to register. It seems to be a complete waste of time since you have to fill in a form with your information and then line up instead of just simply...lining up. But at least you're allowed to choose what you want to have printed on your name tag.
Naturally, I chose this.
We walked into the Exhibition Hall, which is basically where you buy all the merchandise. There were a lot of local artists and their beautiful works! Made me feel artistically challenged -_-
Since I couldn't decorate my room and my office with my own artwork, I splurged and bought a lot of prints. I didn't have time to take pictures of the prints yet since my sister and her boyfriend are visiting and have taken up lodging in my office which is where I put the prints. I'll have pictures for my next post :)
Obviously, there were a lot of plushes as well. But they were mostly pokemon and they weren't that cute and/or fake. There was only two booths that sold authentic kawaii goodies. They also happened to be my cup of tea so naturally I gravitated towards them.
Nemunekos!!!
This booth was one of the first booths that we passed by. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything other than Nemunekos that I liked so we just breezed by. But we came back a few hours later and I guess the owner cleaned up the booth a bit and some more kawaii plushies started to surface.
There were smaller kapibarasans (although none of them uber kawaii), some san-x plushies including Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma. I riffled through some of the not so kawaii ones and I found a tiny Rio plush that I've had my eye on forever! From what I could see, it was the last one so I clung onto it for dear life. An adorable little Chou Fleur plush also caught my eye and I brought both of them home, despite my overload of kawaii plushies (keep an eye out for a selling post, real soon. My flickr has all the newest kawaii that I'm selling).
Chou Fleur and Rio the Lion!
I also bought these two adorable Mt. Fujipon and Fujiko Chan keychains. I saw them on Strapya World and I had wanted to buy them but didn't want to pay for shipping. I grabbed the two that were cutest since not all kawaii were made with the same level of kawaiiness!
Mt. Fujipon and Fujiko Chan keychain plushes
During our second and final round of the exhibition hall, we passed by this older woman who was dressed in lolita style. She has a cute display of handmade plushies but my eye was immediately drawn to this adorable takochu. I debated for about 5 mins whether I should get it or not since I had spent quite a sum already. But she seemed like a very nice lady so I decided to get one to support her (and let's be honest, it was too cute to pass up!). It comes with an adorable little matching pin.
Video Game and Movie Glasses
Game of Thrones!
Pokemon & Zelda
I was tempted to get one (or two) of these glasses or at least split with Suzy, since one was $12 and two was $20. But instead I bought a different cup.
Chocobo!
I was tempted to buy a chocobo plush as well but at $25 each, it was too expensive, especially since I'm trying to save money until I get a job (or until I sell a lot of my kawaii away).
During the middle of the afternoon, we decided to check out the Cosplay Café, as it was called. It was basically the cafeteria and they had a "Japanese" menu which consisted of sushi, takoyaki and taiyaki. We both opted for a good ol' artery-clogging tradition Quebecois dish, poutine. With a Japanese twist.
POUTINE WITH SQUID SAUSAGES!!
It was good (because how can poutine not be good), but it'd have to considered a bad poutine since it's served just about every where and there are so many other places that make it way better. I don't know if you understand what I'm trying to say...
As I mentioned there were a lot of cosplays but I didn't take as many pictures as I should've since I was more into enjoying the sights. But I did manage to take a few that I thought were pretty cool.
Belle & Cinderella
Tonberry from the FF series.
Dantes from Devil May Cry
I don't know who she's supposed to be but I thought it was a really nice cosplay
A Geisha
Sailor Scouts & Tuxedo Mask
Naruto Team
Not 100% sure who they're supposed to be but the guy one the left looks like a Persona from Persona 4 and the one on the right looks like Gilgamesh possibly?
Elizabeth & Margaret from Persona 3 & 4
Check out Suzy's instragram, suzysweet57, for some more pictures! Tomorrow is Matsuri, the Japanese festival, first time I'll be attending that too!
Within seconds of arriving, I immediately saw a lot of cosplayers. That's obviously normal since it's an anime convention but it was soon apparent that I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I was one of the weirdos who wasn't in costume. I felt out of place for wearing normal clothes. Crazy, non? I was immediately relieved when Suzy showed up sans costume though.
Instead of just lining up and paying for your ticket, you have to register. It seems to be a complete waste of time since you have to fill in a form with your information and then line up instead of just simply...lining up. But at least you're allowed to choose what you want to have printed on your name tag.
We walked into the Exhibition Hall, which is basically where you buy all the merchandise. There were a lot of local artists and their beautiful works! Made me feel artistically challenged -_-
Since I couldn't decorate my room and my office with my own artwork, I splurged and bought a lot of prints. I didn't have time to take pictures of the prints yet since my sister and her boyfriend are visiting and have taken up lodging in my office which is where I put the prints. I'll have pictures for my next post :)
Obviously, there were a lot of plushes as well. But they were mostly pokemon and they weren't that cute and/or fake. There was only two booths that sold authentic kawaii goodies. They also happened to be my cup of tea so naturally I gravitated towards them.
This booth was one of the first booths that we passed by. At first glance, there doesn't seem to be anything other than Nemunekos that I liked so we just breezed by. But we came back a few hours later and I guess the owner cleaned up the booth a bit and some more kawaii plushies started to surface.
There were smaller kapibarasans (although none of them uber kawaii), some san-x plushies including Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma. I riffled through some of the not so kawaii ones and I found a tiny Rio plush that I've had my eye on forever! From what I could see, it was the last one so I clung onto it for dear life. An adorable little Chou Fleur plush also caught my eye and I brought both of them home, despite my overload of kawaii plushies (keep an eye out for a selling post, real soon. My flickr has all the newest kawaii that I'm selling).
I also bought these two adorable Mt. Fujipon and Fujiko Chan keychains. I saw them on Strapya World and I had wanted to buy them but didn't want to pay for shipping. I grabbed the two that were cutest since not all kawaii were made with the same level of kawaiiness!
During our second and final round of the exhibition hall, we passed by this older woman who was dressed in lolita style. She has a cute display of handmade plushies but my eye was immediately drawn to this adorable takochu. I debated for about 5 mins whether I should get it or not since I had spent quite a sum already. But she seemed like a very nice lady so I decided to get one to support her (and let's be honest, it was too cute to pass up!). It comes with an adorable little matching pin.
I was tempted to get one (or two) of these glasses or at least split with Suzy, since one was $12 and two was $20. But instead I bought a different cup.
I was tempted to buy a chocobo plush as well but at $25 each, it was too expensive, especially since I'm trying to save money until I get a job (or until I sell a lot of my kawaii away).
During the middle of the afternoon, we decided to check out the Cosplay Café, as it was called. It was basically the cafeteria and they had a "Japanese" menu which consisted of sushi, takoyaki and taiyaki. We both opted for a good ol' artery-clogging tradition Quebecois dish, poutine. With a Japanese twist.
It was good (because how can poutine not be good), but it'd have to considered a bad poutine since it's served just about every where and there are so many other places that make it way better. I don't know if you understand what I'm trying to say...
As I mentioned there were a lot of cosplays but I didn't take as many pictures as I should've since I was more into enjoying the sights. But I did manage to take a few that I thought were pretty cool.
Check out Suzy's instragram, suzysweet57, for some more pictures! Tomorrow is Matsuri, the Japanese festival, first time I'll be attending that too!
Sista @ 