Categories
Anime Reviews CJAS Reviews

Fall 2009: In Review

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  Good to see you all again! Although I can’t really speak much from experience, I must stay that I was thoroughly impressed by the lineup this past semester.  Showing was a real event this time around, and I’d like to take a few moments to take a quick look back on it.

Series Reviews:

Genshiken

Our starter for this semester was one I had not seen since I was in high school.  At the time, I was rather amused with it, but after re-watching the first season, I found that the series hasn’t held up as well as I had thought.  Let me be clear:  It’s not a bad series; I don’t think so, anyway.  But whenever Genshiken’s not poking a good-natured elbow in the ribs of hardcore anime fans, the overall result is disappointing.  The humor tends to be awkwardly spaced; whole episodes can go by with scarcely a slice of wit to hold interest, relying instead on the (mostly bland) antics of local basket-case Madarame to keep the whole thing from grinding to a halt.  Add to that rather generic BGM and character design, and what’s left is a series So Okay, It’s Average.  You could do worse than this dull little piece of work, but you could do much better as well.

Wolf’s Rain

Aint he pretty?
Ain't he pretty?

I must admit, I was pretty skeptical about this series.  Just looking at the character designs made me shudder; I like bishounen as much as the next fan, but I didn’t walk in expecting much in the way of, well, anything else.  Thankfully, Wolf’s Rain does not disappoint.  It has its issues, mind you; the plot moves at the pace of cheap pancake syrup and the dialogue can sometimes suffer as a result.  But thus far, it’s been nothing short of a treat to watch.  The backgrounds and character animation are, as expected, fantastic, with real eye for detail and cohesion.  And the music! Man, Kanno-sensei should really go make an album or something.  If she does stuff like this for a show… Ah, I digress.  Anyway, if this series can overcome its pacing problems and deliver its already unique story already, then it’s well on its way to becoming a favorite of mine.

Categories
Cosplay Tutorials Props/Accessories

How long does it take to make a cosplay outfit?

There are a lot of things that go into making a cosplay outfit: deciding on a character, buying fabric, patterns, and premade clothing, sewing the outfit, making the accessories, figuring out what con you want to wear it to, and on and on.

However, one thing that doesn’t get much discussion is how long it takes to make one of these outfits, and like a lot of things, it’s hard to predict unless you’ve already made a few costumes. So: I have decided to share my sage wisdom (read: five and half costumes) and give all three of my readers some pointers on how it takes to make a cosplay outfit.

Not surprisingly, it actually depends on a lot of different factors. There are five big ones. First; how experienced you are with sewing. If you’ve never sewn on a button, it doesn’t matter how simple your outfit is, it’s going to take you a while. If you are truly and utterly inexperienced, you’re going to want to pad your timeline a lot, and hopefully find someone who knows what they’re doing to help you thread the sewing machine. I’m working with the assumption that you have some experience with sewing – you’ve repaired some clothing, maybe made a shirt or something. If you’re really new, you’re going to want to at least double whatever time I say, and have a sewing resource very handy.