Thursday, June 2, 2011

For your Viewing Pleasure Part 4

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again. Yep, you guessed it; it's time for me to reveal my number 1. Now let me start off by saying I will go into a little more in depth than I had in the previous entries. This is because 1) I am going a little fan girl with it and 2) because unlike the others I can actually compare it to something. With that said there will be some spoilers, but shouldn't change your minds in checking out this series. **Note: all manga shots with more than 1 panel are read in the traditional Japanese format; from right to left.** So without further adieu;

#1: Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler

Photobucket

I fell in love with this series almost immediately. At first I actually didn't know what it was about at all and when you hear the title "Black Butler" you have to wonder how a story about a butler could be entertaining. When at Anime Boston this year my friend CorSec and I were talking about just buying one of two series just to find out what it was since we saw cosplayers everywhere for this and the other show. The day after I returned from the con I saw they had all the season 1 on NetFlix and watched the first episode. It was nothing like I had expected and for a few days after that I didn't watch anymore till I was camping NMs on Final Fantasy XI and needed something to do between pops. It was then I got so obsessed with this series.

This may seem like spoiler, but it really isn't as the premise of the series is the story's end. The story revolves around a 12 year old boy named Ciel Phantomhive, who was kidnapped and tortured at age 10 and in order to escape his living hell he forms a contract with a demon, who Ciel names Sebastian. The contract states that until Ciel has achieved his revenge on all of those who have made him suffer and humiliated him Sebastian will serve as his butler in exchange for the boy's soul.

Like most of the anime on this list there was a manga that proceeded it. I mentioned Saiyuki's and Fruits Basket's and how they differed to my knowledge. This series however sort of went the way of Full Metal Alchemist. The original anime for FMA had the plotline from the manga overall, but took a lot of liberties in changing how it progressed and told; mainly making changes to some characters to have a shock value when it was revealed while watching. The anime for Kuroshitsuji pretty much does the same thing; the initial idea and plot are there, but differs greatly to the original source material.

I had watched through both seasons before reading the manga and I honestly had a few questions upon watching the series' end. So I am gonna take the liberty of sharing some of these with you. The first question that I had was about the character Tanaka. In the anime he is constantly shown in chibi drinking Japanese tea and mainly saying "ho-ho-ho"; very rarely do you see him in non-chibi mode. But even in the show it is stated that Tanaka had served the Phantomhive household for a very long time, so that left me with the question; why didn't he try to save Ciel from his captors? I mean even if he is old you'd think he would try and save his young master no? Well in the book it explains that he in fact did try, but was assaulted. Also the look of a frail old man is far from what it seems as he is truly capable of protecting the Earl Phantomhive.
Photobucket The next few things actually came from me looking stuff up on the characters and within a character bio I found of Ciel, it mentioned that he is allergic to cats. I had found that a little odd since in the anime he was seen calling a cat over to him and picked it up. Once again the book settles the facts. First Sebastian is truly obsessed with all kinds of cats, not just your normal house cats.
PhotobucketPhotobucket
Right after this incident at the circus we see this; Photobucket I will admit though I have to wonder how allergic he is since Sebastian has entire closet full of cats in the mansion lol. The other thing I read about Ciel I was rather baffled that they didn't mention in the show since it would be something that could potentially hinder him in his missions for the Queen and that's his asthma.
Photobucket

I do find it interesting that the things about Ciel were actually introduced in the same arc of the manga and this arc, along with two others and a side story, also did not exist for the anime. And much like arcs not existing there are characters who were removed or just added for the television series.

Photobucket Snake appears in the Noah's Arc Circus arc of the manga and later is hired by Ciel to work at the mansion. Since this arc did not appear in the show Snake never made his debut. Instead there was a story that featured a demon hound; Photobucket Going by the name Pluto, the demon hound was given to them by a woman named Angela; but in the same regard the pooch ends up with a job at the mansion just like Snake.

Also of note and I am really unsure why they changed this, the mark that was branded onto Ciel was moved to a different spot.
PhotobucketPhotobucket

Overall, I will say I have been enjoying the manga a lot more than the anime; however, for what the anime is and has to offer it is very very good. The manga itself is ongoing, so for them to actually make their own plot and twist was quite entertaining and shocking when the twists were revealed. Much like the original FMA was. All the characters are quite lovable in their own ways, though in spots with the anime they seem a tad out of place, especially given Ciel's personality. His servants (save for Sebastian) are quite incompetent and even though they are this way in the manga too; they love working for their young master as he treats them well. The gardener, Finnian, is quoted in the book stating that he likes working for Ciel because he doesn't hurt him. Where as in the first episode of the anime Ciel is shown throwing a dart at Finnian's head. So some liberties were taken. Also I should note one character in particular and that is Ciel's fiancée, Elizabeth. Lizzy has a very bubbly personality and the desire to make everything cute. I suppose this is to balance out Ciel's seriousness and dark personality. But when I watched through the anime I thought it came off as quite annoying... and it is. It was in the book too, but even if she doesn't show it in the show, I do have to give respect to this character as she does really love Ciel and accepts who he is and what he does;
Photobucket This is the last page of what is current in the manga in Japan and it appears she knows the secrets of the Phantomhive family. (in context to this picture Ciel has hurt is leg and is out of ammo so it's up to Lizzy to fight off a zombie horde) So when watching the series just remember that she does have a bad ass side.



The opening to the first season, Monochrome no Kiss, is such an ear catching song, if that makes sense. It's one of the more unusual sounding ones I had head in a long time, but I was instantly obsessed with it. The imagery placed with here (the second half of season 1 had another set of animation) is by far one of my favorites, in particular the part with Sebastian catching the bullets. And over all I felt that it did capture the essence that is Kuroshitsuji.



Opening to season 2, Shiver, is very different from Monochrome no Kiss, a lot more rocking out if you will. Characters new and old are both showcased and it does a good job portraying the story of season 2. My favorite part of this opening actually is when they show the contract markings.

Now, I am briefly going to talk about this season. As I mentioned the premise of Kuroshitsuji earlier, the premise actually gets resolved in the first season. So when I heard there was a second I was baffled as to how they could do it other than Sebastian making a contract with someone else. Well in the first episode we meet Alois Trancy and his butler, Claude. The opening to the first episode only showcases these characters as it is set to Shiver, so I had then thought they just took the same premise again and just made poor imitations of Sebastian and Ciel (which is true, even Sebastian admits it in the episode preview for episode 2. Well, nope! Sebastian makes his grand entrance at the end of the episode with Ciel's body. Why? Well you'll have to find that one out on your own.

There are also some OVAs that have been released; Ciel in Wonderland was a very interesting take on Alice in Wonderland. Making of Kuroshitsuji II isn't exactly what I expected as it's a making of the second season, but with the characters as actors talking about their roles. Another was released about the Shinigami Grell and Will and the final one revoles around Alois and Claude (which I have yet to watch myself).

But this is my number one because I think anyone will enjoy it as it has its humor, but it has its dark side. I can only hope one day that this series goes in the way of FMA and they make an entire new anime series 100% based on the manga arcs because they would be awesome in motion much like the did with FMA Brotherhood. So go watch it, now! That's an order! And you know there is only one thing you can say to that, right Sebastian?
Photobucket

See you all next time! ^^/

Sunday, May 29, 2011

For Your Viewing Pleasure Part 3

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again. Today you all have a special treat as I reveal my number 2 and 3 picks for Anime for beginnings. Shall we begin?

#3: The Slayers

Photobucket

This is actually by far the best fantasy series anime I have seen to date. The characters are all enjoyable and where as the action is good you more than likely spend your time laughing. If I had to compare to something it would be the way you would be in party with your friends in a D&D game; good times will be had by all.



Season 1 introduces us to our hero, Lina Inverse and along the way you meet several adventurers who become her allies in the fight against the Dark Lord. This season is actually my favorite out of the 5 (though I have only seen all the way through 3). I really enjoyed the character's first encounters with one another in addition to the build up to its climax.

The opening song; Get Along, is my favorite among the openings as well. As it basically just rocks out and gets you psyched up for what should be a grant adventure. I couldn't find the Dub version on Youtube, but the opening monologue was dubbed over and I can honestly say Lina's voice actress really sounded like she got into it.



Season 2; The Slayers Next, the party once again returns for more crazy adventures. This time around the group focuses on finding the mysterious Clair Bible, which is said to hold all the answers of the universe. In their process of finding this artifact they once again face off with a god known as Hellmaster Phibrizzo. This season was an absolute joy to sit through and you can be sure you will be on the edge of your seat as you see how it all plays out.

The opening song, Give a Reason, is pretty good too for an opener. If their was one word I would use to describe it I think it would have to be; Energetic. The tone starts off kinda slow and series and then it comes off with high energy and makes you smile. So for me it never failed to get me jazzed for the start of the episodes.



Season 3; The Slayers Try, brings back the party once again, save for one character, as the story of their adventures now center around a certain object that Lina had her eye on within the first season and a war between the black and gold dragons begin to rise. Like the other two, Try was an entertaining season and seemed to actually flow through a little differently with all the main characters together at once where as in Next they had to meet up together again. It was a nice change.

Try's opening, Breeze, was rather interesting in comparison to the other two. It comes off more like a ballad and unlike Fruits Basket with its slow paced opening, I thought this was a nice change. The song is beautiful and the imagery flows perfectly with it.

The greatest thing about The Slayers is that with the first three seasons you don't really have to watch them in order. I had watched through the first season and then watched Next and Try at the same time, and I could still understand the plot lines to both.

There are other things for this series; as I mentioned there are 5 seasons to the television series as well as movies and OVAs. Most of the movies and OVAs do not have the same cast of characters that the television series does and where as those plots still had the same charms that the TV series does, I feel they lack a little without those characters. (the reason the other characters aren't there is because the movies and OVAs take place before the events of season 1)

Dub or Sub? Dub all the way. The Japanese cast was great, but the dub cast really brought these characters to life.

#2: Cowboy Bebop

Photobucket

This show is probably a "duh" for the veteran otaku. I can't think of a single person to whom I had recommended this to who didn't walk away saying it was good. In a way, some might say it's the "perfect" series as it has plenty of action with little breaks in between it, the characters are all pretty interesting, the music is just epic win in how it helps the show move along and the plots for the episodes are well deserving of your attention. The story revolves around Spike Spiegel and his crew of the bounty hunting ship, The Bebop.



As I mentioned the music is just win and the opening theme, Tank, is catchy and very different from other openings to anime. The imagery is very basic as it doesn't really rely on anything flashy and the first part of the song is the only part with words. It's really simple, but it's that simplicity that makes it awesome.

Dub or Sub? This is another one that would have to be dub all the way. I had only seen 1 episode and the movie in the original Japanese and much like The Slayers, I felt that the English cast really brought these character's to life. They were so perfect that it's really hard to hear them in any other language.

So there you have it, my numbers 2 and 3. I have to admit I know I said less about these two than I did on the others, but honestly I can't really think of anything to say about them that won't 100% spoil them. See you all next time for number 1! ^^/

Thursday, May 19, 2011

For Your Viewing Pleasure Part 2

Hellow and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again. Today we continue the countdown of my choices of anime series I think would be good for beginners. So without further ado..

#4: Fruits Basket

Photobucket

This series is one of the most sweet, dramatic, funny and weird series I have ever seen. The story follows a girl, Tohru Honda, who has lost her mother and lives in a tent in the woods. She stumbles apon the Soma house hold where she meets Shagure Soma and a classmate; Yuki Soma. They find out that she has been living in their woods and offer to help her out by offering her a room. This may sound like a linear kind of plot, but obviously there is a twist; the Soma family is cursed and whenever someone of the opposite sex (not of their blood) touches them they transform into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Hilarity ensues.

This series is easy for me to recommend as it has something for everyone. And when there are serious pieces there is usually something funny happening elsewhere in the episode to keep it well balanced. The characters are very well likable and it's hard to almost not feel bad for them when they speak of their pasts.

This series itself started as a manga and then adapted into this 26 episode anime. Like a lot of series that have done this, the anime and manga do differ. The main example of this is that the curse doesn't get fully explained in the show, which is kinda bad, but on the same hand understandable; there may not have been enough time in the length of episodes they had to do that part of the story justice. In my opinion though I would have at least liked to have seen them try; since it is the bigger part of the storyline's plot. Also aside from the dramatic parts, the anime is quite light hearted, where as I have been told the manga is considerably darker to the point of making it fit into a horror genre.



This is one of the only times I can say I wasn't too fond of the opening to a series. It never actually grasped my attention as "all right! the show is gonna start". Instead it actually started to put me to sleep as it sounds like a lullaby. With that said though this is one of the only anime that I have seen to have translated the Japanese song into English (Magic Knight Rayearth and Rouroni Kenshin being the other 2). It's a nice change of pace and I kinda wish more anime did this.

Dub or Sub? This one, for me was dub all the way. The Japanese voices were good, but I found the English voices to fit the characters a little more; especially for Yuki. I always have to admire the voice actors over here when they are cast when the original actor in Japan was a woman. (yes that is quite common over there to have a female voice actor portray a male character). And it was his voice that really fit.

So there is my number four, I hope you check it out for yourselves. See you all next time. ^^/

Saturday, May 14, 2011

For Your Viewing Pleasure Part 1

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again. Today's entry I had come up with about a month ago, but I needed to be sure that the list I had made was exactly what I had wanted. As it turns out it was; until last week lol. So I altered it only slightly and thus we can start the countdown of my Top 5 Anime Recommendations for Beginners.

Honorable Mention: Weiss Kreuz aka Knight Hunters

Photobucket

Okay, view this as me cheating if you want, but Weiss was originally the number 5 on the list and I really wanted to keep it on, thus it gets an honorable mention. This was one of the more unique series I had seen and is still one of my favorites today. The story revolves around 4 boys; Omi, Ken, Aya and Yoji, who work at a flower shop during the day, however when night falls they are an assassin team known as Weiss (vice).

Like all television series the opening can make a big difference in whether or not you wanna keep going with the show, well for me at least. And Weiss did not disappoint. Even if you're not really into the J-Pop/J-Rock scene, you can still appreciate the sounds of a good song.



Velvet Underworld I felt really captured the theme of the series. After it's 26 episode run, the Weiss boys would return again in a 2 part OVA series, but that was never brought over stateside. Then in 2002 a new chapter for the series came to light as Weiss Kreuz Gluhen aka Knight Hunters Eternity was released.

Photobucket

As you can see from the previous picture above, the character designs for the 4 original Weiss members has changed and honestly the only one I don't like is Omi's. Though I do have to wonder how Aya went from a redhead to a long haired brunette.

The opening, much like Velvet Underworld, fit the series perfectly;



As an anime fan I often get asked whether I prefer the English Dubs over the original Japanese dialog and truth be told it depends on the series. So as I recommend this series I say it's a toss up on which version to watch. The dub wasn't horrible and was actually down right enjoyable, but the Japanese version is a little more special since the voice actors for the four main characters were of the band called Weiss Kreuz and it is them who are preforming the opening and endings to the series.

So why is this an honorable mention and not remaining number 5? Well it really has to do with the ending. As much as I love this series the ending really leaves a lot to be desired. In fact my friend CorSec ranted a long time (still does when we talk about this show) how the ending shouldn't have been the way it is. So I still recommend watching it, but the ending to Gluhen kinda sucks.

And now, the count down...

#5: Gensomaden Saiyuki

Photobucket

A long time ago, my friend Nadia had introduced me to this series, and I had fallen in love with it from the first episode I saw. This series is a retelling of the famous Chinese folk tale A Journey to the West. The story follows Son Goku, Sha Gojyo, Cho Hakkai and Genjo Sanzo as they make their way west to stop the resurrection of Gyo Mao and halt the demon uprising in its tracks.



The first season was by far one of my favorites as it established the characters very well and the plot was very straight forward. Of course, how could it not be? They are just heading west after all. The opening song, entitled For Real, was definitely one that grasped my attention and the imagery that went a long with it was very pleasant as well.



The second season was, unfortunately unneeded, save for like 3 episodes. Don't get me wrong, every step in Sanzo's journey is important. But this season had a lot to be desired as it had nothing to do with the original story of the manga in which the anime was adapted from. Originally when my friends and I had seen Saiyuki this and the movie, Saiyuki Requiem, would be the last we would see of Saiyuki for awhile. My friend Nadia was going to make a web series in Flash with her friends doing the voices and make a third season that would actually continue on with the storyline's actual plot.

Even though the project would have been fun, there was no need as they had released its third season; Saiyuki RELOAD.



This of course picks up right where we last left the Sanzo party and they continue to make their way to the west. For me, not having seen or read the series in a long time, when I found a streaming site that had all of it I was so excited that I sat there and watched all the through the episodes. I do find it interesting however, that Nadia's rendition of season 3 was going to revolve around what the last 3 episodes of RELOAD was. Would have been neat to see how that played out lol.

A fourth season was then released, Saiyuki RELOAD Gunlock;



Oh gee.... I wonder where I got the name for this Blog? My obsession with the series continued as I reached this season and the opening; Don't Look Back Again, had me completely hooked. I sat for three days straight, anticipating every episode till it came to an end.

This is my number 5 only for this one reason; the end doesn't really end. It would have ranked higher on my list had they actually made it to their destination and have an epic battle. But as it stands with the end of Gunlock they are still headed west. But that aside, the characters are love-able and you can't really get too lost in the plot as it is very straight forward, but there are surprising twists along the way that will hold your attention to the series.

Dub or Sub? Well this is another tough one as I have watched it through on both languages. But for me; the first 2 seasons are best dubbed. ADV didn't have the license for RELOAD and Gunlock so when they were released by Geneon, the voice cast was changed. It's not to say it was really bad, but the orginal dubbed voices were fantastic. Overall though, if you watch it straight through, the subbed version might be best. All the voice actors are the same and really fit their roles. One of my favorite voice actors in Japan, Toshiko Seki, provides the voice of Sanzo. And as a funny turn of events I was in the middle of watching Kamen Rider Den-O when I had picked Saiyuki up again. I couldn't stop laughing when Sanzo would talk as all I could picture was Momotaros lol.

So there you have it, another start to a list. I am aware that I don't go into complete detail, but where would be the fun in that? If you wanna know more about the series you'll look it up on your own, won't you? See you all next time! ^^/

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Take a Guess... Who the Hell Do You Think I Am?!

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again; a blog where I am free to do what I want! Well where I had last left you guys I was talking about my trip to Anime Boston and today I am here to expand a little but on the con experience with something that I have really grown rather fond of over the years. So lets dive right into Cosplay.

Cosplay, meaning Costume Play, is something very well known in the anime fandom and even beyond that. Primarily Cosplay is done at conventions, but the term carries over for whenever someone dresses up as their favorite anime/game/comic character. I had originally gotten into Cosplay when I was in 8th grade. Or rather that's when I first heard the term; it was Halloween and my best friend and I were invited to a party (said party only consisted of her, myself and the host, but still fun), since it was a Halloween party we of course decided to go in costume and the character I had chosen was Miang from Xenogears. It was rather simple and not 100% accurate, but back then I didn't care; I had my white coat that was kind of close to Miang's Solarian uniform, black slacks and white high tops. We were going to spray my hair purple, but because the weather was bad and we were afraid of it washing out and staining my coat we went against that idea. That had been the first time in a long time that I had actually dressed up and since it was so much fun I decided to do it the next year as well.

Every year around here we have something called the Pumpkin Festival. And during this event people dress up in their Halloween costumes and walk around town. My best friend had volunteered us to sign in people's pumpkins and thus she mentioned doing matching costumes. At the time we had started really getting to a series known as The Slayers. So we decided to dress as our favorite characters; me as Lina and her as Amelia. What construction there were for the outfits were all done by her; for me she altered a magenta turtle neck and stitched a piece of fabric that was to go across my chest. The other pieces of the costume were bought and for not being 100% accurate yet again, I think we did pretty well with what we had access to. After that I wouldn't cosplay again till 3 years later when she and I decided to dress as our favorite characters from Gravitation; her as Ryuuichi Sakuma and me as Tohma Seguchi. And since we had 2 of the 3 members of Nittle Grasper we got one of our male friends, Casey, to dress in drag and be Noriko. These outfits were a tad simpler (more or less) as we could just take things from our closets. The weather getting in the way again we couldn't spray Casey's hair to match the character, but over all we were pretty damn close to the characters' outfits from the anime.

Since then I had only cosplayed twice; once at Bakuretsu Con as Hisoka from Yami no Matsuei and recently this year at Anime Boston... kind of. I had the inkling of wanting to dress up for the con back in October as I was being inspired by Halloween. I had picked up all the materials needed for my costume and even decided to do a matching outfit with it (more on this later); but everything had fallen through as the sewing aspect got skewed by the machine not working correctly. But I was still determined and since we had just finished watching Kamen Rider Den-O, I decided to cosplay Urataros. Unfortunately I did not have anything that was akin to his normal attire so I went with the next best thing; Yuuto posessed by Urataros.

Photobucket

Again not 100% accurate either on my part. The only things I had, when going off of this image, was the blue streak and white jacket and my top was black, but not a buttoned down shirt. But my brother brought up a good point; so long as I acted like Urataros I could where whatever I wanted as at that point the imajin would have possessed me lol.

With all that being said; there are a number of topics with in the subject of cosplay that come up, so I figure I would share my opinions on it with you all. Shall we break it down?

Should I Cosplay?

This is actually an interesting question and there's a couple reasons why it would be asked. For me though, the reason I asked this was question was due to my size. I am overweight and I worried that people would snicker and make fun of me for the way I looked in the costume. I know I had cosplayed in the past so what was stopping me now? Truth is I am unsure what was stopping me, but I had posted the question to my friends on Facebook and the two who had answered me had valid points. One had simply stated that "It takes guts to Cosplay in the first place" and the other was "Who cares what anyone else thinks? You should do what you wanna do and the hell with everyone else". Both things I took to heart; I was gonna be ballsy and do what I wanted to do.

Now this is where opinions will vary; when I had mentioned I wanted to dress as one of the Sailor Senshi I had gotten kind of mixed reactions. Some thought I would look good and others were very unsure to the point of looking fearful for me. It's a perception thing of sorts and in my opinion as long as you're comfortable in your own skin I say go for it. It goes along the lines of "who cares what others think". As long as you're okay with it, do what you wanna do. I believe it was on Moon-Chase, a Sailor Moon blog, that had stated that it would be an injustice to not dress as your favorite character if you love them that much. And I have to agree. When it comes to height and weight there really is no being 100% accurate.

But I wear glasses? Am I limited to characters who wear them too? Oh hell no. True the outfit might look a little off, but that's not something you can control. I myself wear glasses and refuse to get contacts. Anyone who says something about it is really stretching for a nitpick anyway. There are just some things that you can't control and it will never be 100% accurate.

Is accuracy important?

Well yes, to a point anyway. The more accurate you are the more people will; a) stop you to take your picture (sometimes to the point where you might not be able to move for awhile lol) and b) recognize who you are trying to be. But there have been a few instances where the person has been missing key things and I have still been able to pick out who they are.

The most commonly "missed" piece (at least that I have seen) has been the hair. Wigs for anime/game characters can actually get quite expensive, but the price you pay is for the quality. So if you are willing to shell out the money for it good for you, but there are some who just can't budget it out and that's okay. Sometimes it is the hair that can make or break the costume (depending if it's a defying trait; like Sailor Moon's), but that's not to say that they don't function without it. When I dressed as Lina, I actually had to remove the wig for awhile as it had a horrible smell to it to begin with (whatever it was made out of) and on top of that we had sprayed it orange/red so it would be the correct color and that smell was just awful. But I still functioned as Lina Inverse even though I didn't that the hair.

Some people would argue that the Sailor Senshi outfits are the easiest for a cosplayer to accomplish. That's a matter of opinion really. The most identifiable piece of the Sailor Senshi would be the Sailor Fuku; and what's on the sailor fuku? The big, colorful bow of course. I have seen some Sailor Senshi cosplayers only have ribbons in place of the front bow. I admit it looks rather odd since its not as full as the bow should be, but again it's not to say it doesn't function.

Using Sailor Moon as an example again; the shoes for a good portion of the cosplay outfits are a huge challenge. And I have to say only about half of the Sailor Senshi cosplayers I saw this year had the shoes for the costume. Some used something that was close to it and others just used their normal shoes. Again they did look odd with the rest of the outfit, but its not to say the costume looked bad.

Over all you do want to be as accurate as you possibly can, but don't go outside your means to do. Do the best with what you got!

Where should I start?

This one is always a loaded question. Ultimately it comes down to WHO you wanna dress up as. So to help this along I am gonna give some examples (from my opinion of course) of the least complex to the most.

The least effort in cosplay would be what is known as "Closet Cosplay" where you throw a costume together from clothes in your closet/no to minimal construction needed. My costumes of Tohma and U-Yuuto were just this, as well as Hisoka. Even if you have to go out and buy pieces for the costume; closet cosplay is the cheapest way to get in on the fun.

For midrange I would have to say it's something that is considered one dimensional. The sailor fuku falls under this because it's very simplistic in design and shape. For those like me who actually don't know how to sew and want to learn, cosplay is great incentive to do so.

The "OMG HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS?!" range, well that would be a number of characters. But the best examples of this would be the "mascot" costumes. Mascots are usually creatures from series such as Pokemon. But another example of things that could fall into this category would be things like the Master Chief's armor from Halo, any Tokustatsu character and much much more. At Anime Boston 2008 there was a suit that actually lit up.

Obviously the more you do the more your skill will advance. I one day hope to get to the "OMG" point.

That's pretty much it for now. I will return to this topic every once and awhile as I make progress on my own cosplay outfits, even if only goes piece by piece. But for your enjoyment here is a list of the characters I would love to dress up as;

Sailor Moon:

Eternal Sailor Moon Photobucket

Sailor Uranus Photobucket

Sailor Pluto Photobucket

LUNAR:

Luna Photobucket

Lucia Photobucket

Xenogears:

Elly Van Houten Photobucket

Billy Lee Black Photobucket

Final Fantasy VI:

Celes Chere (Opera gown) Photobucket

Final Fantasy XI:

Dancer Relic Photobucket

Gravitation:

Shuichi Shindou Photobucket

Fullmetal Alchemist:

Riza Hawkeye Photobucket

Disgaea:

Flonne Photobucket

Rozalin Photobucket

Black Butler:

Ciel Phantomhive Photobucket

Kamen Rider:

Shotaro Hidari Photobucket

Kamen Rider Den-O Gun form Photobucket

Ryutaros Photobucket

And many many more lol. I would also like to dress up as Tohma and Lina again with improvements over the original costumes. There is more I would like to cover on this topic, when it comes to designing the costume that is, but that shall wait for another entry. See you all next time! ^^/

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Great Otaku Gathering

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again; a blog where I think I have run out of things witty to say at the start. Today's entry came to mind while I was away for the weekend as I had attended Anime Boston, so for everyone's enjoyment I am gonna share my convention memories over the years. Shall we begin?

Since I had gotten into anime it was always a dream of mine to go to an anime con and for awhile it was always talked about between me and my best friend, sadly though the friendship fell through and we were unable to achieve that goal. My first con I ever went to was with my boyfriend and was fairly local (only an hr or so away) called Kamecon. Kamecon was a one day only convention that was held at a high school; I honestly didn't know what to expect really when I had gone. I knew about cosplay and that they would have merchandise, but that would be the extent of my knowledge of it. This convention was rather entertaining, if only because of the people I had gone with. My boyfriend, myself and a few others went as volunteers for another friend who was running a business table, so we got into the con for free. When I first set out to go, like I do with every con now, I tend to think of what I want to look for and at this convention it was volume 4 of Card Captor Sakura: Masters of the Clow, since my boyfriend bought me all the volumes except for that one (because they were sold out). After setting up the table I went into the Dealer's Room and I was so excited; I found the book rather quickly. After that my BF and a friend went to the gaming area. I watched them play Marvel vs Capcom 2 for a bit then wondered back into the Dealer's Room. Apparently when I had done that my BF had asked our friend where I had gone to and I had come back with something else in my hand that I had bought. I did that about 3 or 4 times through out the day lol. It may have been small, but it was still fun.

The 2nd con I had ever gone to was Bakuretsu Con in Vermont with my friend Patrick. We had only gone for one day (it was a weekend con). We saw some anime DVDs and browsed the Dealer's Room of course. This time around my goal was to find a figure of Riku from Kingdom Hearts; sadly though I didn't find one. They had the KH figures, but not Riku's. That con was okay, but nothing really stood out for me; probably because I didn't sleep at all before I had gone to it.

At this point the person who was my best friend and I had started talking again and we actually were able to go to a con together; Anime Boston 2008 aka LineCon. Why LineCon? Because something went screwy and the line for pre-reg was ridiculous. And for being my first big convention it wasn't the best of memories. So to get this out of the way, here's the bad for me from that year; I didn't get my badge till 10pm the first night of the convention, I had a nasty fall on the sidewalk due to tripping over an uplifted brick and banged myself up pretty good and then 2 of the friends I had gone with snapped at me pretty much back to back. But the line thing aside, the con itself was fun. For me that year, I was looking for something from Disgaea. I didn't care what, I just wanted something from it since at the time it was my obsession. I lucked out and found two pictures in Artist Alley as well as 2 sealed figurines and one of them turned out to be my favorite character, Flonne. It was that con that made me understand why people paid for fan art and I am grateful for that.

I wouldn't go to another Anime Boston until 2010. This time around it was just me and one friend going, but we had an entertaining time. That year was a fantastic year for guests as the legendary Nobuo Uematsu was there and we got to see him jam with VGO (Video Game Orchestra). The Dealer's Room didn't fail me either as my goal was the DVD set for Slayers Revolution, but I got quite a nice surprise as I found a few things of Sailor Moon as well. The reason that's surprising is because most things Sailor Moon are very rare now due to it being an old series, even with the world revival. It was also the year that I discovered how entertaining cosplay chess was as my friend and I stumbled upon it while wondering the convention hall.

And then this year the same friend and I went along with another friend of ours; which was entertaining to watch cause it was his first con. The Dealer's Room once again made me grin from ear to ear as I wanted something of Kamen Rider and I found a model kit for Kamen Rider W, Fang Joker form. We hit the AMV contest, the Masquerade, and the cosplay chess as normal, but this year I actually made it to a panel. I had actually never gone to a full one before and I have to say, the one we went to was kind of a let down. It was a Final Fantasy panel, basically talking about the history of the series; but it really fell flat as it seemed like the guy didn't do any research until 2hrs before the panel. (that's how it felt, don't know if it's true or not) The panel was only an hour long, but I felt it could have been so much more. We also saw the end of the STEREOPONY concert, that was a lot of fun.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but that's just a quick overview. If you look at the con schedule (I am mainly referring to Anime Boston) you'll notice most of it consists of panels. And yes, that is mostly what the convention is; a place where the otaku can gather together and talk about a number of subjects. Think of it like lectures. And where as I do enjoy discussing my opinions on series or topics pertaining to it (this blog is case in point lol), the panels really aren't my thing. There was one panel this year called "Chu-Chu Died for Our Sins" which was to discuss the themes in all of the Xeno games, but I was unable to go since it started during the seating for the Masquerade. It's the scheduling conflicts that make me not want to hit panels as I would feel really lost going in part way through (whether I knew the series/topic or not). So for me conventions are a big shopping trip lol. I love the Dealer's Room and Artist Alley, but that's not to say I don't love the event as a whole either.

When I was around 16 or 17 my best friend and I started watching AMVs (Anime Music Videos) and we absolutely loved them. I even got to the point of wanting to make some myself, which I did. So going to AB the first year and participating in the contest (the voting) was a real treat. But seeing these videos really makes me want to get better at making the videos so I can hopefully one day maybe compete and possibly win. Here are two of the videos from this year's contest;

Best Romance:


Best in Show:


I didn't have this feeling the first year going to AB, but the end of last year's convention I really wanted to cosplay. So when my friend said he was going to AB this year, I put the idea and everything in motion to try and make a cosplay costume of Sailor Venus from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (the live action series) and with it I was going to have a closet cosplay of her civilian form, Minako. I was really fired up to learn how to sew to make these costumes, but unfortunately it wasn't in my favor this time around as many things came up and none of it got finished. But that didn't mean I wasn't gonna attempt to get into the spirit of things and cosplay somewhat; even if no one knew I was lol. I have cosplayed in the past, but never at a convention. One day I will have a costume to show off and have people stopping me in the halls to take my picture lol.

As I mentioned before; it was my first year at Anime Boston that made me appreciate and understand why people would pay for fan art. There really are only some things only a fan can do. The original artwork can only go so far, but a fan can take it to beyond it's limits. A lot of official artwork is just the run of the mill bust shot or standard pose for the most part; especially for video games. But with fan art anything is possible and because of this realization I had commissioned a few artists on Deviantart to create some images for me, using my FFXI character and her Adventuring Fellow. Without fan art, I would not be able to look at these images and say; "These are my characters" Where as before it would be "oh it's that hume model and elvaan model." And to make something special even more special, I had the first commission I have had done made into a wall scroll.

Photobucket

Watching the Masquerades and cosplay chess matches makes me want to participate in them one day. I don't think I ever will, but it's fun to imagine. I'm sure my friends and I could make an entertaining/epic skit to do, even though it would most likely be a cross-over disaster lol. But, some cross-over skits can be lol-epic-win. This is a skit from AB 2010 entitled; Don't Get Mad, Get Glad-os.



As for the cosplay chess it would be fun I think, but I really don't remember how to play chess and even if it is just me following the directions of "move so many spaces to the right or left" chances are I will move the wrong way as I have no sense of direction lol.

Other than these things that I realized within my years of attending anime conventions, the thing that really amazed me were the people. I never expected people to be so nice, ever. For some reason the great gathering of otaku makes us less bitchy (somewhat) and we all get along rather well. Save for one nitpicker that yelled at a friend of mine cause his costume wasn't 100% accurate, but I don't fault my friend for not wearing his sandals that day as it was raining.

Overall I love anime conventions and I hope I continue to get to go to more of them, even if it is only Anime Boston once a year. And with that I leave you with this; Ode to Final Fantasy from Anime Boston 2010.



See you all next time. ^^/

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Doh, You Looked Back, Didn't You Part3

Hello and welcome to Don't Look Back... Again; a blog where I seem to confuse and keep people in suspense as to what I am talking about. Well it's that time, the time where you all finally find out what those three RPGs and Sailor Moon have to do with one another. And here it is, my very first massive writing project; Ultimate Sailor Senshi.

Okay, for starters I know the name wasn't too original, but it worked for a project name. This first all started when I was in the 7th grade, just starting to get into Sailor Moon and had recently played all the way through FF7, and of course continued to play Chrono Trigger over and over again. In my English class we were learning about random myths, folk tails and legends; and my teacher gives us the assignment to write our own creation myth. Anything would go, so long it was school appropriate of course. So for me my mind was swimming with ideas on how I could possibly, maybe combine all of my favorite games and what was becoming my favorite show together. I decided when I started writing I would base the female lead on myself, but using a different name at the time and that I was the sister of Princess Serenity and that this was taking place on the moon within the Moon Kingdom. The other senshi played their normal roles as Serenity's protectors, but also had more of a royal representation of their respective planets as well, thus me making their sisters too. Yes, by bloodline we too were royalty, but we were trained as warriors. Crono and Cloud came into play as they were my advisers and more or less bodyguards; in addition to that Crono and Cloud were also brothers. That idea actually came from my brother as he was working on a story he entitled “Knights of Power”; an original concept, but the main cast were named after his favorite characters from RPGs as a homage to them. For whatever reason, I liked that idea so I ran with it as well, but of course using the actual characters from the games. It was an interesting little story as the attack on the Moon Kingdom happened by the Sinistrals from Lufia 2, but it was the beginning of me starting to think what I could do.

From that moment and moving into the summer, I had made up my mind on what part of that creation story I was going to keep and what I was going to change. In the myth I had only mentioned my character by her senshi name, which was Ultima. And where as I mentioned the other Ultimate Senshi, I never gave them their names. Seeing as I had used a spell for my character I decided that that would be the theme for them, at least for the Inner Senshi. I ran through the RPGs I had played through at that time and picked four other spells I felt would make good names that could either be used solo or sounded good with the word “Sailor” in front of it; Valor, Meteor, Dragon and Missile were what I had chosen. In my opinion, looking at it now, Missile doesn't sound quite right, but the other method to my madness in choosing those was that at the end of their transformation sequence you'd see the spell go off. I wanted to use a spell from Breath of Fire II and Missile fit the bill in what I was looking for.

As for other characters that would be involved; Crono and Cloud were still around and remained brothers; using mainly Cloud's backstory from FF7 and having them grow up in Nibelheim, but before I get too far into the supporting cast, why don't we take a look at our heroines.
***Note: In the original works that we had written, our characters' names were actually our own, but myself and my best friend later came up with names for our two characters so for this entry I will be referring to them as those character names when civilian names are given.***

Lyera/Lina aka Sailor Ultima:
Photobucket

In the past life Ultima was also known as Princess Lina, the sister of Serenity. The name Lina came from the last part of my first name as when we first started it we used my whole first name instead of my nickname. Their mother raised Serenity to be more of the proper princess of the Moon Kingdom where as their father trained Lina as a warrior. Everything that happened in the Moon Kingdom's destruction happened just as it had within Sailor Moon, but with a little more of a heavy heart for my character as she came too late for the battle because she had sneaked off to see her beloved, which in her father's eyes was pretty taboo for a warrior, and she and her love soon died as well and were reborn with the power of the Silver Crystal on earth many years later.

Lina was reborn as Lyera and from an early age everyone who had come in any sort of contact with her knew she wasn't quite the normal little girl. When she was only five years old, her mother had taken her with her to see a friend of hers in Nibelheim, who happened to be Crono and Cloud's mother, and on that day a monster had escaped from the reactor on Mount Nibel and began to attack the town. For whatever reason, showing no fear; Lyrea grabbed two large kitchen knives and engaged the monster in battle. With little effort the battle was won and the Shinra surely took notice. President Shinra had approached Lyera's mother and informed her that he could provide special services for her daughter and give her the help she needed to live a normal life. With that being her main goal; her mother agreed and handed her over into the Shinra's custody.

Lyera would spend 3 years with the Shinra and even attaining the rank of First Class in SOLDIER, making her the youngest in the history of the company. At first the young girl was rather shy and bewildered as to why her mother would send her to such a place, but she soon made fast friends with another young girl, Sara, and a rookie Turk, Reno. For reasons unexplained, Reno felt very protective of her and it was questionable if it was on a romantic level or that of a big brother, but never the less he was there for her no matter what.

Her years with the company were filled with happy times as well as sad. She was not allowed to contact her family at all, even on the most special of days. Reno and Sara made sure that when her birthday rolled around that she would have the time of her life; along with another SOLDIER First Class; Zack Fair. But with the happy and say also comes the bad; Hojo taking a high interest in Lyera's fighting ability decided to conduct more experiments on her and to carry them through he, along with President Shinra, took her to the city whom they had the major alliance with; Solaris.

Her training became more painful and intense while she was in the city that looked above the world; but Hojo was more than pleased at the results he was getting, as Lyera had been the only one to not get ill to high exposure to Mako, but also maintained her sanity through the Ether experiments that Krelian implemented. Lyera had slowly become withdrawn as she hadn't seen her friends in sometime, but there was one person she had met within Solaris that could melt the cold exterior she had started to form; the son of one of the elements. Unfortunately, that happiness soon faded away as the boy and his family mysteriously vanished.

On her 8th birthday Reno had given her a necklace; a magentia materia with a crescent moon on it, along with it a promise. He had promised her that he was going to return her to her home. The decision was not just made by him alone as Rufus and Zack too saw what the company was doing to the poor girl. She was happy to return to her family, but as always things wouldn't stay normal for long.

She had problems fitting in at school, to the point where none of the other kids would talk to her unless it was making fun of her. Then one day, at age 12, out of no where, monsters appeared on the playgroud. Teachers and students ran for their lives, screaming, but not Lyera. She stood her ground and fought, like she always had. But these creatures had somehow managed to overpower her and when she thought she was done for a voice from her past shouted to her; instructing her invoke the power from her necklace by saying "Lunar Materia Power, Make Up!". Evading what would have been a death blow she looked to see Crono giving her the instructions and she followed them head on; thus giving birth once again to Sailor Ultima.

After that Crono, as the King of Guardia, gave Lyera the Hero's Medal and the title of The Hero of Guardia. It was then that Crono revealed the truth about her Senshi powers and her past life. He informed her that he doesn't know what has become of the other Ultimate Senshi, but they would have to seek them out. He also highered her full time to act as a knight for the kingdom and she would maintain her title as Hero.

Samantha aka Sailor Valor:
Photobucket

Valor was my best friend's character. Sadly though, because the backgrounds were written solo, I can only go off of what I am remember so these won't be as long Ultima's.

Valor was actually reborn in another dimension that was parallel to ours. She was travel back and forth between worlds with her Subtle Knife, that was attached to the bottom of her transformation pen/key. Unlike Ultima, where her advisor character is played by Crono, Valor took the que from Sailor Moon and had a feline companion; a white tiger named Hyzenthlay (pronounced Henzivay). Also where Ultima's version of Tuxedo Mask wouldn't appear for a little while, Valor had a male companion as well who later became her love interest named Inle.

One night, when she had crossed the dimensions; she sees a monster attacking Ultima and in the shadows of the night saves her from it, unfortunetly it makes a hastey retreat as does Valor, so Ultima is unable to identify her. When reporting the battle to Crono, the King can only conclude that she was indeed one of the missing Ultimate Senshi and he could only hope they could find her again. As luck would have it the monster attacked again, but this time targeting Valor to start. Repaying the favor Ultima saves her, but once again both the monster and Valor take off. One final round would be had with the creature as Ultima and Valor final team up to defeat it. Knowing her past already as it was told by Hyzenthlay, she agrees to stay in our world and assist Ultima in protecting the kingdom.

When I had originally outlined the Senshi, I wanted someone with medical knowledge and high healing ability. So it was only fitting that it would be Mercury's counter part to have this as Mercury was studying to be a doctor; thus giving her the name Valor suited her as well as it was the highest level healing spell within Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals.

Sara aka Sailor Meteor:

The character my other friend had chosen. She had decided to playoff of Ultima a little bit as she too had joined up with the Shinra, however on her upper right shoulder she was branded by the number VII tattoo. She was very much like Ultima in that she had been recruited by the Shinra company at a very young age, though she never disclosed what she had done to catch their interest.

She had become fast friends with Lyera and was determined to always make her happy. For reasons unknown when Lyera made her escape Sara didn't follow and seemingly just stayed behind. Lyera had always wondered what became of her old friend and it wasn't long after she had met Valor that Sara would come waltzing into Guardia Castle.

There was no question in Crono's mind that this was Sailor Meteor and that it had been fate that had broght the two girls together many years before. Sara was more than happy to oblige to the request to assist in protecting Guardia.

Sara's character overall was that more of comic relief as she had the tendency to play jokes or call Inle names such as "Fish Boy", though I actually can't recall why she called him that. As well as scare the poor man with fire as he had a giant phobia of it. Perhaps that was her trying to capture her childhood, but I honestly can't say for sure.

Fiona aka Sailor Dragon and Chole aka Sailor Missile:
PhotobucketPhotobucket

To fill out the rest of the team, to make the 5 inner Senshi, we had made our Sailor Jupiter and Venus in Fiona and Chole. Their characters unfortunately were very under developed to the point where I remember pretty much nothing about them except for what the look like. I do remember Fiona was a tomboy and Chole was pretty much a girly-girl, but that's pretty much the extent.

Crono and Cloud Strife:

As I had said the two remained brothers; with Cloud being the older of the two, and the adventures that took place in their games still happened. Just as Cloud had entered the Shinra, Lyera had already escaped and Crono had married Marle after their adventures. Working with these two characters was interesting as Crono never talked in game, save for one ending, and Cloud was an emo mess for most of FF7.

Crono I think we did really well with as he proved to be a good adviser and leader to the girls. The one quirk I do remember giving him though was that he had a sever knee injury, which was why he very rarely entered combat himself. As for Cloud, for some reason we decided to make him into an idiot. No, I'm not kidding and I can't for the life of me remember why we did that. The Mako poisoning taking it's toll perhaps?

So that was the beginning of everything. When discussed, mainly between myself and Valor, the topic of my "Tuxedo Mask"; it was noted quite a few times by her that once it was decided I couldn't change it. And even now, I wouldn't want to as I chose my favorite video game character; Billy Lee Black from Xenogears.

The Fateful Encouter:

As the story went, the 3 girls were sent to the Aquavy region to investigate an unnatural occurrence. Taking the Epoch they flew over, only to get shot down by the Captain of the Thames; crash landing onto the island where Billy's orphanage was. The 16 year old Etone rushed to the crash site and discorvered that only two of the three of the girls were conscious. Billy took Lyera into his arms and escorted them to his home where he and Samantha tended to Lyera's wounds.

When the two of them saw each other for the first time, they felt some sort of connection, though they could not place it. But like any soldier on a mission, Lyera side stepped those thoughts and informed the priest of their assignment from the King of Guardia. The only conclusion that Billy could think of was that the Wels/Repears were involved. With permission from Bishop Stone, Lyera was allowed to assist Billy in his work.

Meteor and Valor made sure to keep in contact with Crono over the radio until someone could come and repair the Epoch. But for the three of them it wasn't all work, as these two had started to see something different within their leader. Of course, when asked or confronted about it she denied it at first. The kids in the orphanage noticed the change in Billy as well and one night they all decided to spy on the two. Billy and Lyera sat out on the sandy shore watching the moonlight on the ocean; they were quite open with each other on their upbringings and they had grown closer together to the point where they had just gave in to the moment and kissed; resulting in a “Wooooo” a la Saved by the Bell.

It actually wasn't until Lyera had seen Billy's father for the very first time did she really realize who he was. Even with his face scared, Lyera could tell that he was the man from the Elements who had taken away her only friend inside Solaris. Jessie had confronted his son and demanded that he stay away from her, but of course Billy would never listen to Jessiah Black. After that fight, Billy had recalled the girl he used to play with and could now place the Mako filled eyes that he dreamed of.

Billy's plot arch from Xenogears remains in tact, except of course the three Senshi are there along side him. During this piece of story there was a confrontation between Jessie and Lyera on how she couldn't be trusted and that if she really was falling for his son she would tell him the truth about the Ethos. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right, but in her heart she just couldn't bare shattering someone's faith like that. After the fight the Stein, Billy did question her on her knowledge of the Ethos and to Jessie's surprise, his son was thankful and grateful that she hadn't said anything; only for the fact that it proved to him how much his father did care about his family.

Cloud had been brought to the Aquavy area along with Lucca to fix the Epoch and upon doing so he had a slight grin on his face as he watched Lyera and Billy together. He informed his brother of the pairing and Crono too, knew that this was the priest she had fallen in love with in the past.

Also at that time, Lyera had informed Cloud of the plan to invade Solaris and she insisted that they stay and help out. For the most part things were quite smooth on the Yggdrasil until Billy had suddenly fallen ill. Samantha, Citan and the rest of the medical went through a thorough examination, but could only determine that he had been poisoned. Where as it should have been an easy thing to deal with, no amount of medicine on the ship or magic could lift his ailments.

The crew on the ship had later discovered that a Solarian soldier had sneaked on board and poisoned the young priest's food and the only antidote was in Krelian's possession in Solaris. Krelian's price was Lyrea in exchange for the antidote. There was no hesitation as Ultima agreed to go to save Billy's life; even after the warnings from her friends that it was a trap. Lyera knew there was more than to just the simple exchange, but even the slightest chance that Billy's life could be saved she was going to take it.

Cloud had once again contacted his brother, this time with devastating news. He could almost feel his brother's heart stop at the end of his news and it wasn't the shock that she had “surrendered”, it was who she had surrendered to as Crono then recalled the name; Krelian was Princess Lina's father.

Up in Solaris, Krelian wasn't making it easy for Lyera as he threw another ultimatum at her; in order for him to hand over the antidote he wanted to see her in the blaze of battle against her friends. Reluctantly, she agreed and went back to the Yggdrasil's deck. Cloud, Meteor and Inle stood before her and if they had looked close enough they would have seen a syringe in her shaking hands; taking a breath she injected herself with the drug known as DRIVE and began her assault. With ease, she had taken down her friends and returned to Solaris; but once again she had been played as Krelian withheld the cure from her.

A few days had gone by and seeing that she had nothing else to lose, Lyera had inquired to an old friend from the Shinra who had been stationed in Solaris about the antidote. To her dismay, she had discovered that the vial that Krelian held was nothing more than a simple vial of a run of the mil vaccine. Knowing that Billy's time was running out, she had gone back down to the lower region; in the dead of night in hopes to see him one more time. She sneaked onto the Yggdrasil and as she went from room to room in the med bay she had apologized to the injured. But when she had reached Inle she stopped and held back her tears. He was bandaged up from head to toe and the sound of the monitors beeping were like stabs to her heart. She was then caught by Valor, who of course was more than upset at seeing her after what she had done. Lyera pleaded with her to let her see Billy one last time. Inle then awoke and said to Samantha to grant her her wish and that he forgave Lyera for what she had done. Following Inle's words she brought Lyera to Billy, who lay in a bed slowly dying. She left the two of them alone and right there next to the bed, she took his hand in hers and broke down in tears.

Knowing she couldn't stay with him, she had gone back to Solaris to have her final one on one with Krelian.

This arch; simple labeled as 'Billy Poisoned' was actually the most thought out and detailed piece of the entire project, even though it was unfinished. During the fight with Krelian he had revealed himself to be her father from the past and taking another cue from Sailor Moon, this would have been her emotions would have empowered her further and made her Super Sailor Ultima. Also fitting with the Sailor Moon moments, it was Lyera's tears that were the cure for the poison.

Other stories too were in the works, but like everything else they were only half done. Random 'episodes' would take place while they had gone to school for simple fluff pieces. Since we were basing this loosely on what Sailor Moon we had seen; i.e; the dub, we only had up to Sailor Moon R to really go by. It was then that we decided to bring in our version of Chibi-Usa.

Melissa Raquel Black aka Sailor Vera:
Photobucket

Vera is Lyera and Billy's daughter and like Chibi-Usa, we first meet her as she came from the future; though I cannot recall what crisis would have made her flee to the past. However unlike in Sailor Moon, Melissa knew who her parents were at the start.

The timeline in of itself for the stories did advance enough where Lyera did give birth to her and they had watched her grow up into a teenager. Though much like Chole and Fiona, the character development was pretty non-existent and if I had to guess the reason why was because we jumped around a lot in the timeline when writing, which is also more than likely why nothing got 100% completed.

There were other characters too who made an appearance; our friend Jole made a character named Tray, taking inspiration from Tray of Triphoria from Power Rangers Zeo and another friend who had a character named Rico. Rico... didn't last long as a character for us as when we were to face off with him he was overpowered and there was no way for the Ultimate Senshi to win. And for a story that is about the Ultimate Senshi, we couldn't have an all out defeat with no resolution.

We also made our Outer Senshi as well and keeping with the theme of spells, I had used summons from the Final Fantasy series;

Sailor Pluto = Sailor Starlet
Sailor Uranus = Sailor Maduin
Sailor Neptune = Sailor Siren
Sailor Saturn = Sailor Phoenix

Phoenix was actually the only one to have some kind of personality when we did use her since she was based on my cousin, Ronni. Valor also decided that she wanted her character and Inle to have a child as well. I thought that was a good idea since Sailor Moon didn't go that route and we made Valor's daughter the last of the Ultimate Senshi; taking Sailor Chibi-Chibi's place as Sailor Angel.

Meteor actually wasn't fond of this character and I never really understood why. While we were watching/recoding Power Rangers Lost Galaxy, Meteor got really inspired by it as it was the episode where Kendrix sacrificed herself to save Cassie. She took that same idea and applied it to Vera and Angel. Needless to say, Valor was unhappy.

There was a lot of needless drama for something that should have been fun. The example above was one instance and another was mainly because Meteor had quit the project once before. My best friend and I got sucked into CLAMP's Magic Knight Rayearth and decided we wanted to be the Magic Knights, so we crossed-over our Ultimate Senshi into it and started going through that story in our own way; however instead of the 3 original senshi going it was Ultima, Valor and Dragon who were chosen. When Meteor decided to do the project again she was very unhappy that she wasn't chosen.

Upon the final quitting of Meteor; my best friend and I had to decide on how to rework the entire story, but outright removing a senshi didn't work. We were talking about this one day in front of another friend and she had mentioned that the story sounded like fun and that she wouldn't mind taking her place.

Amara aka Sailor Meteor:
Photobucket

The storyline we came up with for this was kind of complex as it some happened that our memories had been altered by Krelian to replace Meteor's image with that of a clone that was made by Hojo at Krelian's request.

Ultimately though we had stopped working on this mainly due to that too many things began to crossover. We already had; Sailor Moon, FF7, Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. But then we threw in; Magic Knight Rayearth, Digimon and Gundam Wing. When it snowballed out of control it was a good time to stop.

Other things made somewhat of a cameo more or less as the weapons the Ultimate Senshi used were from other RPGs; such as Ultima wielding Dual Blade from Lufia 2. Ultima, Valor and Meteor also possessed the Ra-Saru from Legend of Legaia. The creature that had escaped from the reactor was actually the Nue from Breath of Fire III. And taking the idea of Wicked Lady from Sailor Moon R, we had made Almang; an evil form of Ultima that was a cross between Althena from LUNAR and Miang from Xenogears.

Looking back it may seem like a silly, massive, crossover fan fic, but I have really fond memories of it. This was what started me writing a lot and drawing. And even if nothing got 100% complete, what had been thought up or written was quite impressive, in my opinion, of something that meshed these things together.

See you all next time! ^^/