Evangelion Marathon 2013

On Saturday November 30th Access Cinema, the Japanese Film Festival held a Rebuild of Evangelion Marathon in the Lighthouse Cinema Dublin.

I really enjoyed myself and went cosplaying as Rei Ayanami to debut my new dress. I was the only one there cosplaying and I will admit I was nervous walking into the cinema foyer dressed as Rei but at the end of the day I received some lovely compliments just people saying "fair play to her" and was glad I did it. One of the very reasons why I enjoy cosplaying is to express fandom for a series I really like and to meet and talk to fans. Even though the whole day was spent in a cinema theatre and I really enjoyed watching all three movies on the big screen, I would of liked it if there was a social aspect to the day eg after the screening or during breaks of the film we would be moved to a panel discussion room or an exhibition dedicated to Evangelion. I recall seeing Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0 and 2.0 and 5cm Per Second in the IFI a few years ago which was organised by Andrew of Anime On Demand, and there was a panel talk between movies from Jonathan Clements on the Evangelion fandom. Normally after watching something I really like I get a big buzz of wanting to chat and discuss with fellow fans. I got talking to one of the organisers from Access Cinema who we work with the Experience Japan Festival I am part of and they put my Rei cosplay photo on their facebook page. Picture below.

 My friend took this shot before going in to the theatre. It quite resembles the scene from the anime Rei's ghostly appearance.

Took this self portrait :p before heading in. I know I look weird without the red eyes but thought it would be best to leave the lenses giving I will be tucked away in a cinema theatre all day. :p

A lot of people turned up, it was packed! I took this photo from the Access Cinema Page.

After the screening I went to a Japanese/Chinese restaurant with friends. It is a decent restaurant with good value for money.

Was trying to mimic the scene from Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 with Rei drinking the Miso Soup.

 I put this photo on my facebook and people's reactions were hilarious! Ok fair enough you cosplay to film you really like but dining in a restaurant in cosplay? This is something I normally wouldn't do. :p Sure something to tell your grandkids I suppose. When I looked out the window a group of Asian (I think Japanese) girls walked by and recognized my cosplay and shouted "Rei" :P

A big thanks to the Access Cinema for organising  a great day! I really had an enjoyable weekend, doing two photoshoots and cosplaying as Rei to the Evangelion Marathon, seeing my favourite anime of all time on the big screen. :)

Eirtakon 2013

Eirtakon was were it all began for me when it comes to Events Coordinating for Anime conventions. This year I was just an associate and help out with the Cosplay judging. It is amazing to see something you have been involved with for seven years develop into a large scale event and ran successfully,

The event was held in Croke Park.

I had a great time but unfortunately didn't get to see much as I was busy judging most of Saturday and I enjoyed Sonya's Art of a Geisha panel.

Some photos to leave you with. :)

 As I have been involved with conventions for a few years, I still love event to be atmospheric with the cosplayers but attending seminars and panels are becoming one of my highlights of the convention as I feel we are really learning of each another and teaching another new things. We are sharing the things we love. I know very little about Gundam model making but I felt a bond of the community connecting and being eager to learn.

^ You see what I mean? :)

I took this photo of an image from MCM Expo in Birmingham which was in the Metro morning paper the next day. I was thinking pity it wasn't Eirtakon as MCM Comic Con was on the same weekend, awh well maybe in the future. :)

More photos and coverage can be seen on their facebook.

Recent Fashion Photoshoot

Last weekend I really enjoyed working with photographer Paul Kolbe and Make Up Artist Erika Matuskova

I really like these photos! :D

 I call the above "Mugi-Chan" reminds me from K-On. A very enjoyable series by the way.

My Facebook page (Soon to be website) - https://www.facebook.com/cairduels

Dublin International Comic Expo

Around 3 weeks ago, ( A month ago now):p I was approached to MC and organise a cosplay contest and competition for the Dublin International Comic Expo in Dundrum Shopping Centre. I registered cosplayers for the event in advance through Facebook. The power of facebook and social media with advertising!

We thankfully got a good few cosplayers to take part in the event. This photo was taken in HMV Dundrum. It was enjoyable event and the cosplays were really good! More photos of the event and of cosplayers can be seen on the Cosplay Ireland page.

Tokyo Otaku Mode Rei Mug Review

What lured me to purchase this mug was Rei's striking pose and the black and white art. The Rei mug is nice and small, sits perfectly on my desk. When I picked my mug up from the package it was in perfect condition, no chips at all! What really impressed me was how well and careful TokyoOtakuMode wrapped up the mug. My mug arrived in a big box.When I opened the box it was full of Japanese newspapers and the mug was tucked in a smaller box amongst the newspapers. 

I really am a weeaboo keeping the Japanese newspapers as a souvenir! :3 I also found the mug being well wrapped extremely impressive as it shows TokyoOtakuMode really care about their customers.

This is inside the smaller box, still very impressive wrapping the mug well.

This is the neat box the Rei mug came in!

The mug is beautifully polished white with a nice shine. It is spotless having a very clean look to it. The art of Rei posing with the Nerv logo behind her looked exactly like it did on the website and also has a glossy shine. If you look closely the black print stands out alittle which is a nice touch and adds a 3D effect to the mug.

The back of the mug is simple just saying "Rei Ayanami Eva-00 Pilot" with a little design having the same glossy shine and 3D touch. The art on the back of the mug is simple not taking away from the front artwork.

I only waited a week (ordering from Ireland) therefore the delivery was quick! I only use this mug for show on my desk. What I thought was really sweet was I showed images of my Rei mug on Facebook and on other online anime communities and people were very impressed and were asking me where did I get it? :)

My Rei mug can also be used to hold Rei figures/revoltechs and as a friend said the mug could be used as a hot tub for figures. :P Rei looks relaxed.

A nice shot of how my Rei mug looks on my desk with the other figures.

I really enjoyed my experience purchsing from TokyoOtakuMode and would highly recommend this mug! A must have for Rei fans and Otaku alike. :D TokyoOtakuMode is a fantastic store for buying anime merchandise ect. What I really like about TokyoOtakuMode, it is a place for anime fans and artists to share their work. It is a very creative site and notifies you an interesting upcoming events. I have my own profile so feel free to check it out and follow me. :) I look forward to purchasing more goodies from TokyoOtakuMode and reviewing about them.

Nomcon 2013

I was at Nomcon a big anime, manga convention in Dublin this weekend. I had a great time, did alot of networking and met awesome people! For once I didn't cosplay as I wanted to dress up for a change giving I had a fun dressing up at Dublin Comic Con. :)

I ordered a dress from Cosmates.jp which is school girl looking so I wore it to Nom. I am very happy with the dress!

I only attended the convention on the Saturday and found the event to be very relaxed, calm and sociable. There was also a very community feel to Nomcon and the staff were very helpful, accommodating (as conventions are). There was a point I was queueing nearly two hours for Monica Rial's (Voices Mari Illustrious Makinami from Rebuild of Evangelion, Fairytale and various animes) autograph and the staff kept on apologising to us for the wait.

When I arrived at the convention I went into the trade hall to do my shopping :) and chatted to a few traders. I was glad to see Jimi Mitsue was there. I met Mitsue at Nomcon last year and she presented a Japanese poetry which I enjoyed. I always found her a pleasure to talk to.

Mitsue shows off lovely Japanese crafts made by her father.

Thomas and I with Mr. Yamada who works in the Japanese Embassy and who I collaborate with for the Experience Japan Festival. He is very much into anime and enjoys going to conventions.

The trader hall. There were talented artists, United Publications selling figures, Comics, T-Shirts ect.

The above photos is cosplayer Anathiell selling her self made crafts. Anathiell is known for doing Lightning from the Final Fantasy series and she took part in the Cosplay stage show at the Experience Japan Festival as the White Mage.

You can look at more of Anathiell's cosplays here.

This photo above really suits the Joker being dark.

You may recognize this Miku Hatsune cosplayer from previous cosplay events. This is Leanne and she was Eternal Sailor Moon at the Experience Japan Festival Cosplay stage show back in April.

What was nice about Nomcon the majority of cosplays were anime (I know you think weird as you thought cosplay began at anime conventions, actually costuming began in Sci-Fi conventions in the 1930s) but nowadays the majority of cosplay are from well known films eg The Avengers, Iron Man, Batman and computer games eg Mass Effect, Halo ect. Therefore it was nice to see alot of anime cosplay.

Here are some shots I took of excellent cosplays.

The photo below was the long queue to Monica Rial's guest signing.

Meeting Monica Rial was worth the wait! She was buzzing with energy to the end (sure would you love it if alot of fans specially queued just to meet and chat with you for a few minutes and get your autograph :P)

Akemi Solloway was Nomcon's other guest. She is very popular in the UK convention scene in promoting Japanese culture. Akemi is Japanese but works in the U.K and in Japan. She presents alot of talks on educating international folks on Calligraphy, Japanese mannerisms, Japanese traditions. I took part in her Calligraphy workshop and she was nice to meet and helpful in instructing us.

My piece I done. It reads Nihon!

I had an interesting chat with Akemi after her workshop, asking her how did she get to where she is, which I need to follow up with an email. ^^ Akemi is doing a charity titled Aid for Japan. It is a very good idea in sending disadvantaged children and orphans from the Tsunami disaster in 2011 to the U.K so they can get an education in learning English. Please read more about the charity here. It would be good to organise a charity event linked with Experience Japan or Eirtakon, Akumakon or to organise an event.

Even though I was at Nomcon for only a few hours and I didn't get to experience much events, panels and screenings. I really enjoyed it and thought it had a relaxed and warm atmosphere which I mentioned earlier. The convention seems really well ran and the staff were very helpful. One committee member in particular John, the nicest guy you would ever meet! He made sure I went to Akemi's Calligraphy workshop. To be honest if you are the type of con goer who goes to conventions for the gaming and not really into anime, more into current popular computer games, films, comics Nomcon wouldn't really appeal to you as it is more a dedicated Anime convention and has a high Japanese cultural focus to it. Nomcon is kinda a convention version of Experience Japan with more focus on the anime. If you just enjoy going to conventions for the craic then you would really enjoy Nomcon too!

Please see more photos on my Facebook and I will be putting some up on my Cairdiúil page too.
Also see my Nomcon blog post from 2012.

I look forward to Eirtakon!