The hall before the storm.

The Prelude:

At around 2pm or so there was a catastrophic communications breakdown of sorts as the lights went out across the hall for the stage preparations to take place. I heard from a source that the vendors and doujin groups attending the event raised all sorts of hell for the organizers. Some vendors actually began packing up and left the hall to my amazement. Wonder why didn't they stick around for a bit? I also met tj_han, Owen_S, and DarkMirage today. Sadly, I couldn't have a good chat with them due to time constraints.

The Climax:

At around 3.30p.m. The ticket holders were seated and I was rather pleased that the organizers provided the fans with some glow sticks for us to wave around in unison during the concert. Good one guys! Chihara Minori performed a grand total of 10+3 songs, which was totally awesome on her part for willing to sing quite a few extra songs for her fans. I was impressed by her stage presence as well as her voice during the live. It was quite a sight to behold seeing her strutting her stuff on the stage. Sadly, I only knew two of the songs she sang which were "Yuki Muon, Madobe Nite" and "Paradise Lost". I knew I should have attended a crash course in Minoriism before the event. To make things even better, she donned a baju kebaya that showed off her extremely sexy curves. The roar from the crowd when she appeared on stage with the baju kebaya shredded my eardrums. I am now looking for donors who have eardrums to spare. While I'm at it, my legs are dead from all the jumping and cheering.

Special thanks goes out to the Minori fanclub who flew in here from Japan for preparing the AWSM flags and for leading the glow stick movements. I think they are either rich or extremely dedicated to even go overseas to attend a live by her in an event in a far-flung place like Cyberjaya.

The Curtain Call:

And so, the curtain falls on one of the best live performances that I have been to. I got to get up close with Minorin, get her signature, go berserk at her live, among other stuff.

The following moments can be described as either my crowning moment of awesome or my height of stupidity. But what's done is done and I do not regret it for a single moment.

After Minori's performance was over, I sneaked up onto the stage and took the bottle of mineral water from which she drank to refresh herself during the live. I couldn't resist, it was sitting there on the table waiting to be taken by someone. After some prodding, brainwashing, and adrenaline-induced mania I did it. There is no proof that I was the one who did it because I don't think anyone got a photo of me jumping off the stage with the bottle in my hands, Toki wo kakeru Shoujo style, but here are some photos of the holy grail of sorts.

This is a bottle of Evian mineral water. There are many like it but this one was Minorin's

Why is it empty?

Because I drank from it.

I'm dead tired, lazy, and about to fall asleep on my feet. A few photos of Minori after the skip. Also, AWSM signature.

You might notice that there isn't much of a variation of poses here because I am only allowed to take photos of her during the Q and A session when she is sitting down. Still I can't complain since it is much much better than not being allowed to take photos at all like some other events.

With awe, down on my knees again

I've got to know you are the one,

The only one reveals the world

I saw you in Heaven and heard of your glory

You saved our world from the fallen angels

When we lost dread a Demon was laughing

But now you are showing us wonder

Giving your love

The King has come!

To lighten up our feet

The King has come!

With justice till the end

The King has come!

To save us from the dark

Who could ever doubt? We have faith.

Let me walk with you when I am lost in the wild

I knew you always lead me to another Eden

Let me bless you name O Lord, O Lord

Your words will never fade away

Since we believe you're the light on earth

Reveals the world.

Note: The lines above were taken from Eden of the East's OP. I thought they were a rather interesting reference to the either Jesus or God and it fits in nicely with the return of the Immortal God-Empress. Ave Imperator.

Today I went to another doujinshi convention.

God, these doujin events just keep getting more frequent. I'm gonna have to cut down on going to too many, or my bank account will die before the economy even recovers, lol.

Maybe it's something to do with convention fatigue, there weren't that many cosplayers that really caught my eye, save these two lovely girls above.

As you can see, it's none other than Kagura and Yomi-onee-chan from Yuri-gore anime Ga-Rei Zero. I assure you these girls are far cuter than my crappy photos would reveal. So if you've got any problem with how they look, blame it on my skillz.

Enough talk and on with the photos.

Kagura

Yomi

Group photo

Pocky moment

At first I made the suggestion, "How about you girls share a Pocky stick?"
After taking the stick out, they then realized they're actually quite uncomfortable with that, and understandably so.
So I said it's fine to snap the stick in half first.

If you're these two lovely girls, my most sincere apologies for putting you through such embarrassment. And my deepest gratitude for granting my requests for such shots.

In Chinese for good measure:
如果你是該位黃泉和神樂的話﹐若小弟的請求令你們感到尷尬的話﹐請接受小弟由衷的歉意。還有非常感謝你們答應小弟這樣的惡搞要求。

That's about it.

PS I came across this circle whose art is so impressive, I decided to buy their character posters. Coincidentally, as all their posters contained my favourite girls, I bought the whole lot.

Miku

Haruhi girls (including Kyonko)

Clannad girls

Speaking of cosplay, I actually saw someone cosplaying as Mio from K-On!, but by the time I got my camera ready, she was gone. Hopefully next time we'll see more K-On! cosplayers. So until then.

This is who you should have thought of first and from now onwards as well.

Through the unlikeliest of loopholes set up by Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, a certain pony tailed girl has found herself as an eligible participant for the upcoming Saimoe 2008. While the true identity of that person is highly debatable, supporters of the genderbending movement like myself are inclined to affirm that she is indeed Kyonko, a fact which we're hellbent in advocating.

To achieve this we're going to have to resort to conditioning, which is being able to associate the neutral stimulus that is "ponytailed girl" to one that is significant, being "Kyonko through a series of well thought out marketing techniques pimp Kyonko all out through whatever means necessary. Of course, it's always so much more easier said than done, as there is no platform other than the usual fanart and character campaignings, but I believe the fans will think of something.

At my end, I have only this measly post to raise awareness levels, as well as the following item,  which after much procrastination and delays is finally completed:

Yeah well, you try finding someone who's willing to produce these shirts well below the minimum order(6 pairs) at a reasonable price. :razz:

Logically, the next best course of action would be to parade these shirts around at otaku events, which incidentally enough there happens to be one on the horizon. Will be heading down south tonight, to attend the inaugural Singapore Toy and Comic Convention. Hopefully I'll get to meet you fellow Singaporean bloggers there as well and perhaps turn a few into my personal uke boytoys. :twisted: Thanks to wolfx for the doujin, although sadly it's not PROMOTIONS material. :cry:

Even Lelouch doesn't know what to make of it.

If that post title doesn't make much sense, then well, it's because I didn't really get what these articles regarding the sequel of Haruhi that was in the works being cancelled and replaced with a new season, really meant. SEITENKAN CONFIRMED! You know what, as long the show stays true to the source material, I'm fine with it. I just hope this doesn't turn out to be Haruhi: Okawari or something.

Long hair Haruhi; not sure if want, since I'm much too used to her old hairstyle. Then again, I'm not a sucker for long haired girls, which probably explains the lack of interest. Other than the central character herself, the rest of the cast doesn't seem to have undergone much change, with Mikuru being as moe as ever, and Itsuki still oh-so fabulous.

Speaking of misleading titles, I saw something peculiar at ANN:

Being the perv that I was, I went HOLY FUCKING SHIT ARE THEY ANIMATING TOMOYO AFTER??!!!

But then after reading the entire news piece, I went like:

Because it wasn't what I thought it was, as it was just the DVD only episode. Twice. That's how many times I got mislead in one night. Damn you, Kyoto Animation.

Oh man, even though I've been keeping tabs on the craze, little did I know that it would escalate to such feverish heights. From a few pieces of artwork parodying the original show, this gender-bending insanity has transformed into a full fledged rewriting project that has found its home in Baka-Tsuki, well known for translating light novels, among other things. Also in an unprecedented might of fandom, cosplay of the gender reversed cast has finally emerged, in the unlikeliest of places.

In a Haruhi festival event organized by Kadokawa Taiwan in Hong Kong, a number of fans were spotted dressing up accordingly to the respective characters of the parody version. And boy, was I amazed:

Kyonko

Haruki

Some Kyonko x Itsuko. OHMYGODYES!!11

Smiling Yuuki? Syntax error detected.

Group shot with Mitsuuru included ( ´∀`)

The gang doing Caramelldansen, with the PS2 version of Haruhi thrown into the mix.

Fuck yes, you are the best cosplay group ever! Sure enough, this bunch won the Best Creative Group award, so kudos to them! Below is a video of them doing the Hare Hare Yukai dance, and despite the obvious fact it's really dated by now, it's great to see the "new" cast perform it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I have nothing but pure admiration for these visionary fans, so to speak, and it's quite a shame that I've yet to come across Japanese cosplayers with their take on the phenomenon, though in retrospect it was the Eleven's fanaticism with the Haruhi series even long after it had ended that led to all this.

A huge thanks to Rikimtasu and Kinny Riddle of the Animesuki forums for the images and video, I couldn't help but make a post on this the moment I was informed on it by the project leader of the genderbending rewriting project currently taking place in Animesuki right now(Arigato RmX!) The post that inspired this article here. More images and links thanks to Kinny Riddle.

At of this post, there's an entire wiki for the project hosted on SOS 団, so do check up on it from time to time for any relevant updates. With that, I can only imagine this venturing even further than it has ever before, and to quote the project leader himself;

YES WE CAN. BELIEVE IN ME WHO BELIEVES IN YOU! - RmX, Seitenkan Danchou

Remember the Olympic Haruhi? A little slowpoke on my behalf, but here's the cast given a modification to complement Harubin.

If for some reason you didn't like that version(why wouldn't you?) here is a collage of the various designs for the characters from the show:

Personally, I love Eretto's Tsuruya(Nyoro~n) more than the original, and everyone by KyoAni, although Noizi Ito's Mikuru look a whole lot cuter. TMA's version is just facepalm and lulz. Source via Danny Choo.

While the members over at Animesuki are still working hard on the rewrites to the original story, people over at Nico Nico on the other hand are busy editing the character songs from the show, by altering the pitching and whatnot, to suit their current gender.

Took the images of Kyon-ko and tweaked it a little to make it resemble what her possible character album cover would look like ^^; Ripped the songs from Nico Nico and re-encoded it at a higher sampling rate, though it doesn't so that much better. Hopefully one day, someone will compile all the songs and release it, hopefully with better photosh00ping skills and audio encoding. Till then, you can have a taste of what the future holds lawl.

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