Megurine Luka from Just Be Friends Cosplay

I cosplayed as the vocaloid Megurine Luka from her music video, Just Be Friends.

Anime Cosplays: Mirai Nikki & Kimi no Na Wa

Yuno Gasai from Mirai Nikki/My Future Diary

Mitsuha from Kimi no Na Wa/Your Name

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I’ve cosplayed as Mitsuha before. Click here to see the post.

7 Years Blogiversary

I think I will keep blogging until I can no longer type (wrote about this in my post, dead blog). I’m quite certain that my blog has already passed its prime but if my motivation for blogging was weak, I would have stopped a long time ago. 🙂

Thanks for caring about what I have to say. Q_Q

Listening to: https://youtu.be/Xem2uJARZHo

Foolish or Not? The Most Foolish Traveler in The World

There are parallels between the story told by Momiji in Fruits Basket, The Most Foolish Traveler in The World, and Oscar Wilde’s short story, The Happy Prince. 

The Most Foolish Traveler in The World: About a traveler who is tricked by a goblin and gives up his legs, his arm, more and more, and finally his eyes. The only thing left is the traveler’s head. The goblin gives the traveler a “present,” a piece of paper with the word “FOOL” on it. Because the traveler cannot see, he is so happy to receive a present for the first time. 

The Happy Prince: About a statue of the late Happy Prince who learns that there are many poor people suffering. He asks a swallow to give the townspeople the ruby from his tilt, the sapphire from his eyes, and the gold leaf from his body. The swallow, who delayed his flight in order to deliver these gems, dies from the cold weather. The townspeople then think that the statue is shabby and melt it. The swallow is dead and the Happy Prince is heartbroken, but they are taken to heaven for their good deeds in the end. 

It’s interesting how one story has the word “foolish” in the title while the other has the word “happy.” You could argue that both stories have a happy ending. The traveler is happy to receive a present for the first time, and the swallow and Happy Prince go to paradise.

So, was the traveler foolish? Was the Happy Prince foolish? Was the swallow foolish? 

My thoughts: I think that the traveler was foolish. How long will his happiness last? What will happen after the story ends? He cannot walk, cannot see, and does not have other people to help him. The goblin won’t help him, that’s for sure. It’s good to receive presents from people, but at what cost? If one action of “kindness” from the goblin costed you everything, that kindness was conditional. It’s fake. 

I think the Happy Prince statue was foolish. Even though the story has a happy ending, he begged the swallow to deliver the gems even though winter was approaching. He is responsible for the swallow’s death. The Happy Prince “died” with a broken heart. The same townspeople that he helped are the ones who melted him in the furnace. They were going to replace him with a statue of the mayor. Sure, the townspeople were unaware of the Happy Prince’s good deeds but does that really matter? If you’re only going to keep the “shabby” statue because he helped you first, I question what’s going on. 

Although… I like these stories. While I think that the traveler and the Happy Prince were foolish, they are rare to come by. I would like to meet someone like the traveler some day. 

What do you think? 

Question

I was reading the Durarara!! light novel volume 1 and on page 184, Izaya says the following to Mikado:

“But while you may be dreaming of a life outside the bounds of normality, life in Tokyo will become normal after you’ve been here for a year. … If you truly want to escape the ordinary, you’ll simply need to keep evolving – whether what you seek is above or below.”

Mikado thinks that this is painful to hear because of how well he understood what Izaya meant. If he was unhappy with his life now, would he just keep searching for a new life forever?

Reading this was painful for me too. This made me think about the time I wrote about desire and how suffering relates to desire. Back to Izaya – what does he mean by evolving? I thought I knew, but I’m not sure anymore. Any thoughts?

P.S. I’m reading The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. I read parts of it a few years ago for a Psychology class. I’m just reading it for fun now since I already have my BA in Psych. The book is about evolution, natural selection and altruism… so maybe that’s why I thinking about Izaya’s definition of evolving.

Why Do I Cosplay?

I’ve written about why I blog, so this time I’ll write about why I cosplay.

1. It’s fun. I like fashion and clothes.
2. It’s a way to show my love of anime.
3. It’s cool to own things from anime. For example, I have Luffy’s straw hat from One Piece, Kaneki’s mask from Tokyo Ghoul, a No Face mask from Spirited Away, Mitsuha’s hair tie/bracelet from Your Name, and a lot more stuff. I don’t care much about expensive, brand name things but I like to own things from anime because I think it’s cool.
4. Cosplay is a creative outlet.
5. I get to look different anytime I want. For example, I’ve cosplayed as Nana Osaki from Nana (punk look) and I’ve cosplayed as several boy characters. I’ve cosplayed as child characters and as mother characters too. Even my day-to-day style changes all the time. I don’t like to be restricted to one style because I like to feel free and fluid.
6. Cosplay has helped improve my self-confidence. I cosplay for myself. I am happy when people tell me that they like my cosplays, but my own self-perception is really important. When you see photos that you feel proud about, there is a feeling of self-satisfaction which ultimately boosts your self-esteem.
7. I’ve met cool people through cosplay and it has also reaffirmed my friendships because it feels so good when you are supported by friends.
8. It’s a way to spend time. I spend most of my free watching shows but cosplay is a break from watching something.
9. It’s fun to cosplay at conventions.

Travel Diary: Bowen Island

I went to Bowen Island for a couple of days with two friends. It’s really close to Vancouver.

I felt stressed these past weeks and wanted a break from city life. Prior to the trip, I had not been on an overnight trip in several years and did not hike in a really long time. I am a homebody but it was relaxing and refreshing to be in nature. I felt peaceful.

I think that when you’re on the island, you are on an “island timezone.” What I mean by this is that there’s no rush and there’s not much need to check your phone. I wonder why I check my phone a lot more in the city- perhaps because a lot of people have the ‘need to be productive’ mindset?

Day 1

The view from the ferry.

The view from the top.

I would say that the highlight of the trip was stargazing. There is only one street light on the island. I had never seen so many stars before. They looked so big and I could see them clearly.

Day 2

The lighthouse and volcanic rocks.

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I got my friends to watch The Untamed with me after our hikes. They became really invested in it, which was great. Hehehe.

The Five ATTRACTIVES Tag

Auri tagged me in this back in November 2017. Yeah. I’ve only done one other tag thing (Click here to read it) so this is not something I regularly do.

RULES (Copied and pasted)

• Mention the name of the blog you were tagged by, as well as the creators of this game Realweegiemidget Reviews and Thoughts All Sorts to all blogs involved and including the picture above.
• List five of your greatest hotties undeniably attractive people from TV and/or film, i.e. crushes/objects of your affection, including musicians or sports stars too.
• Tell us how you were introduced to them and why you like them/what appeals.
• Add some appealing pictures.
• Tag seven bloggers for their Five Flaming Hotties Super Attractive People.
• Post the rules.

MY LIST

I’ll stick with 2D boys because musicians and actors are a whole other post.

1. Uta from Tokyo Ghoul

Okay, for context Uta is a ghoul and ghouls eat humans. I like anime characters with piercings and I have a few ear piercings myself (7 in total).

2. Xue Yang from Mo Dao Zu Shi

I would classify Xue Yang as a yandere. My favourite character archetype is yandere.

***Yanderes are really problematic and I don’t agree with what they do. People that have yandere-like characteristics in real life are extremely toxic and I recognize that. However, my favourite characters in fictional stories are mostly villains and I think that yanderes make stories more interesting if it is done well.***

3. Juuzou Suzuya from Tokyo Ghoul

Juuzou is my favourite character in Tokyo Ghoul. He has a unique appearance and did his stitches himself. I like unique-looking characters because they seem more authentic(?) – Characters that aren’t afraid of being themselves.

4. Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!

Izaya is my number one favourite anime character. I wrote a post outlining the reasons why I like him lolol (Click here to read it).

5. Doppo from Hypnosis Mic

Doppo is a salaryman and pessimist. I like his hair.

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Besides Uta (I feel neutral about him), I really like the remaining four characters. It’s not just appearance but their personalities as well. Or I find them really interesting characters. Appearance and personality generally go hand-in-hand for me.

NOMINATIONS

I’m going to open this up for anyone who wants to do this tag. 🙂

ReLIFE: My Life

ReLIFE is about a 27-year-old NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) named Arata Kaizaki, who is given the opportunity to return to high school for one year. He takes a pill that gives him a youthful appearance. The perks of agreeing to this is free rent for a year and a job when the year is over. He will retain his memories of the year but the catch is that everyone else will forget that he existed. ReLife is an experiment that allows people such as Arata to start over.

If I participated in the ReLife program, what would I do differently?

I graduated high school in 2014. I got accepted into a good university and I’m currently in my final year of my second degree. I think I am doing well but there are things that I would do differently.

1. I would take Chinese and Japanese language courses (if my high school offered them). I would do this if I had to redo university too. My Chinese is not bad, but it could be better. If I could read Japanese, I would read so much raw manga and untranslated light novels and novels- the same for Chinese too. Knowing these languages would help with my hobbies so much.

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Actually I don’t think I want to dive too deeply into high school. I’m pretty content not thinking about it LOL. I am happier now than when I was in elementary school and high school, so I think that I did some things right to get to where I am now… 🙂

High school is also the time when I created this blog. If it wasn’t for becoming close with my dear friend Maya, who inspired me to start my blog, I’m not sure if I would have started one.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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I was the photographer for my anime club’s Valentine’s Social (amongst other executive duties). The theme was an IRL otome game in a school setting, hence the school uniform.