Summer Festival and Anime Evolution are local anime conventions in my area. Summer Fest is run by Simon Fraser University’s anime club.
Summer Festival
I saw Moya at Summer Fest because she was selling anime pins and other items at a table. I tabled for my university’s anime club, University of British Columbia Anime Club (UBC Anime Club). I cosplayed as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Met another Kiki
I got a One Piece haul.
Anime Evolution
I got to go in for free, which was great. I cosplayed as Rachel Gardner from Angels of Death. I met Falcon from Geek Astronaut for the first time, which was really cool.
Tabled for UBC Anime Club
I bought a gundam.
Anime conventions are pretty nice because you have a good chance of meeting your online buddies in real life. I got to hang out with a lot of people I knew already from anime club and I met a few new people as well.
You guys seemed to like my blog post, My Love for One Piece. That’s why I decided to do a blog post on my love for anime.
Manga & Light Novels
I mostly read manga online (oops). I also own a Durarara!! light novel, Shonen Jump & Shojo Beat magazines, and other anime-related books.
Fan Art
Going to Conventions (and Cosplaying)
Buying Stuff from Conventions
Cosplay
Incorporating Anime in My Everyday Style
I wear anime jewelry, decorate bags and other things with anime, and wear anime clothing.
Appreciating Cosplayers
Posters
I also have a Code Geass poster, One Piece and Vampire Knight BL posters. 😉
Figures
Plushies
Eating Food Because it was Shown in an Anime
I can feel my brother judging me for this…
Watching Anime (duh)
My favourite series are One Piece and Kaiji. I also love Death Note and Inuyashiki.
Listening to Music from Anime
My favourite opening is Unravel (Tokyo Ghoul) and my ringtone is The World (Death Note). I’ve been listening to My Hero (Inuyashiki) and Chase the Light! (Kaiji season 2) today.
Once again I want to emphasize that these are my ways of showing my love and appreciation for anime. Everyone is different, but I hope that it’s clear that I love anime. Hahaha.
This post was inspired by Fed’s blog post on his love for Final Fantasy XIV.
Blocks
Sanji/Zoro
Fan Art
Laboon/Nami/Buggy the Clown and transponder snail
Taking Pictures
The Brook wall art was taken at Ki Tea House Cafe, and the devil fruit cake was made by a cake vendor at Anime Revolution.
Fan & Autograph
The fan was a gift from a friend. Kappei Yamaguchi, the seiyuu of Usopp, signed my fan and wrote ‘Usopp’ under his signature! I waited two hours in total, and it was worth it.
Posters & Plush
The Chopper plush was a birthday gift. I have several One Piece posters.
Painting
The Zoro painting was a birthday gift, painted by a friend.
Takoyaki
I bought takoyaki after watching the Straw Hats eat takoyaki made by Hatchan.
Straw Hat & Cosplay
Luffy’s straw hat was a Christmas gift from a friend.
Marimo
Sanji calls Zoro ‘marimo.’
Gatcha
I got Luffy.
At Sea
T-shirts
Chopper/Luffy t-shirts from Uniqlo
Funko Pop
Graduation gifts from friends.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think owning stuff makes you a “bigger” fan at all. I don’t own a ton of One Piece things but I do own quite a lot of anime things in general. I like to own anime stuff because it makes me happy. I like to see things that I like around me.
To me, being a fan of something or someone just means that you really like it. You don’t have to own merchandise, and you don’t have to know everything about the show. A word of advice: Don’t call someone a “fake fan” because that’s really rude. 🙂 Maybe you are quick to assume their love for the show, and that kind of elitism is toxic. 🙂
I had doubts over writing this post, but all the support I received on Twitter made me complete it in the end.
Screen shots from yesterday
In elementary school, I had zero interest in gossiping about other female classmates or gushing about boys. I hated Western pop music and reality TV shows. Most of all, I made zero effort to change myself or pretend to be like them. I do think that my indifferent facial expressions hindered me from making friends. No surprise, but I didn’t have many friends. I didn’t think I was better than other people because I didn’t like myself that much either. I felt that I didn’t belong, like an alien that belonged to another planet.
I went home after school right away by myself. During the summer breaks, I stayed at home by myself during the day because my parents were working. I watched anime all-day when I was home alone and did my homework when my parents were home. I had a lot of free time, so I achieved A’s in everything except gym. Anime was a way for me to pass the time and it distracted me so I didn’t have to think about real life. I read a lot of manga too.
I learned about the world, places, people, and relationships through anime. My life was uninteresting and uneventful so I relied on anime to be my guide. At the same time, I was able to differentiate between anime and reality. All too well. I felt indifferent towards reality. Anime worlds weren’t that great either because of all the challenges the characters had to face. Still, the impossible happened in anime. A notebook that could kill people? Anime was so interesting!
This is my favourite song, and it represents how I felt when I was younger. Strangely, the song calms me and I don’t feel sadness over loneliness anymore. I’ve learned to embrace it.
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My current life is so different from my lonely childhood. When I was young I didn’t have a blog, no outlet to express my thoughts and feelings. I just had anime. It was like a friend. I still watch anime because it passes the time. With countless titles to watch and shows coming out every season, it’s endless fun. It’s still interesting.
Now that I am more involved with activities in my life, I can spend my time blogging about anime, cosplaying as anime characters, drawing anime fan art, attending conventions and more. Being active with anime has made me part of this online community of anime bloggers. You are all so nice to me. Thank you for that. When I was young, anime was the friend that killed boredom. Now, anime has provided me with fun activities and many friendships.
As a kid, real life didn’t make me feel a lot of emotions. I was neutral most of the time. Anime made me cry countless times, and One Piece was able to make me laugh many times. Watching anime made me feel human.
My posts about Hua Hua are getting views so I figured that many people around the world are interested in learning more about him.
This is one of my favourite videos of him because he is talking about anime in these scenes. There are English subtitles. ^^ His favourite anime is One Piece. MY FAVOURITE ANIME IS ONE PIECE-
*calms down*
Some of the other anime he likes are Assassination Classroom, Tokyo Ghoul, Naruto, Dragonball, One Punch Man, Attack on Titan, Gintama, and Pokemon. His favourite character in Naruto is Orochimaru. He has a lot of figurines at home and really likes Kaneki. He also has a Chopper plush, Chopper hat, Kaneki’s mask, Dragonball pouch and other things!
When asked if he would rather be King of the Pirates or hokage, he answered King of the Pirates. He explains in the video that pirates have more freedom, while the hokage has responsibilities of taking care of the village. This reminded me of Luffy’s quote when he was talking about being a pirate versus being a hero.
Hero? No! We’re pirates! I love heroes, but I don’t wanna be one! Do you know what heroes are? Say there is a chunk of meat. Pirates will have a banquet and eat it, but heroes will share it with other people. I want all the meat!”
Wretched and Divine 