Rambles, Recs, Rarepair Hell

I had a great two days of the con! I wasn't able to go today which is the last day, but its alright. (Also for the best too since my arm was sore from carrying my things around XD But I'm all better now!) Going to log how my two days went under the cut.

Day One:

Arrived pretty early, around an hour before the artist's alley and dealers room were ready. Which I did not notice due to time blindness and someone in the dealers room politely letting me know, I felt so embarrassed lol... Even though nobody was mad at me I'm the sort of person where if I make a single social mistake: I explode and mentally shrivel up like a shrimp.

I went in my Ichijo cosplay on this day! The final part of my cosplay wasn't able to arrive in time and we couldn't find something to replace it locally, but it was alright. Even if my cosplay isn't 100% accurate I just went fuck it we ball.

Nobody recognized who I was. I cannot get mad though because he has a very normal outfit. But there were some people thought I was Zenigata (but without the hat), A Character from The Teen Titans Movie, and Dazai from BSD though... which was funny, it makes me laugh. That coat really is useful! (Doing a Zenigata cosplay doesn't sound like a bad idea either since I like Lupin.)

The hotel was nice! This was a first time event, and it was a very fun con and I was impressed with how put together it was. The only thing that I personally noticed that needed some work is that the artist's alley had pretty cramped spacing compared to the dealer's room, which was in a bigger room too.

I heard other artists talking about it too in the room, but we all knocked it down to first year growing pains. Hopefully next time when they do this event (if it does happen again, right now I'm just not sure) that will be adjusted.

This one artist alley table gave you a discount if you talked in an owo voice, I just had to do it and I'm glad it made the artist and their assistant crack up with mine XD I got some cute pokemon and devilman charms! I wanted to get a print the next day but forgot, but I'll get it from their online store in the future.

I also got more really cute stickers of kamen riders and rita from king ohger, as well as a gotchard charm from a different artist. They complimented my choice for a Faiz one and we gushed about Faiz for a bit. And speaking of Faiz there was a fantastic Ace cosplayer who noticed my keychain and we gushed about Faiz too!

There was this other booth that had a bunch of stuff, including various toku items. I got a loose Gatakiriba figure for cheap, as well as some other various toku gachapon figures and a couple shin kamen rider keychains or Hiromi and Ruriko. Let's go toxic yuri!

Though the first thing I did in the dealers room was look for a gift for my sister, which I found a good one! I was also the first customer for that specific vendor so they let me pick a free pack of cards, which was so kind. I picked a Spy x Family pack! :D

I also did a lot of walking around and sitting down too. Just taking in the atmosphere and admiring people's cosplays. There were a lot of places to chill, which was nice for me because I can rest and recharge my social batteries. There were also great cosplays of Shotaro, Terui, and Akikko. Terui, and Akikko were doing a couple's cosplay and that was such a cute idea.

Nobody I knew was here, say for one vendor I've talked to long before at another con in 2019 who actually remembered me. We got to gush about Leijiverse again! It was great. I can tell they were very happy about the fact someone younger like me is so enthusiastic about his work.

I went to a brief history of tokusatsu panel in the afternoon. Some stuff I did know but since I'm still pretty new to the genre all things considered, I did learn new things! Specifically about Kaiju and Ultraman since those are some blind spots I'm still working on.

(The original godzilla suit had some concrete in it, according to an interview with the OG suit actor that we saw a clip from... Suit actors are truly the strongest people on this planet.)

Koichi Sakamoto was a guest here! He did a Q and A at the end of the day, and was here to celebrate the English release of Ninja vs Shark. I also saw him walk in when he arrived to the building. It was a very cool moment.

Here's some fun notes I took from his Q and A:

• Hong Kong films and trailer shots influence his directing style.
• He can't watch the finale of Fourze because he gets too emotional.
• Learning martial arts in America helped him learn English.
• Gentaro's actor still keeps in contact with him, a lot of the fourze cast does too.
• Net movies was where ADs (assistant directors) got to shine.
• He wanted to bring back the Bruce Lee fighting style with meteor, after a megamax screening he saw kids fighting like that and was very happy.

He's such a cool guy, and was very enthusiastic and happy to be here. He was also extremely happy that so many people liked fourze and were asking questions about it.

Seeing his enthusiasm for this show has seriously bumped it up my list. I really need to finally see it.

Day Two:

Arrived a bit later, I wanted to see the panel at noon with both him and Johnny Young Bosch, who was a guest as well. But only for Saturday. Because of this there were a lot more people here today than on Friday. Which tracks in general when it comes to conventions, by JYB being here definitely ramped up the numbers too.

I arrived shortly after it ended, but it was okay. I needed the rest in the morning because my arm was sore from carrying the things I bought around in my bag. I seriously needed the rest, so I don't regret it.

The line for the guest area was long today, which made sense. I just chilled in the lobby and took in the atmosphere. I was originally going to go in just normal clothes but I actually did a closet cosplay of Ren Akiyama from Ryuki. Since at 3am I realized I had the stuff to throw one together XD More people actually recognized me this time. My kn95 mask was black already so it also matched!

Some people actually walked up to me and complimented it too!

There was someone in a fantastic Kamen Rider Beast cosplay who told me they really liked it, and I was so touched because of how well made theirs was. ;w; We talked a bit about our favorite secondary riders, since because of my cosplay they asked if Ren was (And he is!) while Nitoh was theirs.

I really want to see Wizard sometime and I have a good feeling from clips I've seen I'd love Nitoh too, which is something I also told them.

I also had nice conversations about Toku with two other people, one of which gave out spare extra ranger keys from Gokaiger they didn't need anymore. Looking from the selection I picked Abarekiller, since he's one of my favorites. <3

I missed two panels I'd wanted to go to due to time blindness, but also some of these great interactions happened during those timeframes so I'm more than okay about it.

There was a lot of fun and stellar cosplays today. There was a great OG Vash, Alien Zetton, A Few Zero One Cosplays, A Fall Guy, A Santa Version of Jiraya from Naruto, a great original fursuit, the classic Ciel in that dress, and a lot of Honkai Star Rail and Genshin which didn't surprise me. I don't go there (and don't anymore for Genshin) but they were very well done and cool! As well as someone in a spot-on scene getup, including the hair. Felt like they walked straight out of the 2000s.

After the lines chilled out, I actually got to see and get an autograph for JYB! He was really friendly, and liked that I picked a promare print for him to sign. And I saw him lit up a bit when I also told him I really am enjoying his performance as Gento in the Blazar dub.

He still had a bit of a line so there wasn't much more we could talk than that, because of it but it didn't feel rushed either. Even with so many people coming to see him he still took the effort to make conversation and pay attention to everyone, even if only for an allotted brief amount of time.

I also got to speak with Koichi Sakamoto...!! He was so kind and friendly. I was a bit nervous but he has been the most approachable guest I've ever talked to at a con. Along talking with me he was also speaking to a group of folks when I got there. He took the time to initiate conversation with me too, which was a gesture I am grateful for.

You could just feel how excited he was to be here, and how enthusiastic he is about his work. It's just so contagious you couldn't help but get excited. He was so humble too. I got to talk to him a bit about megamax, and he really loved working on that film because of the seven legendary riders being in it. It was like a dream come true for him since he grew up with those riders.

Being able to talk about my all-time favorite Kamen Rider film with the man who directed it was such a great experience, and something I will deeply cherish.

I also got to talk with him about the King Ohger and Kyoryuger crossover episodes with the others too, for him and the cast who returned it felt like they never left! He told us a story about how Ayuri Konno who retired from acting but returned for this was a bit nervous if she wasn't able to do her henshin sequence anymore properly, but then did it perfectly like 10 years hadn't passed.

She didn't even need to worry about looking down when handling the gaburivolver. Sakamoto said that he still struggles with not having to look down when doing a henshin sequence with it. I still haven't seen Kyoryuger, but the crossover episodes with King Ohger were very fun and it was great to hear some behind the scenes about it.

At the end of the day I went to the Ninja vs Shark screening. They premiered the dub and it was good! The cast did a great job. This movie was a blast, as Sakamoto said it was a film where we could "Turn off our brains and just have fun" so we didn't have to worry about yelling, clapping or anything.

It was a fun, campy (and gorey) film. But it also had a lot of heart and you could really feel the effort put into it. And the protagonist had a nice progression too, I won't get into spoilers though. But watch it if you want a good time where you can just enjoy the ride!

(Though Content Warning: there are not only references to SA but also an attempt at it as well on one of the main characters. Though she turns out okay. But I felt it was good to give this warning in advance for folks.)

There were a lot of toku actors in this! Kohshu Hirano, Shun Nishime, Yuichi Nakamura, and Kanon Miyahara to name the ones I know off the top of my heart.

Seeing Miyahara in this was fun because she's doing a great job in Gotchard, and she was fun in this too. I loved seeing Hirano again since I loved Haruki in Ultraman Z. And Nakamura makes for a hot villain ngl...

The Q and A at the end of the film too was great, I really had a good time! When talking about behind the scenes stuff on the special effects, he called lube "Sex Gel" because he forgot the name and everyone including him were losing it. XD (Without spoilers: It was for a scene to help the characters look dirty and slimy after a battle.)

Afterwards they all did signings and I now have a bluray of this film signed by him as well as the cast of the dub. When Sakamoto asked me if I liked the film he was so happy when I let him know how much I enjoyed myself. This is definitely a film I'll be showing to IRL friends who'd be down for it whenever we hang out.

Final Thoughts:

I really had such a fun time at this con. It was the first con I've went to since 2019. It being hardcapped at 1500 attendees gave me the push to give it a try, plus I wanted to give a go at seeing Sakamoto, and JYB (if the line for him ever got to a manageable length). As well as be in a physical space with other toku fans.

It gave me so many warm and fuzzy feelings. The atmosphere was really earnest and genuine. And thankfully things never felt too overwhelming for me, especially on Saturday. Which I am grateful for. The smaller nature of this con helped, if I went to a much bigger con like NYCC I knew it would be different.

Though I'm definitely going to need a week or several to recoup from the stimulation regardless... XD

Being with other fans in a physical space is just really nice. I definitely appreciate having a space to be as earnest about what I love as much as I want and be offline doing it. I don't get to go to cons much, even in the before times, so this was just really something I needed.

I might do an access locked post with some pictures I took at the con (like of when I got my Abarekiller key) and of some of the stuff I bought. Especially since my signed bluray has my walletname/birthname and I'd rather that not be in a public post. I'll think about it. For now I need to rest some more!

I might edit this post later to fix typos, add things I may have forgotten, etc.

All in all I loved this con, I hope they do it again because I'd definitely would want to attend again! (As long as is its in a range I can go to.)