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Sakura-Con 2014

Last weekend was Sakura-Con 2014, the biggest anime convention in the north-west. The convention is pretty big with over 25,000 attendees this year and was the biggest I’ve ever been to since Anime Expo 2011.

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It was also the first time I was attending an anime con with friends also interested in anime (including OhnoRaptors and Tsukikira), which made it a lot more fun since I wasn’t always the only person excited to see stuff. Attended a few of panels, including “A Helpful Guide to Anime Figure Collecting”, “Are We Live? The iDOLMA$TER!”, “Cosplay Skit Contest”, and “Lesbian-Themed Anime”. Spent a bunch of time in the merchant’s hall but didn’t end up buying much (see loot section). Ran around taking a lot of photos/getting pictures taken of as I was cosplayed as Houko Inumuta from KILL la KILL. Attended the KILL la KILL on Saturday (in costume) and TYPE-MOON on Sunday (just photographer). Met up with a few other Dollfie Dream owners on Sunday and had a mini DD photoshoot. Relaxed a bunch in the console gaming room that was being run by a bunch of my friends who were staff. Then finally ended off the weekend with helping some staff cleanup before arriving home Sunday after midnight. Definitely an exhausting and active con, but it was tons of fun and I got to meet and make a number of new friends ^_^

Here’s the abbreviated photo-dump. You can see all my Sakura-Con-related photos on Flickr or browse by the albums linked in each section below. I unfortunately forgot to take any pics of myself individually so if you happen to have attended the con and have pics of this Inumuta, please letme know ^_^

~Keripo

General Con Photos
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644269963505/

Here’s a bunch of general photos of the con, crowd, merchant’s hall, etc.

Waiting for the merchant’s hall to open
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Inside the merchant’s hall
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Some table-top game being demo’d
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Cirno is strongest!
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So much hugging~ I bought the bottom right one on impulse xD
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GSC’s company booth – they were selling Nendos and figmas, as well as displaying some scaled PVC figures (nothing on display was for sale)
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Outside it would occasionally rain, but the band kept playing on
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After a solid three days of good work, staff from the console gaming room and the Majong room got together for some dinner (I tagged along as a friend of staff)
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Cosplayers
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644311433883/

Saber (Fate/stay night): The first Saber spotted! (she didn’t attend the TYPE-MOON gathering on Sunday though)
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Deadpool (Marvel Comics) with Satsuki-sama and Nonon (KILL la KILL): Deadpool was screaming “yes! yes!” the entire time
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Sakura (Card Captor Sakura): She gave us her Cloww cards ^_^
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Sonico (Super Sonico): The lovely Mitsuki ^_^ (she tagged along with us after the figure panel and also cosplayed as Ryouko later on)
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Patchouli Knowledge (Touhou): We found him like this, absorbed in his books…
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Best cosplay 2014
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???: No idea who this is but looked really cool
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Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night): So amazing, really wished I took more pics of her >_<
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Rider (Fate/zero) and Saber (Fate/stay night): There’ll be more of these two in the TYPE-MOON photoshoot section
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Haruka (FLCL): Best character of all time
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Forgot what series they’re from, but they looked dead serious~
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Fire Emblem gathering (I think?)
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Litchi, Rachel and Taokaka (BlazBlue): Was hoping to see more BlazBlue characters (WTB moar Noellll) but unfortunately didn’t)
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I’m going to assume this is some LoL character. Pretty cool foam sword
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Ryouko (KILL la KILL): Mitsuki again, pulling a neat Ryouko ^_^
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Rider (Fate/zero): IT’S A GENDER-BENDED RIDER! HAIL!
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I have no clue who these are, but this old couple was awesome!
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Kyaa~
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Remilia Scarlet and Ran Yakumo (Touhou): Can never say no to moar Touhou (was surprised there wasn’t any Touhou panels)
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Chii~ <3 (Chobits)
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Dandy (Space Dandy): All I can say is “YEAH BABY!”
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Shinku (Rozen Maiden): Good to see Rozen Maiden hasn’t been forgotten ^_^
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Yoshino (Date A Live): The only reason I watched Date A Live. Seriously, how can you say no to Yoshino?
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Survey Corps (Attack on Titan): There was actually a huge Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan) photoshoot but it was at the same time as the KILL la KILL one so I got no photos
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Saber (Fate/Prototype): Major props on this one, really well done (too bad he didn’t make it to Sunday’s TYPE-MOON photoshoot)
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Two LoL characters I don’t know cause I don’t play the game, but the guy was classy as hell xD
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Zidane (Final Fantasy IX): FFIX was my very first Final Fantasy and still favourite ^_^
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Inumuta and Gamagori (KILL la KILL): I’m the Inumuta on the right (I look like a complete dork compared to the much-more-awesome crossplaying Inumuta on the left)
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OhnoRaptors in pretty white lolita ^_^
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Some Pretty Cure character – OhnoRaptors went crazy when she saw her
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Gyokuen Ren, Sinbad, and Jafar (Magi): These three were hanging outside the Aniplex booth
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???, Vivi and Freya (Final Fantasy IX): Moar FFIX, my two favourite characters too! <3
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Bunch of Ahri’s (League of Legends), the only character I know because Miyuko cosplayed her before
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The Death Note, featuring lots and lots of Kyuubey ^_^
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Mr. Braun (Steins;Gate): Cause everyone loves CRTs ^_^
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Trololololols dancing to Turn Down For What
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Shinobu Oshino (Bakemonogatari): I REALLY REALLY WANTED TO TAKE HER HOME WITH ME!!!! xD
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Death-sama (Soul Eater): Awww yeahhh!
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Neptune (Hyperdimension Neptunia): More like Hyperdimension Bro-tunia
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The flowery girl in Blade & Soul (no English name yet): Was surprised someone actually cosplayed her
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Mikasa (Attack on Titans): Serious face.
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Levi (Attack on Titan): Cleaner-version! Actually one of my friends, who also happened to be part of the gaming console room staff
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Ash Ketchum and Diglet (Pokemon): I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t macho-Diglet, but it was still pretty awesome
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Sasami-san (Sasami-san@Ganbaranai) and Kurousagi (Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?)
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Shiroe (Log Horizon): I was originally planning on cosplaying as Shiroe this con, but the anime ended up not as interesting as I hoped…
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Shimakaze (Kantai Collection): Friend of a friend of mine actually made the outfit for her
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KILL la KILL Photoshoot
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644257113482/

Saturday KILL la KILL gathering. There was one on Friday too but there were some location confusion and I missed most of it. Too many photos to comment on, but if you’re unfamiliar with the series, I’d highly recommend checking it out. Pictures were taken by one of my friends cause I took part in the photoshoot  – I’m the most boring-looking Houko Inumuta with the crappy wig (first time using a wig, completely failed at stylizing and getting the right length).
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TYPE-MOON Photoshoot
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644271207914/

Sunday TYPE-MOON gathering. Mostly Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night cosplayers (as expected) but there was one Saber Lily (Fate/Unlimited Codes) and Tohno Shiki (Tsukihime), whom I let hold my Arcueid DD for pictures.
Next year I’ll probably be running a TYPE-MOON panel and digging up my old Tohno Shiki cosplay.
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Dollfie Dream Mini-Meetup
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644216505136/

We had a mini meetup of Dollfie Dreams on Sunday. Featuring (from left to right): OhnoRaptor’s Airy, Keripo’s custom DDH-07 (Arcueid), thebobness’s Melty, jadepixel’s Rise, perfect34’s custom DDH-04, and perfect34’s custom DDH-05.
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Loot
Flickr set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644258758621/

I didn’t buy any figures at the con but I did buy a bunch of other random stuff

Combined loot (except the Arcueid artwork commission, which I kept in my office)
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Wallscroll of an amazing, mesmerizing original artwork drawn and signed by Centimetre Art
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Here’s her posing beside the poster ^_^
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Another poster also by the same artist, signed too! This one is on her pixiv
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All three volumes of the Fate/Apocrypha light novel.
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Some random old Tsukihime doujinshi that I bought for $5… will have to look up the circle later
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Fate/EXTRA material, also with the bonus Rco Wada art book.
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Some lovely full-coloured 18+ doujinshis from the circle KAROMIX

Spoiler:
* [KAROMIX (karory)] KARORFUL MIX EX3 (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai)
* [KAROMIX (karory)] KAROFUL MIX EX8 (Sword Art Online)
* [KAROMIX (karory)] Karorful mixEX11 (Shingeki no Kyoujin) + clear folder
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A random cleaner cloth of maid-version Biribiri (Misaka) from To Aru Kagetsu no Railgun that my friend got for free and gave to me (probably would have bought it too had I seen it for sale)
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Adorable, huggable cat plush/pillow that I bought on impulse ;3
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The Sakura (Card Captor Sakura) cosplayer gave us some Cloww cards after we took her picture and I ended up keeping them ^_^
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I really loved Centimetre Arts’ art-style and ended up going back and commissioning an artwork of Arcueid based on this figure. Turned out pretty nice ^_^
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Currently have the artwork up in my office to the right of my monitors so I can admire it at work ;3
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And that’s all for this convention! It was definitely a long and exhausting anime convention but I had tons of fun and made a number of new friends. If you plan on attending Sakura-Con next year, make sure to drop by the TYPE-MOON panel and say hi ^_^

~Keripo

Flickr – All: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/tags/sakuracon
Flickr – General: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644269963505/
Flickr – Cosplayers: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644311433883/
Flickr – KILL la KILL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644257113482/
Flickr – TYPE-MOON: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644271207914/
Flickr – Dollfie Dream: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644216505136/
Flickr – Loot: https://www.flickr.com/photos/keripo/sets/72157644258758621/
MyFigureCollection: http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/14083
Figure.fm: http://www.figure.fm/en/post/53092/Sakura+Con+2014.html
DollfieDreams: http://www.dollfiedreams.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=9801

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