Dear Diary,
tonight we are in an UFO flying through the earths atmosphere at 1200 km/h. It's not the max speed, you need much more for spacetravel, but more of a leisurely pace for our friends from Hoag's Object to take a look at all the sights one at a time. Their attentionspan isn't that high you know. They fly to Machu Pichu, stop for a minute to solve the structure like a cerealbox maze then zip over to China to observe a cute red panda. Next they fly to some unremarkable guy in Germany doing boring stuff, huh Bor based synapses work in mysterious ways.
This was last september on one of the last days where I still had my student ticket. I had heard about an interesting event happening in a bigger town not so far, that peaked my interest. It was a Japanese outdoor festival, a matsuri as they call it. I have actually been to very few conventions of this kind since when I really wanted to up my social game and find more likeminded (girl)friends to go, a year later covid hit and I started my adventures with Belle instead. Conventions werent a thing for a while. But I guess I could have gone to this one since it was outdoors oh well. This matsuri started out as more of a traditional culture festival where you see people wearing Kimonos and playing the Koto. As with everything Japan it quickly got overtaken by weebs and became 70% anime focused. They probably embraced it because thats where the money is.
Well I decided to finally go and I did it alone since there was really nobody very suitable for it. I knew that Spike and Knight would have probably been too busy. With both I have tried in the past to establish a more casual Lets just hang out type friendship but both have a tendency to ignore messages. They are introverts who are quickly overwhelmed and not spontaneous I get it, in some ways I am similar. (I dont believe in that test but all three of us are INFP, idk maybe everyone gets that result) Belle, manic pixie dream girl personified, would have accompanied me 100% but she was not my friend anymore.
So I went alone, which turned out to be not so bad while a bit lonely of course, being in a crowd but never interacting with anyone outside of buying food from the vendors. This is what we selfpitying xy chromosome people call male loneliness, even though its probably not that unique. And its kind of nice to be unbothered too.
So naturally there were a lot of cosplayers. I saw a really cool Makima who had those scary looking orange contact lenses. Every time I saw her I averted my gaze lest she turn me into her slave or something. A really funny cosplay was this Shanks (from One Piece), really low effort with a bushy red wig, an open white shirt and a goofy plastic sword. I was also delighted to see a pair of my some of my favorite Jojo characters, Wheather Report and Anasui from part 6. I automatically assumed they were lesbians, I am not sure if it was because of their upbeat behaviour, always laughing, dancing, leaning on each other or because Jojo is such a deeply gay series, especially part 6.
That pair was only my second favorite though. There was one that I saw even before I entered the venue. It was Shizuku. Shizuku from my favorite series HxH. She is probably quite an easy cosplay. Just a jeans, a black crop top, some kind of cross necklace and a fake spider tattoo on the waist. If you feel really fancy you cam bring your vacuum cleaner and stick some googly eyes on it. Oh and black hair helps, but most probably use a short wig. This Shizuku didn't have a vacuum but her short black hair seemed natural to my untrained eye.
I saw her immediately after leaving the station, standing there talking to her friend, who was some Steam Punk Character I don't know. Something League of Legends? When I saw Shizuku I had trouble not too stare too long, because she looked so freaking cool. I forced myself to keep going to not look weird and hoped I would see her again later.
And I did along with all the other cosplayers. The park was not very big and I am the type who keeps going in circles. I spent around 7 hours there and probably walked over 15km. There were 2 big stages that had different performances, a lot of food stands and very pricey merchandise shops. Some DIY activities for the kids too. There was a lot of singing, a katana fight, a magic show, Kpop dance (by japanese teenagers), a jodeling japanese guy and traditional japanese theatre. Also a cosplay competition that sadly didnt include my favorites. It was quite cringe though in a good way. Lots of bad singing, lame jokes and intentionally obvious references. I liked how homemade and real it felt.
So as I walked around I stumbled into the Shizuku every now and then. Suddenly an idea popped into my mind that I couldn't ignore. You can ask cosplayers for a photo. I distinctly remembered reading in the manga My dressup darling how cosplayers even enjoy being asked. Indeed there were some guys with fancy cameras around asking mostly the most elaborate costumes for some pics. My only equipment was my phone though, an old model too. Would that suffice? I was pretty sure nobody had asked Shizuku for a pic because she was a more simple costume, yet it was such a shame for her to go unnoticed. Plus it would be the perfect training for me to theoretically """hit""" on a woman. I wouldn't be doing anything wrong after all just openly ask and abiding by her yes or no. Just to be sure I googled the appropriate ettiquette for such an occasion just to be sure I didn't miss any vital fauxpas traps. Apparently showing the pic afterwards was adviced. Good to know.
As the evening set my golden opportunity arose. Shizuku and her friend sat down on the grass on a blanket. Eating and doing some selfies. Now was the time! So I iiiiiiimmediatelyyyyyyyyyyy
hesitated and went past them to do another round through the park thinking everything over. The next pass didn't feel right either so I went for another round. As I went around and around and around trying to fight my deeply ingrained shyness I stopped to eat some onigiri. While refueling my energy I weighed all the risks. Maybe they had already noticed me as the weirdo walking by again and again. I had become their running joke, quite literally and if I established contact they would roll on the floor laughing already anticipating my futile attempts. Were they the stereotypical cruel species whom we see so often in renowned documentaries such as *Mean Girls*. Probably not, they are cosplayers after all and look at least 20.
So I decided that the reward would be greater than the risk of the rejection. This wasnt about love, it was just a photo after all. So I finally walked up to them and asked. To my credit it WAS quite awkward. She DID immediately say OK though. She seemed surprised and her friend giggled at her. And she giggled back. But I was already committed to this fate, concentrated, unable to spare brainpower to decode the giggling. She went to an empty spot on the grass and looked at me, clearly expecting some instructions. Luckily I came prepared. Thanks to my previous walks deep in thought I had forseen this eventuality. In her first appearence Shizuku does armwrestling with the main character Gon. So I asked her to raise her right hand for armwresrling. Because you see Shizuku is left handed, only due to her aloof personality she forgot this crucial fact and barely lost to Gon. How genius of me. Unfortunately my suggestion prompted more giggling which I again ignored in my steely focus. She took my suggestion and raised her hand, gently smiling. I took a few photos, then showed her the result. She nodded and already turned away. I said thanks and stumbled out how cool I though her cosplay was. She said thanks and seemed happy I think. I left with my digital keepsake feeling relieved that it went ok.
Looking back at it, they probably giggled in a teasing way at each other as to say "Look at you professional cosplayer" I dont think they were mean to me or anything. Still it was very exhilarating and I felt proud of myself. I went to the stage to watch more kpop dancing to calm myself down. I left later on when the jodeling guy came back on, it was enough jodeling for one day. All in all it was a very fun day that I still fondly remember. I want to go this year too and to one real anime convention ideally. It will probably be quite similarly lonely, but that might not be too bad. I mean I got a pretty cool photo. Looking at it now she had a lot more piercings than I remember. Nose and mouth, interesting.
I am currently thinking what else I can do this summer. Idk yet its always a struggle to find something fitting. And today was the Nintendo Direct which I watched, Im excited for the new Mario Kart! Peach and Daisy look so good in this game, love their outfits.
That was one boring minute, the aliens agree. Even that Panda was better. This planet was kind of mediocre. 2/5 stars on spaceboxd. Hopefully the next one will be better. They spin their rotund bubble bodys in the rhythm of accelaration to escape the earths gravity pull. They are enjoying their perfectly decent vacations, vibrating to some toothpaste commercial they found catchy. Have a good trip aliens!