Friday, January 30, 2009

Yuri Mania 2: Maria-sama ga Miteru - 1st Season

Gokigenyou minna-san! Greetings everyone. Welcome to the second week of Yuri Mania. The title sure is appropriate, because I'm a major yuri maniac at the moment. I spent about 5 hours scouring the first season of Maria-sama ga Miteru (MariMite for short) for screenshots! which made it the fourth time I've watched this show... So obviously this week I'll be reviewing the first season of MariMite.

Maria-sama ga Miteru or Maria Watches Over Us is about the lives of the students in Lillian Girls' Academy. In this school there is a system of sisterhood where the higher grade students chooses a younger student to be her little sister or petite soeur. The story focuses more on the student council group called the Yamayuri council, which is further divided into three groups of roses.

From left to right: Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Foetida.

The Chinensis family consists of the main characters of this show: the ever stern Sachiko Ogasawara, who just recently christened her new petite soeur, Yumi Fukuzawa, and Rosa Chinensis at the head of the "family", Mizuno Yoko, who only acts mostly as a supporting character in the series. The story is told mostly through Yumi's point of view. The Foetida family consists of Rosa Foetida Eriko Torii, her younger sister, Rei Hasekura and Yoshino Shimazu, Rei's cousin who is her petite soeur by default. The Gigantea family has the fewest members which consists of Rosa Gigantea Sei Sato, and Shimako Todo, who is in the same class as Yumi.

Yeah, what she said...

A fair warning: If you think you're going to watch a show with explicit yuri scenes, you're going to have to think twice. This series is mostly about character development and relationships, and it will be slow and VERY melodramatic. If you're into these kinds of things, however, then you will be right at home. Plus there are a lot of humour, innuendos and teasings sandwiched in between!

The first episode may confuse a lot of people, like me, because they introduced ALL of these characters at once even before the opening theme song! I think there were just too many to remember when you started, so I hope this review can help you out a little if you plan to watch it. The first arc involves the Rosa Chinensis en bouton (French for rosebud), Sachiko trying to find a petite soeur so that she can avoid becoming Cinderella. She didn't mind it, but unfortunately she has to be in the play with an actual guy, and she doesn't like guys... Wow a nice start already! Fortunately for Sachiko there's a girl right behind that door who doesn't have a grande soeur yet, and she's a fan of Sachiko! Unfortunately she won't go down that easy... Doesn't it just make the chase more fun that way? Hehehe.
Yay for conquest!

The Foetida family. Yoshino (the one with pig tails) was very sickly in the beginning, but she becomes very lively later on.

SAY WHAT!? Rosa Foetida is very eccentric... and probably the only girl in the show who likes guys.

The story eventually moves on to focus on the other roses and their family members, and even a I-want-to-join-our-bodies flashback story! So yes, there are a little bit more than what I've said in my warning. The story flowed well between these arcs, and you get to see more character developments, especially Yoshino. Shimako also had her moments at the end, so it didn't look like as if she was neglected. It did get a bit confusing near the end because they stuck in a Christmas Day story in between a Valentine's Day story. You're going to have to get used to this if you plan on continuing on to the second season because there will be a bit more time jumps. They do stand alone quite well thankfully.

You'll see many scenes like these throughout the show

As for the animation itself, it looks good, very flowery with pale colours, perfect for the moments when they need it. This is created by Studio Deen, so I saw many similarities of these characters with Elie from Rave Master, which I didn't mind. I did notice some differences between episodes, but the quality is consistent enough since it's a short series. The DVDs are in Japanese only, but they do provide you with two sets of subtitles, one normal and the other is where they keep all the honorific. I find the second set to be more logical, because you keep seeing "Lady Sachiko" in place of "Sachiko-sama" in the first set... I loved the extras too, a very humourous take on some of the episodes, a hit and miss for some, but cute overall!
Oppai-makura!

I am fairly addicted to this series. I truly am a yuri maniac. Aside from my warning about the series, it's highly recommended. And now more pictures! I took over 100 screenshots after all!


SPOILER ALERT...
Not too much, but some screens are taken from later in the series.


Yumi gets teased a lot about her face because she always shows her emotions on it.
Yes, Yumi, your face TOTALLY lacks composure!


Silly Yoshino, you can't beat Yumi in the funny face department!

Call me 'mistress'... er I mean onee-sama.

Rosa Gigantea, Sei Sato, is one of my favourite characters, especially because she's always teasing Yumi to get a rise out of her and Sachiko.
Oh no, please do... don't mind us...

Sei Sato makes my Rosa Gigantea, if you know what I mean...

Sachiko in kindergarten... so cute, just like a Nendoroid, but wow she's so stern even when she's in kindergarten!

Hmm... what? No, I didn't really have a reason why I took this screenshot. Why do you ask?

The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi: Asahina Mikuru

the melancholy of suzumiya haruhi cosplay - asahina mikuruConsidered to be one of the most beautiful students in North high, Asahina Mikuru is very shy and easily flustered, especially by her SOS Brigade president, Suzumiya Haruhi.

Unlike Yuki and Haruhi, she has no athletic ability, but she does make excellent tea and was thereby elected by Haruhi to be the club’s waitress. Unbeknownst to Haruhi, however, Mikuru is actually a time traveler, one of the "strange beings" Haruhi longs to meet, yet has no idea about the people surrounding her.

She makes a really cute Mikuru. She has the cute, innocent look about her, and I really adore her pose. Excellent work!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Blue Dragon: Dawn Dragonkin and Dusk Dragonkin

Have you ever heard of Jimmy Lin? His Chinese name is 林志穎, and he’s a Taiwanese singer, actor, and professional race car driver.

Now why would I be talking about him in this blog?

blue dragon cosplay by jimmy lin

You guessed it. Jimmy Lin has cosplayed for the anime and game title, "Blue Dragon". My only dilemma is, there’s little information about who he’s cosplaying as, and my Chinese is not good enough to read up a lot of what’s written about it on the Internet.

Oh yes, both characters are Jimmy. It’s been photo manipulated to feature both of his cosplays.

If anyone has more information, please do share, and I will quote you in my blog. Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks to Pu Niao for letting me know the characters are Dawn Dragonkin and Dusk Dragonkin respectively!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

~Karas

All credits to the cosplayers and photographers


Tsubasa - Reservoir Chronicle: Syaoran and Sakura

tsubasa - reservoir chronicle cosplay - syaoran and sakura One of my readers, Lily, sent a link to a cosplay of Tsubasa - Reservoir Chronicle’s Syaron and Sakura as cosplayed by Kiarou and Lil Krn Yuna. I wanted to show Sakura’s full dress so I chose another photo of the two. I hope Lily doesn’t mind. ^^

Anyhow, I can’t believe these costumes were hand-made! It’s really well done, and they make a really cute Syaoran and Sakura! Awesome job! I’ll be sure to feature more of them in the future!

You can check out the original photo by Isamu85 here. Thanks for sharing this!

xxxHolic: Kunogi Himawari

xxxholic cosplay - kunogi himawariDespite being an only child who has a strange power of causing people “bad luck”, Kunogi Himawari is a kind and cheerful girl who is Watanuki’s love interest. She is either oblivious of this fact or she doesn’t want to return his feelings because she also causes him bad luck.

Not everyone is affected by her strange powers though. Doumeki and her parents don’t recieve any bad luck being around her. But regardless of this strange phenomena, Himawari is said to be human.

She makes a very cute Himawari-chan don’t you think? :3

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

~❤ Share Some LOVE ❤~

This cosplay blog is made for sharing..
Please spread your LOVE for COSPLAY here =3

If you have any____ to share with us.
-cosplay photos
-cosplay videos
-cosplay tutorials
-cosplay links
-cosplay website

Just place your links in the comment section or even email me the photos nyah !!~
letscosplay@gmail.com


22. Cosplay Photo : (by Arisa)

21. Cosplay Photog : Aerosmith9110 (by Arisa)

20. Cosplay Photos : (by Niki101)
19. Cosplay photos : (by Toshiro)

18. Cosplay Album : Cebu Cosplayer (by nika101)

17. Cosplay Props : (by Leon)

16. Cosplay Tutorial : (by Leon)

15. Cosplay Photos : (by Giedrius)

14. Cosplay Photos : (by Estefania)



13.Cosplayer : Miharu Kuroda (by takari)

12.Cosplay Links : (by Serendipity Sanchez)
Siegfried
Tira
Talim

11.Cosplay photos : [LINK] (by zj)

10.Cosplay photos : [LINK] (by zj)

9.Cosplay photos : [LINK] (by Mig)


8.Cosplay photos : (by fuzzylogic)

7.Website : Kiva's Cosplay (by Ash)

6. Cosplayer : OrochiX LINK (by OrochiX)


5. Cosplay Photos :





4.Cosplay photos : (by hydell)



3. Cosplayers : Jin , Kat , China

2. Forum : Cielers.net (by Sasha)

1. Event : Grand International Cosplay Ball (by Emily)

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