Finally, the mystery uncovers =)
Megurine Luka: Kaika
Luka’s ex BF: Reiko
Photographers (alphabetically arranged) :
Adrian
Peggy
Maria
Shiroin
Video editing: Kaika
Special Thanks : Ying and Xrystal for lending us their gakurans and wig xD
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Reiko (my lovely ex-bf) and myself, along with our fabulous photographers and helpers shot this last year 12th - 13th September. We had so much fun and so much to share but for now, I’m handing this entry over to my bishie ex-boyfriend (Reiko). She’s gonna share a part of our journey with you guys!
Happy reading!!! (Below text are all by reiko)
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If you are here reading this, I'm assuming that you have already watched the "Just Be Friends" cosplay video! :) If you haven't, please watch! xD (Link here)
Link to original video: Just Be Friends(niconicodouga) Just Be Friends(youtube)
... Otsukaresamadeshita~! Thank you for viewing^^!! I hope you enjoyed it!
Hopefully our cosplays were good enough to evoke some form of emotion in the viewers;;; Despite it being an up-tempo song, the lyrics and PV are very heartbreaking. Quoting what the song creator put in his description:
愛し合ってここまで歩いて来た二人。
Two lovers who have come thus far together.
Two lovers who have come thus far together.
そんなお互いが進む道がいつからか違(たが)ってしまっていた事に気づいた時。
Before they realised it, the path they both treaded together, had diverted.
Before they realised it, the path they both treaded together, had diverted.
あなたならどうしますか？
What would you do if it were you?
Liking someone doesn't mean you have to be together, and breaking up doesn't necessarily mean you each other. The song moved us so much that we wanted to, as cosplayers, do a tribute to it. Since we are at it, we thought we might as well go all the way to recreate the PV;;
I must say I am really lucky to be part of this project! It was towards the end of my stay in Singapore last September, when Kaika and I decided to go ahead with cosplaying "Just Be Friends"(hereon referred to as JBF).
It was a rush to co-ordinate the shoot because we only had one weekend left to shoot before I left the country! It so happened that Shiroin, who loves JBF as well, was stopping over in Singapore that weekend, so we asked Shiroin and Adrian to help in the shooting! Thanks for agreeing to assist on such short notice!!! Also, we tried to keep this project as secret as possible without involving too many people.
But as most cosplayers will know, not having any helpers for a shoot is just crazy x.x So I would like to hereby thank Maria and Peggy for helping us with the shoot, and for keeping it secret for so long too!!! :) But the one who worked the hardest and longest, sacrificing precious private time from her busy schedule, battling long nights of retouching, data losses and video-technical woes to make this cosplay video happen, is ☆Kaika☆!!!
I feel bad that I couldn't be of much help in the technical aspects, but at the same time I am sooo proud of her for not giving up in the face of adversity and hanging on till the end of the project!!
It was our first time at the studio, and the photogs helped a lot in coming up with ideas as to how we should use the studio space!
A peek into the rather cramped preparation room! 
Inflating balloons for the first set of pictures! We didn't expect to finish the whole packet of balloons, and it was pretty insane to have just 4 persons inflating 50+ balloons manually! *lung collapses* x.x We didn't have helium gas for the red balloon that had to be floating..
Shiroin climbing the dangerous ladders to get the red balloon up.
Tada~a~ah!
Can I say that it was hell trying to prep the balloons for the first take alone?! Some of the balloons started losing air and shrinking even before we started, and they just wouldn't stay put on the floor!
Kaika and I running after balloons. 
Luka's and ex's feet were shown in the PV, but we couldn't tame the balloons enough to get that shot.
This may seem like an easy pose, but trust us, it wasn't XD.
We had to use alternative chairs too because we couldn't find similar ones to those in the PV, and it just so happened that the ones in the studio were springy :/
Kaika had a hard time trying to get into position because the seat sinks downwards, so we experimented by letting her seat on some things to lift her up. Then came the inhumane positioning of the hands, face and posture. We kept checking and adjusting her, even having to stretch her behind-arm to bring it to the front ala. Luka in the PV, just to get this single shot!
Double checking the shots to take.
Another obstacle: Luka's flying hair scenes x.x Whether you get good shots for scenes like these really depends on luck!
Despite having the studio keeper help us with directing wind from a strong fan, which threatened to blow off Luka's fake lashes, we still needed help with bringing the hair up!
It was even more time-consuming when rose petals were introduced x.x
They get blown away very quickly and how they move can't be controlled x.x I daresay this is one shot we spent most time on, testing different ways of releasing the petals and gathering them up over and over again. Thank goodness Maria had come by this time to help us!!! Our savior! T_T
One scene I had the most fun doing was the part where tears rolled down the ex's cheek!
If anyone had been observing the shoot, this must have been the most LOL moment. I had to apply eyedrops so many times, it wasn't easy trying to keep myself from laughing! But yes, thanks to burst shots and superb skills, Shiroin managed to get a number of shots with the eyedrop solution trickling down x.x
We had planned for 4 hours in the studio, but ended up paying for 7 hours instead x.x We decided to have dinner before continuing with the Christmas lighting scenes. It was a pity Adrian had to leave us for another appointment, but thanks again for helping us with the studio shoot!!! :D We had dinner at our next location in our fullgear x.x It was one of the times I felt thankful that SG doesn't send the police after cosplayers who walk about in public (not as if our get-up was an eyesore to the public).
Luka's ex in girly clothes(insert pukage here) enjoying Shiina Ringo stuff on Shiroin's iphone.
Got a photo at this eatery to include in the flashbacks!! Did you manage to catch it? :D
Last scene of Day Primo!!!
Protecting mah girl, yo >D Don't ask why I even posed that way please =_= We swapped jackets because I thought the colour was closer to the PV this way. Day 2 started at my house, where we focused on the non-studio and flashback shots. We kinda exhausted Shiroin from Day 1 so we couldn't have him with us, but Maria and Peggy kindly came down to help us!
One of the photos we took of Luka strumming by the window side. Another photo was used in the PV, but Kaika looks angelic here so I'm posting it *________*
No fan to get the wind-in-hair effects? Let the hands do the work! Our next location was the beach, to shoot that beautiful scene of the two lovers cycling back from school.
Here we tried to be creative and take a few more shots which we could use as flashback photos. Unfortunately, most were left out of the final product XD
Kaika had to hop on to the back wheel even though it had no foothold D:
Another lovey-dovey scene for the couple. I personally like this out-take because Luka is arranging my hair and I feel LOVED ROFL. Lukaaaaa!!!! <3<3<3 Yes this shot was taken in the dark, with a lamp post to provide us with the light we needed. The reason it looks like daytime in the video? Photoshop :P Don't believe all that you see~ *wriggles eyebrows and does squinty eyes*
That kind of wraps up our photo-taking session, but we were far from the end of the project. There was a lot (still an understatement) of post-processing to be done, a bulk of which was single-handedly done by Kaika >.<> In the process of collating pictures and producing the video, we came to realise that there were shots which we forgot to take, thus the discrepancies in the cosplay video oTL We're really sorry about that;;; Thanks for patiently reading all the way up till the end!! Hope you like what we did!!!
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Much thankies to Reiko for doing up this entry. Yeap, the whole ride was a very crazy one, I still find it hard to believe we have finally come to the official premiering stage!
OH BTW! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year!!!!!!!!1
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