All things kawaii*

Magnet #961 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Detective

Remember how a couple of days ago I thought I was totally unworthy to be at Comic-Con because I never read X-Men?

As it turns out, what I knew about the comics world? Was miles and miles and far and away much more than I ever knew about anime. Turns out, what I know about anime?

Could fill a thimble.

A tiny, supersmall faerie thimble.

I know! I'm Asian! I should know such things! But I don't.

I do, however, have young Asian cousins and their friends to teach me the ways of anime, which is why we spent today concentrating on the Anime Festival side of Comic-Con with two Jersey cousins and a cousin BFF.

The three of them were dressed up as Pikachu, Misty and Dawn. Fantastic outfits (handmade by the big sister), and given the "Pikachu!"s we heard from passersby, people totally knew who they were, and loved them for it. (And yes, I had to look up the three characters. Or, really just the two, since I've actually slept through seen the Pokemon movie - in the theatre.)

We went to a Hiyao Miyazaki panel. This is a UO, but I couldn't stand Spirited Away. Hated the parents becoming pigs, the main chick being so damned whiny, and honestly, I get crazy when random stuff starts happening in movies. I mean, I left that movie with a big WTF on my face.

But, this panel, which the three girls were so thrilled to go to, had a really great speaker...so great, that he's convinced me to add My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky on to the top of my Netflix list. (Ponyo's on Instant Watch, so maybe later tonight.)

We also went to another panel called "Anime, Manga, and Harajuku Fashion: The Secret of International Competitiveness of Japanese Pop Culture." Yep. And that's the same confusion I had on my face, when we walked in. But, that too, was a fairly interesting panel (with possibly the best translator I've ever seen).

The lead panelist, Takamasa Sakurai, is basically the Japanese pop culture ambassador, who took us through a bunch of cosplay images from around the world. And, if that wasn't enough, he brought on this superstar Kanon dude from An Cafe, this J-Pop band to be his co-panelist. I haven't a clue who the guy was, but my cousin and her BFF were absolutely floored by him. So ecstatic! (I feel fairly sure they'd have the same confusion if they saw me meet Duran Duran.)

Anyway, through this panel, I learned that Cosplay is global, that they'll be happy to show me around if I show up in Japan, and that if "everyone was otaku and lolitas, the world would be at peace."

Shoot. Today, I learned what cosplay really was (I was very confused, I totally blame the LARPing episode of Being Erica). And otaku. And kawaii.* And lolita.

Let it be said that I took Japanese 101, 102 and 103 at Carolina. I should have already known what this stuff was. In the end, that's just a fraction of what I learned today.

Here's another fraction: See this standee magnet I bought from the folks at Squire Sword? It's basically a supercute animation printout, mounted to foamcore, and it stands. It's freakin' adorable. But I squeed over it, and was like, "OMG! It's David Tennant! It's the Tenth Doctor! I must have it!" And proceeded to pull out my double-digit dollars for it. (They also had Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor, and K-9, too. But, I couldn't pass up the TARDIS. Adorable!)

And, like a silly fangurl, I took a picture of both my purchases and posted it to Facebook the first chance I got. And, seriously, just before I started writing this magnetpost (in honor of watching David's Single Father tv series tonight), my cousin - this time from California - corrected my ignorant ass and told me that he's NOT from Doctor Who!

He's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney! The best defense attorney in the land!

While it's still supercute, I was heartbroken it wasn't David Tennant.

But, you can see why I was totally confused. Right? Right? RIGHT?

*crickets*

Mind you, I'm still going to pretend it's David. It's damned close.