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15 Years of Cosplay, Questionable Wig Decisions, and Learning the Hard Way

Lost in the shuffle of planning Dragon Con and my upcoming Japan trip is a milestone that completely snuck up on me.

A special anniversary. No, not a relationship anniversary…well, not in the traditional sense anyway.

This year marks 15 years since I started cosplaying regularly, which is honestly wild to think about. Somehow a decade and a half has gone by since I decided to jump headfirst into one of the most fun, chaotic, and occasionally wallet-destroying hobbies out there.

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Japan Is No Longer “Someday”

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was planning a solo trip to Japan. At the time though, that’s all it was: a plan. There were still variables in play that I wasn’t ready to fully commit, especially when we’re talking about a significant amount of money.

For years, dreaming about going to Japan was just that: a dream. Every attempt to save for the trip eventually ran headfirst into real life taking its pound of flesh, whether it was having unexpected expenses or simply not having enough leftover to put a meaningful amount toward the trip.

It happens, right? It’s just life.

But “someday” has a funny way of sticking around.

Every few years, I’d look at Japan again. I’d check airfare, think about where I’d want to go and occasionally start putting together the rough outline of a trip. Then reality would intervene and Japan would return to the someday list.

This year was different.

Yeah, I Get It: Why Bocchi the Rock! Hits a Little Too Close to Home

There are some anime characters you like because they’re funny, cool, well-written or just entertaining to watch.

Then there are the characters who make you sit there and think:”Okay, I didn’t ask to be personally attacked today.”

Bocchi the Rock! occasionally falls into that second category for me.

In a previous post, I talked about how anime helped me go from a shy, introverted loner who routinely struggled with social interaction to something resembling a social butterfly.

Legendary UR Pull: I’m Going to See Love Live in Japan

Well, that escalated quickly.

I was planning to write a post about a completely different topic, but apparently the universe had other ideas.

As I’ve discussed in previous posts, I’m planning my first trip to Japan. Actually, considering I just pulled the trigger on buying my airfare, it’s no longer a plan but a trip on the calendar.

A while back, the Love Live! 15th Anniversary Fest was announced, and it just happened to fall around the same time I was planning to be in Japan.

So naturally, the thought process became: Extend the trip a little in case I somehow get into the concert?

As a Love Live fan, that’s about as much of a no-brainer as can be.

Let’s be clear, the entire trip wasn’t hinging on whether I got a ticket.

Growing Up Without Growing Out of Anime: 30 Years of Fandom

When I log into Crunchyroll to watch the latest anime while pointedly ignoring the 30 or so series that I will eventually catch up on, I’m reminded of just how easy it is to watch anime these days.

The anime landscape was very different when I first started watching 30 years ago.

Streaming wasn’t a thing, and if you missed the latest episode of Sailor Moon on Toonami and didn’t have it recorded, you just missed it. By “recorded,” I mean on a VHS tape, not downloaded for later viewing.

Let me back up for a moment, this isn’t going to be a “back in my day” post where I tell you everything was better when I was younger. I’m also not going to argue that older anime is automatically better than newer anime as that’s entirely subjective.

Marvel Made Me Care Again: My Thoughts on the Avengers: Doomsday Trailer

I’m going to be quite blunt here: after Avengers: Endgame, I mostly tuned out of the MCU for a while.

That isn’t a knock on everything that’s come out since then. I still watched a couple of the Disney+ shows and picked a few movies to see, but after more than ten years of building toward the Infinity Saga and the final battle with Thanos, I was simply spent. Endgame felt like such a satisfying conclusion that it was hard to immediately get excited about what came next. It also didn’t help that the post-Endgame era has been, let’s just say, a little inconsistent. Some projects have been excellent, others have been fine, and a few have been, well, absolute ass cheeks. Looking directly at you, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

To say the recently released trailer for Avengers: Doomsday got me genuinely excited for the MCU again would be a massive understatement. I was already interested because I knew the Fox-era X-Men were returning. As someone who grew up with those movies, seeing that cast interact with the modern MCU is something I’ve wanted ever since Marvel Studios regained the rights.