Post-Ota Report

Hello all,

So, yesterday I attended Otafest, an annual anime/manga/video game/general Japanese culture convention here in Calgary. This was my first time attending, and I must say I was very impressed.

First and foremost, the cosplayers were fantastic. I was stunned by the vast array of characters, from Pikachu to Naruto (there were only about 3 of him, as opposed to the number my friends and I were estimating) to a few very special characters I managed to find. Namely: a hunter from the Left4Dead series (which I have recently become addicted to), Cinderella, the crew from South Park and the one and only Dr Horrible. I was so impressed by the costumes that I recruited the better half of my friends to dress up with me next year.

The vendors had some pretty varried merchandise, from the classic mangas and plushies to fans, corsets, and even zori (Japanese sandals). Being a girl I must recount what I got: a beautiful fan, a hat with panda ears and the anger symbol (like the one on Kyo cat), a stuffed sushi, a stuffed rice ball and a stuffed Jack Skellington! He is so cute ^^!

There were Taiko drummers that we went to see, and they were fantastic. I'm going to post the videos to Youtube soon. I got to try the drums after, the power was fantastic!

I entered the FanFiction contest!! I wrote a piece on Cardcaptor Sakura, a First Person POV from Touya during this clip: http://tinyurl.com/35hbq73 I'm really proud of my story, and I'll be posting it to FanFiction.net when I'm finished with this entry.

I can't think of much else to talk about... I can't organize my thoughts! It was a fabulous exprience and I can't wait for next year.

Yours, Allie

P.S. I'm making an effort to write more often, have you noticed ;D

P.P.S. I'm taking suggestions for my cosplay next year, I already have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear from anyone who cares to leave a comment! What's the saying: two heads think better than one? Imagine how well I could think with several heads...