Thursday, December 27, 2007

Speaking of Greg Ayres...
The summer after our 9th grade year I took a summer coarse in Japanese, because I was planning on taking Japanese all three years at my High School. I met some more anime fans and even one girl that would later be in my Japanese class all three years at High School, even though she now hates me with an inexplicable fiery passion.

Just before entering High School as a sophomore, I finally became interested in manga. Fruits Basket and Prince of Tennis, henceforth to be known as PoT, to be precise.

In High School my net of otaku associates grew even larger. We had a system of exchanging and borrowing manga and anime whilst helping each other with our ventures in the world of Fan Fiction. I went to my first ever "Japan Fest" and saw my first "Anime Vendors Room". That was quite an experience. I also joined the school districts High School Taiko group, and I still meet with them weekly.

At my first ever Japan Fest, I learned of my soon-to-be first ever Anime Convention, as well as my first, and sadly last, experience with cosplay. It was Naka-Kon. The only convention that I know of in Kansas. I decided instantly that I would have to be my favorite anime character ever, Son Goku from Saiyuki. As such, my brother would be Hakkai, because they look sooooo much alike it's scary, and my sister would be Gojyo. She was somehow extremely offended by this at first, but she became an avid Gojyo fan as a result of it, and of my first attempt at fan fiction. A Saiyuki fic that she co-wrote. Lastly, Short Blonde who was still currently my friend, would be Sanzo. It was perfect. She was crazy skinny and had a strikingly similar facial structure to that of Sanzo.

So, we spent ages preparing our costumes, and one day, a close friend of mine, Ichigo-chan, informed me of something that changed my entire mood about Naka-kon.

Greg Ayres would be coming.

I just about died. Greg Ayres was BY FAR my favorite voice actor, and he still is. I smiled a lot for the rest of the time between then and Naka-kon. Finally, when the day came, we looked perfect. We walked into the room where they were having the Cosplay Contest and every one looked at us instead of the people who were actually participating in the contest. My brother hugged more girls in the following two days than he ever had before.

Greg thought we were amazing. HE actually tracked US down. Talk about awesome. We got to talk to Greg so much that I thought my brain would just about explode. Not to mention I got to hug him multiple times.

Now, skipping forward to the beginning of my Junior year. Just before school started, Short Blonde (who had previously had some mental problems and needs to take medication) went even farther in her insanity and decided to swear off all forms of anime and the related and say that we were bad for enjoying it. Go figure. So, that was the end of my cosplaying. Rather than cause a big uproar with everyone I knew outside of school, I decided to be much quieter about my love of anime.

Comments (2)