With Halloween around the corner, we dove into our closets to find quick and easy costumes to please all manner of costume and cosplay enthusiasts! Our focus today is on the elusive L from the popular anime Death Note!
Shirt | Jeans | Wig | Eyeshadow
This Halloween costume can be pulled from most closets, but just in case you don’t have a white shirt or blue jeans, we went ahead and located some for you on the cheap at Target. The main staples of this costume are L’s spiky black hair and the under eye shadows that indicate insomnia. For the wig we chose the Jett classic from Arda in black, and if you don’t have a friend or family member to borrow makeup from, simply stick with the Target theme and find some black and gray matte eyeshadow – sans sparklies.
Want to take your L costume to the next level? Find a black leather diary and write “Death Note” on it. You can also use one of L’s many defining traits, such as crouching in chairs or only eating sweets and see who among you is an anime fan! You might make a new friend, something which L is certainly lacking! Maybe you’ll even run into someone dressed up as Misa Amane!
Planning on making this costume? Doing some other DIY awesome? Want to check out the rest of our BOO-It-Yourself Halloween Costumes and Decor? Show me all your spook-tacular creations on Twitter @SubCultured or come party like its 1599 in our Discord server! When you’re done, wind down with Ten Family Friendly Halloween Movies to help lull the kiddos into a candy coma! Afterward, you can set the mood with Five Albums to Flesh Out Your Halloween Playlist and huddle under the covers with Netflix and Chilling – Halloween Movie Edition.
The second it was announced that the creator of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto, would be making his first ever appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con (and the United States), I made a silent promise to myself that come hell or high water, I would attend. Naruto is one of those iconic manga epics, with over 70 volumes and a slew of movies that supplement the equally lengthy anime, and as I queued up with fellow fans, it struck me just how popular the series is.
Once seated and weirdly serenaded by a techno version of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song, the panel moderator welcomed Viz Media’s President and CEO, Ken Sasaki to the stage, where he regaled us with the impressive selling power of Naruto (220 million copies, bringing it to the third highest-selling manga of all time). It wasn’t long before the crowd got antsy, however, and with a thunderous roar of welcome, I laid eyes on the creator of one of my all-time favorite properties.
He politely bowed to the crowd before settling in and pleasantly chatting away in response to the questions put forth by the moderator. Things I learned from this panel included:
- At no point in time did he ever imagine Naruto would get to 72 volumes, in fact, he thought it’d be canceled 10 weeks in (something that is a common happening in the world of manga).
- When asked if there was pressure to keep the story going, he laughed, but admitted that he put his foot down on ending it, since he knew how he how to end the story. Everything about Naruto and Sasuke’s reconciliation in the Valley in front of the hokage statues was something that was in his head early on.
- While he was finally able to get married, relax, and watch his kids grow, he still hasn’t had the time to go on a proper honeymooon!
- At this point, discussion turned to his “rival,” One Piece creator, Eiichiro Oda. Kishimoto had a good natured laugh talking about how often they would cross each other’s path and their long standing friendly competition. When he told Oda he was ending Naruto, he said it felt like he may have inspired him to create an ending for One Piece.
- Kishimoto first realized Naruto got big when he started receiving fanmail in languages he couldn’t read. The reality of its reach sunk in when he got a hold of YouTube and took in the passion of fans over the internet, especially when he saw people cosplay his characters for the first time. At this point, he grinned and announced he just realized that the crowd was full of cosplayers, to whom he apologized for designing complex costumes for his characters.
- As a young person, he enjoyed and drew inspiration from manga like Monster, 20th Century Boys, Phoenix, and Slam Dunk, so it was always a goal to succeed in the serialized magazine, Shounen Jump.
- Our moderator then stated that in America, Shounen Jump launched with what he described as the American Golden Age in manga, with Naruto alongside chapters of Bleach, Dragonball Z, and of course, One Piece. Kishimoto humbly expressed how happy and embarrassed it made him for his work to be referred to as part of the Golden Age.
As a treat, we even got to watch his sketch two pieces LIVE, one of his title character, and one of the character Jiraiya, using a cosplayer in the crowd as his model!
Kishimoto finally got to talk about Boruto. It was the first movie he got to work on from beginning to end in order to bring his work to life for the last time. Viz was even kind enough to screen the trailer, after hearing cheers from the enthusiastic crowd, myself included. Boruto, an epilogue of sorts, will follow Naruto’s son, who is a chip off the old block.
Once there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, Kishimoto was asked if he had a closing statement, which he did:
“I heard that there were many fans who weren’t able to make it today and to hear that after seeing how many people are already here, you know, this is just a little title that I started working on many years ago without ever thinking about any effect it might have, much less a following! All I can say is to know how many of you, how many fans love my work, that follow my work. It’s just, it’s so faithful. The only thing I can even think of saying is THANK YOU.”
In response, all I can say is: No. Thank YOU, Kishimoto-san. I’m nearly thirty years old, and it was your work, your acute ability to make a girl from Texas, half a world away from Japan, fall in love with manga for the first time at 15, and for that, I really am eternally grateful to have fallen in love with Naruto and his story.
A-Kon is the biggest, longest running anime convention in Texas. With that comes a lot of perks, such as notoriety in the anime scene, being able to get better venues because of your long track record, and potentially attracting higher quality attractions. But the flip side is that you also have incredibly high expectations from your constituents and a lot of pressure to outdo yourself. So how did A-Kon 2015 fare?
Food
I’m sorry, I love food, so it comes first. I think maybe A-Kon read my review from last year because this year’s food situation was FAR better than last year’s debacle. If you remember, A-Kon 2014 was full of coupon systems, strangely regulated food trucks, and a corner market charging over ten dollars for rice an avocado.
This year, however, most everything was fixed. The dumb coupon system has been removed, allowing instead a smooth line of people herded through each of the food sections with a few cashiers at the end. You know, like a legitimate, sane convention with subpar food selection.
The food truck situation was also drastically improved by not only adding more trucks, but separating them into different sections of the building. Typically if one side was crowded, the other was a pretty reasonable size, meaning there was no shortage of cheap food options.
And of course the price gouge-y place was still there. Not much you can do about that aside from protesting the Hilton Anatole. I just wanted to shake some of the people in line and say “YOU CAN GO GET A PIZZA OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW FOR HALF THIS PRICE. PUT THAT BACK, YOU FOOLS.”
Con Logistics
A-Kon has had growing pains since its switch to the Anatole. The first year saw gargantuan lines with unreasonable wait times just to get in to the dealers room. Since then, the lines have been mostly streamlined, leading up to this year, in which I never stood still on my way in. Instead of one straight line in to the dealer’s room, the long hallways to that area of the building solidifies into one snaking line structure at peak hours so that you never get the feeling you’re stopped. It’s a great idea and it seems like A-Kon finally got this one 100% right.
Where they are still having problems is their layout for Artists Alley and the Dealers Room. You see, unlike a lot of cons, Artists Alley can only be accessed by badge. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you can only access the Dealers Room through Artists Alley. I’ve ranted about why Artists Alley shouldn’t be badge-gated, so let’s talk about the major problems having Artists Alley as a doorway introduces.
At first glance, it seems like this decision is a great one for artists. By forcing people to walk through a room of great art, chances are that dealers on the shortest path from the opening door to the Dealer’s Room connection got a rise in profits as people saw something they normally wouldn’t. And maybe people that usually skip Artists Alley decided to have a quick jaunt around the room before trying to go buy a kigu. However, the fatal flaw in this plan lies in building codes.
The Dealers Room and Artists Alley are essentially one giant room divided in half, meaning both halves have to share capacity, and since Artists Alley comes first, guess what side got shafted? I’ve heard from no less than two people that the Dealers Room was far less busy than it has been in the past sheerly because of capacity issues. Now normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but in both Dealers Room and Artists Alley, there was enough room to sit down against the walls very comfortably, so at any given time, there were at least thirty people sitting down or playing DS by a wall. I’m not advocating against breaks or talking with friends, but there are so many other places to sit and hang out that aren’t going to stop people from making money. Take it outside, bucko.
Vendors
On the subject of dealers and artists, this year actually saw the most high quality businesses and artists we’ve seen at A-Kon. Though the dealers roster didn’t change much, it was enough to make an already great dealer’s room just that much better. In particular, a video game business from New York City made an appearance toting a bevy of rare games for all consoles at reasonable prices. I picked up a sealed copy of Final Fantasy VI, my all-time favorite game, for the Super Famicom for only $40. Dang.
The artists in Artists Alley were also top notch, featuring a wide range of styles and fandoms to choose from, even ones that are pretty obscure. I was able to find no less than six different Ace Attorney prints when usually I’d be lucky to find one. And this applied to so many different fandoms from Fire Emblem to Supernatural and Sherlock. If you’re looking for a high quality Artists Alley, look no further.
Events
The offering of events was pretty standard. There was a rave, a hentai panel, an art auction, and all manner of panels about different fandoms. The amount of panels was slightly more than usual, but nothing intensely awesome. The rave, by all accounts, was okay, but not as great as it had been in previous years. This may be because the DJ was playing more Trance-style music than dance, but I heard that from enough people that it seems noteworthy.
Art auctions are a big draw to anime conventions for me. I’m a big fan of original, high quality art and it gives me an opportunity to support artists and also feed my urge for gambling/auction. What, I’m human. Naturally, since this con is the biggest in Texas and so many people come from all over to go to it, I assumed it would have an incredible art auction. Unfortunately, that assumption was incorrect. It cordoned to a tarped-off section inside the game room that featured six or so walls of art whereas a convention like Anime Fest, which has fewer attendees and has been running for far shorter, has three to four times that art. It was a huge disappointment. I know art shows are mostly supported by the artists submitting art to them and that’s not something A-Kon has control of, but it was still a bummer.
Cosplay
A-Kon is one of the conventions people in Texas brought their A game to, and it really shows. Not only costumes of the highest quality, but all sorts of different fandoms too. There was even a Jack Skellington in his Sandy Claws outfit complete with giant stilts. It was super awesome. One of the best thing about having so many cosplayers together is that there can be massive groups of one particular fandom, even the smaller ones. The size of the Legend of Korra group alone was big enough to write home about. If you’re a cosplayer or a cosplay enthusiast, you’d be remiss to skip A-Kon.
Amenities
A-Kon works hard to make sure you don’t have to leave the convention for anything. That’s great because there’s nothing really within walking distance as far as food goes. There’s a few places down the road, including Rodeo Goat which has damn good burgers and shakes. Seriously, if you’re ever in the area, give them a try. Other than the odd burger place, there’s not really much. Except for the king of all restaurants.
Medieval God Damn Times.
A-Kon may be worth it just to be next to Medival Times. Seriously. Their food is great, their drinks are great, and the show is fantastic. Yes, it’s pricy. But if you time it right and keep your eye on coupon code sites, you can get up to half off your ticket, bringing to down to a slightly more reasonable $35 or so. Maybe I just love Knight Fights, but Medieval Times and A-Kon sound like a damn good weekend to me.
Conclusion
Should you got to A-Kon if you’re in Texas? Absolutely. The growing pains since moving to the Anatole have all but disappeared. Food is readily available at reasonable (or not so reasonable) costs, hotels are plentiful, dealers and artists are both high quality, and cosplayers step their game up. There are still a few things that need work, but all in all, A-Kon provides high quality entertainment for a reasonable price.
At 11:11 PST, Cerulean City Comic-Con announced their cosplay guest and panelist line-up for their upcoming Pokemon themed convention. Panels include, but totally aren’t limited to, “What Not to Do With Your Water Stone,” by Lindsay Elyse, “Is My Pokemon a Ditto,” with Variable, and the highly anticipated 18+ panel, “I’m Not Gonna Raichu a Love Song,” hosted by Kohalu. Over 100 cosplay guests will be debuting the extremely under appreciated Misty costume and can be found crowded around Booth #1337 in Rocket Hall.
Beautiful Cerulean City hosts this special Pokecon, with performances by the Sensational Sisters, and is on April 1st, 2016.
In Texas, anime conventions typically fall between late Spring and Early fall. It’s prime time for being outside and smelling like con funk. As a result, there’s a large gap in the season when there are no cons to be had and there’s not a very good reason to get blackout drunk in a stranger’s hotel room. But fear not, because there’s one, large, well-known convention that’s been saving you from this nightmare for a few years now – Ikkicon. The last Ikkicon wrapped up almost two weeks ago and we got to check it out, so let’s see how this winter bonanza fared among its warmer competitors.
Location
Ikkicon has taken place at the Hilton Austin hotel, a fabulous location with a ton of amenities around it. Various restaurants and Austin’s infamous bar blockade Sixth Street are all within walking distance of the con. Since the actual convention is within the hotel, there’s not much need to go outside, which is definitely a plus in the winter. The hotel itself has relatively expensive con rates, which is to be expected for the primo location, but the rooms are updated and feel modern.
Unfortunately there are a number of drawbacks to this space. Ikkicon spans two floors of the hotel (4th and 6th) and as a result, Artist’s Alley isn’t in an enclosed space, but rather in the hallways. For every year past, this hasn’t been a terrible issue. Sure it was difficult walking around at high traffic times, but no more so than is acceptable. This year, however, a combination of increased attendance and the line for badges snaking from one end of the hallway down the middle of Artist’s Alley meant it was a quagmire of nerdbodies all pressed together.
Though the geographical location was killer, it’s clear Ikkicon has grown out of its venue. Next year, the convention is moving up north to a larger location, but out of downtown. It’s going to be interesting to see if the move pays off.
Features
As far as anime conventions go, this one was relatively run of the mill. Only six industry guests attended, which isn’t terrible, but if you were debating between Ikkicon or one later in the year, that may sway you. There were raves when you’d expect them, video rooms as you’d anticipate, and a gaming room filled with mostly the new Smash Brothers.
Where this con differentiated itself from others was the wide variety of panels available. From a wrestling show on Friday night to Whose Line is it Anime? to a tattoo show, there were a few really interesting, out of the norm panels that made the schedule jump out. If you’re looking in to going and want to know how it’s different from most other conventions, it’s the location and panels.
The only real negative thing is that this year, Ikkicon staff decided to put up barriers on hallways so only people with badges could get by. You used to be able to walk around the entire two floors of the con whenever you wanted to, and only be asked to see a badge when entering a door (you know, like a reasonable convention that realizes blocking open areas makes no sense). I don’t know if they ran out of volunteer staff, or the one guy that stopped us was power hungry, but it was really off putting. Hopefully that’s alleviated next year.
Stuff to Buy
The Artist’s Alley was definitely on par with other conventions, featuring similar booths and offerings with shows you’d expect. The Dealers Room was about the same thing, mostly stuff you’ve seen before and that one figure you keep drooling over, but still can’t afford. One really interesting newcomer to the con was a couple who laser etched pint and shot glasses. They featured a number of fandoms from Legend of Zelda to Doctor Who to Metal Gear Solid. It’s been a while since I’ve walked through a Dealer’s Room and stopped because I saw something entirely new and different. Kudos.
Conclusion
Ikkicon is the perfect cure for your winter con blues. Though it may not have the large amount of guests and pretty standard offerings, it’s another con you can go to that has a little flavor of its own. The location is outstanding and you won’t be forced to eat coffee pot ramen because you don’t want to leave and pay for parking again. To be fair though, next year that’s going away (can’t wait to see if it’s still cool). Beware though, this year was tremendously packed and seemed poorly laid out, problems which will likely be alleviated next year. And hopefully next year, they’ll learn their lesson about badge-blocking open areas. If you simply can’t wait until A-Kon and need something to cure the post-holiday blues, Ikkicon is right up your alley.
(Editor’s Note: This piece originally ran before the release of Ghost In The Shell.)
Scarlett Johansson landed the lead role of cyborg Major Motoko Kusangi or a derivative thereof in Dreamwork’s live action feature adaptation of Masamune Shirow‘s iconic manga Ghost In The Shell. Whether it’s a new adaptation of the source material or based on the 1995 classic cyberpunk anime film written by Kazunori Itō, directed by Mamoru Oshii has yet to be seen. However due to casting, I’m guessing the adaptation is a broad one.
The announcement of Scarlett Johannson’s casting was met with much criticism online amongst fans of the original manga and film, Japanese and Japanese-Americans, film lovers, and sci-fi nerds. Her casting suggests the setting will most likely be changed, or, more likely, the lead’s races will be changed, something that has people rather upset.
Scarlett’s casting (she’s a decent enough of an actress, this is not a slight to her ability) and the root of ire comes at the heels of her starring in the racist film Lucy (whose action scenes were most likely the clincher to offering her the role for this), and points to the repeated trend of Hollywood adapting Japanese source material or properties with Asian casts but never keeping either the cast or locale. The recent Godzilla film is one such remake (of a remake). Disney’s recent Big Hero 6 while a solid, heartfelt film is another example where while the source material is not Japanese, the cast was. For the animated feature however they kept the Japanese aesthetics for their fictional San Frantokyo but racebent the entire Japanese and Ainu cast to only having two half Japanese characters. Last year’s sci-fi romp Edge of Tomorrow is another example of anglicized casting (Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt) despite being based on a light novel and manga series All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. It could have been a great chance for an Asian dual lead film. But we chose not to do that. The laughable Dragonball: Evolution probably takes the crown as the prime example of Hollywood’s poor insight into adapting Japanese source material and should stand as a warning to these attempted remakes. Removal of original Asian characters and replacing them with white characters and actors, is called whitewashing and it’s a problem.
Whitewashing is common in Hollywood. I get it though. Demographics and needing names to sell a picture in the US is pretty standard, you really cant do a mainstream movie without them, but you cant teach people otherwise to be more accepting if you keep it all the same. American films are more global than ever. People in other countries watch our white casted films yet we can’t watch casts with theirs much in the same manner. That’s a problem. China has been making or breaking some of our films from being flops or not, and yet we continue with euro-centric casting.
Historically characters that were or are meant to be Asian are often just made white (2008’s 21) or they (often for comedic effect) are kept Asian but are cast with white actors made up in brown and yellowface. This was really prevalent through most of the 20th century and classic Old Hollywood. Examples include the Charlie Chan series, Katherine Hepburn in Dragon Seed (1944), Jean Simmons in Black Narcissus (1947) and notably the uber racist caricature played by Mickey Rooney in the otherwise much loved Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). And that’s just the tip off the iceberg.
It’s been a problem in film history from its inception and as far reaching as films like Broken Blossoms (1919). The most notable case of yellowface and whitewashed casting controversy was most likely Luise Rainer getting cast in the China based drama The Good Earth (1937) as the main lead O-Lan while actual Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong, while suggested for the role, but due to a rule at the time forbidding on screen interracial couples, was ultimately offered the unsympathetic supporting role of the seductress Lotus instead.
It was an offer she was used to as she struggled throughout her career to get non “dragon lady” roles and this more or less was the last straw. It offended her and she refused it with her saying to producers “You’re asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters?!” The snub more or less made her leave Hollywood for a while.
Lotus went on to be played by a white woman in yellowface. Rainer won Best Actress at that
year’s Oscars for her portrayal of O-Lan.
For more modern examples of whitewashing and yellowface look no further than the recent Cloud Atlas and nearly the entire cast of the live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. They did it to Khan in the latest Star Trek, and they’re doing with the new forthcoming Freddie Mercury biopic (surprise Freddie Mercury was Indian, not a white British guy!). Asian actors and actresses are routinely sidelined since film became a thing and people are sick and aggravated over it.
While some Asian to American media remakes like The Ring are generally good films in their own right, and yes I personally believe some material from Japan is acceptable to freely remake for American audiences , just as people may adapt an American novel overseas, but Ghost In The Shell is not one of such properties. It’s too intricate. Like Akira it is just too Japanese to take and remove it contextually from Japan. You can’t take Motoko away from being Japanese.
The Major, Motoko Kusanagi is a famous Japanese icon, and while her body chassis is artificial (purple-black hair and all) and could technically look any way she wanted she, the person inside the machine, is Japanese. Her character is Japanese. The way she acts and her approach to things is very Japanese. To change all that, changes the character entirely. Who will she be if she’s white? Major Ruby Monahan? To change Ghost In The Shell to not be Japanese means you remove a lot of what makes it…it. I personally don’t think it can stand well without it. To remove Kusangai makes it not Ghost In The Shell. To keep her Kusanagi by name but present her as white (a white chasis!) would be a spit in the eye to anyone who is of Japanese heritage.
Many have pointed out that Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, Oscar nominated, and currently the highest profile Asian actress in Western film due to her nominated role in Babel, her recent role in Pacific Rim and her new film Kumiko the Treasure Hunter, would have been an ideal casting choice (I feel opening it up to other Japanese and Japanese-American actresses, possibly casting an unknown wouldn’t have hurt either). And I agree. She would have been perfect. I think that would have been great and would have solved this issue and ire. Proper representation regardless as to where they set it. Do you know how much that would have meant to people? I would have been on board for this film.
But unfortunately ScarJo’s casting has also in my opinion shown the producers hand and it seems to suggest, just going by her casting they’ll be going the “action film” route for this iteration, and probably would be that way with or without Scarlett, and that is bad.
Why is that bad? Because it’s really not an action film. Not quite as people are used to anyway. While it influenced and birthed many action sci-fi titles and films since its creation, in contrast Ghost in The Shell itself is not entirely easy fare to digest. The original film adaptation is an exercise in restraint and is not a popcorn muncher the way American audiences tend to like them. I am generalizing, of course, but as a rule of thumb the 1995 film is way too slow, way too cerebral and above all way less action oriented than you’d think it would be if looking at the cover or material for it.
There’s a whole lot of Eastern and Western rooted philosophizing around concepts of the self, self consciousness and identity (and the blurring boundaries between man and machine), with a fair bit of action and political intrigue for good measure too. It’s dense material. The AU television series Stand Alone Complex is notably more digestible but is still a rather plodding and lo-fi politically bent procedural for a series otherwise drenched in high-tech gear and robotics. In the end even that series still espouses the original film and manga’s philosophies and explores the same themes many of which depend on Japanese theory and thought. To shoehorn that into a guns blazing action film of general mainstream American taste is sort of misunderstanding the material. Casting Kusanagi as anything other than Japanese shows that core misunderstanding.
Maybe they will keep it philosophic and audiences will like it. I hope so. I’ll gladly eat my hat. I doubt Sanders can direct a film that delicate judging by his past and only feature length work, Snow White & The Huntsman. While doubtful, I’d like to see him try. I’m always up for seeing someone try considering he’s such a new director. From an audience reception standpoint it is important to note America has taken well to pseudo-cerebral action films as of late, Christopher Nolan‘s Inception (2010) and Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) were popular. It should be additionally noted that both of those films were heavily influenced by the sadly now passed director Satoshi Kon and both films featured scenes and themes (how topical) directly ripped from his anime films Paprika and Perfect Blue respectively. Americanized and repackaged Japanese material. But point is…people did like them. So who knows? The concern still stands. The casting for this still offends.
Like the Major herself regarding her humanity I’m really uncertain and very cynical Hollywood can pull this film off due to the insensitivity shown from the starting gate by this casting and what it can imply for the rest of the feature. Hopefully I am proved wrong for the latter. What is clear however is that they’ve removed for this iteration the presence of a great Asian (not to mention bisexual) character and struck down the chance for an Asian actress to be featured at the helm of a blockbuster Western action film and handed it over, yet again, like O-Lan nearly 80 years ago (80 years!), to a white woman. And that’s a really big turn off.