Sengoku Basara

For starters, let me show you this very manly picture:

HUR. FUNDOSHI ARMY FTW.
...What?

Okok, have your normal picture:


Sengoku Basara will always be one of my most loved anime/manga for many reasons I will start to explain. Firstly, to love this anime, you have to understand that you won't understand anything that goes on. Its not necessary. Throw away all your logic and reasoning and just fill your head with the unrealistic stuff that goes on in there.

If you're one of those who needs a logical story that makes sense, this is not for you. Only fellow lovers can understand the awesomeness of this anime.

Why this anime is so awesome:

Where should I begin? EVERYTHING in this anime is just as crazy as the other. Ok, let me start with the two main characters.

1. Date Masamune, One-Eyed Dragon of Oshuu

Date is pure awesomeness. I bet no samurai in the history of anime has ever wielded SIX KATANAS in one go! They even produce electricity.

He also has a MOTOR-HORSE. BEAT THAT.

Someone who is crazy enough to put bike handles and pipes on a horse can only be Masamune. His troops follow his style as a biker gang, even having some gang haircuts.



Last but not the least, he speaks some powderful engrish.

Theres alot more, but its called EngRish for a reason. It doesn't always make sense. Still, thats just what makes him So Crazy. You can't have SB DM without Powderful Engrish, You See?

2. Sanada Yukimura, Young Tiger of Kai

Yukimura serves directly under The Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen. He worships his Oyakata-sama.

Yuki is a little less fancily equipped then Date, but he balances it out with 150% vocal power. Let's see you try to shout like a drunken Rock Lee 24 hours a day 7 days a week!
He can also launch a YukiRocket with the aid of his Flaming Spears.
Wheeeee---------->


This pair of Tigers is one hell of a manly pair. You got to give it to them for making exchanging blows while shouting each other's name look MANLY. You can just cry manly tears watching them.


This is just ONE of their ways of communication. In season 2, it expands out into Yukimura flying into the sky and becoming a star, and being spinned around like a olympic weight ball.



I love these OYAKATA-SAMA!!YUKIMURA!! moments. You will never see another more emotional scene. *sniffs*

Because it will take far too long to introduce every single character, I'll just sum them up with a chart. In this anime, almost every main or sub main character has a love/rival interest whose either their personality or their characteristics are the exact opposite.


-Chart In Progress-


Manga
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There are many manga, be it doujins or official works, but I'll just direct you to these few links:

Gakuen Basara
This is a modern day school version of SB, where everyone is either a teacher or a student. Different artists compiled works to make this. The stories and characters are hilarious.
Sengoku Basara Ranse Ranbu
Sengoku Basara 2
Basara 3
This is the latest SB series. This focuses alot on Date Masamune in the current chapters, and gives you a rare insight into the off-battlefield life. Through this, my love for Date has increased because you can see even more of his playful and reckless side, but also more of his sincere wish to protect his land, rather then the fight-crazy dragon.

Date even "confessed" to Yukimura in pages 24-25. I drew some graphic comments in there:





















The author and artist who made this pages made Shiraha a very very happy fangirl.
They even managed to make me not hate Ieyasu that much. Still, wth did Ieyasu go through a puberty thing and became an adult? I know basara makes no sense to begin with, but this is just ridiculous!
But Mitsunari is still a emodiot. I hate him. I hate his hair. I really want to take a penknife and chop off his ultra pointy gay fringe.
I think I just hate that they made these two the main characters for Basara 3. NO ONE REPLACES DATEYUKI, YE HEAR? NOBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Games
----------------------------
Honestly, there are just SO MANY GAMES I DON'T EVEN WANT TO LIST THEM ALL!!!!
So please go and wiki or google or yahoo or ask jeeves and be all confused like I am.

Books
----------------------------
This, is even worse then the number of games. For every game there is 1 or 2 game guide. For every game there is also 1 or 2 art books. For every season there it can range from 3-7 art books! Its madness! I do not have so much money to buy everything! D<

Figurines
----------------------------



Other then the One Coin Grande series,
others just aren't worth getting.

I've got this set, but not the other one. I always put dateyuki tgt ~

Toys
-----------------------------
The plushie keychains are a must!

(I've got Yuki, but Date was OOS! Noooooo!!!! T_T )

Basara has got lots of merchandise, but they are rarely sold in stores. I get them from HLJ or PA.



Basara Videos
-------------------
Some very interesting videos.

This is my favourite fanvid so far. Its really sweet.




The voice actors come on stage! There are many parts to this, enjoy!


Basara Trivia
-------------------

Cosplay Photoshopping

Currently trying many ways and styles of photoshopping.

I've been adviced by my dear friend mini that I should not go overboard with the photoshopping of pictures, because they start to look un-natural. I'm not denying that, because I do tend to photoshop until it starts to look unreal and unearthly, thus my naming of it being GAY!edit.

I guess I've always wanted to try psing a picture to become like those I've always seen, with those impossible glowing and flawless features with almost no nose type and skin white as #ffffff (the code for white color in ps).

Though I do understand that it being fake tastes bad for the eyes and mind, I kind of think of it as part of cosplaying. Because it doesn't follow the laws of anything and its something I CAN influence, I want to try and achieve different results. I will fail and it will look fake, or I will succeed and I will love the effect. Either way, its FUN!

All in all, I'm still experimenting. I have no intention of saying that I don't photoshop, in fact, i ps like mad because I find it so fun. IRL, i obviously do not look like an impossibly flawless person! You'd be surprised by how many of famous net cosers look nothing like their final pictures. Or maybe not, you can choose to ignore that and worship them like gods if you'd want. I like to photoshop. Its part of my effort and skills. Nobody gives a damn about boring pictures, so why should I put it up? If other people are able to flaunt their natural looks or photography skills, I can flaunt my photoshop skills, amateur as they are.

I don't see the point of restraining myself for this one thing that I can take it as outrageous or as crazy as I like!

To my partner mini, I will try to tone down on the GAY!edit. :P I'm still playing, so I can't find the balance, but don't worry, I will become better at this. I hope 8D
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On the other hand, this is very nice music by an epic youtuber. He has an amazing range of songs.

Prop List

DIYing can be so satisfying and yet annoying at the same time. Sometimes i feel that the things i buy in the end come to the same price as if i bought them! But some things can't be bought so we have to make them ourselves.

Here is another post to keep track of the things I have to get.


Miki (ELR ver)
Black Gloves

Miku (Melt ver)
Plain white hoodie
White fluffy hair ties

Luka (Sandplay ver)
Glamish fan

Yoh Tomoe (SS uni ver)
Dark wine red wig
Onigiri

Kamui (Yoshiwara ver)
Black plain boots
White bandages
Traditional wooden rice bin
Wooden spadle

------------------------------------------------------------------

For the un-evented plans

Gin-chan (Drag Queen ver)
Silver-white wig
Stiffening material
White tabi
Fan x 2

Gumi (Gakupo Harem ver)
Green Wig (borrow from asd?)
Dress that looks like lingerie
Green lacey cloth for the thigh
Green nail polish

Koori (SWOT uni ver)
Black Wig
Black hankerchief
Black Bokutou

Stella (White dress ver)
White skirt

Natsuki Shinohara (Oz Persona ver)
Koi Koi cards

Immortal Regis / Cavalier of the Abyss

Immortal Regis


Immortal Regis is the ONLY korean manhwa which i find is on par of Japanese battle mangas. Its one of the mangas which i feel should have an anime. The costumes' designs are my favourite style, and the weapons aren't too bad either.

Story wise is also good.Jae Hyuk, a normal human with a sickly younger brother on Earth is unfortunately killed accidentally by Serin, a necromancer from another worldcalled Chaos where magic and monsters exist. She makes him an undead as an apology for killing him, but as an undead he cannot be near humans or he will take all their vitality. So he is unwillingly forced to leave his only family. In Chaos, creating an undead is forbidden due to a bad incident in the past, so they are against Jae Hyuk and Serin. Although Jae Hyuk hates Serin for causing so much suffering initially, eventually they fall in love, although their road is full of thorns.

This story is continued in

Cavalier of the Abyss


Reading CotA was a big shock for me, because, guess what.
JAE HYUK IS NOT THE MAIN MAIN MAIN CHARACTER!!!!!!!!!!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

But thats not all, because, it turns out that
JAE HYUK IS THE "BAD" KING!!!!! WRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!??!!?!?!?!?

This is definately not another version, it is THE sequel to IR. This time is set where JH has become 30 years old, has a WIFE and a DAUGHTER and a SON, and is the stern and merciless king of chaos. WHATMYCUTEJHWHY!

Similar readers of IR were equally shocked and felt betrayed by the author, because JH was the typical odd-one-out Good Guy with a heart full of justice and emotions, yet in the span of a new page, he has become a tyrant king. Just think of it like your favourite hero became bad. Like, not that there is a bad persona inside that comes out, but that he turns bad.

Although it appears there is alot of reason and history behind his transformation including something about how Serin betrayed him, I still find it hard to swallow that the naive and honest JH we all knew was gone, maybe not for good, but when I think of how his actions has crossed the border for doubt that he has learnt how to be merciless, i really feel sad that the author has decided on this course of his personality. I only continue to read it because I am such a fan of the art and the character designs and in hope that JH and Serin will be together in the end.

Ga On-Bi, you better think of some brilliant way to salvage back a JH we readers are still hoping for!!!!!!! *cries*

Oh I have totally forgot about the main character ._. Okay its another undead boy, Xix/Jyi with a crow Oskii (who later turns out to be an eccentric creator of 12 evils) who is contracted with Skoll, the wolf of darkness. His clan was apparently obliterated on orders of Nex (JH) and so he tries to kill him in revenge. However, little does he know that there are more secrets involved that includes him .

Xix is embroiled in more trouble then he expects, due to internal strife and Oskii's interferance. One of the main point in this story is about Nex's true son since there appears to be 3 now. It becomes apparent who is the real son though. Also, the main girl for this story's main guy is Dragoness Yuan, who is supposedly the current Prince Ninurrta's fiance. We all know this isn't going to work out between this two, since Yuan is for Xix.

Here, we find out about the missing timeline where Good JH becomes Merciless Nex. I'm awaiting a VERY good explanation.

The characters I plan to cosplay:

<Prince Ninurrta
(I have this hidden fetish with kingdoms and royalty, and guys with braids. No, I'm serious. So a prince with long hair in a braid with long dragon-ish horns on his head = FANGURLSQUEALOVETIME!)

Ninurrta is the "son" of Nex, but he is most probably not the real son. It is for sure that he is of the Noah clan due to the horns on his head. He appears to be very powerful compared to the rest of the magicians, but of course is nothing compared to the bigshots like Nex's Depore, Xix's Skoll, Juste's Ouroboros and Serin's Semek. He already doubts himself but is afraid to find out. He is very concerned with his "younger sister" Mitra/Miya though.















>Jae Hyuk
(I like Jae Hyuk, because I love normal and strengthless characters with no special root who are able to gain powers above all and has a distaste for politics.
And unlike many heroes, his dark side can be equal to his kind heart, but not because of another residing entity, but due to the nature of his human heart. )













I forsee many problems for this cosplay because you definately can't find any reference off the rack for the costumes, not to mention that there is so little pictures of the full costume AND the artist, while having amazing coloring skills, makes it hard for people to decide exactly what is the color combination of the character. This is one of my dream cosplays to pull off though, simply because they are too cool OTL

Cosplay and the Floating Chamber of DNKW

I realize I add and delete plans so much that I can never remember how much I have. I'm abit of a organizing freak so I'll just put it here for my own reference purposes and hope I remember to update.

Event Done:
SOYB/WCS | Yuffie Kisaragi ~DOC~
Chingay | Kagamine Rin ~Saihate~
Starfest | Kagamine Len ~I.B~
TGA | Kagamine Len ~F.R~
Cosfest | Allen Walker ~3rd Uni~
Cosfest | Alice Caroll ~Aria~
TGX | Saotome Ranma ~Ranma 1/2 Male~
MechaFest | Lacus Clyne ~Chairwoman~

Event Undone:
AFA 1 | Megurine Luka ~Sandplay~
AFA 2 | Natsuki Shinohara ~Oz~
EOY | Paako ~Okama~
SOY 11 | SF-A2 Miki ~ELR~
? | Hatsune Miku ~PD2~

Photoshoot Done:
Changi Beach | Alice Carroll
La Salle | Hatsune Miku
Studio | Kagamine Len ~I.B~F.R~
Park | Lacus Clyne ~Chairwoman~
Northstar | Izaya Orihara ~DRRR~

Photoshoot Undone:
Karaoke | Kagamine Rin ~PD2~
? | Saotome Ranma/Ranko ~Ranma 1/2~
? | Hatsune Miku ~WIM~Melt~
NTU | Mogami Kyoko ~Skip Beat~
? | Yoh Tomoe ~Starry Sky~
? | Chrome Dokuro ~Biz Suit~
? | Nura Rikuo ~Nurarihyon no Mago~

Photoshoot Halfdone:
Town | Hatsune Miku ~WIM~

Cosplay Pending:
Hatsune Miku > Matryoshka

Stella Nox Fleuret > FF13-Versus White dress
Shion Kaito > Setsugetsuka
Todou Heisuke > Hakuouki Western
Yato Kamui > Gintama Yoshiwara Arc/Grad Uni Ver
Sanada Yukimura > Gakuen Basara Uni Ver
Yamikura Koori > SWOT Uni Ver
Gumi Megpoid > Gakupo Harem Ver


Giant Floating Chamber of Do Not Know Whens:
Megurine Luka > Matryoshka
Gumi > Vocaloid Sandplay
Hatsune Miku > Vocaloid PD2 Cantarella
Todou Heisuke > Hakuouki Traditional/Shinsengumi/Calender
Hatsune Mikuo > BRS
Hijikata Toshirou > Gintama Handcuff/Saw
Lucy Heartfillia > Fairy Tail Default Ver
Prince Ninurrt > Cavalier of the Abyss
Jae Hyuk > Cavalier of the Abyss

Theres others..but I forgot!!!
Edit: Yes I realize I have more plans then I can afford. This is most cosplayer's bad habits OTL

Rolling Girl and Two Breaths Walking

From time to time, I will post songs that I am caught on to. I believe in unbiased view of songs no matter where and when and whom they come from, as long as the music is good.




Rolling Girl is a song about a girl who is trapped in her own madness and whom is saved by a guy in the end. I love this song because I can identify with the girl, actually, I'm sure that alot of people can. Cvy's cosplay pv of it is also very good!
I want to try a pv of this, but with real time actions. I'll need to gather up some courage to be the main character though!

Lyrics:
Lonely girl wa itsu made mo, todokanai yume mite
Sawagu atama no naka wo
Kaki mawashite, Kaki mawashite
"Mondainai" to tsubuyaite, kotoba wa ushina wareta?

Mou shippai, Mou shippai
Machigai sagashi ni owareba, mata, mawaru no!

Mou ikkai, Mou ikkai
"Watashi mo kyou mo korogari masu." to,
Shoujo wa iu, Shoujo wa iu
Kotoba ni imi wo kanade nagara

"Mou ii kai?"
"Mada desu yo, mada mada saki wa mienai node...
"Iki wo tomeru no,ima."

ROLLING GIRL, no nare no hate, todokanai mukou no iro
Kasanaru koe to koe wo
Maze awasete, Maze awasete

"Mondainai" to tsubuyaite, kotoba wa ushina wareta?

dou nattate iin datte sa
Machigai datte okoshi chaou to sasou, sakamichi

Ah, Mou ikkai, Mou ikkai
"Watashi wo douka korogashite", to
Shoujo wa iu, Shoujo wa iu
Mukuchi ni imi wo kasane nagara

"Mou ii kai?"
"Mou sukoshi, mo sugu nanika mieru darou to...
"Iki wo tomeru no, ima.

Mou ikkai, Mou ikkai
"Watashi mo kyou mo korogari masu." to,
Shoujo wa iu, Shoujo wa iu
Kotoba ni emi wo kanade nagara

"Mou ikkai? Mou ii you...
"Soro soro kimi mo tsukaretarou, ne?"
Iki wo yameru no... ima





Two Breaths Walking is abit strange to me. There are many translations, but what i understand is that a boy grew up loving this girl, but somehow at one critical point something is strange, and instead he starts to try and get her out of his head. In the end, however, he is stopped by "her" and "she" tells him that he lives by drinking her breathe, meaning that he cannot be without "her".

There is something to do with books/words but I don't know how to fit it in.

Lyrics Taken from vocalochu.blogspot.com
"kore wa boku no shinka no katei no ichi page desu"

daki shime tai kara nihon ashi de aruku
hitori ja samishī kara kimi to iki suru yo

"nē mama boku suki na hito ga dekita nda"
"omedetō"

aitai yo
nē kimi wa ima goro dareno chichi o sutte ikiteru no?
kotoba wa mō oboeta kana?

"papa mama nina"
"yoku dekimashita ima sugu iku ne"

are? okashī na...

kimi o daki shimeru tame ni ukaseta maeashi ga
naze ka kimi o kizu tsuke hajimeru nda
oboe tate no kotoba datte kimi ni tsuki sasu knife
kiri saku life

"jā atashi ga knife hanatsu mae no sono kuchi o
kono kuchi de fusaide age mashō"

aitai no chū
kimi wa ima kara atashi no iki o sutte ikiteku no
kotoba wa mō daeki de sabi tsuita

nē kimi wa ima sara boku no iki o sutte
"dai suki" da nante itte miseru kedo
sore nara mō isso bonbe no yōni isshō
boku ga haku kotoba sutte iki taete

Introduction

Shiraha is more commonly known by the name Esther.

Esther: I want somewhere to sell stuff
*googles blog*

Esther: ok i shall click on whatever is first on the list (blogger)
*takes forever to settle and find an available nick*
*takes an eternity to design a template*

Esther: i shall turn this into a cosplay blog instead!
*starts editting photos gheyly*
....
...........

I'm not very good at writing interesting stuff OTL

Ranma

Shiraha / Ranma Saotome
Minichaos/ Hibiki Ryoga




These pictures were taken at the Expo during TGX, by Ryusei.

Miku

Shiraha / Miku
This picture was taken at La Salle in a photoshoot, by Ryusei.