Chris and I attended Kawa Kon last year, but she felt we looked a bit out of place. Yes, I was wearing my Steamboy t-shirt, but we were obviously much older than the typical attendee.
Now, those of you who know me know I am a "person of girth" and (except for military service and play roles) I have worn a full beard ever since I was first able to grow one. There are very few anime or game characters with beards, save the generic grizzled old sea captain, so we were having a tough time deciding upon an appropriate character for me. (The character I'm best suited for is Sailor Bluto from Popeye the Sailor Moon, my crossover of Popeye and Sailor Moon: "Spinach makeup!")
Chris, however, decided that I would make a perfect Totoro. While I had encountered the character, I had not yet seen My Neighbor Totoro. So I borrowed a copy from the library and wound up agreeing to do it--at least for the next con.
Now, Chris isn't Pennsylvania Dutch, but I'm beginning to see that she can be just as stubborn. Even though she was sick last week, she managed to complete Totoro costumes for us last night. Her niece, Meaghan, is cosplaying Mei and giving out soot sprites. Her sister, Jennifer, is cosplaying Satsuki. I don't have acorns to give out, but we do have almond Hershy kisses...
Based on the reactions so far, Chris "done good". I'll be posting pics and links as soon as they are available. (I didn't have any taken with my camera yet.)
Our big activity for the night was to watch the Bunraku Bay puppet performance (and later participate in the workshop). We had seen them perform previously at the 2009 Japanese festival. Tonight we got to see Kotobuki Shiki Sanbaso, Yaoya Oshichi, Lion Dance, The Dance of Ebisu, and Hidakagawa Iriaizakura. (Ebisu was a special treat, since the puppet was just finished at 3 am this morning.) During the workshop, Chris and I (along with our friend Cathus) got to work with the puppets.
While talking about his background, Martin Holman mentioned getting a Danny O'Day ventriloquist dummy as a child. This was a very cool connection. When I was learning ventriloquism, I had Jimmy Nelson's instructional record album (featuring Danny O'Day and Farfel, of course).
Tomorrow (or, more correctly, later today), Kawa Kon day 2.
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