Yama-Con 2016- Villians Debriefing- Technical review

                 Yama-Con 2016
Another amazing con season has come and gone. This year we witnessed everything from amazing upstarts (Shelby-con) to seasoned disasters (AARC) but none quite compare to Yama-con.
Yama-Con in Pigeon Forge, TN is an annual convention held during the first weekend of December and is Johnny Yong Bosch's adopted con child. Every year this con has a theme and this years theme was so fittingly  decided as Villains. If you don't live in the south then you might not know but the week before the con, Gatlinburg and Sevierville which are the two surrounding towns of Pigeon Forge got struck with wild fires. Thousands of structures were burned, residents and vacationers were stranded in the cold and there were casualties. A lot of people were concerned as to whether or not the con would even happen but by one miracle or another the con went on. Now there were some personal predicaments that came about that almost prevented me from going to the con, predicaments such as all my finals were due that weekend. That my friends, is where coffee is your best friend and may sleep forgive you at some point.

So needless to say that there were a lot of scares leading up to Yama-Con but as all things in life go, the harder you work for them the better they turn out to be. That rang true for Yama-Con, I don't know if it is all the personal growth that has occurred to me since the start of the semester or that fact that when I finished my finals I had no life inhibitions but I made sure that I took part in as many events as possible so I could come back and write to you all.
This means that this year, I took part in Iron Cosplay, Karaoke, the Professor(?) Shy Guy concert AND the Cosplay Contest! I know what your thinking, "Aki?! Really?! What happened to the admin who was afraid of talking to vendors?!" well the answer is........

I have no idea. I seriously think the college experiences, like being handcuffed to a table and having to figure out how to karate chop my way out of it and roll off - literally, have really helped me to come out of my comfort zone and college in a whole helped me not care about life in the slightest.

So now that the ground work is laid out and you all know just how much of a struggle it was for this con to even happen this year why don't we progress to the review portion of this post!

*~~I waited until after Christmas to begin so that the traditional post con depression and until the after holiday depression would be on its way out~~*

As usual, I am reviewing this convention based off of multiple self set criteria that I find important for every con to have. The items on this list are things such as, friendly atmosphere, fair staff, organized events, clear signage, entertaining events, kind special guests, fair dealers room/artists alley, cleanliness, lively panels, lively social media presence and other things of that nature. (Sounds all official doesn't it ^_^ ).


The hype for Yama-con 2016 has been in the works since the closing ceremonies of last years con. Everyone knew the theme and the cosplayers were set loose with all the creative juices flowing. As always the facebook event group was constantly buzzing out notifications of people talking, updating or just sending warm wishes to those attending. They definitely met my requirements for a lively social media presence.

The process in which we got approved for press passes was swift and problem free on the staffs end. Heiwa and I caused them a little trouble though because we accidentally both applied; however they handled it swiftly, professionally and kindly. I am really thankful for their understanding in the situation. Something that also falls under the category of kind staff would be a unique experience that I don't generally have. I talked to people... Like real people... I got ditched by my group and decided to sit down at a table that some people were already at and by the end of the hour they had adopted me as their own kind. One of them was staff. It was very comforting and I really appreciated them.


The atmosphere was very pleasant. Because of all the problems leading up to the con there was a questionable feeling about the atmosphere. It was either going to be very good or very bad, this time it was very good. They were accepting donations and had their own merchandise booth in the main hall which assisted in providing the kind and caring atmosphere. To provide the fun buzz or excitement there was always something going on, literally. The cosplayers were running around looking fabulous, the panelists were traditionally running late and the staff were always available but never annoyingly present. It was a perfect atmosphere, though a little background music wouldn't have hurt.

Organization and directional units were similar to last year. The signage was phenomenal once again and they added a life size "Cosplay is not consent" sign which is a major plus in my book. As far as the actual organization of the schedule, I think it was well spaced and well planned so that none of the big panels would exactly overlap each other. The only issue I had with the organization or the building itself in relations to the schedule was the photoshoots, I found it hard to locate where the photoshoots were at and ended up skipping them because I couldn't find them.
There were more problems with the organization of the events than anything else that I noticed. As a participant of the events such as the cosplay contest and iron cosplay I have to say that there could be some more guidelines that were explained to the participants. The no rules feeling was nice but rules are an essential part of a successful event. During the iron cosplay event I know that team "Stranger People" broke open glow sticks and splattered them around their interdimensional portal which might have looked cool but, it made a sticky and stinky mess that was hazardous.  For the cosplay contest there weren't really any defined rules so I am amazed that no one got up there and did a strip tease. I know the black butler group was a little suggestive when they were standing in line so it was a concern.
So yes, organizing the events and including some distinct rules would be an improvement but definitely isn't a requirement.

Lets talk vendors room/artist ally! There was such a wide variety of merchandise available this year including everything from Doctor Who to K-pop! There were a lot of repeat vendors but also a few new ones who were welcomed to the vending family. One thing that I watched out for this year was price consistency. One of my favorite rules that little cons use in vendors rooms is the listed prices. Listed prices are when people have to have a sheet, board or something where it is visibly written and available that has all the prices for all the items on it secured to the table at all times. This prevents crowd pricing, which is when the crowd is big the prices are higher and when the crowd is little the prices are cheaper. I noticed a few vendors who used the crowd pricing method. It isn't a con's fault when vendors choose to do this type of thing but it is something the con can fix if they recognize it as a problem.

One thing that almost everyone can agree about being important is cleanliness, not only of the location but also of the attendees because con funk is a real thing. Yama-Con was more or less, con funk free!! It is a huge honor for a con to recognized for being CFF. Now the rest of the building was remarkably clean as well, which was a huge relief because last year Heiwa and I ended up cleaning some of the tables off because the attendees were horribly messy.


Something new that I did this year was I interviewed a few people and got their opinions on the convention and one of the reoccurring issues I heard was that they didn't like the empty corner in the game room. Everyone thought it was a little depressing or a bit of an eye sore. I don't really have solutions for this because it is am empty space so literally anything can be done with it.
Another issue I saw when asking around was that people thought some of the special guests were a little rude or pricey. There are obviously many reason for both of the claims so I am just going to leave that information there with no personal opinion attached.

That is all there is for a technical aspect that I am going to cover in specific groups. So the over all positives and negatives about this year will be listed below in their respective categories.

Positives

• The community came together to support all the fire victims
• There was no con-funk
• The attendees were lively and entertaining
• The staff was friendly and approachable
• The cosplays were amazing
• Plentiful vendors and gaming stations
• Entertaining and for the most part friendly special guests
• stayed true to being family friendly
• ever present but never over present security
  

Negatives

• Crowd pricing
• No sound equipment in the gaming room
• Some of the guests
• The bald corner in the gaming room
• Limited karaoke list
• Sunday lulled
• The locations of the photo-shoots
• The lack of rules 
• Lack of epic background music
•  The end.

That is all for the technical review, I will be writing up separate posts for dissecting panels, concerts, people, events and other aspects of the convention. I appreciate and adore all that Yama-con has done for me personally and for its community and look forward to attending the "Paranormal" themed convention of next year!

~Aki Ame Okami

Con-Hype

               In the year 2016

       There was only one hope left   
     to save the disaster of a year that  2016 ended up being.....                    
That lone hope that we have is known by one name and one name alone,      
And as if they saw this tragedy            coming, they made this year's theme..
                          Villain's.                   

That's right my friends! I am talking about YAMA-CON 2016!!!!!!         

Ani-maze-me has been blessed with returning press passes for our favorite con of the year. In celebration I have some things in the works but I can't say too much just yet. I will leave you with a vendor recommendation and a hint as to our new cosplays. *Wink wink*


Hint:

Vendor: Please go check out the Raddest and Baddest vendor/s from Hickory-con Fall 2016!!!

This is the link provided but it wouldn't open for me, Four X Fabrication OR you could check out this lovely lady at Dreamscar Artistry. These vendors made the experience for me. I got to sit and talk cars, fandoms and welding with them all at one booth!! Where is that diversity in the con scene cause I need more of it! They sell some really awesome things from original adaptions like a "Hell-no kitty" which is the bad-butt (PG blog) version of Hello Kitty all the way to stainless steal cut-outs of the Supernatural anti-possession mark!!! I made way like a thief with the latter. Sure, it creeps out the family but hey, it makes me happy! So if my happiness means anything to you please go check out these talented vendors!

That's all for tonight!

~Aki Ame Okami

Judgement House 2016

             Judgement House 2016:
                      "Broken"
This year at Burkemont Baptist Church I attended, participated and saw behind the scenes of their annual Judgement House. This years theme was "Broken". It addressed three different story lines, two of which went to Heaven.
First we had a girl whose father had died of Cancer. She had a hard time even wanting to believe in God because why would God let her father die?
Second we had a biker who firmly believed that he was not worthy of Heaven. He had done too many bad things in his life.
Finally we had a devoted church goer, except she wasn't exactly devoted to God. She was there for the gossip and fellowship without truly being there for God.

So each group followed through the scenes as we watched the daughter and the biker turn their lives around and the gossip only got worse. They all three died and we followed them to judgement. The daughter and biker went to heaven and the gossip went to hell.

I critiqued the acting, design and flow; not the script.

The acting was decent-ish. When you consider the fact that these were all volunteers it was actually pretty good. There were a few scenes where I noticed minor mistakes such as turning your back to the audience or not projecting loud enough but, stuff happens.
One of the scenes where I wasn't very impressed was Hell. The new Satan (At least I am guessing that's who it was) didn't project very well and sounded a little.. off. I can't place just what was wrong but it wasn't a very convincing scene.

The design for every scene was pretty good. The bedroom scene could have used a little more detail. It looked like a bedroom but not one that someone lived in. Heaven could have used a few more details but there isn't exactly a blue print for what Heaven should look like so understand not wanting to step on toes there.

The flow of things was alright. They made a few changes this year that I was impressed with when it came to the actual walking course, as far as the production flow went there were a few scenes *Cough* Hell *Cough* that didn't feel like the same characterization as the rest. I was impressed with the multiple closing rooms and the "Fewest halls" routes. They made it less stressful and time consuming for the visitors.

So over all I think the year was another success. They recognized where they could improve on certain things and they did. One of the things I respect the most in a venue is their adaptability and they certainly showed how adaptable they were this year. I will be going back next year and do a more in depth analysis on the entire process.

~Aki Ame Okami

Life Update

                              Life Update:

Hey guys, sorry about everything lately. I know I am lacking here and on FB.
Between the hospital visits, teachers extra homework and working on job connections I have really just lost my will to live not had the motivation to write stuff up. I am writing two articles right now that will be posted TONIGHT and... Get ready to start the hype for.......

YAMA-CON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh I can't tell you how bad I need this convention right now.

Perspective

Hey friends,

So today we are going to discuss perspective.

Think about the thing that you dread most at the moment.
Okay, what was it? Was it a bad grade, losing your job, that family reunion, breaking up with your partner or something like that?

For me, I have been stressing about my grades. Every week was a battle between staying motivated to get that A+ or jumping in front of a bus. This weekend a certain chain of events forced some perspective into my life.

A girl and her twin sister got into a horrible car wreck. They were my age and driving a rode I drive with my sister a lot. The passenger didn't make it.

I really wanted to go to the memorial service tonight to support the family but I couldn't find a reason for me to be there. I didn't know her or the family, I didn't work with her or go to school with her. I had no respectful reason to be there.

I couldn't comfort them in a way that would make things better so I decided to do what I do best. I am going to write about it and try to learn something from it.

Yes every problem that I mentioned above is a real problem but when you add a little perspective and compare it to losing your better half.. It's not that big a deal. My grades aren't that big a deal, my one-sided relationship isn't that big a deal because at the end of the day I can still go home and hug my sister. She will still be there.

Life and death is what defines a person and it's what defines a problem. If it doesn't kill you literally, don't let it kill you mentally.
Don't cry over grades or a boy, cry over those people and pets you will never see again.

I leave you with this.

"Those we love don't go away, They walk beside us every day. Unseen, Unheard but always near.
Still loved, Still missed and always dear." -Unknown 

Marion-Con2 Fall 2016

                     Marion-Con Fall 2016

Alright everyone, this isn't going to as happy as the first review.
The reasons for this one being a little sad have very little to do with the actual convention so no worries.
What will make this post sad is.........................

No pictures!

As many of you know if you have been following the blog/FB pages (I am also on Tumblr now) I had some technical difficulties on the day of the con. The camera I was using decided to go and get all gritty and wouldn't zoom.. all kinds of things were messed up. Thankfully I had a few friends at the con with me, that's right you hear me. I have friends.. Okay you caught me, it was Baka and my cousin.
So Baka took pictures and some really cute videos but she hasn't even sent them to me yet and I couldn't postpone the blog post any more. Its already been 2 and 1/2 weeks and those vendors and the hosts deserve better so here we go!

I am going to explain a little more of my reviewing process in this review so my reasoning may be a little more in depth than usual.

                      {Prepare yourself for a wall-o-words}

People attending: 5 (only 3 went in)
Time of attendance: 1 hour after opening so about 11 AM
Costumes featured: Little Red (Baka), (Wolf: Me), Child Naruto( My cousin), Anko from Naruto (Heiwa)

        The first thing I look for in a convention is an excited community. If you find a group on facebook that is buzzing with people discussing costumes, meet up times, vendors, etc. then you just know that this will be a lively event.

Did Marion-Con have that? Yes-ish.

They had a group and it was fairly active. A lot of the activity came from vendors but there is anything particularly wrong with that. This group helped me out, turns out a friend from filming was going to the convention and I had no idea. Thankfully him and I got to meet up. That is exactly the type of thing those groups are good for.
Note to self: Next time take a selfie so I can prove that I have friends.

        Signage! Oh my gosh this is just such a big one for me. Is there clear and direct signage? It's hard to have fun when you don't know where the fun's at. There is also an underlying importance in signage, a lot of conventions are family friendly and in the event that a child get separated from their parent it is nice for them to be able to send a text that says "I am by Panel 1-A" or something of that sort.

Did Marion-Con 2 have Signage? Yeah... not really.

When we first got there we weren't quite sure which parking lot to park in, then we weren't sure which door to go in. Once we were in it was pretty clear where the dealers room was; however, I was never able to find out where the panels were. It didn't matter all that much though because Heiwa had to be at work soon and I was dead tired because of school so we wouldn't have been able to see them anyways.

         Interactive features. I like my conventions to be interactive, be it panels, dancing, game room, DeadPool conga lines (I'm talking about you Yama-Con) or whatever form of fan to host interactions you have.

So did Marion-Con 2 have Interactive Features? Yes-ish again.

They had panels.  I cannot say if they were good or bad or anything like that because I didn't get the chance to attend one, much less find one. I am going to give them full credit for this though because they still had them. Interactive features are the difference between a convention and an oversized dealers room.

       Costumes!! You knew this was coming. Every convention should have costumers galore! Why? Because a convention is the 1 day out of the week that we get to strut our stuff and show off our favorite characters or costumes in a way that has been deemed socially unacceptable.

Did Marion-Con 2 Have Costumes Galore?! There were costumes.

There was definitely costumes there. We wont talk about quality of costumes because as always it ranged  from "Woo!!!" To "Who??" and that's a really touchy subject. I try not to talk about peoples costumes unless they ask me to or give me consent to write about them. Consent matters!

        Vendors: A good vendors room has at least 5 of the top sellers from the last convention and at least 5 new ones. That's my own little criteria. Overall when I judge vendors I judge them on quality, organization, relevant merchandise, people skills and prices.

Did Marion-Con2 have good vendors? Sure.

I picked 3 favorites that I had never met before and saw one of my reoccurring favorites so it was satisfactory.

The quality of merch at the convention was mostly good, I did see some things that I felt a little iffy about but nothing to the point of being a whistle blower.

The organizations of the vendors was good but some of the vendors organizational skills were questionable. I like to look at tables and be able to identify things I want to look at and things I don't. Example: Belt buckles on the left, bracelets on the right. I don't wear belts that often so no point in look to the left where as I am rather fond of character bracelets so I will be all in the right.
Some vendors had belt buckles in their bracelets and T-shirts in the necklaces and it.. was an OCD nightmare. 

Relevant merchandise.. It's no secret that I am there for the anime and SuperNatural stuff. Despite the fact that this is a comic convention it still appealed to my nerdy needs with a few vendors having that type of thing. (I almost came home with a Misha lightswitch cover x3)

People skills- Very few vendors can control a crowd.
There is one guy that is a really good crown controller and artist but I can't remember his official name at the moment.

Prices: I haven't really called people out before but I am not afraid to do that now. Thankfully there isn't anyone to call out from this con. I have seen vendors change prices of hot items as the day goes on or as the stock dwindles. I rarely buy things from people if there isn't a set price listed in ink on the table or display. There were listed prices on almost all the tables except one which I have been watching at a few cons and we will talk about that later.

        Location!! A beautiful location certainly helps any convention. I have seen industrial locations (sort of like Shelby-con) outdoorsy/vacation-y feeling locations (Like Yama-con) that have both provided unique photo-ops, pleasurable sitting room, and some eye fetching scenery. A bonus is when there are friendly eating and shopping establishments in the surrounding areas. As an example, one of the best parts about Hickory-con is the costumed Mall Crawl that almost always happens.

How was Marion-con2's location? ...Not favorable.

I will give them the fact that they had a hard time with locations this time around. They had to keep moving due to unforeseen circumstances and it just wasn't easy to work with. They ended up being in a highschool, which reminds a lot of people of their acne-filled days of homework and flip-phones. So no, it wasn't a heart warming location and it wasn't very pretty. There was plenty of seating though so that was nice.

     Top 3 vendors!
First, "Itty Bitty Beasts" Her "artwork and offbeat toys" were simply adorable and fairly unique. What really sold me on her vending abilities was her willingness to stop and chat with us.

Second, "DeZoo Arts" Now, I would link this but after checking out his websites I noticed that nothing has been updated this year and I didn't feel comfortable using deadlinks. He was very dedicated while working on his art at the show and had some fairly decent pieces on his table. You know it has to be alright when I take time to notice an artist.

Finally, "Max Dowdle; Artagem" He won the "most aesthetically pleasing business card" award. I love the unique design that feels like it crawled out of a story book. After viewing his website I am even more intrigued.

Please check out these vendors!

      Quick overview of my experience at the con:

Overslept due to exhaustion, managed to wake up and get in costume, picked up cousin and got to the con about an hour late. Much to my surprise we still got one of the grab bags which suggests that we were one of the first 100 people through the door.  Walked around the vendors table to get a good look at availability and prices then introduced ourselves to some of the vendors, picked my favorites and went to film some videos. After the con we went to McDonalds where the people were less than pleased to see costumed maniacs enjoying their food. Ah, the smell of judgment in the morning -_-

      Highlight of this convention? It was my little cousins first and he had a blast. He has been asking me ever since about when we can go back. In the end, all that really matters is that people had a good time and he clearly did.

Marion-con 2 was a successful con for the most part. That being said, they have released the fact that they will be sticking to a 1 con a year schedule and I can't blame them. I respect and support their choice and cannot wait for the next Marion-con.

Idea's for improvement: You guys got this, the only thing I could suggest is maybe add some music. It was awfully quiet in the high school.

~Aki Ame Okami

Upcoming articles

                        Upcoming Articles

Hello again everyone!!

So I have 3 good articles in the works.

A review for Marion-con which is currently held up because Baka hasn't sent me the pictures and videos yet.

A review for Hickory-Con (Fall) which is going to be pretty good and emotional and it might call out a few vendors for good and bad reasons.

A book review!! Now this one is going to be different.

This book wasn't written by Seth and Casey, it was written by E.B. Hood and it was another book that I found at Hickory-con. I read a few parts of it and I have to be honest right up front, it is not my cup of tea. There are some strong themes and a few other things that will require a lot of talking about so I will be doing those reviews in two parts. It will not  be a part of the "Chapter a day" segments because there are 30 chapters and at this point in the semester I don't think I can commit to 30 days straight.

I have some prop/costuming work to get done before........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YAMA-CON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right my friends, we are heading back to Yama-con for the first weekend of December!!! I am really excited and working hard to make it through the semester so I can enjoy it.

College and Con Prep

                             College and Con Prep


Hello again everyone and welcome to another post from Aki!

Lately I haven't done such a good job of keeping up with my quotes or my posts and I do apologize for that. This semester hit me pretty hard with homework, sickness and the feels.
However, my writing has also improved along with my social skills
and coping abilities so not everything has been a bad experience so far.
So this is going to be a fast paced post because I am supposed to be writing a paper right now. Shhh O.o

Some where in the middle of all this college mess Heiwa came up to me and said, "Lets do new Naruto characters for Marion-con!" and I agreed without really thinking about it. I had been wanting to take my AoT cosplay but I said yes to her and it isn't perfect just yet so it was whatever.
Then I went and put my foot in my mouth, maybe even both feet!

Baka came up to me and told me about her Dart photo shoot as Little Red Riding Hood and I casually mentioned to Mikata that I could throw a wolf together for the shoot. Baka heard and thought it was a great idea, so suddenly I was a wolf! Then Baka asked me to go as a wolf for Marion-con since she will be taking her Little Red. Once again I was not paying attention and said sure.
So now I am committed to two characters for one con...
I plan on switching costumes at some point in the day so I can still take both.

Now here is the fun part, I had to make the new Naruto character (Yugao) that Heiwa wanted me to go as. So I just finished up my anbu mask, I am reusing my Kurikara and altering the fine details a smidgen.*
*I wont be dying my hair purple nor buying a purple wig before tomorrow.
*Don't think I will be wearing a sleeveless turtle neck because I don't like my arms that much.
*I wont be cutting the toes off of a pair of boots.
*The vest wont be 100% accurate but I do have plans and materials to make the vest again at a later date.

It was a lot of work but somehow I managed to finish everything and it will all be worth it for MARION-CON!!!!!
Also, I think at this point almost all the team is planning on attending Marion-con. (Heiwa, Oinari, Baka, Heiwa's cousin, and I)
so that is going to be awesome.

I look forward to potentially seeing you tomorrow at the con!

Cya!
~Aki Ame Okami

Confession of a Writing Fangirl

Hey guys,

So I have been super busy with school and crafting. I obviously haven't had much time to hang out here or on FB but that doesn't mean that my crazy and eccentric life style has stopped.
Today I bring you some of my favorite elements of writing!!

I adore it when people don't use contractions in lyrics, dialogue or quotes. Why? It makes things more dramatic, more serious and more intense. Want proof? Lets take a look at my sentence from above.

I adore it when people do not use contractions.

I don't know why but reading it like that I picture a British accent and a nose stuck in the air. 
So next time you are reading or writing something try considering the effect that not using contractions could give!

That has been a quick confession from a Writing Fangirl!

~Aki Ame Okami

Week one: College Life

                                       Week One: College Life


Hey guys! I just finished up week one of college, literally just stopped studying so I can go to bed in time to rest up for filming tomorrow.
It's been a trip.
For those of you who don't know, I have 6 classes this semester.

• Math- Graphing and linear equations
  This class sucks because the teacher is not just teaching that specific class but several others at the same time and gets all confused and complicates things. I have learned more from the tutor in 10 minutes than I did from the teacher in 6 hours.
• Art Appreciation online-
  I don't hate it yet. The reading is comical, in my opinion, and entertaining. As you all know I love digging into the deeper meaning of things so I am okay with this one.
• English 111 (basic English required for every college)
  I definitely don't hate this one. The teacher is great, the work is challenging but thought provoking and its going to help me become a better writer for you all and I would do anything for you ^_^ I would like to say a huge thank you to Seth and Casey, the authors of the Keys of Candor series that I reviewed. Doing that project with them helped me flex my writing fingers and challenged my critical thinking skills and I think I was better prepared for college because of it. Thanks guys!
• PE
  I thought I would hate this class.. I don't hate the physical part, the homework hasn't been too bad yet but I haven't had a quiz yet so I don't know. The book is very bland and hard to read and a little depressing but other than that I think I will survive.
• Stage Craft
  This class is home. The people in that class and the subjects are right up my alley and I couldn't have felt more in place. I love this class so far and actually look forward to it.
• ACA- this is a basic college course on how to study that I will start in October for some reason. It would have been nice to have that class before all the others but whatever...

That is all I have for you so far and I wont bore you for long about my college stuffs. I am glad to have you all here to report to, you have all helped prepare me for this experience simply by reading the blog. Thank you.

~Aki Ame Okami   

A Chapter A Day: Day 27 "Sea of Souls" by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes FINAL

                 A Chapter A Day: Day 27
                    DOUBLE FEATURE
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey there guys, tonight I am doing a special double feature plus a special treat on our Facebook page.
By double feature I mean that this is the review for the last two chapters of the book. The review has actually been done for a while but blogger has been really wonky lately and the scheduled post didn't work so I didn't realize this was so late. Sorry about that.
This is really exciting and bittersweet so lets hop to it!

~~~~~~Double the usual amount of time later~~~~

First I will do the usual hot topics and my personal responses, the more "professional" angle will be further down.

"Son of a.." What? Son of a what, Willyn? Do tell me where you were going with that. Son of a Queen who tried to helped you guys? Hmm.. It's such a shame that she was interrupted right there. I really wanted to know where she was taking that.
*Insert innocent smile*

Aft? Whats an Aft? *googles* Oh, look at this new found knowledge!

The difference between aft and stern is that aft is the inside (onboard) rearmost part of the vessel, while stern refers to the outside (offboard) rearmost part of the vessel.
Obviously the Rooks aren't a ship but they are some type of machine. I would actually be very interested in seeing a design for them.



Moving on!
The young feller that came to get Willyn is gonna die. Its bound to happen. The authors have added another heart wrench and his name is Mundi. Such a sweet and dedicated Grogan with a promising life- Oh wait. Never mind. He is dead. Sometimes being right hurts.

Luken.. Sweety, be strong. I do hope we hear more about that torture though. Haha no.. um, everyone knows I like a good torture scene but I am glad we didn't have one for Luken. I feel like if Seth and Casey really wanted to they could make a gruesome and cringe worthy torture scene and that would have been wayyy too many feels in 2 chapters.

Okay, this next part was probably my favorite.
Best. Mom. Ever.
"When I see you next, my son, it will be in a coffin!" I love it. The queen is one hard core woman and I respect her so much!! That is just the coolest thing. Put her in charge of Candor! Heck, can she lead America? Aleigha 2016!!!

Alright... Things got serious.
That's just cruel. Making Kull kill his dad in a way where he wont even remember its just... Literary beauty and emotional carnage.

Luken saved Willyn... can we just take a moment to squeal about that!!!! I think the proper fangirl text terminology is "asdfskmnejkdlsk!!!!!!!!" which basically means "The feelings I am getting from this is preventing me from functioning properly." That is a huge honor to make me fangirl. (Note* fangirl is more or less a universal term and not entirely gender strict. It is not excluding other guys from being fans it is just stating that fanning does not sound appropriate so we use fangirl.)
That was a really sweet and well delivered scene that proved this ship might sail.
Okay.. Once again I got to be right!! I was thrilled, confused and disappointed.
Hagan was not real. That was a shameful moment even for the reader. I kept trying to find the right word for the emotions that could be felt while reading and I bounced between embarrassment and a "face-palm" moment but in the end it went further than a mistake or a comical error. It was shame, she screwed up so bad that it probably can't be easily fixed.
Isphet, or Maet or whatever was going on there, is something else. Personally I find that show of power and devious if not down right deceitful nature to be majorly compelling.
(TL;DR= His attitude is hot.)

Okay major spoiler alert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kull is the all important Keeper! The main protagonist has been identified! Notify the press, wrangle the paparazzi, we need coverage on that young man right now!
Let be honest though, he always screamed main protagonist. It isn't a shocking development it is just the final satisfaction of knowing the truth, what we all believed. Kull is the Keeper.

That is all of the bullet points that I noticed so now we move onto the overall progress this book has made in relation to the story.

This installment answered a lot of questions about the plot but for each one it answered we got at least two more. However this time around there wasn't a lull in excitement that The Red Deaths had a little of. The story was very fluid and did a wonderful job of linking one tragedy to the next.

Once again one of the most unique parts about this book was successful and that would be the multiple Points Of View that were being delivered. I think that over all there were at least 11 POV's that all had to make their voices heard and I still think it is one of the best qualities of this book. It is so rare to see this done properly and Seth and Casey have this form of story telling down pat.

Now I don't want you to think I am just telling you all the good things about this book, there were some flaws from my perspective.
There were a few typo's and minor errors but this book was written by humans so that's to be expected. My biggest problem with this book was the sudden discovery of cuss words at the end.
They never actually said many of the words they just led up to them. I had a problem with this because I personally don't like cussing. I don't think it is an effective way to communicate. My favorite statement on it is actually from another YA book that read many years ago. I think it was called Lion Boy by Zizou Corder and the MC in that book said something to the affect of,
"If I feel  that strong about something then no amount of curse words will convey my feelings." Now I mind you that I am heavily paraphrasing and conveying what a certain paragraph in that book meant to me. I will have to go rent that series again sometime so that I can find the exact quote.. Either way, cursing to me is a no-no so its not a flaw with the book just a difference in opinions.

Back to singing the praises, One of the best subtle details in this book was the timing of which they revealed information. It doesn't all happen at once so it you aren't overwhelmed with information. Its a nice balance of timely info explosions that keep the read fast paced and full of suspense. I do not recommend reading only a chapter a day haha.  

Overall Sea of Souls has been a thrilling journey through Candor. We have explored emotions and stereotypes that have remained untouched and/or unchallenged in YA fiction until now and we have learned so many new words.
The tides have finally turned as we look forward to the next/last? installment entitled... Dominion's End.
Just a little side note, I love the titles for all of the books. Usually every series is like "The.." this and "The.." that and it gets really annoying to say and type that word so many times. Keys of Candor has given me a lovely break from that.


With this I sign off for the last time about book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls.

Goodbye.

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 26 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                    A Chapter A Day: Day 26
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Erving and Casey Eanes.

Hello everyone, I am sorry about the Saturday post. I got to thinking about it and I realized that the potential of these final 3 chapters could be really intense and dramatic so I didn't want to splits them up with the Sunday off. That was just a wild guess because I obviously don't know the content though so lets go read and see if it paid off!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few stressful minutes later~~~~~~~~~~

So while reading I noticed that sometimes the authors double space things... What's up with that? I measured them because I thought my eyes might be playing tricks on me but no they actually double space things occasionally.
Is this something that is done on purpose or is a habit that one of them has? Whatever it is, it adds a nice affect.

Cacophony: a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds 

Prostrate page 376 3rd paragraph down from the break, I had to read it a few times just to make sure I was reading it right. Imagine how awful it would have been if there was a typo there.
Anyways if you are like me and want to know the meaning and origin of this word then I have good news! Its right here!
Adjective: "Lying stretched out on the ground with one's face downward" 
Verb: (of distress, exhaustion, or illness) reduce (someone) to extreme physical weakness:
Origin:Middle English: from Latin prostratus ‘thrown down 
Woo!!! We learned a few new words! How's that for an accomplishment?  (Referring to the fact that I will never be an Olympian)

Luken and Grift, together again!!!
It was really great to see them working together again with Grift not being skittish. I think they make an overpowered team and I am glad to see them side by side on the battlefront.

"but words will never hurt me?"! Luken you spicy old badger! 
The authors saw their chance and took it! That is nothing short of beautiful humor.

Luken! NO!
That wad intense but Lukens last words disturbed me a little bit.
Why did they let Seam control them? he asked. Does that mean that he wanted them to have free will? I don't think I like that but once again the plot thickens!
Not good....

ABSOLUTELY NOT GOD. Even in literature it is mildly offensive when people claim to be God. I understand it is vital to the plot line and I was expecting it so it's no biggie but I am just saying that as a forewarning because I expect for it to be something that comes up frequently if I continue to do book reviews. Lots of villains have a God complex just like people.

Adley is pinned, Grift is probably on the verge of death, Wael is down the for the count and Rot didn't seem to be too injured... I hope. I am serious about anti-animal abuse in books so hopefully he will pull through.

Now is time for Kull to choose and I think that Aleph will make him choose who lives or something to that effect. Personally I would choose Grift. Friends and lovers can be replaced but parental units are forever.

I can't wait to see how the Aleph twist will play out. That's all for today. I know this was short today but I have been absorbed in the Olympics and college prep.. That's right guys, I have orientation tomorrow morning at good ole WPCC and I am stressed to the max. I try not to do reviews or blog posts when I am that stressed because they seem to lack luster and finesse but I realized today that I don't have that anyways so I went for it. This book helped me unwind a little bit which I am grateful for.
In the end, even if I hate college like I am expecting I still wont be stuck in the middle of a spiritual war that is killing everything so  that's nice.

Stay safe and wish me luck!!! See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 25 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                             A Chapter A Day: Day 25

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey guys! So the spontaneous kidnapping today got ruined by torrential rain and washed out interstates. I had a blast because long car rides in the rain are a secret love of mine but there are far more important things to talk about right now...
Like Sea of Souls and the 2016 OLYMPICS!!! Guys its back and this is the first time that I have been a blogger while they were active so expect a lot about them along with Sea of Souls. I will definitely be talking more about that later but this post is dedicated to Casey and Seth's creation so join me in reading chapter 25!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aww man.. Okay, so one of the biggest appeals in the book was the fact that they never cussed.
I consider that a cuss word. It doesn't change much about my overall opinion on this book, it just lost some brownie points was all.

So I might be reading into things again but if Isphets words are always true then that means Willyn isn't just seeing Hagan, it means he is alive. Isphet was the one who sent her all wonky about Hagan back when she was in Preost. Is this an Easter egg in the book or is it irrelevant?! I don't know what to think of this. I actually don't want to think about it at all.

So the next few paragraphs left me with a realization that hit me like a freight train.
I just remembered.. I cant believe I forgot this. In every culture when there are multiple gods none of them are good.
Who said Aleph was a good guy? Sure these people worship him but people also worship Seam, so what now?

The description of Bastion running out of the titan was ridiculously humorous to me.
"Bastion took on the form of a massive boar, running on its hind legs with little human resemblance aside from his massive arms."
Now I am sure that if I delved deep enough into the pits of the internet then I would find an accurate picture but I don't think we need me any more disturbed than I already am. 
When I read that I pictured a tiny little boar body standing upright like a human with these massive human arms and big old boar head. As threatening as it wanted to be, it was too top heavy and instead of running it ended up wobbling and tripping over it's self. I had to stop and laugh for a good 20 minutes.

Sorry about that. Moving on.

Abtren and Bastion are terrified of Aleph and his name obviously holds some power over them so there is that.
This sudden show of power has me second guessing who the good guys are.

"His invisible hand hides within his very name..." What?
Is this like the good ole "He who shall not be named"? 
Is it hand as in handle, does AlePH have something to do with the other strangely powerful god IsPHet?
Am I just full of conspiracy theories that are probably way off the mark? Well at least I have an answer for that one. Yes.

Two fun words and then my overall thoughts on this chapter.
**Note: The italicized font is mostly a result of me being tired and my sarcastic nature surfacing so it is not imperative to the read.
Dissidents: a person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state.
Fasincating! I am a Dissident! I think I will call my fandom the Dissidentians! Yeah right, like I have fans.  
Clandestine: kept secret or done secretively, especially because illicit:
This changes everything! Karera's alternative code name (Secret Secret Hush Hush) shall now be Clandenstine clandenstine hush hush!

Lastly we have my personal thoughts! The respectful version at least.

If only they would have died. Seriously, so much could have been avoided. One more Desolate bonfire and we could be free of creepy god humanoids. At least we have Seam on edge!
Now I know I didn't acknowledge the interaction between Seam and Isphet much in this post but that is because I am still pondering how I think that will affect things.
All in all this chapter left me with far too many questions to list.

I hope you guys will join me in the insanity tomorrow!!! (Also in the Olympics!! *Minor excited screeching*)

See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami  

A Chapter A Day: Day 24 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                  A Chapter A Day: Day 24

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey everyone! So I had a random thought today...
If you ever feel like your worthless I just want to remind you that you have incredible worth! If you body was drained of blood that is enough blood to cool a sword, if you get cremated you can also be turned into a sword or ring, if someone were to skin you the human leather that comes from you would be very valuable and last but not least, your organs are incredibly valuable so never feel like you aren't worth much! ^_^

Now that I have disturbed the masses lets get on with the read, shall we?

~~~~~~~~~~~A few not as creepy as that^ moments later~~~~~~~

First we have great news....

Willyn is alive!!!!! YES!
Ahem, the rightful leader of the Groganlands is alive and well, sort of. I mean mentally she could probably use a rest but that's beside the point.
It's no secret that I am thrilled about the continuation of her existence so everyone celebrate this with me!!

~~A few fangirling moments later~~

Okay, moving on!

She recognized the Baggers as people and showed compassion. That is huge character development! At the start of the book, are really just a few chapters ago, she would have given anything to stay away from the Baggers who seemed less than civil to her. It is very much like how a lot of people see low income families and homeless people in todays society... Hopefully it doesn't take a war for us to treat them in the same civilized way.

One minor thing, really not a problem at all.
"She had hated him them," I am just guessing but I think this might be a typo. I think they were aiming for "then" but seeing how those keys are right beside each other I can completely understand this.
Shoot, I have done it more than onxe myself.
(If you didn't just look at your keyboard to see if x is beside c then you aren't my kind of people. JK, it was on purpose.)

So this next thing gave me a headache after an hour or so of pondering.
What is going on with "Lyn" and Hagan?! Is he real or is he not? Is he evil because his little shadow peoples sound mighty evil. I really just don't know how to process this. I feel like it could have something to do with her brush in with Bastion because he is the one that initially told her Hagan was alive but I just don't know...

The likely hood that both Luken and Hagan are alive is just too low. I don't trust it but it has certainly spiced up the plot.

Next we have one new word! I was actually pretty confused when I saw this word because it is completely new to me and I thought it looked like a heart attack on a keyboard had happened.

Scintillating: sparkling or shining brightly

Just imagine confusing the masses when you compliment people.
"Your eyes are scintillating like the sunset off of the ocean."
Pair this up with Sanguine and I think I might have a new favorite word pairing.

Lastly we have Willyn's rising to power.
If she were in charge, I would follow her blindly. That entire scene was pretty emotional. This is the rallying before the war, you know that scene in Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe where the two armies start rushing each other but their is no sound. The entire thing is void and you unconsciously hold your breath in anticipation, you can feel the rush of the warriors racing to battle. That is this moment.  She is taking a moment of silence before a battle to the death at Zenith, or so it seams. (Seams, get it?)
She also pulled a Dobby when she announced that part about the Baggers. They are free from their drifting ways because she is going to try and give them back their civilization. This is certainly going to be harder than stealing a sock. 
(If you aren't in the HP fandom then that wont make much sense.)

That is all I have for today, I don't know if I will be here tomorrow. My roommates keep whispering about kidnapping me so I don't know what's going on but I assure you that I will be in no actual danger.. probably.
Anyways, I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to our next interaction!!!

~Aki Ame Okami
 

A Chapter A Day: Day 23 "Sea of Souls" By Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes

                            A Chapter A Day: Day 23Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin.

Hey there, I hope you have had a good day and that you didn't have any flooding! I know a lot of our state is struggling weather wise so stay safe out there please.

Alrighty, grab your copies of Sea of Souls and read with me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A few minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hmm I am afraid that there isn't much you can do to come back from fake dying on your friends.

Luken and Grifts relationship is very stressed. It's hard to see them fight but it is also very refreshing because that is a very human response. If someone you were friends with and relied on "Died" then came back you cannot honestly tell me that you wouldn't be suspicious and if their death lead to the deaths of others you cannot tell me that you wouldn't be mad. This realistic touch makes it even more emotional to read.

The Desolate?  The good guys have gods too. The odds don't seem hopelessly in Seams favor anymore.
I like this change of pace and how they waited until almost the last possible moment to flip the scales and up the antics.
So now on team good guy we have Grift, Adley, Ewing, Wael and countless other mortals, Luken, The Desolate, Pred. tech  and Aleph.  Not to shabby looking.


Grift was very emotional this chapter and because of that we got a lot of feelings out in the open and we learned that Luken can be controlled by Seam. I can't help but feel like that might be foreshadowing something terrible...
Like maybe Grift accepts Luken and buries the hatchet and then Seam controls Luken, he kills someone important like Willyn and ends up dying. **That is all my speculation and probably not at all what will happen**

Luken was sad that Willyn might be dead! I hope she isn't because that is just too cute. I still really want to know how Willyn will react to him, if she rejects him that might just break his heart.
The good news is, one of the next few chapters should be hers so we might find out soon enough.

Its about to go down! Everyone is geared up and heading for Taluum to protect/retrieve Isphet whom, apparently, is far too dangerous to be released. If the Serubs and humanity agree on something then you know its got to be the truth.
Something big is coming and the suspense is killer, be sure to join me tomorrow as we discover more questions and hopefully a few answers!

Oh also, I might be getting sick. I haven't felt too good these past few days and I may have stressed myself out to the point of illness.. Good job Aki. -_-

See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 22 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                        A Chapter A Day: Day 22
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Greetings bookworms, We are moving ever closer to the end.. I know it isn't healthy to focus on the end but I can't help feel all nostalgic about this experience.
Lets make some more memories by reading chapter 22.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Few Memories Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ma'et? I wondered what it meant so I did a quick Bing search and got, "(Maat, Ma’at, Maât; note that there are two vowel sounds in the name) The personification of the multivalent Egyptian concept of ma’et, that is, justice, truth and order, Ma’et is depicted as as a woman wearing a tall ostrich feather (or sometimes two) on her head, frequently with wings extending along her arms and usually carrying the ankh, sign of life." and I think that is just beautiful. I wonder if this has anything to do with the reasons they named the Unmighty, Ma'et and I wonder what the real reasons are?
(It spells team backwards.. I don't know what we are supposed to do with that information though.)

Ma'et's actions were kind of flashy in comparison to Stranger.
I mean, lets look at the events.

Stranger:
"You want to chop wood and fetch some water with me? I have honey!" VS Ma'et:
"ROW YOU WORTHLESS SCUM! ROW UNTIL I DEVOUR YOU!"

Which one stands out more to you? Yeah.

Okay, moving on! This next part is my personal favorite of this chapter.
I was right.. Aleph. Kull has been doing divine chores with ALEPH! He is actually a lot cooler than I was expecting him to be and I really like the fact that he wanted Kull to figure it out. Most the time in situations like this it is glaringly obvious who the person is but no, this time it was very smooth and mysterious and that added such a personal touch to these past few Kull chapters.
Wonderfully done.

Our sweet baby doesn't feel good enough! I mean, um... Lets try that again but more professional this time.

The impression I got from this chapter was that Kull doesn't feel like he deserves to be in Alephs presence and he doesn't understand why Aleph would choose to spare him from an eternity at the hands of Ma'et.
Kull was a non-believer in The Red Deaths and now he is with Aleph so I can only imagine the confusion that is tormenting his incomplete mind.
The real question now is, What will Aleph do with Kull?

With only 6 chapters left I honestly have no idea where they are going with this but I get the sneaking suspicion that someone else will die before this book is over. Lets see how that turns out tomorrow!
See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 21 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                A Chapter A Day: Day 21

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.
Hello there everyone! I missed you and the book very much over the weekend! I discovered something this weekend... I don't know how to relax or have fun if it isn't considered work except by reading! So lets go and relax with chapter 21!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~A Many Relaxing Minutes Later~~~~~~~~~~

Kicking corpses? That is relaxing...
Seams eccentric tendencies are getting worse.

Casey and Seth did a wonderful job describing burnt corpses which was mildly concerning. Actually, very concerning. How did they make it so accurate?!


"A quilted patchwork of hell on earth" Not to be a nit-picker but  shouldn't "hell" be capitalized? It is referring to a place and a proper noun which are both eligible for capitalization.
It could still just be one of those words that, despite having an actual meaning, get used out of context and become an adjective.
(My favorite example of that is the word Schmuck, it really means brother in German however we all know what America did with it :/ )


They couldn't just let Bri die in peace could they? Why do that when you can rip out the readers hearts. I mean who needed emotional closure anyways?

Bastion gave the other Serubs hope so I am expecting him to be a really sneaky and powerful creature. I hope he does something inexplicably evil!!!


"Celestial pets"... Ownership is kinda derogatory but I don't know what else I expected from Seam.

Hmm... I don't know how I feel about Seam treating Bronson so terribly. It is completely understandable for people to not handle world destruction very well. Of course he wouldn't be able to remain sane after murdering hundreds of people for the Serubs to feed on. Seam shouldn't be so hard on one of his closest "friends". Bronson of course was never his friend but they have the most history out of everyone left alive besides Seams mother.

Speaking of Seam's mother, what is he going to do with/to her? I am guessing murder but that will be the last straw. If he does that then.. then I have to switch to team good guy. I don't support children disrespecting/murdering their mothers.
Yes, even I have morels. (Get it? Morels!)

Announcing your next target to the world is not the best war strategy out there. Sure everyone involved in the war knew it was coming but that doesn't mean you should just throw out that possible advantage.
It wouldn't have mattered anyways because Seam thinks he is unstoppable.


That is the main points from todays chapter, I look forward to reading with you guys again tomorrow!!! Stay safe out there :)
See ya!


~Aki Ame Okami

AARC (Asheville Anime Regional Convention) Review by Heiwa!

Hey guys! :D I don't ever write on here, but I DEFINITELY found a need to express my thoughts today!

First: I want to apologize for my absence on the blog. I've discovered that a lot of my posts resemble Aki's almost exactly, so it is kind of pointless for me to post them. I'm sure you don't want to read the same thing twice :)

Alright, now for my review of AARC. My letter grade for this event? D-! My reasoning?

Confession.

Before I explain what put me off so bad about AARC, it is very important for me to confess to the followers on Ani-Maze-Me that Heiwa (me) is a Type 1 Diabetic. I have been dealing with this disease for most of my life, as I was diagnosed when I was only 10 months old. I never felt the need to bring this up before, because it was never made an issue. (If you want to follow a separate blog that deals with diabetes, please check out diabetically speaking,) 

First Impressions.

There were a lot of cosplayers! The convention opened at 10am, but we were there at 9:30 to get our tickets. There was a ton of people in cosplay, and cosplayers got a big discount on the tickets. 

With that being said, at every other convention I have been to the cosplays were mostly hand-made and the cosplayers were very proud of the amount of time spent on their outfits. At AARC, a lot of the "cosplays" that I saw were fandom merch. The cosplays were not hand-made, and the cosplayers were mostly showing off their stuff. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just isn't what I am used to. I would rather hand make my cosplay, personally, because I have more pride in it when it is mine. 

In most of the cons I've attended, the fandom was very social especially while waiting in line. At AARC, everyone kept to themselves and it was awkwardly quiet and solitary while we waited. 

Offended Heiwa.

I get that their had to be bag checks. It's Asheville. I understand and appreciate security, especially high security! However, I was extremely put off by the "security" at AARC. 

Before entering the building, you have to have a bag check. Once again, that's fine. It's not like I've never encountered those before. What I haven't encountered before was the attitude regarding my medical needs. She checked my snack bag (in the event of a low blood sugar, I have to have something to eat to bring it up so I won't die) and told me that I was not allowed to keep ANY of the stuff that was in that bag. I remembered right then to inform her that I was a diabetic. To my surprise, the woman still insisted that I could not take the food in with me. 

I said "I have to have that with me. I'm a diabetic. It's in case my sugar goes low." 

She responded: "I don't know what to tell you, you're not taking it in." 

So I got mad. My response? Before I could stop myself: "I don't know what to tell you, yes I am." 

About that time, two other cosplayers jumped to my aid and informed her about my hippa rights. 

Let me tell you how much that offended me...

It is extremely embarrassing being called out on my disease in front of a huge crowd. It is almost worse when someone else has to come to my aid. I wasn't breaking any rules. I wasn't saying I was above the rules. I do not want to have to explain my disease to prove that I am obeying the rules. That is discrimination, and it is humiliating. 

She went to ask someone if I could keep the bag of food, and they told her not to argue with me. That was when it got worse. Because she then had to search my usual diabetes bag/purse before I could enter the building. She found my glucagon emergency kit (a large needle that injects glucose in case I go too low and pass out), and had to ask me what it was. I told her, and she responded with "well I guess I'll let you take that in. Since you're a diabetic." She repeated that comment when she found my apple juice, the quickest carb I had. That was very rude. 

I've been bag checked before. Even if you question me, do not question me like that. I have never felt so disrespected at ANY convention before! I've been to Yama Con, a much bigger 3-day convention in Tennessee, and the security was amazing! They made you feel like they were on your side, and that was much different from the feeling I got at AARC. 

Outcome of my Offendedness

Because of the way they made me feel at the entrance, my blood sugar bottomed out shortly after we left the dealers room. We were leaving the convention hall before 11 am to get something to sustain me. From what I remember, the feel of the entire con was very different. It felt very cliqued and isolated. Every other con I have ever been to has felt like a gathering of friends or family, but AARC was nothing like that. 

I wouldn't recommend AARC to anyone in the fandom unless it isn't out of their way to get there. It was fun, but it wasn't worth the travel to get there. I would recommend that the people producing AARC learn the difference between "guilty until proven innocent" and "innocent until proven guilty." They need to know how to treat their guests like we are all on the same side, and then it wont feel so cliquey or isolated. 

I love the fact that they gave cosplayers a discount, though. That was a great idea! I also love how they had a gaming section of the vender/dealers room.  That was something I hadn't seen anywhere except for Yama-Con. I like that. That was about it, though. 

Sorry for such a bad review, but I had to share my thoughts! 

Thanks for your patience in dealing with me :) 

~ Heiwa Kibo Hane

Aki's Edition AARC: Asheville Anime Regional Convention. Time I own up...

  AARC: Asheville Anime Regional Convention


Okay... So you guys know how I am always assuring you that I do things to my best abilities and that I always strive to be honest?
It's time I own up to that.

Going to AARC today was certainly an adventure. Why don't we take a look at the definition of "Adventure". 
Adventure: "an unusual or  exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity"

That means that it doesn't exactly have to be a good thing, so lets go step by step with the experience.

Heiwa, Baka (or Jiyu Kasai Tsubasa) and I got up at 6 AM this morning because we live a good distance away from Asheville. This was a surprisingly good morning because as you all know, I am not a morning person and I am likely to break out in severe sarcasm in the mornings which rubs people the wrong way sometimes however that didn't happen this morning so it was good.
The long drive over was good, got to see some nice clouds and the mountains were covered in fog. Heiwa and I stared and waved at EVERYONE we passed, which was great since we had the pink and blue hair. They really freaked out and it was beautiful..

Anyways, we got to the US Cellular Center about 30 minutes early, which was right on schedule, and got in line for tickets.

The line itself wasn't long just yet and was pretty tamed, there were a few other cosplayers and no one was outwardly rude... However, once it got longer, the lines for people who had already bought tickets and for people who still needed to got mixed together and lots of people ended up going through bag check just to be sent back to the ticket booth and back of the line.

Also, I don't mind having my picture taken when people ask but what I do mind is the "selfie stalker shots" and the straight up "stalker shots". More than once while in line people would go to take a "selfie" but clearly take a picture of us. That is not consent but whatever... Heiwa and I had fun with it and made creepy faces.

There was even more people that would hide behind the pillars and take pictures of us. I might sound paranoid to you but when you make eye contact with the person and they give you a head nod, step out from behind the pillar and take the picture anyways, I deserve to be "paranoid".


To be honest, this next thing was where my biggest problem with AARC came in.
Before you give your ticket in they do a bag check. Now don't get me wrong, I love bag checks and security measures for anywhere but this one was a little off. Jiyu and my bag checking went fine but when Heiwa stepped up she happily gave them their bags and told them she was a type 1 Diabetic and consequently she has to have some form of food on her at all times and can legally have it with her in areas where it's not generally allowed.  There is also this thing called HIPPA which basically, in this case, means that Heiwa shouldn't have had to provide proof that she was a diabetic because that's a violation of her PHI. (PHI= Personal Health Information)
None the less we told the bag checker she was a diabetic, the checker then got someone else to see if it was okay to let her in and we did eventually get in.

This is a huge negative for me because everywhere we have gone so far has been completely understanding and helpful to the point as to let us know what type of medical personal and concessions would be there but for it to be a struggle to get into this convention, I was not pleased.
I will admit that I probably got rubbed the wrong way because of how strongly I feel for Heiwa but that doesn't change a near violation of the PHI.

Okay so moving on!
Once through the doors there were badge handouts, programs and freebies.
The badges were alright, the programs were good and the handouts were pretty awesome. The posters looked really cool but they wouldn't have made it home in one piece so we all opted for a Vizmedia booklet. I am glad we had a spare bag for it to all go in so it didn't get ruined or forgotten.

You guys know how I am a big one for location?
Well... The center was certainly an interesting one. It felt like a cement coliseum and if there was a horror movie/ horror games filmed or hosted there I would flip because it would fit those so well. However it wasn't a very convention friendly building, I understand that there are only a certain number of places that you can hold conventions in Asheville, but still.
Okay, enough beating around the bush. Here are the tactless words.

The view would have been beautiful but the windows were filthy so that ruined it.
The interior looked like a parking garage, literally the "stairs" were concrete ramps.
The vendors room was a huge pit like in a coliseum with seating in the nosebleed section.
The artists alley was in the wrap around hall that led to the seats.
The majority of vendors were either pushy or disinterested, they was a few where I liked their items but wouldn't have purchased them because of the hosts.
A lot of the artists were very young and I would even take a chance to say that this was their first convention.
There was no signage so you either had to ask for directions or follow the flow of people.
The staff were very.. Staff-y. What I mean by that is most of the successful cons that I have been to have the staff mingling and getting conversations going and introducing strangers and its just a ton of fun.
Overall my biggest problem though was the fact that it felt like something was missing.
We ended up leaving and didn't even stay for the later panels.
If you think I didn't give this convention a chance please understand that I went there wanting to love it, I tried very hard to find the good and things that I liked but really only a few things came to mind.
They had "Cosplay is NOT Consent" Signs everywhere which I adore and think that every con should have because people are often confused about that. Even though it should be blatantly obvious that if your soul isn't inhabiting that body then don't touch it.
There was a really cool "Inspector Gadget" cosplayer that was very in character and had a lot of neat tricks up his sleeve(s).
There was actually Supernatural merchandise there which was pretty cool. I did end up in a conversation with someone because I said "I don't think my Mom would like it if I wore a pentagram to church." talking about the protective demon charms that a vendor had. Well I have been thinking about that and I want to clear it up a little bit.
My roommates and family (and friends if I had any) are all supportive and understanding of my eccentric tendencies and nerdy interests. My Mother would probably have not said anything about it and wouldn't stop me from doing it because she encourages and supports me with everything but there is still a fine line between acceptable and disrespectful and I am afraid that buying that and wearing it would have been disrespectful to her. I am not that type of child, I have a very healthy relationship with my parents and they are worth not having a little bit of Supernatural merchandise.

Okay time for the over all ranking.. Obviously I have not been looking forward to this.

AARC Overall-commerce score: 7/10
AARC Overall-personal score: 4.5/10
Would I recommend this convention? If you're in the area and don't have much to do then go for it but if you have to travel say, a few hours, then I wouldn't advise it. It wasn't a favorable convention for me.
Will you be back? That is a hard maybe, probably not. I dunno.. I like cosplay contests.
Ideas for Improvement: Signs. Those are nice. I like to know where I came from, Where I should go, Where I should have come from. Cotton Eyed Joe.



That is all that I have to say for today, I am sure some of you are thankful for that. Hope you all have a good day and remember I care about you ^_^

~Aki Ame Okami  

A Chapter A Day: Day 20 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                   A Chapter A Day: Day 20


Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey there everyone! So just a little reminder that this weekend I wont be here. I am taking Friday off to work on TLOST, Saturday I have AARC and Sundays are no work days anyways.
That doesn't mean that I am any less excited to be celebrating our 20th day!!! Only eight days left to spend with you Keys of Candor fanatics.. I don't know how I feel about that..
Oh well, lets just cherish out time together and read chapter 20!


~~~~~~74 minutes later~~~~

First I just have a few thoughts.
How will Willyn react to Luken? Will she be ecstatic or afraid?
I am interested in how that will play out.
I bet she will think that Luken being alive means Hagan could be alive and it will cause some problems.

You should never agree to a plan you are uncomfortable with. At least meet in the middle.
When Bri was so against it Willyn should have altered it then. If you have allies and need them to do something you should make sure that everyone is comfortable with the plan because if not things wont go well..

Which brings us to this.
Willyn should have known better.
If she was as talented at war as she claimed to be, then she should have known that wasn't going to end well.
Was time really that short?
They could have taken a path with stronger cover and a better retreat, they could have turned around when they saw the Dominion appear on the map.
It didn't have to go down like that.

But... I can't think of a better way for the protagonists to find out about Seams morel army. This was right for the plot.

I did really like the war terms and the proper maneuvers. It felt like the authors put a lot of thought into it and that helped sweep me into the book. They did a very good job with that and I appreciate the effort.

Now the bullet point of this chapter...

Why. Why must you do this? The sweet teddy bear took on the grizzly and it didn't work. Gah I am an emotional wreck because of this. 
I didn't particularly care about Bri's character. When he was introduced he reeked of "disposable character" smell and I knew it was coming but the way he died made me respect his character.
Not only did Bri sacrifice himself for Willyn but he agreed to her plan knowing that it would end up like that! Ultimate self sacrifice right there.


Okay guys, that's the end of todays review. I am looking forward to Bastions release and Willyn's reaction to Luken, hopefully we will get one of those things in the next chapter which I will be reading on Monday.
I hope you choose to join me, can't wait to see you all again! BYE!!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 19 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                              A Chapter A Day: Day 19
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, written by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.


Hello there everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and that you managed to stay out of the heat today! A nice way to get out of the heat it to settle down with a good book! I have just the recommendation for you. I recommend The Red Deaths by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin! That is kind of a prerequisite course for this book seeing how its the first one so be sure to go and read that one first! Now for those of you who are reading along with me, lets go read chapter 19!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~45-ish minutes later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I love how Grift freaks out. I feel like that is exactly how a normal person would react to seeing a friend rise up from the dead.

Then when he interrogates Luken and gets no answers and he just turns to Wael like, "Explain yourselves?!" It's great because he is only making the confusion worse.

Okay, we can be serious for a minute.
Lots of people lose faith after losing loved ones. It doesn't particularly affect one faith more than another but it happens to a ton of people. When the almighty thing that you believe in lets something bad happen you lose hope and you doubt and you resent and you have never disliked someone as much as that almighty thing but in the end you know you can't feel that way about them because you have always loved them, Always.
I feel like Grift was going through that when Wael did the blessing over Rose and Eva.

"Can't say I've ever seen someone do that." - Cryic
Oh how I love that man! I lost it when he said that. I could just imagine this man who is totally confident in him self and his capabilities just sitting there lighting up a cigarette and being all chill about the fact that another human being can throw cars like pebbles.  That is how you impress and Aki apparently.

Parker? I dislike that name but the ugly face fits. If he knows about the powerful war technology then good, bring him in! Unless he wants to stop it then send him back.

The fact that Luken got nervous around the war tech makes me nervous but it is certainly a plot thickening element so that intrigues me.

That is all I have for today.
I would like to remind everyone to ALWAYS SAVE IMPORTANT FILES I had to reconstruct this review and the entire second season of TLOST because I forgot to save it. So please don't be like me :P
Oh also, we got confirmation and we will be attending Yama-Con 2016 in Pigeon Forge TN!!!!!!!!! There was actually a funny problem with it, Heiwa had registered us as well and I didn't know it so I feel awful about the confusion I am sure we caused.
See ya guys!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 18 "Sea of Souls" by Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                     A Chapter A Day: Day 18

Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor Series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

GUYS! Before I get started I just remembered something that I forgot to mention in lasts nights review.
Cyric the bad-butt bounty hunter... drives a... Jeep. A JEEP!!!

Mother of all vehicles and master of all the toys. Even in an alternate universe Jeeps exist and I will be honest.. That was a very touching moment that something I am so passionate about can transcend reality. Thank you for giving me that.

Okay, Anyways I hope everyone is well and that you are excited for todays chapter! Lets go read!

~~~~~~~~~JeepJeepJeepJeepJeepJeep~~~~~~~~


They will meet again soon? Where? How? Why?
If they see eachother again soon then that means someone else will probably die.. again.. I don't want to know the details.

That was an incredibly sweet moment between Kull and Rose.
*I am going to go all stereotype ranting on you again.* 
Usually protagonists have at least one crappy parent and a tragic backstory but I just realized the we are living his tragic backstory.
He is manning up in the moment because he has to, he isn't rising up for glory and power a few years later. That is really cool to me because as crappy as life has been its realistically not that bad (I am a pessimist/realist so I didn't expect much) so this makes it easier to relate to Kull's character. He wasn't anything special and didn't have any life altering moments, he was almost human.

We later figure out that he is special and yaddy-yadda but for the time being it was really special.


Pretty birdy-kitty-puppies?
Those obsidian guards were pretty sick. In a good way.  I was all for the creepy critter description until we hit the word "Beak" and that was... unexpected. I like birds, especially birds of prey, but that just threw me off. I really enjoyed the curveball. I love that no matter how much I have figured out in this book they always surprise me.
But I would seriously like to adopt one of those lil cuties ^_^

Aleph above, is that Aleph? Is Kull doing house chores with ALEPH? I think that Aleph is essentially the Almighty in this book so basically Kull is washing dishes with God. That's kinda... epic.

Nah, I don't know who Kull is with in Mir but I do know that they are helping him so I am alright with them.

Kull so would have burned his mouth. When StrangerDanger gave him the fresh loaf of bread from the pan that was buried in part of the fire bed he would have burned his mouth. There are no ifs ands or buts about it.

So in the spirit of some of my favorite discussions on Disqus this week I was inspired to prepare a short Haiku for this.

Make friends with stranger,
The worlds at war but who cares, 
As long as there's wine.

Note: A Haiku is 5 syllables, 7 and then 5. It usually relates to seasons but it was made to fit the topic of review.

That is all that I have to report for todays chapter, it was really light and fluffy so I am concerned about what comes next!
I actually finished this post at about midnight but the internet is down once more so I don't know when it will be posted. Sorry guys :/

See ya later!!! Stay safe out there!!!

~Aki Ame Okami

A Chapter A Day: Day 17 "Sea of Souls" By Casey Eanes and Seth Ervin

                                         A Chapter A Day: Day 17
Reviewing book two in the Keys of Candor series, Sea of Souls, by Seth Ervin and Casey Eanes.

Hey everyone, so just another random thought that relates to the reviews. I don't know if anyone has noticed this yet but I take care to rotate which name gets spelt first for each of the authors. It starts from the blog title and then every time I mention them by name thereafter. Alrighty, lets get to reading!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Some Time Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter was exciting so I am going to do the least exciting thing first.... That would be the meanings of words!!! :D

Topographical: of or relating to the arrangement or accurate representation of the physical features of an area:

Abode: a place of residence; a house or home.
(Like the term, "welcome to my humble abode")

On to the seriousness!!! *My inner sarcastic voice weeps*

My reactions went from,
"Finally!!! We hear from Wael! I was getting worried that we hadn't had a chapter from his point of view." then they dropped drastically to, "no no, that's not what I had in mind O.o ".
As much as I love any chapter that features Cryic, I really didn't want to have a double feature like this however I like the mature seasoning it added to the book.

Cryic is well trained in his field and he is certainly a beast but he isn't a monster.
I liked how civil he was towards Wael and how there wasn't mindless abuse.
The stereotypical assassin/hunter (Minus the Winchesters) would have been physically or mentally abusive to their bounty, the old "They only need you alive" shtick but Cryic wasn't so that's nice.

Next up we have my um, settle reaction about the last paragraph.
I am pretty sure that we have already covered my obsession with being right, right?
I WAS SO RIGHT! I WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!
The authors used "anime logic" and Luken isn't actually dead!!!! HE LIVES!!! but not only does he live, he is The Sixth.
The one who can help them save the world has returned and boy am I glad.
Hey Willyn, I know that you can't really celebrate this but Luken is the "take home to Momma" type. Good choice and great catch!
(get it? Catch? since he was last seen falling into the ocean I think its funny but that might just be me...)

Luken my precious, welcome back! How have you been? Oh and um, I know you don't like him but please don't hurt Cyric too much, okay?


With the celebration over I need to look at how this will affect the plot. Will Cyric pursue Wael even though he is under the protection of Luken? Would it matter? The position Cyric is in will end up with him dying no matter what. If he returns to Seam without Wael he is dead and if he goes to get Wael he is dead and that is not a happy thought. I wanted to be attached to him, mostly because I thought he would live, but I will sacrifice that love for Lukens survival.
I think.. I dunno, I might add him to my group of favorite characters that also happen to be dead.

I am happy you all joined me today, I hope you had a good Sunday and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!
See ya!

~Aki Ame Okami