Update: BUTLER CAFE CANCELLED

 Hey everyone, I regret to inform you that due to some family issues we are having to cancel this years Butler Café. We still intend to host events in the future and a café in the future but at this time some things have just come up and it is impossible at this point to continue.
I know some of you (Or none of you, either way) were looking forward to the event as much as we were. My sincerest apologies. I do hope to see you at the next cons though, I will still be wearing my costume to the next con because I went through a lot to make it :P

~Sincerely The Ani-Maze-Me Team.

~Aki Ame Okami

1 Year Celebration Coming Up!

 Hello everyone!

This August we will be looking at our 1 year anniversary as a group!

Its pretty special so I am thinking of some ways to celebrate!

~Aki Ame Okami

My Cosplay Heroes

With Heroes-Con just around the corner I think this is an appropriate theme and I have been thinking long and hard about what I should make our 100th post about and I didn't think anything would be better than acknowledging the people that inspired me to get here. So without further ado, I give you my Cosplay Heroes.

This is a list of my favorite cosplayers who have either effected my life or inspired me to do something outside my comfort zone. I haven't "met" any of them, but I would one day love to meet them all and possibly interview them about their cosplay decisions and struggles. **If I just tell you about their cosplays it means that they are really good at what they do and have inspired me to keep going and reminded me about how much fun this is.
Enjoy!  

Fordy Two Cosplay 
Have you scene his cosplays? His personality is on point and he just truly does Kakashi justice. I actually have high hopes for him coming to an event in July but I need Heiwa to fill out the rental forms for the place first, for her to be the "legal aid" she doesn't do paperwork very often :P *update: WE GOT THE ROOM!!!*

Unision Raid This group is like that group of friends that you always watch and long to be in but if you ever actually met them you just freeze up and stutter. I will admit that this group is what inspired me to do a Virgo cosplay. My favorite cosplayer of theirs is a 3 way tie between Leo, Gray and Juvia.


Manly Cosplay He is a member of Unison raid but he does a lot more than just Fairy Tail. His first cosplays were DC/Marvel, really in the comic genre which is awesome but what put him on my radar was his anime cosplays. He is one of the first few people that I talked to at a con so I really have to thank him for being kind because it does take much to scare me off :P

Shiro Samurai Cosplay I actually started following his blog before I started cosplaying. He had written up a blog post about his insecurities and struggles, ironically, a few days before my first con
and that blog post helped me work up the courage to cosplay for the first time. I am forever grateful for the confidence boost that he gave me and I wouldn't be where I am today without him.


Something Different Cosplay He certainly lives up to his name.
Because I started my addiction through social media (editing and writing for pages and blogs and news outlets) I like pages with a strong social media presence and he definitely has that. He is very friendly and constantly has something new to look at. I strive to make my page and Ani-Maze-Me as well known and liked as he is.

Ouja Akuma (This is actually a funny story) I found them from a google maps app(?) where cosplayers go and pin their location. Turns out they arent that far away from me! I was awed when I first looked at their page.
I love their Tsukki, Noiz, Kuro, Levi and Jack Frost. I am still pretty new to their stuff but everytime I look at it I end up fangirling/manning I don't know what to call it xd maybe just fanning?  and that makes me very happy.

DingBat Cosplay At my first con (Hickorycon fall 2015) I was on my way out and a little disappointed because I had seen some cool cosplays but nothing that was just breathtaking. Then we saw her Evil Queen of Hearts and that was it. That was the "Cosplayers are awesome" feeling that I was looking for. After that I was inspired to make my own costumes, of course she doesn't know any of that but I am incredibly thankful to her.

Guyliner His cosplays are amazing and completely on point. His pictures are very good and you can almost see his fun personality through the screen. I hope that doesn't sound weird.. I initially found him by looking at different cosplayers and that name just stood out to me, come one "Guyliner" is genius!

Amoshii Have you ever fallen in love with a character and thought "No one does it justice." I felt that way about Hinata Shouyou from Haikyuu but then I found Amoshii. Her cosplays are <3
This is another sad/funny story, I think I met her at Yama-con too! If I did she was cosplaying the best Yuuichiro(?) from Seraph of The End. Gosh I need to stop fangirling from afar and introduce myself to my cosplay idols xd

Aidestial Cosplay Aidestial and Amoshii go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other. Both cosplayers on their own are fantastic but put them together and that is #CosplayGoals
The way they get along and compliment each other when in character is what I hope to have one day.  I adore her Kageyama, Jean, Rin and don't get me started about her Guren O.o
I like to pretend that Aidestial's name comes from shounen Ai and Destial as in the ship Destial. (Dean X Castiel from Supernatural) if that is what it actually comes from then I am estatic if not I wonder how it came about....

Howls moving cosplay
That name is originally what drew me to his page but after finding it I grew to love how he cosplays with friends and figures out the details of his cosplays with an amazing amount of creativity. This is an inspirational page to follow if you are a cosplayer :P


Choice Cosplay I am going to be honest, and don't pretend like you wouldn't do this.
I originally found him because of his Free Iwatobi Swim Club team cosplay. I never stalked him but I can definitely appreciate their choice to live up to the characters standards. Also, cosplay friend goals.
(In English: This guy and his friends are nice to look at and have great personalities, whats not to like?) 

Whacked Kid 48 Network I am not certain what this page is overall but I know they feature an Ouran High School Host Club group a lot and I think the twins in that group might be the ones who stole my heart at Yama-con but at the same time it might not be them.. one bad thing about cosplay, everyone can look the same sometimes :P
Then there is this Shizuo cosplayer that I practically worship but I never got his name.. bad life choice...  

Congratulations to everyone who has come this far with us!
I look forward to posting again soon :)

~Aki Ame Okami

So You Live With A Cosplayer

                           So You Live With A Cosplayer


Living with a cosplayer isn't easy. You see all kinds of crazy things that might disturb you or scar you for life, literally..

 


Credit to Cosplay.com where I found it.

When you want to know what happened to that one really expensive pan you bought when you moved out and your Cosplayer roommate assures you that the pan is in a better place.
The trash can, or secretly in their closet.  


                       I am why we can't have nice things :/

How about when you bring home your date just to find out about your roomies monthly cosplay poker night? She could be into it....

Made this just for this post :P I admit that there is a flaw just to annoy people.

How about when they actually need help with a project? I cannot tell you how many times I have made my roomies pin me, hold something I was gluing/sewing, or wear something so I could make sure it was right. At least I have never needed help with a duct tape body.... yet. I want to make these and put them in trash bags and leave them in random places.

credit to deviantart and its timed out links.








 

Credit to the cosplayer

How about when your roommate wants to know if you are willing to cosplay a human puppet to go with their Sasori?
(Character: Sasori Anime: Naruto Shippuden)

Credit to the Cosplay

Those times when you get in a fight and call your cosplay roomie Satan.
Then they get a great idea and cosplay Satan, or Hades....
Then follow you around walmart saying
"He summoned me and can't put me back!" or "Yeah, the good influence was sick today so we are gonna go scare the children." To a total stranger...  

Credit to the cosplayer

When you have to pick your roomie up from the police station because they got a little carried away while they were in character....
A Slender Man hanging around the park enticing little children is definitely going to attract police officers....








Don't get me started on having to share a bathroom with a cosplayer. In my case I keep all of my personal stuff in my room and use a mirror in there. One of my roomies has the nick-name "The bathroom Nazi" because they are super possessive over the contents of the bathroom and everything has to remain in its designated locations etc... I just withdrew my belongings and retreated to my quarters. Except when I am doing cosplay makeup. Then I want the best lighting while I am applying it, just to be sure I don't screw it up.



I not-so-proudly admit that this has happened to me. They were concerned about the fridge door being left open......
Gotta love them, because murder is illegal.



This is a recreation of that convo. Mine was more recent....




You have to remember that, while you certainly have struggles living with them, the fact that they do this with you or in front of you means that they like and trust you.  Don't make them regret that ;)

Treat your cosplay roomies right and you will get the honor of being friends with some of the most amazing people out there.
Just remember that you will survive the insanity!!!!!
(Probably)

 

 

 

 

I am off to resume my prop making projects. Hope you enjoyed the read!

 

~Aki Ame Okami

 

A Chapter A Day: MANGA Bloody Mary by Akaza Samamiya

                  A Chapter a Day: MANGA Day 1 
We will be reading and reviewing, or I suppose a more accurate term is "reacting" to the manga Bloody Mary written by Akaza Samamiya.

First, if you want to read about it here is the Manga Fox Link and if you want to read it online here is the KissManga Link (They actually have a lot of it on there for once) Hello there and welcome back to A Chapter A Day with Aki Ame Okami! This time around we are exploring the first two volumes in the popular supernatural/shounen ai themed manga "Bloody Mary"!

These reviews will be brief because manga, unlike books, is released in volumes and in a volume there are 3-4 chapters so I only have roughly 8 chapters of this story. That is okay though, Bloody Mary isn't finished yet so we are just sampling it and seeing if any of our fans like it.

Alright, how did I get my hands on the first 2 volumes? I went to a local Barnes and Noble (Which wasn't easy, it is an hour away) and purchased them with Heiwa's money. She spoils me but I am fine with it. Now if you want to read along with me I have done a "no-no" and provided a link to where you can read it online for free just below the title.
So without further delay let us read! (To be specific we are reading the entire first volume)

~~~~30-ish minutes and some ooh's and ahh's later~~~~


Mary is soooo cute!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh! Here, look for yourself!

Now I am not usually a Neko-boy person, its a whatever. If they have ears great, if not that's okay too. BUT Mary and his hoodie ears are just... They are too cute. His entire personality is just so adorable and sad. Even if you didn't read along with me you can tell from the top right picture that Mary has an extreme death wish. He hunts down the only person who he thinks can kill him and begs him too. This is where Maria comes in.

Completely opposite to Mary, Maria wants to live. Apparently his blood is delicious and anytime he leaves the school or church he will constantly get attacked by vampires so he must have had a very depressing and lonely child hood.       
We don't get to learn much about Maria in

This picture made me laugh so I had to use it...

the first few chapters.
Basically, we learned that he 1. Is a smooth man with everyone. 2. Likes Mary 3. Has a strange relationship with Takumi 4. Must have a deep dark past because he is one of the MC's in a supernatural Manga.                     
As usual, the first volume is a fantastic intro that pulls you in, provides you with enough unanswered questions that keep you reading. It also has a good amount of comedy, chemistry and mystery in a fresh way that doesn't scream cliché or copyright.


     Also, This is Takumi the class president that Maria has a weird relationship with. IT IS SO FLIPPING HARD FINDING PICTURES FOR HIM!!!!! EDIT: I had a few pictures of him but the links died on me so that sucks :/
That is all :)

I wonder how Mary and Maria are connected and I want to read more of their adorable fun facts <3  I cannot wait to review volume 2 with you guys sometime in the next few days!!!

~Aki Ame Okami  

Interesting Day

Hey there! Here are Ani-Maze-Me we had a pretty interesting day. 
First I got the wigs that Heiwa had ordered for my birthday, no they didn't take that long to get here (3 days just like

 shipping said) we just waited to order them.

As you can tell from the first picture I ordered the "Magnum" In "Baby Pink" and I absolutely love it. I plan to use it for a Lisbeth (SAO) cosplay.

 
The other one that I got is the "Jaguar" in "Crimson" and it is Awesome! I currently have no cosplans for this one so someone please give me ideas!!!!
I got it because I love the cut and color and wanted to try it.

 


The packaging, yeah I know it looks boring.

So I hit you with double the bore XD

 Didn't have a wig cap so to test it out we ended up braiding my hair and pinning it up. That was painful and annoying and I took the picture and left it in this post even though I personally hate it.
I also happen to hate any picture that features me though so its

 that odd for me to say that.

This is a bad pic of the Crimson. I looooveee it! Obviously I had it pulled down a little too far but I only had time to test the wigs for a few minutes then I had an appointment with the records

 person at the college.

This is a forced "Selfie" that I took with Heiwa.
I love the pink too!!!! The cut is totally adorable and would probably look better on someone else XD

 

Obligatory "selfie".

 This is a WIP of the Maid costume. There are a lot of little details on the costume that I haven't captured in the picture but whatever, I will have a separate post that has the features of the costume.

This is the back of the costume. I always have to have Heiwa tie the bow but she doesn't mind it, she likes tying it into fun things.

That is all for today, over the weekend I will review the first Bloody Mary so keep an eye out!
~Aki Ame Okami

Glamour Shots From Marion-Con Spring 2016

 

                 Marion-Con Spring 2016!

 

 

I promised to upload the pictures so here you go!

I hope you enjoy them!
Kiba Inuzuka: Aki Ame Okami 

Hinata Hyuuga: Heiwa Kibo Hane

Itachi Uchiha: Mrs. Zexania Sutcliff

(I love Mrs. Zexania's Grell Sutcliff cosplay. I seriously want to do a Black Butler team cosplay with her one day soon! )

Most of the outdoor pictures were taking facing the flipping sun so I admit that I am squinting for most of them. Sowwy :(

 

Stopped to freshen up and Heiwa FOLLOWED ME into the bathroom, She was staying in character and doing the Hinata Stalker thing. It was all fun and games until she started taken stall shots........ She still has them.

Those dreadful nails were glued on during the car ride to Marion-con. I had to rip them off with pliers later because I had an anniversary dinner to go to -_-




Hope you enjoyed!
~Aki Ame Okami

Cosplay Struggles: June

Hello there my possibly crafty friends!

Chances are, if you are on this blog, you enjoy one of 4 things.
1. Cosplay
2. Anime
3. Reading/nerd fandoms in general or
4. Me!

Just kidding, we both know that last one is probably not a real reason, but if it is then you are in luck. I am just going to write a little heart to heart about some internal struggles in regards to my cosplay projects.

First of all, picking a character to cosplay is never easy and I always have my doubts. I try to pick things with fun elements that will comfort me when I am surrounded by strangers who could laugh at me at any moment. I am always nervous and afraid but I make myself do it anyways, so please don't think that I am "Master of all that is cosplay". It isn't easy.

Second, I have always been crafty but never to the scale of costume making. I have worked as props and wardrobe for multiple productions and have grown up with it being an almost everyday affair in my house Homeschool and the family business leads to some creative adventures. so it has always been something I was familiar with but that doesn't make it easy. Before cosplay I never messed with the sewing machine, fake fur, hot glue, Gesso or pretty much any of my new materials and I never dreamed of making a sword or 3DMG so these past 6/7 months have really been eye opening for me and helped me realize what I might want to do with my future.

All that being said, during my last cosplay (Rin Okumura) I got very stressed and broke 3 sewing needles, every time the tips snapped up and hit me in the face. It is miracle that one of them didn't take my eye out. That has me afraid to sew again. I know that the best thing for me to do is to get right back in there and keep trying but I can't help but to be scared. The needle snapping means two things, I did something wrong and without the no-sew kit I would have failed. I don't or possibly cant  handle failure on my part. If I go to sew again and it ruins something I am working on then that will be a big failure and I know I can't handle that.
Currently I plan on hand sewing the trim onto my maid outfit so that will take a while and probably hurt but at least I can practice my stitches. I do have plans to try and sew a simple pair of fingerless gloves just to work things out with my sewing machine and get back on good graces with it.... Wish me luck.

Also, I don't know if you noticed but I tend to lean towards cosplaying male characters. That is because I am not and never have been confident in my ability to look "cute" or "attractive". I don't picture myself that way and have a hard time even trying to figure out how to accomplish that. You can watch a million tutorials but in the end if you aren't cute then you simply aren't cute. Almost all female anime/manga/game characters are cute and hot! I have considered doing strong female examples like Riza Hawkeye (FMA) or Erza Scarlet (FairyTail) but they also have a certain appeal that I lack. What I am saying is, this Maid costume is a huge accomplishment for me. It might not turn out great and I might not do it justice but I am trying and doing my best because that is all I know how to do.
I do still plan to cosplay male characters because lets face it, there are a ton more males that have fun personalities and easy costumes. Also I really want to be able to make females (or males) days at a convention. Imagine a Tamaki coming up and giving you a flower and reminding you that you are perfect just the way you are. Sound silly? Maybe. On my last day of Yama-con 2015 a pair of Hikaru and Kaoru cosplayers (crossplaying) let me take their pictures and gave me a rose and really acted their part. That saved my Sunday and left a wonderful lasting impression that I want to be able to pass on.


These have been only a few of my cosplay struggles and I am glad that you chose to read them. No hate please, I just left a portion of my heart and soul exposed so don't abuse it.

~Aki Ame Okami