J-Popcon 2015 III

Third post about our adventures at J-Popcon back in February this year!
FIRST and SECOND post can be found here.

Once again: The pictures were all taken by my friends Jasmin (J-Me Cosplay), Siw (Yōsei Cosplay DK) or myself (unless otherwise stated) and are probably of really bad quality. I beg your pardon as we didn't have much time to stop up and take pictures, hence most of them are blurry or taken from strange angles.

Also, I didn't take notes in the evening about what I'd done during the day Saturday and Sunday but I'll try to remember as much as possible!

[Flashback to last post]

"When Siw's shift ended at midnight, we all met up in the maid café. In the evenings the café would turn into a karaoke bar with waaay more people attending than I would have thought. We didn't get to sing though - too many people had requested songs before we came.
That night (or morning) we went to bed at 1.30am - and this time in an actual gopher sleeping hall!"

[End of flashback]

The next morning, Jasmin and I woke up early to have a shower before breakfast. Another gopher perk was that we got to eat breakfast for free in the maid café from 7.30 to 8.30'ish, which was especially nice if you had an early shift and 1) didn't have time to go to town or 2) didn't want to spend a fortune buying warm food from the food stands outside. Siw had had a shift until midnight the day before and was still asleep so Jasmin and I went there alone straight after our shower - with wet hair, no make-up, and in our pyjamas and no one batted an eye. Con life is great!

This book was placed on a table near the entrance and you could actually come to the café and order a table for a specific time later during the day - neat!

After breakfast we got dressed. Since the theme this year was the Edo period, the maids and butlers got to wear these preeetty yukatas! Jasmin was o' so fine the entire weekend (I envied her so much!) with different make-up and a different hairstyle each day.

Another maid had made cat masks they could wear and it made a cute accessory!

When her shift began I went on adventures by myself!
At first I went to the artist alley and happened to meet a friend of mine that I had made at Koyocon the year before. There were SOOO many nice drawings and I kind of regret not having one of them draw a blog cover for me.

A stand that caught my eye was this one selling yukatas, incense aromas, chopsticks, sandals, and a lot of other cool things. I was very impressed and ended up chatting with the lady, who told me how they had gone to Japan to watch the yukatas being made to ensure that they were only selling quality products. 

The lady was more than happy about me taking pictures for my blog and asked me to let people know that their webshop would be up by the end of March has just aired!
For now they only ship to Denmark (sorry dear international readers </3) and you can find their website HERE.

My first shift that day was outside near the food stalls. I was supposed to supervise/host a clan war event with one of the organizers but the organizer never showed up and only one clan came to participate (one of its members being a Danish girl I met at the B.A.P concert that I went to in Düsseldorf last year. It was so cool talking to her again!). I hadn't been informed about what to do and after some time of waiting with them under one of the food stall tents (it was raining cats and dogs outside), I went to the reception to ask what was going on. A super nice girl (also an organizer) saw my struggle and called the clan and I downstairs to do a little event there instead. The clan got extra points for being the only ones to show up (I'm pretty sure I heard that they won the whole clan war thing at the ending show on Sunday) and the girl and I talked a little before parting.

Since no one else showed up, my shift ended 1½ hour earlier than planned. After we brought food for Jasmin, Siw had to work again and I roamed around by myself once again - of course wearing my sexy orange gopher shirt so I could be available for whoever would need me. This time I made a quick stop by the manga café before going to the dealers hall!

Look who I met outside, dancing and hugging people!

So many shops. So many people. So many pretty cosplays *-*

As I walked around, I noticed that a lot of people had made a HUUUGE line going all the way outside and that was when I saw my fluffy-haired "senpai". Apparently they were all waiting to meet and have their stuff signed by the voice behind Mario, Charles Martin and no way in life would I miss such an important moment! 

It was finally our turn and after having signed my senpai's old nintendo while quoting Mario, he agreed to a picture with us and [fangirl moment ahead] GOSH I WAS SO HAPPY! I don't care if my hair is strange or if the make-up and circle lenses are out of place because the voice behind my childhood is here in the picture!!!! WOOOAH

A quarter past three I went to pick up Siw and meet up with Jasmin to watch the kimono show hosted by Kimono-Klub Danmark and the Japanese embassy. Although there were already a LOT of people, we were lucky enough to find a seat in the front!

A woman, of course wearing a kimono herself, functioned as the speaker and started out talking about the Danish kimono club in Denmark. Soon she called out a girl and two women, who were going to dress her as she spoke. Apparently putting on a kimono takes a LONG time and even with two women constantly working on it, it took quite a while before she was fully dressed. 

The speaker talked about how much fabric was actually needed for one kimono (holy cow) and had the audience measure.

We heard how the style of kimono had changed throughout history and why and also how it was still used in modern fashion.

 In the end she had all the models, wearing different types of kimono, do a little catwalk before ending the show.

 

  At last they posed for us to take pictures and man were they popular - especially with the press!


I can't remember what we did after this but at 5pm, the doors to the  show - Danish Cosplay Championship 2015  opened!
The doors had opened half an hour before actual show but we had hurried over there to make sure we'd get a nice spot. On pictures it looks like we were far away but we really weren't :O

↓This picture belongs to Zarsu.dk - Cosplay & Photography↓

With nothing to do but to wait, why not snap a cosplay selca! #redheads #JPopcon2015 #hashtag #ohgodstopme

And thus it began!!

I was SO happy when I learned that a youtuber had uploaded all of the acts from the show (BLESS YOU SRSLY!), and made them available for us to see. Let's have a look at my favorites!

These two were awesomely timed! Many people can go on stage and perform but only few can match the speech and movements as well as these did!

These cosplayers proved that good probs can really help a show on its way!

This one really shocked us! You can hear the audience scream in the video ._.

Everyone clapped along to this act and they actually won "The audience's favorite" prize.

If you want to see the rest of the wonderful acts, you can find the playlist HERE.

I grabbed some of the the packed lunch we'd brought with us quick dinner with Jasmin (Siw went to town to buy some 'real' food) before my next shift. At first I'd thought, since it said "Trash team" in my shift description, that I'd be helping one of the clans compete in something and that their clan name was "Trash"...

...

until it suddenly hit me that I was supposed to act as a garbageman the following two hours.

Luckily I wasn't alone - the cutest girl was with me!

To keep our spirits high we called ourselves Team Trash! and I swear we had the best teamwork! Once in a while someone would come up to us and ask for help and as soon as we were done, we'd shout

"Team Trash, go!"

while doing this pose↓ and then run off to collect more trash. I had way too much fun with this.

After half an hour we'd been all over the place and decided to split up and meet each other later in the reception to check if we'd have to empty the trashcans once more.

Oh! And look who I found right as we parted! A girl in the ever so famous pokémon card dress~

And a really neat fem!Jack Frost. Some day I'd love to go with a friend as Elsa and Jack ~

I also had my own photo taken with a fellow Poké fan! Thank you for sending me this picture by the way!

By luck I met Jasmin and Siw and we decided to have a mini photo shoot in the middle of everything since we had made it a "rule" to take at least one picture together each day and hadn't done that yet that day.

(Please excuse the strange camera angles)

Jasmin as Princess Merida (Brave)

Me as Misty (Pokémon). I can't pose for my life

And Siw as Stitch (Lilo & Stitch). There were two other Stitches at the con and one of them had been eyeing Siw each time he saw her. When he and his friend walked by our flash-photoshoot, he finally gathered the courage and asked to have a picture taken with her. Aawh look at those little monsters (◠‿◠)

A couple of people came over and asked for photos of us (I guess since we were already posing and stuff) and even one of those 'real' cosplay photographers! - I haven't managed to find his page yet though.. 

Apparently he told Siw that Misty could speak French, who would have known?

While Jasmin and Siw were checking out the 'party', a guy I'd met earlier during the day gathered a Pokémon team! The girl cosplaying Brock is actually one of the few Korea students here in Denmark - can't believe how lucky I was to meet one!

This awesome picture belongs to http://atnastacia.tumblr.com/. Thank you for letting me use it!

We spent some time walking around half-arguing (while Brock was scouring for girls), having our pictures taken, and, at last, singing the Pokémon theme song in the maid café karaoke bar. People were so excited- I think the entire room joined in!

After our little performance~

Derp pictures are good. Derp pictures are life.

At midnight, Jasmin and I went to join a game of Mafia and look at who we ran into!

'Sometimes I remember that I have no parents *wipes away tears*'

A LOT of people had come to play Mafia and it took them forever to explain the rules. I never got to play as I had to leave around 1am - shift next morning! Meanwhile, Siw and Jasmin were singing karaoke until I-don't-even-know-but-it-was-late.