Anime Iowa 2004

SoA's Con Journal

I found myself at my second convention and having even more fun than the first.  The drive was long (I even had to drive for a while to give Mom time to nap) but bearable, being only just over 4 hours.  Nanashi and I rode down with Mom and Grandma, since Grandma used to live in Des Moines, so they all had lost of fun.

We arrived at the Hotel Fort Des Moines late on Friday evening, where Nanashi and I took our bags with our costumes for the evening up into their bathroom, which was very nice, might I add, and changed into Utena (Nanashi) and Myu Sailor Mercury (SoA).  We posed for lots of photos, and it was fun, for me at least. ^^  The dealer's room was closed by the time we got there, but we saw some interesting anime as well as a hilarious parody dub of the Sailor Moon movies.  There was a girl dressed as High School Ami there, but I didn't get a chance to take her picture.  Leaving the con at 11:15 pm, it took us almost an hour to find the hotel where we actually would sleep.  Lots of detours and missed exits.  Fun stuff.  Since we registered at the last minute, Nanashi and I found ourselves camping out on the floor of our tiny hotel room, surrounded by costume bags.

Although we intended to rise early and return to the con at 9:30 on Saturday morning, it didn't happen that way. ^_^''  We cut our Chii bangs and styled the wigs, made a wig cap out of Nanashi's cast-off Freya stockings, and realized that we did not have any bobby pins.  At the hotel, when we finally arrived, we posed for lots more pictures (people like duos, I take it) while being followed everywhere by the chorus of "Chii!"  We also heard a lot of bad Chii jokes following us.  "God!  So many Chiis!"  "Ah, the power of Chiis."  "We shall call a large number of Chii, a swaggle of Chii."  We entered the Hall Cosplay contest as a duo, but nothing came of it.  Meanwhile, I discovered how poor my hearing was, so Nanashi was constantly yelling at me to stop and come back for a picture.

When afternoon came, my Kakyuu costume was delivered in a bag by my mother, who later returned to pick up the bag and give us bobby pins and lunch.  First we attacked our wigs with pins, Nanashi's was finally able to stay on, and I realized I forgot to give Mom my wig head, so I carried it around with me all of the remaining time that day.  As usual, SoA spills all over herself.  This time it was Caesar dressing from the salad Mom brought me... all over my Sailor Kakyuu outfit.  It was a panicked moment, but the dressing washed right off, thankfully.  That afternoon, I spent much money in the dealer's room on much Sailor Moon paraphernalia: resin models, magnets, trading cards, key chain...

Nanashi was then invited out to Chinese food with Puu and friends while I went and did the Masquerade preparation.  I chatted with Hanako, who insisted that I could win something, and her friend for a while before they ran off and I had to go to the green room.  

The overall layout of the Cosplay Contest was much better than at AD.  No late rushing in.  We just had to walk around the screen in back of the stage, present our costume, then return back behind the screen and into the other room.  I was thrilled to be assigned #10.  While I'm not superstitious, being given my lucky number felt good to me.  While waiting for the whole thing to start and to be judged for workmanship, I met a lot of fun people and chatted much.  I regret not getting a picture of the Ginger girl, she was really nice (and an Ami cosplayer besides!)  I talked to some Utena cosplayers too, whose Anthy was the best I have ever seen. *_*  Then I spent time chatting with a Tottoro girl, who was just fun to chat with.  I'm sad I didn't have my little address notebook along so I could keep track of all of them.

When my turn came along, I had been singing bits of Toki Michite Kourin alternating with Teikou no Hana to keep my spirits up, I had hardly noticed my wait in line.  I simply drifted out on stage, sang the introduction "ahh's" for Toki Michite Kourin and "Watashi wa, Teikou no Hana, Sailor Kakyuu," then drifted off stage again.  It just felt good.

After what seemed like forever of chatting softly in the green room, they started announcing the winners.  I was absolutely shocked and giddy when I heard my name called, and scurried across the room to the stage, where they gave me a pretty trophy for Best Individual. *_*  The Ginger cosplayer as well as the adorable pink Chii that I had spent lots of time talking with in the bathroom when we had both been changing into our masquerade costumes both won awards too.  *bounces*  Twas really exciting.

Afterwards, Nanashi and I attended the dance for a short while then returned back to our hotel to sleep on the floor yet once more.

Saturday was much emptier and there were a lot fewer cosplayers in the crowd.  We dressed as pink manga Utena (SoA) and Anthy (Nanashi).  Among them, however, were the anime Anthy & Utena pair from the masquerade the night before (minus their Miki) and a pair of movie school uniform Utena and Anthy cosplayers.  So we had fun posing for pictures together.  While it was meant to be just a few photos, everyone in the main hallway flocked over with their cameras to take pictures of the nicely done poses. ^_^'' 

We then spent time in the Dealer's Room spending the rest of our money.  I bought two Sailor Moon Artbooks *_* and a new manga called Aria.  Nanashi got her key chain and some manga.  When the time came to go, we went down to wait in the lobby and found ourselves chatting with the anime Utena & Anthy pair a bit more before Mom picked us up to go to one of Grandma's friends' house to show off our costumes and change.  The old couple thought the costumes were lovely and were highly impressed.  Then came the ride home, where there was much sleeping and reading of manga.

Over all, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.  If I stay in the Midwest for college next year, I will definitely return.  Already, Nanashi and I are planning our costumes for our next con adventure.