Follow along with our hero as he tells the story of a guy (himself) who was brought along for the ride in his girlfriend's mad quest for perfection in costuming in preparation for the masquerade at an anime convention called Otakon. There is humor, a tiny bit of romance, and an experience he will never forget! It's set slightly in the future, and is told as a series of blog entries.

November 23: Susan called today and said she wanted me to help her with getting ready for next year’s Otakon masquerade. I’ve helped her before by making props, so I told her I will go ahead and help her out. I then asked her what props she wanted this time. She told me it wasn’t props she wants, be help with her skit. She wants to do a skit with Q-feuille and Ascoeur from Kiddy Girl-And. I said sure, I can probably help set that up and work on it with her.

She was pretty excited that I am willing to help her. What she does not know is the reason I’m so willing to help her and whoever she has with her is because I like her, and I like to spend time with her. I’m thinking of asking her out, but I’m not sure she would go for someone my size. It’s not the height, which at 6’2” I am tall, but the weight. I’m a bit fat. Yeah, I weigh 265. Ohh well, working with her on stuff will let me spend more time with her. I imagine she’s going as Ascoeur since she really likes the character. I wonder who she will have with her as Q-feuille?

December 1: Susan called and said she would like to challenge me to lose some weight. She said I need to be in shape for the convention, plus she wanted to help me feel better and get in shape. She even challenged me by saying if I get down to 175 or less she is going to take me on vacation to Japan for 2 weeks with here next September! I have to do it. I also asked her out. I can’t believe she said yes! She told me she’s been waiting for me to do that for over a year now. I must be dense.

She also said she has made an appointment for me at the clinic her mom owns. I know they do some kind of health stuff involving lasers and such. She said it is to help get ready for Otakon next year. I guess they must do weight loss there too. Sounds like I’m going to be doing loads of work to help set this up so I guess I need to be in shape for it.

December 6: OHH MY GOD!!!! The fury of a thousand suns have slapped me in the face repeatedly this evening! Susan met me at her mom’s clinic. It’s called Healthy Look Laser and Beauty. One of the things they do there is something called “laser hair removal.” I didn’t know there was such a thing, but Susan assured me that it was something she wanted me to do because she likes my face smooth and clean shaven, and she hates stubbly faces on guys. She also said it would help with Otakon.

Hmm, I do hate to shave, and since this is free I’ll go ahead with it, though I am not looking forward to getting this done every four weeks for a total of 8 times. Helen, Susan’s mom said it will not hurt as much later on, and by the last treatment I will barely notice it. I have sneaking suspicion Susan means for me to be IN her skit somehow. I’ll have to ask her about it next time I see her.

January 3: I had my second laser treatment today. It hurt, but I don’t think it was as bad as the first one. I’ve also lost over 20 pounds! Susan dragging me to the gym 4 nights a week for a couple hours at a time sure helps. I’m down to 243 now. I asked Susan what she had in mind for me to help her with the costumes at Otakon. She confirmed what I fear, that she wants me to dress as Q-feuille. No wonder she wanted me to lose weight, and no wonder she wants me facial hair free. She has started buying everything to make costumes, wigs and such. She’s doing ALL of it by hand. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound they say. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to pull this off, but I’ll give it a try for her. It certainly makes me nervous. I’m going to turn this journal into a progress for Otakon journal now.

March 14: Things have been going well with the weight loss. I’ve actually dropped to 198 as of yesterday. I definitely feel more energetic. I’ve also had 4 laser treatments now and I only have to shave every few days now, and then it’s getting fairly patchy. Susan has finished the wigs now. I never knew how much work went into hand tying wigs, and how hard it is to get the exact colors needed to do characters. She had me lift over 100 shots from all directions of both Q-feuille and Ascoeur from the series. She wants to get everything just right. She has also taken shoes and modified them to make them a perfect match for the ones in the show. Now that’s dedication. The part that worries me is how the heck am I going to walk in those things!

May 7: I’ve finally done it! At my weigh in this morning I was at 171 lb. Damn I’m skinny! I also have more energy than I’ve had in a long time! I think I will stick around this weight. Hey, that trip to Japan with Susan is mine! Speaking of Susan, things are going VERY well between us. She is also extremely excited that I’ve hit the target weight. She wants to start measuring me for my costume tonight. She completed hers already and it looks awesome. Just like it came out of the anime and was brought into reality. I knew she was talented, but wow.

The only thing is I am a bit nervous about me in a costume. Speaking of the costume I’ve been at her house nearly every night practicing in a pair of shoes identical to the ones she modified for my costume. I had a very hard time at first, but I got the hang of it. I also learned that high heels are not comfortable at all. She now wants to get both of us practicing the character’s voices and movements. Sounds like hard work.

June 4: My costume is completely done. I can’t believe all the work she put into this thing. First she took some measurements, and then after reviewing the show some more she said she had to revise something. She went out and got something called a corset and put it on me. It took a few more inches off my newly skinny self. She also had bought some fake boobies for me to use in the costume. They were from some place on Ebay. They look like boobs made out of some rubbery like squishy stuff. Susan says they are silicone breast forms, but I can tell you from working on cars, that’s not like the silicone I use. I do imagine you could make a gasket with the same material though. Not that I’d do that after seeing what she spent on them. She is really into doing this, so money is no object because she wants to win at the masquerade.

Anyways, I’ve tried the costume on with all the stuff, with it. I also had to shave everywhere for the trial fitting to make sure it will all look good. The makeup around the seams where she used some type of adhesive for the boobs on me would have passed all but the closest of inspections, and at that you would have to almost have your nose touching me to see where the falsies and my skin were joined up. She also made up my face for what seemed like more than a half hour. The wig, costume, shoes, and the rest were all on me for a couple hours while she did a complete and thorough inspection. She noted stuff down on a pad that she was going to alter a bit for the costume.

July 18: Well, the con is coming up at the end of the month. We are finally and completely prepared. All final alterations to the costumes have been made, and I seem to now be holding my weight at a steady 168 pounds. The last laser treatment has been done, though to tell the truth I don’t think I really needed it. I have not shaved in well over a month now and my face is smooth. Susan is so excited she can barely hold it in. She bought us some weird contact lenses called “circle lenses” to make our eyes not only look bigger, but be the same color as our characters.

I have had multiple practice sessions moving in the costume and moving like Q-feuille. She has been practicing moving like Ascoeur and we have been practicing the skit we are planning every night for a couple hours at a time. We have also been practicing doing the voices of the characters. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but it was annoying to practice my lines one word at a time, then play it back and compare it to Q-feuille’s voice. I almost strained myself at first, but I got the hang of it and can now switch between my normal voice and the voice of Q-feuille. In fact we are both very good at it. I know for all the work we have put into this I hope we win. Susan has made us three identical costumes each so we can play our characters all three days of the convention.

July 29: Here it is. The big weekend. We got a room last night in a hotel right across the street from and connected to the convention by a weird bridge thing. To me it’s like wandering through a hamster tunnel. We also got up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 AM to get ready. At least I did not have to shave. Of course I won’t have to all weekend since Thursday morning before we left to come here she and her mom tortured me. They did this thing called “waxing” on me. I thought that when they said they wanted to do that it would involve rubbing something on me to make me shiny, kinda like what you do to a car. Ohh boy was I wrong. Pain, I know you and where you live! You live on strips of cloth that are stuck to a weird yellow warm wax like substance! Anyways, we got ready and out to the registration line at 8:00. We waited for a couple hours in that slow moving line before we finally got our badges. I can’t believe all the pictures people took of us. I also can’t believe I’m here, a guy, and wearing a dress and heels and all the stuff with it out in public. It’s weird, but what the hell, it’s for Susan. Besides, I’m enjoying all the attention.

July 30: This morning I at least got to have breakfast before getting all done up. We got up at a nicer time too, 9:00 AM. Still, this was the big day! Susan took extra care to make sure my makeup was right, her makeup was right, our wigs were perfect, the makeup perfect, and the costumes perfect. She spent 3 hours on me, then another 2 on herself, so we did not head over until after 3:00. We had already been interviewed and had to show pictures of costume construction at various stages, reference pictures from the anime, and some video of what we were planning on as our skit. We were also cautioned to not go over the 2 minute limit, which was fine with us because our spot was only 107 seconds long. I know, we had practiced it enough. Still, it was funny to see the judges reaction in pre-judging when they found out I am a guy!

One of the judges even asked for permission to use our picture for a guide she was putting together to show people how to do cosplay right. I was pretty sure that’s a good sign. We were then told to be back at 5:00 so we could be brought in back stage for the masquerade lineup, and that instruction on what we are to do would be given there. I was a bit nervous because I was going to be on stage, in front of thousands of people and in a dress. Still, it’s a bit too late to back out now.

July 31: I can’t believe we won. In fact some of the people who do these competitions all the time were amazed, and the audience went wild. When we were brought up as winners and it was announced that not only was this Susan’s first time making costumes like that and competing with them, but that I was a guy the house almost came down. I didn’t think they were going to let us leave the stage! Some of the professionals told us they were jealous of how we did, and that we absolutely have to stick with it. I was told I was the best male crossplayer they had ever seen.

The pros started giving Susan ideas for future costumes, and told her that we should definitely use these costumes at more anime conventions, but we needed new ones for future competitions. We were also told we have to wear these same costumes at least one day at all of our conventions for the next year or year and a half since they were so perfect and true to the characters in the anime. One of the judges was the cosplay director at over 20 conventions, and she said as a reward for us being novices but having professional level costumes we get free passes to every one of the conventions she is a part of. I was stunned, so was Susan. We also are going to be featured in the program guide for next year.

August 12: Wow, I have finally recovered. My arms, legs, chest, and underarms all itched like mad for the past week, but that’s finally subsiding. Susan has been walking around with a goofy grin for the past couple weeks now since we won. Ohh, she has also moved in with me too, and is talking marriage. Her mom approved since I was such a “good sport” with the cosplay. Helen also told me the cosplay thing was a bit of a test for me too. I guess before I met Susan she had dated a guy who was an overly macho jerk after they got together even though he acted like a nice guy beforehand, and she wanted to make sure that I would not be the same way. I guess I passed. In more ways than one. Well, now Susan is making plans for the next cosplay we are doing together. She is also planning out our vacation schedules, with the plan to finish out the year with 5 more conventions and at least 12 next year. The costumes? I’m not sure, but she said she wanted me to watch some show called Chobits with her. She said something about Chi and Freya….