Melodies of the Soul: The Anime Convention

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In the year two thousand and four I attend my first anime convention. It was also the first time I cross-dressed in public. I was sixteen and a sophomore at Yazoo County High School. I had been into anime for about four or so years at that point. Now, you have to remember that the anime community in the early two thousands was considerably smaller than it is today. And even though I came from the urban parts of Mississippi, your choices of where to buy say anime and manga was very limited. Your major chain bookstores had a few token titles, but if you wanted a certain title or that missing volume to complete your collect, you had to order it. And then wait seven or eight business days for it to come in the mail.

It was your average Saturday Night, the little wooden building that was Van's Comics and Cards was packed to the rafters. All of geekdom was there, there must have been forty or fifty of us all crowed into the tiny building with barely any room to walk from the massive collection of comics that lay boxed up. I remember that night, Pokemon and Yugioh battles had filled the morning and now that it was past lunch it was time to settle down for a long, fun filled night of Settlers of Catan and Dungeons and Dragons. The whole shop was buzzing with excitement. It had been a really good week, with plenty of news from abroad. And so with mugs of strong coffee in our hands we settled down to digest the newest batch of rumors and bits and pieces of information.

I forgot who brought it up first. But one of the traveling gamers, who often went down to the coastal regions and beyond mentioned there was going to be an anime convention down in New Orleans at one of those fancy hotels in the French Quarter. That was big news for us. Up to that point most anime conventions had taken place in major coastal cities. And those were out of the reach for many of us, but New Orleans was only three or so hundred miles away and train tickets were cheap enough..

And so all of a sudden a poor, country boy like me could possibly attend an anime convention. Maybe, if I played my cards right, I could get our local paper to sponsor me I mean I did consider myself something of a writer, I had a Fanfiction.Net account and had written around ten thousand words of Legend of Zelda Fanfiction. And so while I sipped my coffee, and listened to the swapping of stories and made mental notes of the latest rumors, I started to plan. And I pondered my plans, I refined them on the drive home that night, and I reversed them the next morning at Mass at St. George Episcopal Church and I wrote them down on a notepad at school Monday morning.

I returned to Van's Comics and Cards the following weekend. The traveler was back again, and this time he was handing out information about the convention. I remember taking the flier into my hand and giving it a once over. The thin sheet of colored paper did indeed announce that a three day anime convention would take place on the last weekend of march, the three day celebration of everything Japan would start on Friday, reach its zenith on Saturday and slowly fold up on Sunday. The event would feature famous voice actors, merchants, a concert and dance. Also oddly enough there was mention of an Gunge the Cosplayer fundraiser going on and that if anyone was brave enough to volunteer they should email of the staff ASAP.

And so rolling the dice of fate I send an email to the staff of the convention, and before long I found myself signed up for the fundraiser and also by a strange twist of fate, a free, three day convention pass
and badge arrived in the mail for me. It seemed me volunteering for the booth came with the perks of being give a free, three day pass. Looking back through time and space, with the advantage of sixteen years, plus some months hindsight.

I do see it a bit strange that a random person would be given a free, three day pass to a budding anime convention. But then again, miracles sometimes do fall out of pocket of God. Now, I was thrifty by nature and for the last few years I had been saving every penny that had come into the palm of m hand. I had funneled all of my Christmas money and birthday money into an old wooden box that I kept under lock and key under my bed. I had been saving for a good four years, so I had a fair bit saved up. I think it totaled around twelve hundred or so dollars. Add in another three hundred dollars the local paper had advanced me to write a story and to cover the convention, and another three hundred dollars from chores earned that season, adding all that together I had close to eighteen hundred dollars in cash, that would be my traveling money. Money that was to cover travel, lodging and food. I was pretty sure I could make it, and added bonus was the fact a friend of the families worked for Amtrack, and so I secured a tround trip ticket from my hometown to Yazoo City to new Orleans at a steep discount.

Now the convention was not scheduled till March and considering it was only January, I had a fair bit of waiting time ahead of me, I used that time wisely and took on as many odd jobs as possible around the house for various family members. I booked a hotel room ahead of time in the same hotel the anime convention was to be held, again at a steep discount for booking ahead. And I put as much as possible back, for extra pocket money, this of course would be my first solo trip out of state.

Toward the end of January I discovered an anime that turned my life upside down. A friend of mine recommended the newest gender-bender anime to hit the shelves, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. I quickly feel in with the anime as it spoke to me in ways other anime's at the time did not. I felt drawn to the main character, Hazumu who is killed a passing UFO crashes into him and in a strange twist of fate is brought back to life as a girl. I must confess, I always wanted something like that to happen to me when I was going through high school. But sadly it never did. But Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl did inspire me and since the anime meant a lot to me, I felt it only right to cosplay as the main character or at least wear the cute school uniform the main character wears.

And so I took to the online marketplace and after a day or so of browsing the web, I came across a seamstress who did costumes, I contracted her and told her my desires, I provided references the best I could along with my measurements and then finally sent a money order that totaled around two hundred fifty dollars and sixteen odd cents.

Now before I go on with my story, I feel I should enlighten you gentle reader on why I required a seamstress. Now in the year two thousand twenty one we have dozens of online costume shops that sell costumes of various anime characters. Most of those costume are no doubt made in the sweatshops that dot backstreets of Northern Chine or Korea. Maybe a few of them are even made in Japan herself. But back in two thousand four, there dozens and dozens of skilled seamstresses taking cosplay commissions. It was a thriving cottage industry of handmade costumes, props and accessories. But I'm afraid the steady march of Father Time has killed this craft and only a precious handful still make highly detailed costumes by hand.

The weeks seemed to slowly drag on on by, the date of the convention loomed in the back of my mind. I took to re-watching Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl over and over again. I also started to teach myself demure behavior by carefully watching how other girls interacted with other girls and boys, and when I was along I did my best to mimic them. Then month after I placed my commission order my costume arrived.

I remember rushing up to my bedroom, locking the door and taking and took a deep breath as I gently spread out the varies parts of the costume upon my messy bed. Drawing in a deep breath, I cleared my mind and slipped the costume on. The outfit fitted me like a glove. And as I peered into the reflective surface of the mirror only one thought entered into my head 'Boy I'm cute' then it dawned on me, there would be no turning back now. The die had been cast, I had crossed the Rubicon. There would be not retreating from her on out. I must go forward despite all hazards.

And so early on a march morning when half of Yazoo City was fast asleep, I walked onto the platform of our towns request stop. I had my ticket in my hand. I was dressed in a pair of fading blue jeans, brown penny loafers, a white button down shirt and a solid navy blue blazer with silver buttons. My shoulder length hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail. And in my hand I held my battered old suitcase that held only a change of clothing, a travel kit, and of course my costume. And on the other hand a dirty, black messenger bag that had my old laptop computer. And a few other small personal items. At a quarter past nine, an hour after I had attended eight O' clock Mass at St. George's Episcopal Church, the silver bullet pulled up to the platform. And taking a deep breath I board the train.

I quickly found my seat, a window seat and as I pressed my face to the glass. I felt the train starting to move. It was slow at first, but as the seconds ticked on by it started to gather up speed and soon it was clicking down the rails. I watched Yazoo City, slowly fade into the morning mist. It was then I knew, my quest had truly begun. The trip from Yazoo City to New Orleans, an distance of two hundred twenty nines miles as the crow flies would take five and a half hours via train. We had several other stops to make along the way.

But I would arrive in time to get checked into my room, then I'll attend the opening ceremonies of the convention that evening and afterwards I would find the most authentic creole style the fabled French Quarters had to offer, then I would dine like a Queen.. Yes, I had failed to mention this, I had packed away a little black dress. I had found the beauty on mark down. A steal at eighteen dollars. Might as well go whole hog. Black Dress, black court shoes, put my hair-up do a little make-up. Gonzo all the way.

The next day would the main day of the convention. I planned on living my life that day as if I had only twenty four more hours to live. And Sunday if I could, I would attend Sunday Mass, go to confession, take Holy Communion and attend the closing ceremonies. And if all went according to plan. I would be home late Monday night or early Tuesday Morning on the Midnight Special.

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Comments

Delightful story

erin's picture

I believe I have a manga of that anime in my collection. :)

Are we going to hear more of your adventures?

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Nice start

Amethyst's picture

I have Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl on dvd, it's one of my absolute faves. I didn't much like how they ended it with episode 12 but with the episode 13 Christmas special I was home again. My first cosplay at a Con also happened to be in a school girl uniform so I could really get into this. ;)

*big hugs*

Amethyst

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Don't take me too seriously. I'm just kitten around. :3