Yakuza Kiwami (2016) - The (Pre)Sequel Original Remake

        Immediately after finishing my Yakuza 0 spree (and becoming a cabaret club mogul), I jumped into Yakuza Kiwami, which is a game that came out one year after Zero. Essentially a remake of the original game from 2005 with some added and changed story elements to better serve as a sequel to Zero. It continues Kazuma Kiryu's storyline and the evolving drama around the Tokyo's Tojo Clan. Once again, I will be keeping this entry short-er. First I wish to describe some of the smaller changes to gameplay and systems, touch a little bit about the storyline (without spoiling major story beats) and then give my overall impressions. 

        Since this is built upon the same engine as Zero (and Yakuza 6), the first feeling of this game is extremely familiar. The UI is pretty much the same, Kiryu's styles are the same (even though they are once again starting from scratch), the movement both during and outside combat feels a bit better and more responsive than Zero. The biggest change to combat progression is via the newly introduced Majima Everywhere - this is how Kiryu now levels up his Dragon of Dojima fighting style. Fresh after starting the game, Kiryu meets Majima (my darling from Zero) who wishes to train him back to what he was like before Kiwami by constantly ambushing him during substories, various side activities, when roaming the overworld map or during random encounters. This is also amped up for comedic effect, but more on that later. As Kiryu, you will be doing whatever it is there to do when suddenly you will have Majima attacking you as if you are Peter Sellers opening a fridge in Pink Panther. 

        I somewhat enjoyed this mechanic, at first. It was fun encountering Majima, but pretty soon I ran out of the "regular encounters" and it turned into puzzles. I was supposed to find him based on descriptions, poems, etc. It was here where I stopped engaging with this system. This is all subjective of course, but the comedy was a hit and miss. 

        There were also many alter egos of Majima, such as Officer Majima, Bartender Majima, Zombie Majima and others. 

     

        Anyway, let's switch straight into characters and story. So, I did not like this version of Majima at all. He was nothing like the Majima from Zero, who was a tragic hero trying hard to be as stoic as possible. I also feel like there was zero (haha) transition from the stoic reserved Majima of the previous game to this one. In Yakuza 0, he changes his hair and clothes, and that is it. Suddenly, he is the Mad Dog of Shimano. There was also no explanation as to why he was so obsessed with Kiryu, as in Zero they have barely met. I have been told that what Majima was in Zero was really an exception, as he always was and is a Joker type character who adores violence, Kiryu and being absurd. I don't know. Not a fan. I also found out that in Kiwami 2 there is more of the Zero Majima, so I am hopeful. 

        A big plot point in the story of Kiwami is the continuation of the relationship between Kiryu and his best friend, Nishiki, whom I never really liked in Zero. Here, Nishiki (sort of) takes center stage and once again, I was not a fan. Dare I say that in the first game there were two moments I liked, but in Kiwami I groaned whenever Nishiki was on screen. Supposedly, most of the added story elements that were absent in the original concern him. I just have to shrug in disappointment. 

         Whenever the politics of the Tojo Clan, including the bosses of Dojima, Kazama and Shimano are on screen (especially at the beginning), I was glued to the screen and loving it. When the story switched to a more personal focus, I had to force myself to continue. 

          One of the new characters in this game was the Tokyo police detective Makoto Date, who had an amazing first scene and my impression has been that of a very cool side character that appears briefly. Suddenly, Date-san was present for 90% of the story and was more involved than Kiryu and I was kept wondering why the hell was this Columbo looking mf still here. 

        Even though I struggled in the middle, I really enjoyed the ending, which tied both Kiryu's personal story as well as the overarching story of the Tojo Clan. I am sort of glad that all the personal ties that were carried over from Zero to Kiwami in regards to Kiryu are done. I liked what they did with some of the new characters and I especially liked Kiryu himself much more than in Zero. Here he seems much more mature. However, I did not care much for this game's characterization of Majima and I did not enjoy the bulk of the main story. The ending had left me satisfied and happy, however. I am looking forward to Kiwami 2. I would rate Kiwami 1 an above average 6/10.

Yakuza 0 (2015) - Slightly insane masterpiece

 

       

        I have never played any Yakuza game before and on a spur of the moment, I just sort of decided to give Yakuza Zero a try. From what I read up on it online, it is a perfect starting point for a newcomer, since it serves as a prequel to the original saga. I was led to believe that this would be a serious mob story, something similar more to Puzzo's Godfather and maybe less of a Scarface. Oh boy, were both accounts so wrong... A disclaimer, before I start: I will not be recapping the main story (because honestly, that would be a novella on its own), although I will be spoiling some of the story elements. Sometimes, I do not want to describe the main story in its entirety, because it was not gripping enough and I do not want to go through with it. Other times, my descriptive paragraphs would not do the story justice. This is the latter. I want to divide this post into several parts - gameplay, characters/story and other elements such as music and visuals. 

        Yakuza 0 is a prequel to a game series by the same name that has started in 2005 and is carrying on until today with sequels, spin offs and a prequel that is this game. It is absolutely massive and until 2015, it had a bigger barrier of entry than the Resident Evil franchise. Despite that fact (and mostly because I was so disappointed with KCD2), I decided to jump onto this train with Zero. Well, it can be technically described as a "Japanese GTA", but that would be a disservice to Yakuza 0. There is a free roam in this game, even though during the story you are mostly guided down a certain path. There are side missions, called substories, which you can access as soon as Chapter 2 starts. There are total 17 chapters in this game. All in all it took me 32 hours to finish it, with some sub stories too. You cannot drive a car in Yakuza, nor cause mayhem on civilians like you can in GTA. So why the comparison? Well, essentially it is a story about the Japanese mob, its criminal activities. From a distance, it looks like a Rockstar game, right? Well, once you get closer, the similarities evaporate. There is a very deep dive into many characters in this game - their motivations, traumatized past, their hopes for the future and eventually their acceptance of all their failures in a very theatrical fashion. There are a ton of side activities too, such as karaoke (my favorite!), fishing, fight club/arena, there is baseball, mahjong, blackjack and disco-dancing, and many others! Each characters also has their own business management mini-game, which honestly, one is much better than the other, but both are alright. 

        The voice performances are so dramatic, so emotional and so very well done, that most of the game I just watched in silence and gasped whenever anything happened. No single performance felt flat, boring or phoned in. Every single person you talk to in the game is fantastic. There are no dips in quality. There never was an abundance of exclamations, sighing or any of that, which is typical to a Japanese game.

        And you will be talking to a lot of NPCs. There is a varied cast of characters - yakuza bosses of several hierarchies, their underlings... you have the chairman, who rules the yakuza supreme, his various clans, their heads, their lieutenants and so on. You have your friends that you meet during the main story and those that you make while free roaming. There are hostesses, police officers, masseurs, there is a dominatrix friend for Kiryu and many others. No single character is simple either, from the two main protagonists that you switch between (every two chapters) to everyone else. Nobody is defined by their profession, but rather each and every person is different and you can get to know them. 

           How best to describe the protagonists? 

        Well there is Kazuma Kiryu, whose story best fits into the mob genre to a T. He is a rookie, who gets caught up in a multi layered pool of politics of the various Japanese yakuza clans, that are vying for power and control of a fictionalized nightlife center of Tokyo. 

        

        Kiryu himself keeps saying how he is a rookie and does not know what it means to be able to take care of himself, let alone others. Which in itself is a rather mature view on life, I must say. He constantly repeats how inexperienced his... and yet at every opportunity, he wipes the floor with everyone. Soon enough, the Dojima family that he is a part of, comes to hunt him as a result of the politics he gets swept up in and there is one particular yakuza boss that Kiryu has to beat several times during the game. Every time he appeared, I was in disbelief. He truly became the "how many times do I have to teach you the same lesson, old man?" The answer is five. Five times, I had to teach him the same lesson. That was one crazy old man. Even though, he became annoying at the end (from a gameplay perspective, his boss mechanics were just... ugh), I enjoyed his insane appearances. For his second boss fight, he charged Kiryu on a motorcycle, bare chested with a steel pipe roaring as if he were possessed!

        

        The spectacle was so great, that at times I felt like I was watching a Japanese underground TV-Show directed by David Lynch, with Tommy Wisseau producing. Even though, it had many over the top situations and moments, the gravitas of the story never dropped and it never became too much. I am loathe to talk about it more, because you need to witness this sheer brilliance and insanity. Kiryu's story has its twists, turns and is somewhat gripping. Even though, I would describe it as very... cliché. Which does not necessarily mean bad, I really enjoyed Kiryu's story, even though it has been mostly to the characters that I have come to like.

    

        

        The other protagonist that you get to know is Goro Majima... And let me just show you what his introduction looks like:

    

        You get a nightclub with band, lights and a huge stage.

    

        Majima is this one eyed suave, gangster looking type, who gets shit done. I was not really sold on Yakuza as a series until the game introduced him. Majima is extremely polite, sometimes flamboyant but that really is something he puts up as a cover; since when the game starts he lives as a prisoner of the clan he once served. For one reason or another, he is forced to oversee a famous nightclub called the Grand that is flourishing under his management, even though the only thing he really wants to do is go back to being a yakuza. As such, he is forced to smile, bow and sometimes take out the occasional (human) trash. What follows is a story that is impossible to describe. Where I found Kiryu to be somewhat cliché and not really that interesting, Majima was like an onion, constantly peeling and shedding layers where each one was so different from the other, that I was glued onto the screen. Despite the fact that Majima really just wanted to get back to being a yakuza asap, his feelings for what is right and wrong never waivered and soon he found himself going against all the rules, because when push came to shove, he just could not do wrong. Majima really is the hero of the story, who goes out of his way to help everyone he can, even if he plays it like that was not his intention. At the same time, Majima is an absolute badass. He might be the eye-patch wearing gentleman, but he is not afraid to show his other side too. 

        Of course, no good deed ever goes unpunished and this is doubly so for Majima. He suffers for everything, which ultimately breaks down all his layers of being a suave gentleman. This progressive transformation has reminded me of one of my favorite movies, Falling Down and how D-Fense abandons all reason by the end.

        

        Majima does not have such a tragic end like Michael Douglas has, but Majima's story has certainly pulled on my heartstrings a lot. There are moments that are extremely sad and at this point, I fully empathize with everyone. I love these characters and I want to see them happy, I want them to succeed. But that is the drama. Make you care about the characters and then see them suffer. Ultimately, Majima has to decide between being a proper yakuza or love and friendship. It sounds corny as hell, but it is so amazingly done, I was heartbroken by the end. 

        

        It is just so rare these days for me to experience this in a video game. Which is to say, this is a 10 year old game. Have the times changed this much?

        What surprised me, in regards to the story was how fantastically developed every character was. Even the obvious villains, who I hated throughout the story had a great arc and it has changed how I felt about them by the end. I was dumbstruck, how phenomenal the writing is here. I cannot stress this enough. If you play videogames for the story, play this! It does not matter whether you are interested in the Japanese mafia, culture or a neo-noir story. I firmly believe that anyone could find great enjoyment here. 

      

        Alright, I mentioned at the beginning that the game switches between characters. I did not mention, that you yourself cannot do the switch manually until the very end, once you have finished the story. That kind of blows, even though once the individual stories meet up near the end, the pacing is excellent. I have to say that every time I finished a Kiryu chapter and I saw that I was playing as Majima, I was very excited. 

        The opposite is also true. Whenever, I got back to Kiryu I was sort of let down, because I did not want to get away from Majima - I wanted to see more of him. 

        The only negative thing I would have to say about Yakuza 0 would be that it suffers from a trend that I have seen mostly in older videogames - there is this thing where the closer you are to the end of a game, the progressively more difficult it gets. This makes sense if you are fighting new enemies, new monster, etc. However, in this one, I was fighting the same guys in suits the whole game, but at the finale, for whatever reason, they would shoot me with guns for a 1/3 of my HP. They would also have insanely high health pools, making them essentially punching sponges. It got a little bit ridiculous at the very end. 

        

        Despite that little annoyance, I loved every moment of Yakuza 0 and I am going back to finish all the substories and finally get filthy rich at the all the property and cabaret management. I also want the S ranking at every karaoke song there is. I need to become a king of the arena, too. Holy shit, Yakuza 0 is a legendary 10/10 game. I cannot recommend it enough. If you have never played it, what are you doing with your life? Do it now! Also there are Shiba Inu doggos everywhere.

        

Cosples, Brno (2025)

On 22 of February this year, me and Kaya went to Brno to attend the annual Cosples. Which is a play on words - Cosplay / Ball (Ples in the Czech/Slovak language). It is an event that we look forward to each year and even though last year was at a new venue, which was rather unfortunate and not the greatest experience, this year was back in Boby hall. Which is a proper ballroom, even though a bit smaller. This will be a rather unorganized entry, since I am running out of ways describing how awesome it was. This year's theme was Cyberpunk. We did not really have the time to prepare a separate costume just for this (and neither we really wanted to), however it was amazing seeing everyone in their bright, neon LEDs and punk wigs. Not everyone was dressed up the theme, however. I think I will be avoiding naming specifics, since privacy is something I want to respect.

        I saw so many creative costumes! So many formal turned cyberpunk outfits, it was really cool. Like I said, not only those. Kaya and I went as formal Cloud and Tifa. FFVII is kinda cyberpunk, right?

        I had bright green contact lenses in my eyes, to keep up strict appearances, however my eyes just would not adjust to the light. I was wondering if my eyes would ever get used to the darkened hall, but they never did. Eventually, I ran across a friend who said hi to me and I just blinked, because I would not recognize them at all - certainly a shit situation, however this time it was not my poor memory, but the lenses and I was as blind as as a mole. Suffice to say, I ran after them, apologized and then proceeded to the restroom to take the contacts out. 

        After that, it was much easier spotting my friends in the gloom. I met almost everyone I wanted to, shared a drink with almost everyone I wished and had a great time. Once again, I am sorry I missed out the usual suspects or just did not have much time to talk with them. A friend I want to share a beer with for well over two years now just sorted of yelled at me and before I could realize who-what-where, they were gone. Oh, well, next time, maybe? 

        We sat with our friends who went as themed Carbuncle gang (from FFXIV) and they all looked so cool. Everyone looked cool! For the first time on Cosples, I got Kaya to dance with me and loved every moment of it. I deeply apologize to everyone on whose feet I stepped as well as stepping on that one badass cape that twirled around us in white. 

        All in all, it was extremely fun and like always I am hit with that post-con(ball?) depression now. I definitely over did it with drinks, though. So, yeah overindulgence and zero level in drinking got me knocked out well before midnight. 

        I am already looking forward to the next Cosples. Now, I have to finish all my crafting before the end of March, as the next con we will attend will be AnimeShow 2025 in Bratislava. Even though, the real pressure will be on for AnimeFest 2025 in Brno. Other cons that we are positive we are visiting this year is Fantastická Ostrava. Still undecided on Comic Con Prague, ComicSalon 2025, YuniCon and Vienna Comic Con this Fall. We also wanted to visit FanAsia in Bratislava, since it is so close to us, however turns out it is the same date as Fantastická Ostrava, so, yeah. We shall see...

Nosferatu (2024) - Can I offer you a rat in this trying time?

A 2024 movie, Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is his fourth movie after the Witch, the Lighthouse and the Northman. All three are my favorite movies and I love them to death, so it does not matter to me what movie is he making, I would go watch it anyway. I am a huge fan. We went to see this as soon as possible, I could not wait! Also, please bear in mind that I will be spoiling this fresh and new, one hundred and two year old story that ripped off a novel that is even older than that. 

        Alright, so off to start let me just say that I am a super nerd when it comes to Bram Stoker's romance novel and I love Coppola's Dracula - I have seen it so many times, I can hum the score by memory. I also love the real history behind Vlad Tepeś (which has almost no correlation to Dracula and zero to Nosferatu). In true fashion, I have also seen the original Nosferatu, Shadow of the Vampire (where Willem Dafoe played the real Orlok/Schreck) and have followed the fictionalized "real" filming of the silent horror movie. If you have not seen it and liked Nosferatu, go see it now! To those of you who do not know, Nosferatu was filmed in the 1920s by plagiarizing Stoker's novel without giving credit (in Slovakia too, haha), which lead to a lawsuit that ended up in declaring that all the copies of the movie are destroyed. The original creators of Nosferatu changed the names of some characters, like Jonathan Harker is now Thomas Hutter, Renfield is Knock, Doc Seward is Doc Sievers, Dracula is of course changed to Orlok.  This time however, Eggers gives the proper due to the original movie as well as Bram Stoker, which is nice. Not sure, how exactly does this particular copyright work now, since the original Nosferatu is public domain. 

       What about the movie itself, though? I was kind of very into it at the very beginning. The opening was amazingly heavy on atmosphere and has truly drawn me in. The grey and blue visuals, the loneliness of the winter forest, the falling ash-like snow on an abandoned road. 

        Everything looked dreary, depressing, ragged and run down. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite video games of all time, Bloodborne. The score was fantastic! It was very eery, haunting and scary. It helped build up the atmosphere and tension of each scene. I loved how later in the movie, Orlok uses his magic - manipulation via dreams and shadow. It was fantastic in its portrayal, I loved every moment of it. 

        Now, as the movie progressed, I sort of realized that this is entirely 1:1 recreation of the Dracula novel and I felt like knowing what is going to happen has completely trivialized almost every scene. While I was enjoying what I was seeing and I was also feeling tension from the beautifully horrific music... I was not really surprised, nor I was in suspense, really. Hutter slowly travels to Transylvania beyond the realms of Bohemia while a shadow is slowly creeping over his life and soul, and... I was bored. There was a really good scene with a gypsy village that had some foreshadowing which was followed by the scene when Jonathan Harker Hutter is met by the devil's stagecoach with wolves in tow, which felt like a Goya painting in motion and has left me breathless. 

        He arrives at the real life Hunyadi castle which is terrifying in every shot. The castle was for a long time believed to have been Dracula's castle - totally wrong by the way, Dracula was not even from Transylvania, but Wallachia. This iteration of Orlok looks nothing like the original bat person either, he has an Oseledets cossack hairstyle complete with a wimpy mustache that looks straight up lifted from Breaking Bad season 1.

        

        From what I have seen online, people were not a fan of the redesign from the iconic haughty tall bat person, but I did not mind that very much. I regained much of my interest in the movie, when Willem Dafoe appeared as the eccentric Not-Van Helsing. Oh my, he is absolutely a treasure and dominates every scene he is in. I also really liked Ralph Ineson (who will forever live in my head as Charles Vane, the rebellious pirate captain) as the doctor. From then on forward, the movie was much better paced and has drawn me in once again. Despite starring in such "fantastic" movies as Kraven, I thought Aaron Taylor-Johnson portrayed the skeptic character excellently. His family and his entire subplot is however the reason why I do not want to watch Nosferatu (2024) ever again, since I am not a fan of murdered pregnant women or dead children and their child sized coffins. I also thought that making the protagonist, Ellen an actual witch was a nice change. In the original she was just an innocent woman/virgin, if I remember correctly.

        What is the main difference between Dracula and Orlok, though? The characters themselves I mean. Well, one is not really hurt by sunlight, his powers are only diminished, while the other one dies in it. One is a seductor with a silver tongue that can command storms, animals and within a second can become a bloodthirsty monster with superhuman strength. The other is a monster with nothing fancy besides some manipulation and is hard to kill. To a friend, I compared them to champions of Slaanesh and Nurgle from the Warhammer universe. Orlok commands the plague and represents disease and decay, which is an aspect that I really liked. In the Bram Stoker novel, Dracula travels from Transylvania to London, and he does so by boat, because, well, London is in England, which is on an island. In Nosferatu, Orlok travels from Transylvania to Germany on a boat, because the original movie ripped off the Demeter cruise without thinking about it. There is no sea between Germany and modern day Romania, so I thought this was silly keeping it in. 

           I have not seen Lily-Rose Depp in anything besides Yoga Hosers, which I think might just be one of the worst movies I have ever seen, so I was not expecting much, but she is pretty good in this. Except that one scene, where I just think her possessed overacting was a little bit too much, too over the top. It reminded me of that one scene from Scary Movie, if you have seen Nosferatu, you know which one. Let me provide a visual aid here. 

        Despite my negatives, I really liked this. I think it is the weakest of Eggers' movies, but that does not mean it is bad in my opinion. This is his second adaptation of a classical story, I think and I wish that the next one is an original one, though. To be fair, I do not really care what it is, as long as it has Willem Dafoe in it. It should have Ralph Ineson in it too, because I just love him so much, as well. I would give Nosferatu (2024) 7/10 - pretty good, above average movie. Just do not go into it hoping for the kids to survive. They do not. 

        And do not watch Yoga Hosers, ever. Don't do it. Every copy of that movie should be found and incinerated, just like the original Nosferatu.

2024 Rys Retrospective - Part 2 (Cosplay and Cons)

Seeing as I have concentrated on the pop culture side of 2024 in my previous blog entry, I wished to cover the other side of my interests this year. These are various cosplay cons that I have been to, costume and prop crafting that I have done as well cosplaying in general. In terms of all three, 2024 has been a rather busy year and I have enjoyed it more than I would have guessed. 

Instead of categorizing and sectioning this blog post like I have previously done, I would instead want to focus on a chronological recollection. So, you will be seeing what I crafted before what con I attended beginning with January 2024 and moving forward. Maybe with some photo shoots in between. I tried to be very concise, but holy shit, this got long. 

Cosples 2024 – February; Brno, Czechia

Last year we went to a special occasion in the nearby Brno in Czechia called Cosples. It is a play on words – first is cosplay, second means ball. And the event is exactly that: a cosplay ball. Each event has themes and for 2024 it was magical forest – suffice to say we rarely follow these themes; we just wear what we want. In any case, we wanted to make something special either way – so we decided to go as Firelord Zuko and Mai from Avatar, the Last Airbender. The version of Zuko I chose is not actually from the show, but from a graphic novel that sort of continues it. Kaya wanted to do the classic Mai costume from the show, however. I just wanted a badass cape! Just after Christmas last year we went fabric shopping and we sort of crunched both costumes with wig styling in a couple weeks. The pattern making for both was not exactly easy, but with some advice from friends we managed. I also got us a new sewing machine for christmas, so we put that to good use! 

There were some foam parts too, which I enjoyed crafting. Fire nation in the ATLA universe has that amazing pseudo fantasy Japan themes, which I always loved. 

It was pretty fun! Although I think I chose the cheapest and worst fabrics I could for the costume, if I were to do it all over again, I would choose something more dull and perhaps richer in color. 

This year, Cosples was in a new venue, different from the place it was at before. The new hall was supposed to be bigger, with a more modern take. We packed our stuff, got accommodation at our favorite Brno place when we went there for conventions and got dressed. Kaya has done amazing stuff on my face for my Zuko scar and it felt awesome having a grand red cape. 

        On our way to the new venue, we had to take an obligatory elevator picture. What were my impressions of the event itself? I didn’t mind the new place where the ball was at, even though I preferred the old space, which looked more like a theatre or an old school ball hall. The new place was a typical con hall with metal supports and glass walls. The old one has a nicer feel to it. From what I understood, the organizers chose the new space for better and bigger capacity, as the tickets to each Cosples are usually sold out within the first five minutes. I love the idea of this event. Go to a ball dressed as your favorite character in a gown or a suit, or something similar. We chose ceremonial robes from a show we love. As far as I know, you can come in pretty much anything as long as it is not downright heavy armor pieces. There was an issue with bars and getting drinks though – we stood in a line for three hours for some wine, sat down and talked to our friends, then went into another line and after two hours left. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t completely terrible. In 2025, Cosples is being planned to take place in the old space and I am really, really looking forward to it. 

        Even though the lines were too long, I really loved seeing our friends and talking with them while waiting for some wine. Cosples is one of my favorite cosplay events every year and I cannot say this one too many times, but I am always looking forward to it. 

Animefest 2024 – May; Brno, Czechia

Alright, time to restrain myself when writing about Animefest 2024, because this could be an entry on its own. I love Animefest, it is easily my favorite convention. It took place once again in Brno, in the exact same place as Cosples (although this time it wasn’t obviously in just one hall, but encompassed a larger area). 

Before we went to the con however, it is prudent for me to describe just how much Kaya worked on her FFXIV Dark Knight Chaos set over the year. She actually started on it in early 2023 – she began by making the Shadowbringer dark knight weapon.

                            

I enjoy playing Dark Knight in FFXIV and while I am also a casual Berserk enjoyer (it is very reminiscent of Guts’ Dragonslayer), personally, I have not used Shadowbringer in the game myself. Even though it looks amazing in real life. She also made the rest of the set by herself, her own patterns, everything. I just watched her craft everything along with our then baby, now toddler. There are way too many WIP pictures that Kaya has for her Dark Knight set and you can see 90% of them on her IG. 

As far as my own costume was concerned before Animefest 24, I always wanted to do Cloud Strife from Advent Children and in summer 2023 I ordered something from China which I was rather underwhelmed by. Over the course of winter 23 and 24 when Kaya was crafting the Dark Knight chaos set, I began to replace pieces of that costume bit by bit myself. Just in time for Animefest, I managed to make a new wig, new top/sweater and pants. I have not yet had time to make the side skirt that Cloud has. 

Regardless, we arrived to Brno on Friday noon and after we successfully got into our accommodation (they made us wait hour and a half at the reception), Kaya and I set out for the cosplay competition rehearsal in our Final Fantasy VII getups – I got her an Advent Children Tifa costume to go with my Cloud on Friday.

Animefest has two cosplay competitions – the “main” one where if you are a Czechia native can go forward abroad to places like France and even Japan and also a new “cosplay debut” competition for those just starting out competing. Kaya, having never really been in a cosplay competition yet wanted to try it, so she entered with her Dark Knight set to debut. I cannot really speak for her experiences, although she herself said it was amazing. In my Cloud cosplay, I was Kaya’s helper and as such had a glance myself at the judges and I loved how interactive they were with the contestants. They have shown genuine interest in the costumes and the process of crafting. Usually, competitions are divided into a so-called pre-judging phase (where the actual judging takes place) and then there is the stage performance. I had a front row seat amongst the spectators for the latter (helpers do get certain privileges) and the whole cosplay stage performance was amazing! I have seen so many great cosplays and got goosebumps at so many fantastic performances! Seeing my favorite characters come to life in a dazzling display with some of the most fitting music thrown in was truly a treat. And for the first time ever I got to see it from the first row and not on a screen projected somewhere else – because most of the time, it is very nearly impossible to get in, as people always want to see the cosplay performance. 

   

My two favorite pics of her stage performance are these two – actual in-game idle pose of the female Dark Knight character and her derp victory pose! There is something else I wish to underline when it came to the competition at Animefest – mainly how much of an interaction was there between the judges and the contestants. Every time after a performance was finished, one of the judges would make a constructive, helpful and sweet comment with each contestant. There also was an interaction with the show host. This really seemed to me like a great idea, it made the people feel like they were part of the show. I know of cosplay competitions where you just get on stage, do your thing and leave. The contestants at the cosplay competition also get their professional photos taken before their performance, which is a neat plus with no extra charge. Another small detail was that as a contestant you could have a large picture projected during your performance behind you, which was nice.

Over the course of Saturday, we also had our first ever cosplay support booth or whatever you want to call it. There we had some of the greatest pictures of our cosplays made possible by the amazing photographers who were gracious enough to let us have these at the booth. It was great because even though it was our first booth, we were next to our friend Aetherlune (IG: aetherlune). Unfortunately, I cannot tell who that amazing Hythlodaeus was. Let me know, if you can!

What else can I say about Animefest 24? I loved it! Despite cosplaying for a while, for the first time in a long while, I felt great in my costume. Even though my Cloud was not amazing by any means, it was good enough for me to feel great in it and it has surpassed all my expectations. I wasn’t just wearing a Cloud Strife costume; I was Cloud for three days! While this might seem a bit vain from me, it was a very important moment in my life. Of course, it does not compare to other important events in my life that have happened recently, like becoming a father or getting a doctorate after ten years of tears. Cosplaying Cloud was something that really unblocked something in me. For a very long time I was a very shy and softspoken person, due to my own insecurities and other insignificant maladies. I have always loved Final Fantasy VII and a long time ago, when I was starting with cosplay, I was told that I look nothing like Cloud and would be terrible. For reasons unknown, this has stayed with me for a long time. In preparation for this cosplay, I really tried to look my best. Of course, I support body positivity and everyone should be as happy as they prefer with the way they look and feel, it is all up to you – but this one remark I got has blocked me for a decade. I did other costumes, mostly with helmets, masks, hoods, whatever. I did not want to show my face at all – and as much of my body as could be hidden beneath armor or robes, the better. So, I trained myself. This may sound silly and pretentious, but I looked up guides on how to pose, how to mimic facial expressions, and how to walk like someone else. I also trained physically – I quit drinking at all, would not have a beer or a glass of wine. I stuck to a strict workout routine and I wanted to be my best. The change that happened physically is up to others to judge, I suppose, but what I noticed the most was how mentally freeing this was. I realized I could be just like Cloud, if I really wanted. And as such, this whole experience has been extremely freeing for me. As such, I decided to remake the rest of the costume from scratch too. Should not have bought it, however now I feel like if I did not, I probably would have never gotten that first spark to start me on this. 

In any case, it was amazing meeting all my friends and also so many people that I got to know for the first time and talk to them, and share our passion for the things we have in common. 

I met this amazing Isaac Clarke that I could not find anywhere, if by any chance you ever see this, please let me know! I really love Dead Space (well, the first two games anyway) and that advanced rig suit is on my bucket list. I also met so many other Final Fantasy VII cosplayers and it was such a joy! The Aerith in the picture below is Faila Ray (IG: faila_ray) and the Aerith and Cloud that I photobombed are Kimesuke (IG: kimesuke_) and her brother (whose IG account I could not find – let me know!). 

Kaya took the best crafting trophy home and I could not be prouder of her. Everyone was fantastic and congratulations goes to each contestant from me. Seeing them on stage is an inspiration and motivation. The Dark Knight Chaos set was Kaya’s first project completely from scratch and the entire build is insane. All in all, Animefest 24 was absolutely amazing and I cannot wait for the next one. I have some big plans for 2025 and I am hoping that I will manage to get it done. Honestly, I am a little afraid that my plans might be too grand. We shall see. 

 

FanAsia 2024 – June; Bratislava, Slovakia

As far as I can tell, this was the first year of this con. It also took place in Bratislava, where we live. It was not actually too far from our home either, so we asked a friend to come take care of our toddler (who was just a week away from her first birthday), dressed up at home and went. Between Animefest 24 and FanAsia I managed to finally make my own skirt for Cloud – I was still wearing the shoulder piece I bought, though. I was also working on a new Fusion sword, because the one I had was too small and I wanted to make it true to scale (188 cm tall – I am myself just barely 173 cm tall). Zack is walax_cosplay (IG) and the friendly Samurai is gerygerhard (IG). 

In any case, FanAsia was much smaller than Animefest, but it was still very enjoyable. They also hosted a cosplay competition, even though we did not attend. Kaya was still a bit winded from Animefest and I did not really have a costume worthy of competing, at least not yet. Once again, we met with friends, chatted and went to watch the cosplay competition. The cosplays and performances were really good! 

While we were getting ready for what would be our last con for 2024, we both decided to enter the cosplay competition there. Kaya wished to finish her Dark Knight Chaos set with a helmet that she did not have for Animefest 24 (because she had an amazing wig with cat ears) and I was also in my final stage of remaking the Advent Children costume. With how I felt afterwards, I wanted to make it as good as I could. I remade the harness and shoulder piece and also constructed a new Fusion sword.     

                                                          

I am thinking about posting my WIP book for Cloud as a separate Blog post. It has things in it, that might be interesting to look at. Furthermore, while I was semi happy with how the costume looked, I ended up preparing quite an elaborate stage performance (at least for my own merits) and I needed some props. I really never used props in any of my previous stage performances as I have always been a minimalist, but this was my FFVII cosplay, so I wanted to go all in. So, anyway my performance was somewhat inspired by that one scene in Advent Children where Cloud goes to fix Zack’s vandalized memorial and reminisce about his friend that passed and is then possessed by Sephiroth. I had a spin on it where I added some graffiti on the Buster sword and the photo of Zack. As well as the fact that Sephiroth taunts Cloud that he is a mindless slave, then from 9 to 5 starts playing and I swing around the stage on a scooter. I needed a fake Buster sword that can stand upright, a courier’s backpack and some background. Eventually, I came up with the following: 

As far as graffiti goes, this was pretty good and I was satisfied with it! Anyway, on to the Con itself. 

ComicSalon 2024 – June; Bratislava, Slovakia

Oh, ComicSalon… You have gone by many names in the past, whether it was IstroCon or if it was AnimeShow. It's all the same. I have a long experience with this convention and one thing I can say about it is that it has not changed in a dozen years, even more. Whether I was just a visitor, or a cosplayer, competing or giving lectures on the fandoms I love as well as the hobbies I have – crafting and such. Even though I do not always have fond memories of this convention, I met my wife there in 2015 and have made such amazing friends, most of them by total chance. 

So, what was the experience in 2024? Kaya did not want to go to the convention on Friday, we had a raging toddler back home and were pretty tired. I wanted to go to the rehearsal at least, because I was nervous about the performance. What shocked me was that the rehearsal was very late at night. It could not even be called an evening; it was either at 21.30 or 22.00. Really late. It might be the baby or just me getting older, but I was horribly out of sorts and tired as all hell when I finally managed to find a parking space near the place where the con was at. This was shocking to me, because when I was Kaya’s helper at Animefest, the competition rehearsal was before the con started in the early afternoon (I think at 13.00 or 14.00). 

Thankfully, my amazing friend Mulins was willing to come and help me out with my props and stuff I needed. I was seriously hoping there would be a place to have them stored, so I would not have to drag them with me while in costume the next day. I suppose it was my fault, however once again, when compared to Animefest – the contestants there had room to store their props for the next day. I did the rehearsal, it was fine, I got some feedback from friends and kept that in mind for the actual competition. And then… of course I found out that I cannot store my props anywhere. Essentially the organizer said it’s my stuff, I should take it away and it’s my problem. I was actually expected to drag them back to my car, drive them home and then repeat the whole process again but this time in costume. I was too tired to be angry. With ComicSalon/AnimeShow/Istrocon, it has always been something. By a miracle just as I was to leave in desperation, I ran into my friends from Czechia who run a store that has everything pop culture oriented, as well as cosplay supplies. I have written an article for them regarding foam work for beginners, as well as have one in the pipe regarding some crafting supplies. In any case, they were once again willing to help me out and since they also had a store setup at the con, I could leave my things in their van that was right at the entrance. If I didn’t know anybody, I would be screwed.

Thus, even before we attended the con, this has left a sour taste in my mouth. I was ready for inconveniences as well as having to stand in the dark while being stepped on like I was in 2023 – when I participated with my Artorias cosplay. Suffice to say, it was not off to a great start. What was Saturday like then? We arrived an hour before pre judging as to get into costumes comfortably. We did not have to stress around props thanks to our friends at Imago who really were the real saviors, as well as Mulins who was so kind to us, even though he didn’t really have to.

Kaya was actually first at pre judging and I was third. Out of thirty plus contestants and there was some great competition! We both had a great experience with the judges – even though I was surprised how stern the time limit was, when I got timed exactly five minutes to talk and not a second longer, even cutting me off mid-sentence. Which I suppose is fine, even though that was not the case the year before – where I actually was allowed to have a chat with the judges, they could ask me whatever they wanted and we had a back and forth. Now, I talked about how I made which part of the costume, what was my favorite part to work on and which one was too difficult and BAM! No more. I got a very stern “No!” from the organizer who slammed their phone with a stopwatch before them and menacingly glared at me. Ok then. 

Once we were both done with pre-judging, we went outside to get some fresh air. I really have to mention how horrid the event spaces for this con are. They are practically a ruin – there is no air flow, most of the windows cannot be opened, there are very narrow hallways, uneven and tiny stairs. Everything is of course packed to the brim with shops and whatnot. I get that everything is expensive, but I refuse to believe that a better space is impossible to acquire. This was an issue in 2015 and now it is almost a decade later and of course, nothing has changed. 

We rested outside and met some of our friends. I loved to see their costumes; they are very talented cosplayers. We met Aetherlune and Kasame Katiak (IG: kasame_katiak).

     

Now I only wish I could see better in my blue contacts, because even the good photos have that awful sun glare in them. Also, we got photobombed by Gandalf in the background, which is the best kind of photobombing. 

I also met this amazing Astarion cosplayer, Astel (IG: faerie.rot). 

Soon it was time for the stage performance, which we were really looking forward to, even though we were really nervous. It went fine and felt great to be on stage. The perk of being in the first three contestants that go on stage was that we got to watch every performance in relative peace. I also have to mention another friend, Sasaki (IG: _sasaki.cos_ ) who helped me with my stuff backstage and I only wish we could get a proper backstage photo together! Ah well. Next time. Below is the only backstage I managed to fumble. My eyes were really water from the contacts, the darkness backstage as well as the blinding light on stage. Also, I have triple chin like our toddler now. 

That was it for Saturday. Kaya went home, I got a quick dinner with my friend Mulins and then followed Kaya. For Sunday, we decided to do something different and dressed up as Tifa and Cloud in their 90s clothes, or at least as close as I could get at the last minute. It was also fun driving to McDrive in costume and makeup (it always is!).

Anyway, we went to the judges for some feedback, because unlike at Animefest, as contestants we did not get anything, not even comments – there was literally no interaction at all. Which never feels great in my opinion and really just seems like you are ignored. The judges were very nice at their booths, though and promised to write us their feedback on socials. Which for the most part was extremely helpful and constructive, and I am very thankful for it.

One final tangent regarding ComicSalon – we have to talk about the price of admission. The way it works is that you buy your ticket and if you are a cosplay competition contestant, eventually after some time you get a refund, basically letting you attend the convention for free. This is great… if you are a student or if money is tight. Kaya herself has said that if the price for the ticket weren’t refunded, she would not attend. However, I would much prefer if the attendance were not free for contestants (and presenters) and instead, we got something for it instead – say, professional photos taken at a photo op set up officially by the organizer. Or if there were actually better spaces for the event. Or more interaction with the judges during the competition. 

I don’t know. This convention has been stagnating ever since I can remember. The drastic changes that have happened were only in terms of smaller venues and increasing prices. I wish it were different. 

Finally, no cosplay feels finished until I get proper photos done. I felt like the only proper way for a Cloud Strife photo op was to take out my Honda Shadow 750 somewhere into a field and pose with it. Thankfully, my great friend Pavel from Torei Arts, who is a great photographer, agreed when I asked him and traveled all the way to Bratislava from Prague to help me out with this. We talked about my vision, how I wanted the photos to look, what angles and feelings to evoke, of course he was an absolute professional about it and advised me how to make everything looks just about perfect. He brought his better half and it only felt appropriate to bring Kaya and our little savage toddler with us too. She loves everything that goes vroom and sitting her on my bike was a treat. 

               

I was extremely happy with how my 2024 went for cosplay. I crafted what I wanted, I got to the cons I wanted. I would have liked to attend the Vienna comic con, however life got in the way this time – hopefully in 2025 we can manage it. I have two big projects I want to tackle this year, one being the FFVII Remake Cloud, which I have already begun – I made a fully magnetic Buster sword. Considering making a blogpost about that too. My other project is kind of a secret, but here is hoping that it is successful, one way or the other. How was your 2024 in terms of cosplay? What were your favorite conventions you went to? Did you participate at any competitions? Let me know! I am curious to hear what your experiences have been like. See you all at the stage.