 The morning starts with high quality shopping in Osu's galleries; I had to face the fact that Gourmet City don't sell my beloved lemon flavor cake any longer ;____________;.
When we get to the appointment with TV Aichi's staff, it is like jumping one year in the past..
They are all there, Mari Kato, Mr Yamaguchi, Mr. Shirakawa, Mr. Kubo – whose eyebrows default to a shape resembling Jin Kazama's *_* - and the rest of the bunch, and the welcome us smiling and wearing a shining new World Cosplay Summit 2006's T-shirt (obviously we will have a free one, complete with a “staff” writing on the back).
And, surprise, Shige, our favored globe trotter, the boy we met by chance last year, is there too, and he will join us from time to time during our vacation when his job let him to.
We have time to eat something we bought at the nearby conbini fast – but no obento for me – before spending the following two hours in the meeting with the staff.
Here, like we are used to, every single detail of our performances for today and the next day is discussed.
We are confirmed that halfway during the parade, together with other cosplayers we will board a bus that will rush us to the TV studios for a live interview and, surprise, our singing performance is changed.
No more Cutie Honey but Mazinger Z, instead.
In Japanese.
This is not a problem for me, but it is for Francesca who even doesn't know how the music goes; I pull the classic rabbit from the hat and I propose a fifty fifty.
That is, I sing the first few verses in Japanese while she, exploiting the fact that base is the same for the Italian version, will sing the rest in Italian.
Having just one night ahead, it is for sure easier to learn some verses in Italian than in Japanese... isn't it?
When the briefing is over we rush to change clothes for the parade!
We all bring out old classics that are sure to get some success: I wear the dark clothes of Miss Majo, Francesca is Francoise from Cyborg 009, Roby is Elvis, ahem I meant Hiroshi Shiba from Koutetsu Jeeg and Nadia is Sayaka from Mazinger Z.
Given the delay we built during the meeting, as soon as we are ready, they make us rush towards the already started parade, while the other people unconsciously block our way trying to take as many pictures of us as possible.
When we arrive to the leading end of the guest cosplayers we start to smiling and letting people take hundreds of pictures of us.
It's incredible to see how these two “old” characters are loved; we are immediately recognized by both the latest generation fan and the elder people who enthusiastically put side by side unintelligible syllables which we like to think meant some sort of compliments.
There was a sprightly old man, I swear he could have been about 70, who has sticked to my left side like a vulture never leaving me for the whole 40 minutes while the parade lasted, and he might have taken, I'm not joking, at least 200 pictures of me, from every imaginable position, maybe even those forbidden by Geneva's Treaty.
But the best is yet to come.
The parade is colored and joyful as usual, and it was hard to keep the cheering people aside; meanwhile we are watched closely by the security officers who hand us bottles of water or blow some wind using fans when we need it.
Nadia, Rob and Paolo – who's wearing Steel Ball Run from JoJo – have some success, but we will meet them again only when they are back to their normal clothes after the parade.
 When it is time to leave the group to go to the minibus that will take us to the TV Aichi's studios, still watched by security officers, I am approached by a let's say “extreme” fan who, after having taken some pictures of me during the parade, finds the courage to come close and give me a bag full of gifts he made just for me.
Our hero doesn't speak a single word of English, but using the few Japanese words I know, I thank him and I tell him to come to the final stage on the following day.
All of this happens while I'm running in the clothes of the blond dark lady from Time Machine, with him on one side and a member from TV Aichi on the other, while those from the bus were waving to make me hurry because I'm the only one left behind.
I let you imagine the faces of the other people XD
After we got to the TV Aichi's studios, patiently wait to be interviewed chatting with other contestants in the WCS, so we come to know better the Brazilian, French and Thai representatives, all of them were very nice and outgoing.
Obviously enough, the interview is about our impressions after our victory in last year's contest, on how we were welcomed back home and how we felt like in going back to Japan for this new edition of the Summit.
It's late evening when everything ends so, tired to our bones, we are forced to decline the invitation to dinner by TV Aichi's staff, also because Francesca and I have absolutely to do some rehearsal for the song we will be singing on the following day, while Nadia has to find a way to fix the damaged Sayaka's helmet for the meeting with Go Nagai.
This is the time to tell you what the bag of gifts contained.
The guy is a great fan of Wonder Woman, strange thing for a Japanese, and he developed some sort of veneration for the character...and for my cosplay.
And so, using a Barbie like doll as base, he modified it to make it look like the wonder amazon and me.
He then shot a photo novel; yes, you got it right.
He gave me a bunch of pictures where this doll can be seen together with others (which, I guess, he imagined to be Francesca, Emilia, Elena and the villains) and he developed an absurd story putting each doll in the right position.
He then wrote in Japanese under each picture an explicative caption, translating them into Italian with programs like Babelfish.
I can't describe what the result was *_*
I think I've never laughed so much before in my entire life, I swear.
The package contained other stuff, picture's enlargements and even the doll with which he made all this.
This is insane, it must have taken days!!!!
By the way, I think it's fair to let you see this jewel, so ladies and gentlemen... enjoy the photo novel!!! |
