Lolita Fashion in Pokémon

Hey, Lolita fashion fans, here’s a bit of trivia for you! Did you know that Lolita fashion was featured in the first Pokémon commercial in Japan?

While Lolita fashion isn’t a major component of Pokémon, it actually shows up in quite a few places, making it undeniably a part of the alternative fictional world of the games, the anime, and beyond.

In your opinion, what’s the best move set for Gothitelle? #Pokemon pic.twitter.com/EkFkldupir

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) November 24, 2014

Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle

A Psychic type Pokémon introduced in Generation V with Pokemon Black/White, Gothitelle is based clearly on Gothic Lolita fashion. Evolving from Gothita and then Gothorita, each time the Pokemon gains an increasingly elaborate “outfit.”

Marley

Introduced in Generation IV with Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Marley is one of many allies your character comes across traveling the Sinnoh region (based on Hokkaido in Japan). Marley (named Mai in Japanese) and her Gothic Lolita fashion were also featured in an episode of the anime.

Valerie

This Lolita fashion character first appeared in the Generation VI games (Pokemon X/Y) as the Leader of the Laverre City Gym who specializes in the newly-introduced Fairy Type Pokémon. Reflecting the spread of Lolita fashion throughout the world, Valerie (Mache in Japanese) is noted as coming from Johto (based on a region of Japan) to Kalos (based on the country of France). Her entire gym is also based on a fairy tale-esque dollhouse.

How would you feel about wearing Lolita fashion in the Pokémon world? Would it be impractical for traveling through caves and mountains, or would you persevere like the characters featured here.

Also, if you’re interested in Lolita Fashion, we have lots planned for our Japanese pop culture festival, Waku Waku +NYC. We even have a Lolita fashion modeling competition planned, and some great Lolita fashion guests, including designers and models from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Putumayo. While we can’t guarantee that you’ll find any real Pokémon, why not come to our event in your Lolita fashion, and bring a few Poké Balls just in case? You never know!

I Am So Excited for Mighty No. 9 and Mega Man’s Keiji Inafune

Mighty No. 9 creator and Mega Man character designer Keiji Inafune will be a guest at Waku Waku +NYC this August 29-30 in New York City. For this blog, however, I wanted to speak about Inafune from a more personal perspective, as someone who’s loved his games over the years, and who admires Inafune because of everything he stands for in the games industry.

I’m a long-time Mega Man fan. Since age 4 I’ve created Mega Man boss characters for fun and dreamed of them appearing in actual games. A couple of years ago I even received from a kind friend a Mega Man t-shirt with Inafune’s autograph. This might make me a little biased when it comes to Inafune, but once you hear his story I think you’ll agree that video games need more people like him.

Keiji Inafune first began working at Capcom in 1987 at age 22. While his first assignment was as a character designer for the original Street Fighter, he was eventually assigned to help design the character “Rockman” (eventually known in the US as “Mega Man”). The original Rockman sold moderately well, but when his bosses told him to work on other projects, Inafune and the rest of the Rockman team felt so strongly about the project that they were willing to create a sequel on their own free time while finishing their other projects. Rockman 2 (Mega Man 2 elsewhere) became a mega-hit (no pun intended), and, in a series famed for its addictive platformer gameplay, is considered by many to be the best game in the entire Mega Man franchise.

Inafune eventually became head of Research and Development and Global Head of Production at Capcom, while creating games such as Dead Rising and Onimusha. During this time, he challenged Japanese game designers to be more innovative and encouraged them to learn from non-Japanese developers, embracing video games as an international art. Inafune had rose through the ranks, and could now comfortably stay with Capcom for the rest of his days; a position anyone would envy.

Then, in 2010, Inafune left Capcom to take on a new challenge.

While beginning anew as one of the most celebrated game creators of all time is different from being a plucky young up-start in that you have the leverage of your own reputation, in some ways it’s an even greater risk than when you’re new. Ask Maruyama Masao, the founder of the anime studio MADHouse who left to form the new company MAPPA. Ask anyone who embarks on a new career in their 40s, 50s, and beyond. Inafune’s move took serious guts, as did his willingness to criticize the Japanese games industry, and it all stems from the same place: a genuine desire to create new and interesting video games.

Mighty No. 9 was a risk. Inafune and his new company, Comcept, went on Kickstarter, something unheard of from such a major figure in games, and said that they wanted to make a game that’s both faithful to the old platformer genre but also willing to innovate and break with tradition to make the best game possible. Inafune called upon his fans to help bring Mighty No. 9 to life, and they responded in force. In just over 24 hours, the $900,000 funding goal was reached, to which I myself also contributed. At the end of the campaign, they had raised an astounding $4 million. Inafune believed in those who love video games just as much as he believed in the games themselves, and this spirit above all else is what makes me ecstatic to have him as a guest at our convention.

Whether you’re anticipating Mighty No. 9, a devout fan of Mega Man, or just someone who loves video games, you owe it to yourself to see Inafune at Waku Waku +NYC.

-Carl, aka Mighty No. 9545

Cosplayers are the De Facto Ambassadors of Geek Culture

Whether dressed as Goku, Samus, or Ms. Marvel, cosplayers are the first people that media notice when it comes to anime and other geek conventions. It’s understandable why this is the case, as the visual spectacle of cosplay draws in not just the hardcore but also passers-by, image-obsessed media, and anyone normally unfamiliar with the world of fandom. The result, I think, is that people nowadays associate otaku and geeks most with cosplayers, even surpassing the old stereotype of the sedentary basement dweller.

The average person will probably never look beyond the fact that cosplay is happening in the first place, or perhaps some daring outfits that speak immediately to their morals or sense of desire. Cosplayers, whether they want to be or not, end up being the ambassadors of geek culture. All of the social and cultural assumptions and tendencies swirl around them and try either to interpret or understand them from their own perspectives. What this means is a plethora of viewpoints on cosplay and cosplayers, particularly in terms of the messages that cosplayers convey whether intentional or otherwise.

For example, some might see cosplayers in revealing outfits and believe they’re transmitting messages of sexual availability, but others might see them as representative of personal empowerment, confidence in body image (or perhaps an escape from a negative self-image), and more. No interpretation is inherently correct, but they exist and have to be dealt with, both through the act of cosplay itself and other forms of expression and communication. This of course is also the case with just any clothing, especially when it comes to how women are viewed in society, but the manner in which cosplay inherently runs counter to society (as soon as we call them “costumes” they’re not really normal clothing) and is associated with the notion of obsession in general means that it’s an attention-grabber no matter what.

However, I think that this is the first step for cosplay to communicate more. I don’t believe that cosplay necessarily has to be actively political or geared towards some kind of message in order to say anything, and in fact I think cosplay needs to be viewed first and foremost as a fun activity for cosplayers and those viewing cosplay—a hobby, a passion, even a casual and impromptu decision—before it’s taken as anything else. The spirit of play at the heart of cosplay is what fuels its potential for accomplishing more.

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New York Cosplay fans, we have two of Japan’s best cosplayers coming to our New York Anime Convention, Waku Waku +NYC, Jacky Dosai and Kasyou Rosiel! In the meantime, you can check out some examples of their cosplay!

Jacky Dosai as Kotetsu from Tiger & Bunny 

Kasyou Rosiel as Nico from Love Live! School Idol Project

Let Your Imagination Soar with Onigiri Rice Balls

Waku Waku +NYC is an upcoming Japanese culture convention in New York City in August, celebrating anime, food, fashion, and more. Tickets are on sale now!

If you watched Pokemon back when it first started airing, you might have seen Ash and company eating “donuts” that suspiciously looked like anything but. These were in fact onigiri, a rice ball wrapped in seaweed and filled with something extra for flavor. They’re about as ubiquitous as the ham sandwich is to the United States, and their history stretches back to before the 11^th Century.

Originally, onigiri involved ingredients that traveled well and could extend the shelf life of the product, such as pickled plums (umeboshi), salted salmon, preserved kelp (konbu), or even just plain salt. Samurai, for example, would carry them as necessary fuel for long trips, and they needed food that could last weeks.

However, since the advent of refrigeration, the invention of an onigiri-wrapping machine, the international spread of Japanese culture, among other developments, the range of flavors available has expanded tremendously. Now you can get seasoned eel, tuna with mayonnaise, tempura, and much more. Localized versions are available, catering to the tastes of particular populations. In Hawaii, it’s even common to find onigiri that use Spam, called Spam musubi!

In other words, onigiri are really versatile, and aside from the use of rice and nori the sky’s the limit. For example, I once made onigiri filled with a type of Dutch mashed potatoes mixed with carrots and onions called hutspot. If you like other cuisine, perhaps you can fill onigiri with foie gras, pernil, beef stroganoff, bulgogi, or something else entirely!

So the important question is, what’s your dream onigiri, and will you go out and make it?