Okage-Sama
De~ August 2009 Cosplay Tea: Of Fun & Trial Runs
August is
usually a dead period for cosplay events. But on August
8th, 2009, the cosplay group Okage-Sama De~ ran their
fourth cosplay tea appropriately referred here as the
Okage-Sama De~ Cosplay Tea. Dressed in Naruto Shippuden
characters, the members of Okage-Sama De~ hosted their
tea at a local church and provided interactive games,
food, raffles, and a rave for the attendees.
Being a
small event compared to conventions like Anime Expo,
this event was an excellent chance to field test Traveling
Valentine as a whole before covering grand scale conventions.
I got to observe the team and analyze their strengths
and areas needing improvement while tackling my duties.
And in an odd scheduling stroke of chance, my cousin
Chris was in town and attended the tea. It is fascinating
to see how non-convention people react amid the din
of our cosplay events.
The three of us arrived
at the location, the same church as the previous Okage-Sama
De~ event. I could spot Ten's blue wig from across the
street as the GPS led me on a wrong turn. Dressed as
Sousuke Sagara and packing my prop Glock 26, I paid
for my cousin and Michael upon arrival before dishing
assignments to Traveling Valentine:
Michael: Shoot and keep
cousin company.
Ten: Shoot and mingle.
Tom: Shoot and scout for new talent.
I lent Ten the shotgun
AKA my first digital camera from 2002. It was bulky
and slow, but rugged. Sadly, bulky and slow are no longer
suitable for convention photography so she switched
out with Panda's camera. I guess I will have to retrofit
the shotgun for today's standards.
Keeping with the Naruto
Shippuden theme, they set up a ramen shop for refreshments
ranging from cupcakes to root beer floats. Three raffle
bags were up for grabs at $.50 a ticket. I noticed my
brother entering the ecchi raffle. A few dealers were
on hand selling their arts, crafts, and anime. And of
course, there was flavorful iced tea.
Okage-Sama De~ pulled
out the stops to make sure every attendee was interacting
with each other with its never ending barrage of party
games. Most indoor gatherings and events among convention
friends usually result in fish-eyed stares playing video
games or drinking games where the most I ever say during
interactions is either a stream of curses after losing
a fight or a stream of bad pick up lines to a particularly
attractive lamp.
The first game was Musical
Chairs, the game of territory control and invasion.
In a repeat of Spike vs. Snake at the previous Okage-Sama
De~ event, Sousuke squared off against Naruto in the
final first round match. Sousuke had the invading advantage
but Naruto had the ninja sneaking retreat. Judges favored
Sousuke.
Charades followed. Attendees
split into two giant teams and pantomimed their designated
character or series and hoped their teams knew who or
what they were. Difficulty ranged from "as seen
on Cartoon Network" easily recognized to "I
might have a fansub of this in beta" obscure.
The Scavenger Hunt split
the attendees into teams of two males and one female
just like in Naruto. I joined Tousen Mike and
Hanako and together we raced around the church lot looking
for any anime related items, out of place items, or
anything that was not nailed to the floor. Our favorite
find was the discarded shopping cart nicknamed the tank.
It was not on the list and we wound up in third place
but rolling around the lot and the room in a tank was
victory enough.
We took a break from
games with some food. Ramen and rice balls fit the
Naruto theme. While not exactly the filet mignon
and duck fat fries my taste palate gets to feast on
when pigs fly, the meal did keep me going for the rest
of the night until the after dinner later. Tousen Mike
won the ecchi bag and Ten won the mystery prize from
the raffle.
Anime Jeopardy
tested myself and two others in our knowledge of Miyazaki,
Ouran High School Host Club, Death Note, Yu Yu Hakusho,
Naruto Shippuden, and the varied Anime Mix.
I knew basics in all categories and delved a bit into
Miyazaki but I was simply no match on the hot seat.
Again, the combined effort of the audience won.
To kill
time before the Cake Decorating Contest--which in turn
would kill time as the staff prepared for the rave--Okage-Sama
De~ challenged brave improv souls to rounds of Questions
Only. It was entertaining, but the rules were different
compared to the Questions Only improv game I was practiced.
I played it as a speed game of answering the question
with another question without actually answering the
question. The Okage-Sama De~ rules allowed the players
to answer the question and then following up with a
new question in one sentence.
I had Michael
and Chris call for their evacuation when they looked
too glazed to participate further. After that game,
attendees were kicked out of the main hall for the Cake
Decorating Contest. Partnered with Ten, we created an
abstract Cowboy Bebop themed cake with Spike's
ship the Swordfish II, an Ein, a red dot for
Ed, and Faye with boobs the size of Ed's head. By some
miracle, we won first place. I thought the Aeris funeral
scene should have won since it made better use of the
decorative materials.
We herded
into the church for the Okage-Sama De~ cosplay group
answer questions as their Naruto Shippuden
characters. It was a delightful improv piece that helped
me get up to speed on the series. Following that came
the Masquerade. Earlier, attendees were asked to think
of a performance to entertain everyone. Some came prepared,
some dug up some talent from their pasts, and others
allied with fellow cosplayers to pull something out
of somewhere. Ten, Tousen Mike and I performed a sketch
I had reserved for an anime with swordplay. But soldier
versus ninja worked well enough. Other sketches included
Hetalia, singing, and choreographed dancing.
Check the video play list in the gallery.
After learning
about the birds and the bees from Jiraiya, the rave
was ready for attendees to shake their groove things.
While I had fun dancing and practicing a few moves,
the heat of the night killed my energy so I took to
the outdoors with other people too hot to dance. If
I was not shooting the breeze, I was chasing footballs
or practicing my Pi Qua Quan with my whip like arms.
When most
people tired of the dance, we assisted Okage-Sama De~
in cleaning up before heading to Carrows for the after
party dinner. Unfortunately for the Carrows we went
to, we chose the wrong one that was not 24-hour and
we we their last and rowdiest group for the night.
As we fed
ourselves and made future cosplay plans, I was glad
to have had a good time at this event and will support
the next one. Our team needs to iron out a few wrinkles
such as Michael's social skills, Ten's equipment, and
my excess zeal. But things are shaping well.
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