Greatest Blog in the Universe and Photopost

The Kid's Comic Book Reviews is a work of literary genius and possibly The Only Good Blog I've Ever Read. In case you're too scared to click the link, a 7 year-old orates reviews of comic books he reads weekly to his father, who dictates them onto a Blogspot blog. For example, "Batman is Batman because he wants revenge because someone killed his father. He has to let someone else be Batman if his father is still alive. I think Batman is going to kick Dr Hurt’s butt real bad for lying about that. You can’t lie to Batman." If you are neither entertained nor informed by an innocent child's reviews of the comics he's read, you have a black and cancerous soul and are not invited to my next birthday party.

In other news, the trip to Kinokuniya Bookstore yesterday allowed me some moderate shots of the event with my phone:
Aisles of manga (Japanese comics, for those unaware) on the second floor were filled with a number of characters dressed up in outfits from Death Note, Gothic Lolita fashion, or plainclothes, which are unnecessary to link to.
The girl right center is dressed as the protagonist of Death Note, Light Yagami, a high school and later college student who obtains the power of the grim reaper through a magic notebook and develops a god complex. While it looks as though she's merely wearing a button up shirt and tie, a number of the character designs in the series are fairly grounded in the real world; it's the grim reapers, called "shinigami," that you need to look out for. Unfortunately, none of the participants were dressed up as any of the death gods at the event.

Standing outside of the Cafe Zaiya in Kinokuniya in his trademark sports jacket and jeans is Conference Manager for New York Comic Con and New York Anime Festival, Peter Tatara. Peter is the brains behind this and many other events hosted at the Bryant Park Kinokuniya, including a general Cosplay Day, with American World Cosplay Summit 2008 team as special guests, a Gothic Lolita day and a promotional event for the American theater release of the anime film Bleach: Memories of Nobody. Peter gave me a rough estimate that anywhere from one to two hundred plus people show up to these events.

This is a clearer shot of the crowd in Zaiya. The two people standing in the center of the shot are dressed as Matt (left, facing backwards) and L (right). Farther to the right is a young woman dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion, though my awful camera skills won't really give you any idea what she really looks like. The Cafe and area immediately surrounding the manga aisles were the most crowded in the store throughout the event, even causing fairly dense congestion during the radio interview segment of the afternoon.

Just prior to Megumi and the Samurai Beat Radio crew setting up for their broadcast, the anime viewing area became slightly less crowded. The young man standing in front of the television is also dressed as Light. Most people use apples as props because, according to the Shinigami Ryuuk, "Apples are like cigarettes to death gods," making it a simple, yet effective, item to include as part of a Death Noter's costume. Other props vary from an over-sized and stylized scythe in one of the series promotional posters to a 4'-long chain handcuffs. In the foreground, a supporter of L's enjoys the Death Note anime.

Coming Soon: Pokemon Platinum, Metal Gear Solid 4 and half-time on Marvel's Secret Invasion.