Arima Souichiro from Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (Kare Kano)

Made In. August-September 2006
Debuted. Ani-Magic 2006
Info. Kare Kano was one of my first introductions to real anime. It was completely unlike Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z and all of the other anime I had seen on T.V. The major theme was love, but it was more mature and far less sappy than the romance in Sailor Moon. The story of Kare Kano is so unique and engrossing that I was instantly hooked when I watched it. I enjoyed it so much that after the anime ended I picked up the manga (it was also one of the first manga I ever read).

It wasn't until years later when I started cosplaying that I had a desire to dress me and G-Mal up as the main protagonists, Miyazawa and Arima. I hadn't watched Kare Kano in a while, and after a binge session with my friend Richii my love for Kare Kano was rekindled! I set about making costumes for me and Yuriy, and when Richii asked if she could be our Asaba, I made her costume too!

The biggest struggle with these costumes, believe it or not, was deciding whether the jackets and pants should be black or dark blue. We finally settled on dark blue since I thought it went better with my skirt, and I'm glad because I really like how the dark blue turned out in photos. I think G-Mal made an awesome Arima, and it was such a joy getting to cosplay with my boyfriend AS my boyfriend for once (after all of the costumes we did in the past like Kenshin/Sano and Yuki/Ayame)! It was definitely no chore posing for kissy-face pictures. XD