Costume constructed by me. Started August 2015 to debut in a month at AnimeFest 2015. D8

A central theme in Hakuouki season 2 is the westernization of Japan. This theme is apparent in my costume through the choice of fabrics and style of construction.

I'm incredibly happy to have the chance to cosplay with Misha and Mochi as Kashuu Kiyomitsu and Yamada no Kami Yasusada for a Hakuouki/Touken Ranbu crossover! Also looking forward to adding lots of details and rewearing him in the future!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I can still fight!"

I watched Hakuouki around 2010, and immediately gravitated towards Okita Souji. When we first met him, he gave off vibes of being a tough, sadistic, and skillful killer, but as his backstory was revealed to the audience, he turned out to be a quite caring and endearing person. His determination to continue fighting for what he stood for despite his illness, a combination that ultimately lead to his demise, broke my heart at the end of the series. He's a poignant, tragic character that I wanted to cosplay well, however I wasn't confident enough to make him at the time.

Fast forward 5 years later to 2015 when the Touken Ranbu online game was published. A couple of my friends chose to cosplay Kashuu Kiyomitsu and Yamato no Kami Yasusada, who are Okita's swords from the game. I had actively honed my sewing skills since 2013, so I felt like I could take on what has been a dream cosplay for years. I constructed and sewed everything except the pants and boots within a month before AnimeFest 2015.

I had some bad luck when the wig I ordered for him had bangs that were too short to style into his hair. It was a few days before the con, so I wasn't able to order another wig. Luckily, I had a dark brown wig that was intended to be used for an Eren Jaeger cosplay that wound up working out for Okita (However, I want to thank Shizu-Bro and Ed, who brought a bunch of brown wigs to the con for me to try on when they read about my wig fiasco). I also wound up finishing this cosplay around 11 am the day of the con(!), but ran out of time needed to add his fish designs on the lapels. I also forgot my sash at home, and had to drive back to get it before finally leaving for the con. >_<;;; But despite all the mishaps, I felt confident and elated when I wore this cosplay, and felt very content with how it turned out. For the first time ever, I didn't sweat the small details of an outfit and only felt at peace with it. I had an excellent con, a fun photoshoot, and spent time with some of my closest cosplay friends. This cosplay feels quite special to me, and I will continue working on the details so I can wear an updated version to a future con! :)

Cannot wait to share photos from the fun photoshoot!