NYAF 2009 Masquerade from the eyes of 1st Timer Leigh Goody

Out-of-Time Photographer Leigh Goody was on hand during the 2009 edition of the New York Anime Festival Masquerade. It was her first time watching the masquerade and she enjoyed. This was her account of the event.

The New York Anime Festival Masquerade was an event to remember;

Several outstanding skits; lots of inventive costumes, and of course, the chance to see the winners of last years’ World Cosplay Summit. (Who by the way, were amazing!)

Having always been a fan of dressing up for the sake of dressing up, I was lucky enough to attend the masquerade this year. It was two firsts for me; my first NYAF, and my first Masquerade, and I must say, I’m hooked for life.

New York Anime Festival is everything that could be expected from the largest anime convention in the greatest city in New York, and the Masquerade was no less fitting, as it was the main event for Saturday night, the main night of the con itself. Even the judges got into the spirit of things, and their costumes were not lacking either. (My favorite judge dressed the part of Matel from Galaxy Express 999, and she did a fantastic job)

Starting with Uncle Yo, who got the audience phenomenally hyped up, was the opening act: a small performance by Reni, the “Cosplay Entertainer” who sang three of the songs from her new album, all of which were very up-beat and cheerful, very catchy, and with which she tried to teach Uncle Yo and the audience the Para Para dance that accompanied her song, so we could all dance along with her.

There were a lot of memorable skits, and most people will remember Bumblebee from Transformers for a good long while. Along with getting several mentions from judges, he was clearly the single favorite costume during the evening; the sheer amount of effort put into this one costume nearly stunned the auditorium, when described by the cosplayer.

The Bride Of The Water God was another skit that left the auditorium with a hanging jaw; it had no spoken dialog, and one rather simple prop (a doorway into ‘the other world’ ) but with the choice of song used for the mood of the piece and the emotion the actors used, it was stunning. Even Uncle Yo was speechless, and that’s hard to do.

Speaking of Uncle Yo, his “Otaku Anthem” drew a standing ovation when he and his co-M.C. sang it for the “Opening Ceremonies” of the Masquerade. As well as entertaining us during the deliberation period at the end of the show, with his presentation on How To Survive A Giant Robot Attack So It Doesn’t Kill You Dead. And since both Bumblebee, and a handmade Gundam were in attendance, this piece drew many appreciative laughs.

One of my personal favorite skits was very controversial, depending on your position of Naruto’s lead antagonist Sasuke Uchiha. It was a skit entitled “EMOtion” and I happen to think it was very cleverly used to satire the character.

There was also an instance everyone knows all to well; when you simply can’t get a song out of your head. Or hand, as the case may be, in Vampire Hunter Interrupted, wh erein the demon possessing “Vampire Hunter D”s Alucard’s hand will not be silenced when “Manah Manah” is stuck in his head. Ruining D’s persuasion of a girl, and even going so far as to get the song stuck in HER head.

Overall there is no denying the talent that flooded the stage; but with out a single doubt, I can guarantee that if you ask every person at the show Saturday night, what their favorite skit was, all of them would say: “L’s Day Off”.

“L’s Day Off” was the undisputed darling of the show this year and due in no small part to the skill of the Cosplayer portraying him. (L, that is). The piece is set to music from Carmen, and there is no dialog; the magic is how intensely the actor portrayed his character, and the beauty is that all of his actions were timed to a specific emphasis of the song. (very similar to that very famous Bugs Bunny cartoon “The Rabbit Of Seville” )

The only actions of the character was the putting together of a very large ice cream sundae, and his finale was literally diving into it head first, with a spectacular splash of whipped cream.

We should all be so lucky as to have Uncle Yo lick ice cream off our cheeks.

Those were my highlights of the 2009 New York Anime Festival, and I look forward to 2010!