We had actually been short three people during our night march as we never got a chance to contact them before we headed out (they were all in the other tower of the Sheraton). This morning we had everyone: eleven Shinsengumi, one Domo-Kun, and an mp3 player…
The first thing we did upon getting together was sorting ourselves out. Our double-column from the night before worked well, but now we needed to fit three new people into it. Further, we also had to work on a means to quickly go from “marching formation” to “photo pose” and back quickly. As most cosplayers know, oftentimes you find yourself posing for a photo because one person asks… then as they take their picture another person comes to get in on the photo opportunity… the next thing you know, you’re holding your pose for a full minute or so as you wait for the last person to finally get his picture snapped off.
Well, I was quite pleased to see that we solved that one quickly with efficient transitions for “photo!” (five kneeling fore, six standing rear), “draw!” (swords out), and “column!” (ready for marching) as shouted out by myself or someone else. So we formed up, fired up the music… and we marched into the populace of the convention…
Really, the next hour or so is a blur to me. We headed into the courtyard outside for a quick photo shoot, taking advantage of the trees, and the fresh air before half of us took off our blue and white haori to pose as “opposing ronin” to fight the Shinsengumi. We were pressed for time, though, so we only took a few pictures before we geared back up and headed back in for the real Shinsengumi event. Again, the march is mostly a blur to me now; there were a lot of pictures of us by some as we marched by and a lot as we moved into “photo-formation”. At one point a girl even asked us to run past her while she took video (which turned out great). By the time we were mostly done, I knew we all wanted to stay around and cause some more mischief around the con. But alas, most of us had to drive back to Vancouver that day, and we needed to pack our bags and check out of the hotel. So with one final “victory lap” around the convention, our eleven-person troupe disbanded and headed back to the hotel.
As the convention was still going on, four of us (including myself) opted to stay in cosplay for the time being. It was then that I received a phone call from Ichigo of Anime Pulse asking us about our march. See, originally I had told him that we planned to start marching around noon, but with checking out and timing issues we sadly had to change that plan. Nevertheless, he suggested we head out for lunch… so the four of us went out for a bite with the two podcasters.
And when I say “went out”, we seriously went out – three or four blocks away from the convention, into downtown Seattle, through a shopping mall and into a fourth-floor restaurant… and in full Shinsengumi cosplay…
Despite the general double-takes and looks from “the normals” as we walked through this mall (unlike some cosplayers, we still appreciate the notion of shame), lunch was good and we shared some laughs while the podcasters posted their news through the building’s wi-fi.
Coming back out of the mall, however, was a much more amusing story. Pretty much the moment we came out of the restaurant and into the main mall area, we walked past an elderly Japanese family. Instant double-take, jaw-drops, we got the full effect from these poor people who went on to follow us from a distance into the elevator. Once inside the elevator and away from prying eyes, Batou from Anime Pulse immediately lost it and began laughing hysterically – the rest of us followed suit. As if that wasn’t enough, there was another group of (younger) Japanese people on the floor we exited. Again, more confused double-takes, more laughter once we were out of sight.
Hey, if that won’t work as a means to get the Shinsengumi noticed in Seattle, then nothing will.
The last of our blue and white adventures took place back in the convention where we took a few more pictures and then just walked the dealer’s room until it was time to meet up with the rest of our roommates. The remaining four of us took a few final pictures in the convention center lobby, as well as recreated some typical samurai clichés for the cameras and the people walking in and out (for example, we did that one where two guys charge each other, slash, and then hold the position for a long time before one finally falls down with the hiss of a high-pressure blood spray). After that, though, we headed back to the hotel, got changed in the lobby bathroom, and finished off our time in Seattle, Washington.
