This year, AnmeSecrets was able to attend the annual Cosplay Contest at Louisianime 2013 on Saturday evening. Below is a video of the whole show, with results following.

Photos from the Lolita Fashion Show at Anime Matsuri 2013 in Houston, Texas

I will say that the artwork is very beautiful, however - it's shaded more than a typical anime and looks a lot like watercolor. It has a very illustrative feel, which makes me hope that the story itselfwill be very smooth, atmospheric, and interesting.

I just completed episode 1 of Valvrave the Liberator, and all I can say is ‘WOW!’ and ‘OH MY GOD! WHAT EVEN?’ Suffice it to say, this anime blew my mind away in ways I never expected, and completely took me by surprise. Instead of being the typical run-of-the-mill giant robot anime, like Majestic Prince was last week and the many others that came before them, this anime is already displaying some themes that just hit home on many levels.

Photos from MechaCon VIII in New Orleans, Louisiana, circa 2012

Photos from Anime Matsuri 2013's Marvel Cosplay Contest in Houston, Texas

The year is True Calendar 71. Humanity has moved 70% of its populations to space colonies known as “Dyson Spheres” (no, they are not styled after vacuum cleaners), and on the neutral colony of JIOR, at least, things seem to be at peace. However, teenage agents from an aggressing force invade the colony and the academy found there in search of some sort of secret base.

Without being aware of too many of them, I get the feeling that “slice-of-life school club comedies” are a dime a dozen now. After Azumanga Daioh set the standard for the genre (well, without the club bit) in the early 2000s, it’s difficult to call the rest true “copycats” – they all explore different clubs, even if the style of humor is largely the same. It’s not like a ton of these all run concurrently, so it’s kind of like a burger that you keep ordering over and over again. It was great the first time, and it’s still good the other times, except for the occasional bad lettuce or old bun or something like that.

Suffice to say, the ringleader and his sidekick, a blonde martial artist with a bulletproof cloak, are members of a secret defense organization called “Circus,” butts are kicked, the hostages are freed, and more is discovered by the viewer about the organization the Lady in the beginning was working for, which Circus was sent to investigate in the first place but arrived too late. The first few minutes were interesting, gripping, excitingly scored, and all-in-all a very fine piece of directing, and the rest of the episode tied itself up plot-wise with the absolute neatest of bows, while still leaving the ends of the ribbon trailing off for you to follow for later episodes.

My name is Meghan Haas AKA MehanChan, I am 25 years old from New Orleans, Louisiana. I got into cosplay because, I was in love with Anime since Sailor Moon came on UPN in 1994 or so...It was just a crazy love story from there. I just got to this point where I just wanted to be the justice seeking characters that I had grown to respect so much.