The 2nd day started really late. The bus departed at 9 am. We got our make up stuff and some final costume parts with us (our props were already at the expo)
The backstage of the Kitsune stage was the headquarter of the ECG representatives.
The Kitsune stage is a small Cosplay stage in one of the main halls where you also can find several Cosplay related booths.
Everyone had a little square where he could store their props or just chill out.
Squares
They also had changing rooms and a small area with tables and electricity as well as a table with water, small snacks and an interesting pile of ice tea (which mysteriously got bigger Oo not smaller…).
Mytseriouse pile of tea XD
They scheduled 1,5 hrs for changing, so we could take it slowly.
After changing they started the lottery for the performance order of the ECG finals.
Every country went up to the Kitsune stage, answered 1 or 2 questions from Benjamin and took one lottery ticket. The starting numbers are country wise to ensure the maximum “gap” between the 2 skits of one country.
Our Solo representative Yuna tried her luck and got us (group) the starting number 1 and for herself the starting number 8.
Some people were pretty confused, because we were really happy about the starting number.
Drawing numbers at the Kitsune stage
To be honest, we wanted this number. We realized that if you start the show, you can see all the other skits without being nervous and enjoy it freely. We are also through the rehearsals first and have plenty of time afterwards to take care of the problems, which might appear and to change back (we did all rehearsals in full costume). Or just start packing, while the others still need to wait for their turn.
As a singer I am always the starting number one of the show for the next 30 minutes. So I never felt this pressure of “being the first”.
After getting our favorite starting number we got lunch backstage. The epic staff brought us several sandwiches, desserts and drinks from which we could choose freely. It was pretty tasty. After the lunch we got ready for the presentation.
Food!
Waiting for the Parade
The presentation was held at the Ichigo stage (main stage) and was right before the Cosplay show at Thursday. We just walked up to the stage (country wise in alphabetic order), went to the front, made 2 or 3 poses and went back.
After that we had freetime.
Presentation
We both changed back and started to build our props for the rehearsals, repaired our costumes and props (the swords got some ditches from the transport and one of the holders fell apart) and got everything ready for the next day.
Nearly everyone builded up their props and repainted their armors/ props.
Because we knew that the Japan Expo is in the nowhere, we brought a survival kit which includes everything we might need to repair something (6 different types of glue, 5 different types of tape, screwdriver, paint, needles, yarn, paint etc etc tec) we could provide everyone with pretty much everything and opened the “iron square”. XD
After that we took the bus back to the hotel.
A lot of people told me that we food at the restaurant won´t be good. But actually I was really happy. ToT We could choose 2 buffets (main dish + starter or main dish + dessert) and it was just super super tasty! They hade a “make yourself burger” station and we dessert was just super super tasty!
Thanks for feeding me so well. ToT I ate a lot during the few days!
I decided to write a small report about my experiences during the European Cosplay Gathering a few weeks ago. J
So lets start with day 1! The arrival day!
Because Japan Expo starts at Thursday, we were required to arrive at Wednesday.
Due to logistical reasons we decided to go by airplane, while friends brought our stage props by car to Paris.
A trip by car would have taken us about 10 to 12 hours and we were required to arrive in the early afternoon. Chiko needed to work the day before and we didn’t wanted to arrive utterly exhausted.
We were really thankful that our friends could take our props, because otherwise we would have needed to ship them a month before to the ECG and Wednesday would have been super stressful for us, because they booked us the wrong flights. Thanks to Kaddle and Kai for bein best helper chans!
With a slight delay we arrived safetly in Paris.
An epic staff member (Axel ^_-) got us with team Poland (they also had delay) and took us safetly to our hotel. It was so cool already to meet Axel, cause I already got to know him during Animecon a few weeks ago and to meet Team Poland *o*. The first fellow ECG Team we met in Paris!
We arrived too late for the prop transport and briefing (the bus departed when we got to the hotel, but we would have needed to repack in the room), so I sent our helper to get the informations we need.
While the others got their briefing at the Japan Expo we prepared and ironed all our costumes for the upcoming days (For future teams: bring your own iron!)
The hotel room was surprisingly huge (Iam used to Japanese room standarts ^_-), so we could made ourselves comfortable.
We had another briefing and welcome party with food in the evening. It was the first contact with the other Representatives and really fun. Everyone was still a bit shy, but I luckily I already knew the Portuguese, Dutch and Czech representatives.
Briefing
Later we played an ECG quiz game to decided the order of the lottery (we needed to draw our performance order for the ECG finals on stage).
It was really fun and we placed more or less in the middle.
After some more food and socializing we went to bed and got ready for the 2nd day.
After a few days we finally could settle down and recover from this amazing weekend.
We still cant believe what happened and that our adventure since September found an end.
For us it was already a huge surprise to win the ECG – European Cosplay Gathering preselection’s at Connichi (we even didn’t plan to go to the winning ceremony, but got convinced by the organizer), because we really messed up our skit.
While Germany is pretty successful in the Solo categories, until now a German team/ group has never won a podium place in the whole international Cosplay history since 2005.
We didn´t expected anything, because we knew neither our skit, nor our
costumes are even near to perfect and we could see how talented and
skilled other teams are. (To be honest, we messed up our fight and were
tripping on stage…). For us being able to participate next to so
many talented Cosplayers, to meet them and to make so many new friends
was already an amazing experience and price. To even bring back a podium
place is something we never expected.
We want to thank everyone for their kindness and support. Thanks to you
we could kept going. It was very stressful and not easy at all. But
thanks to everyone we could make it.
We want to thank especially Riko Creatix
our best helper for her patience and her time. Helping us to dress,
bringing us water, feeding us tasty food and helping us with the prop
transport.
Kai for driving our props over 1.000 Kilometer to Paris, being patient with us and endless supportive. Thanks to Bryan Valentino who made the amazing background video for us and Kukkii-san for the private wig workshop to get a clue how to make this monster of a wig.Thanks for your patience and time!
Also thanks to the team epic for giving their best, being kind and taking really good care of us. Of course Benjamin Zafrany,
who sacrificed his sleep in order to make the ECG an unique experience
for every single participant! We didn’t felt left alone even once during
the whole event, because there was always someone of the epic members
helping us. Thank sou! We also want to thank our senpais Artflower Cosplay and Abyssinian Cosplay
for taking their time to answear every single of our stupid questions
and giving us all the important advices to survive this adventure.
Also thanks to our sponsors myCostumes for sponsoring our wigs and more and Yakitori for the awesome team T-Shirts.
And of course thanks to all the other participants and congratulations
to winners! Everyone made this trip amazing and unique. So much
kindness and talent in one place. It was such an honor to be with you
guys and to be part of this amazing ECG family! Thank you!
Okonomiyaki is often described as a Japanese pizza. It can be filled with various Ingredients like fish, cheese, bacon, ricecake or different vegetables.
Normally its made on a hot plate (Teppanyaki), but because I sadly live in Germany I developed my own way to make Okonomiyaki in 2 fry pans.
You can change the filling to your liking, although cabbage is more or less the filling you will found in nearly every Okonomiyaki.
I love noodles, this is why I went for a Yakisoba base. You can also skip the Yakisoba part and go with a plain egg base. ^_-
Ingredients (6 portions)
For the batter:
1,5 cups fleur
2 cups water
1 small bag of Dashimoto
oil
Filling:
Pizza Cheese
1/2 cabbage
Champignons
Bacon stripes (12)
6 eggs
3 packs of Chuuka soba
Okonomiyaki sauce
Mayonnaise
Yakisoba sauce
Bonito flakes
Nori flakes
As for the Yakisoba/ Okonomiyaki sauces: I like to use the brand “Otafuku”. I tried out various brands and just love the taste of this sauces. You can also make the sauces by yourself.
Preparations:
1) Cook the Chuuka soba and mix the soba with the Yakisoba sauce (like instructed on the package).
2) Chop the vegetables into small pieces.
3) Mix the Dashimoto, water and fleur until the lumps
disappeared.
Now we can start!
1) Pan 1: Fill some batter into the pan, wait a bit and top it with cheese
Pan 2: Fry the bacon until its crispy
2)Pan 1: Top the Batter with Cabbage, champions. Add some batter on the top and afterwards the bacon.
Pan 2: Fry 1 egg
3) Pan 1: Flip the whole thing (if some cabbage drops out, just push it under the batter after flipping). Wait until the cabbage is more or less cooked (to your liking).
4) Pan 2: Put the egg onto a plate. Top the egg with the prepared Yakisoba.
5)Pan 1: Take the batter and put it on the yakisoba.
6) Decorate it with Okonomiyaki sauce, Mayonnaise, Bonito and Nori
Enjoy!
Some hacks:
1) If you don’t like raw cabbage, fry it before adding the cabbage to the batter
2) If you use 2 pancake turners, its easier to flip the Okonomiyaki
3) Press the Okonomiyaki with the pancake turner in Step 3) from time to time in the pan.
Also press the Yakisoba on to the Egg after step 3). If you flatten it out, its easier to eat afterwards and don’t look like the tower of Pisa.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
And no worries this will not become a cooking blog.
Im not good at cooking at all. Actually Okonomiyaki is the only food I can make. XD
Because we knew that the Japan Expo is in the nowhere, we brought a survival kit which includes everything we might need to repair something (6 different types of glue, 5 different types of tape, screwdriver, paint, needles, yarn, paint etc etc tec) we could provide everyone with pretty much everything and opened the “iron square”. XD
