Sunday evening was the big event - masquerade. Masquerade at Arisia is done differently from anime conventions (with the exception of Anime Los Angeles). The older generation of masquerade veterans surely knew what they were doing and how to take care of the on stage talent. Masquerade is the big costume contest. This year masquerade was held on a Sunday evening rather than a Saturday evening. I'm used to this format having done Fanime and Anime Expo masquerades on night three. Let's take a look at backstage masquerade.

Green Room Hijinks

Arisia masquerade had the Den Mom system. This means that everyone is grouped into small sections in the green room. Each section has an assigned "Den Mom," in which they take care of anyone in the small group. They can do small errands for each cosplay and also take care of each performer's basic needs. A Den Mom can even do a quick food run for the mini buffet. The green room has a mini buffet for all of the onstage talent. Considering that masquerade takes place during supper time, this was a good set up to keep the cosplayers hydrated and keep their energy up.

Comparatively, Anime Los Angeles has a larger mini buffet, but I liked the selection of breadsticks and portabello mushrooms. I also liked the cheese and crackers pile. The green room was also where you would be judged for workmanship (if you so choosed). There was a line around the room for the judges to look at craftmanship judging. Though I made Fantine in less than a week's time, I decided to go for it anyway. Judging for Fantine only took less than five minutes. I'm also glad they accepted a character reference image on my iPhone.

We also had people from the Boston Globe take behind the scenes photos of people getting prepped up. We also had official photography done in the green room right before showtime. After masquerade, I looked at the prices to purchase official photogprahy. I'm not really used to paying $15 for a digital copy for masquerade, but I will say about three or four of the shoots turned out really good.

The Masquerade

Luckily, the green room had a live simulcast on what was going on the main stage. The show started during the 8PM hour. The show was hosted by Marty Gear. He was donning a Dracula motif. To stall between acts, he told some groaner vampire jokes. I thought this was pretty clever for the masquerade MC to have an ongoing running joke that the audience can enjoy. The jokes did not feel stale (ie: Foglio's Sesame Street Count bit or Tadao's Mahna Mahna) and it was entertaining.

The show had almost 30 masquerade entries. There was an even mix of all the different classes - Novice, Journeyman, and Craftsman / Master. The show began with a performance from the children's track. Through the weekend, there were workshops for kids on how to make makeshift hero costumes. I thought this was a really creative idea and it was almost like a crash course in masquerade. Each of the kids made their own costumes and created their own characters. They even wrote intros and backstory for Marty to read off. This was really cute seeing and we hope that future Best in Show winners come from this crowd.

Following the opening act, we had the Young Fan division perform first. This was the kids' competition division masquerade. There's a lot of cute things that come from this. I met a Momo Hinomori (Bleach) backstage and said it was her first costume project. She was really intrigued that I also cosplayed as Hinamori. This was the part of the masquerade that would make anyone go "dawww...." However, the one that placed with the highest honors in this division was "Gingham Style." There were several girls dressed as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz on stage and they proceeded to the PSY dance.

PSY's "Gangham Style" was a popular schtick for masquerade acts. There was Steampunk Style and Hobbit Style. However, there were plenty of stand out acts. Clockwork Steampunk was notable in it's combination of Victoriana and funk. Everyone was grooving backstage. There were two Belle's - one based from the Disney movie and another that was based off historical accuracy. One of my favorite presentations had to be the Weeping Angel from Doctor Who. Not only it was an awesome costume, the presentation had a strobe lighting effect. If you know anything about Weeping Angels, this made the "don't blink" motif very effective. There was a really cute Birds of Prey act and a Disney-fied version of the Power Puff Girls. The big winner for Best in Show was a Doctor Who act that had the 10th doctor and a 18th century android.

My act was based around Les Miserables. I was cosplaying as Fantine from the 2007 anime version of the Victor Hugo novel. My material was based on the "I Dreamed a Dream" parody from Forbidden Broadway. I was originally going to do this at Anime Los Angeles, but I thought this literary crowd might get a good laugh from it. I ended up taking home two Honorable Mentions, each in Workmanship and Presentation. This was a huge surprise since I went in masquerade not expecting anything, but just a good experience backstage.

I had to leave the masquerade early. I actually did not know my winnings until the next day. Masquerade goes onto the evening. I had to catch my train by 10PM and luckily, I made it home at a decent hour.

A complete list of masquerade winners can be seen here on the Arisia 2013 website.

Pictures are copyright by Scarlet Rhapsody . If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font A Yummy Apology . Many thanks to Dream Host, Adobe Bridge, MS Photodraw, Picasa, and Dreamweaver for making this site design possible.