Agito/Akito Wanijima - Air Gear
Worn:
Anime North 2011 (Toronto, ON)
Otakuthon 2011 (Montreal, QC)
Costume Con 35 [2017] (Mississauga, ON)
Status: On & Off Hiatus
Why Agito/Akito?
I love these two so much, and getting to essentially be two characters at once was a lot of fun. I wanted the challenge of walking around with all of those straps dangling off of me. I'm just thankful I didn't try to rollerblade with those! That likely would have ended badly!
This was a year of planning before the costume was finished.
I ordered a Clover wig in dark blue from Cosplay.com Shopping and used a pair of thinning sheers to style the wig into the proper style. I cut the back short and trimmed the bangs to the correct length. The side bangs I left long, but I still had to shorten them a little so that they'd be right for Agito/Akito.
The strait jacket and straps are made of cotton. My mom helped me draft a pattern for the strait jacket, extending the sleeves so that they would go down to be at my knees (they originally went down to my ankles, but that was far too long). Before putting the sleeves onto the strait jacket, I added the stripes with liquid stitch. Unlike a lot of people who put the black on either side of the white, I put the black strip down the middle of the white. I had to, in order to hide the orange underneath. After the strait jacket was 90% done, I added on the remaining bias tape with liquid stitch. My mom helped me put the strait jacket together. The straps at the bottom of the strait jacket were secured with liquid stitch, and I added keyrings to the bottom to attach the hooks to.
My mom showed me how to do the straps in a way that would work best. We sewed them into long tubes and then using a safety pin, I pulled the straps through so that they were the right way. Before sewing up the ends, we pressed them. We attached them later to the pants and strait jacket. At the end of the straps on the pants we attached swivel hooks, so that when walking, I could hook the straps up to the keyrings so as not to trip.
The pants were bought at the thrift store in Madoc, ON for $2.
I even made the eyepatch from scratch. I used a soft white cotton which I also bought at the thrift store for $1 for the entire 3 meters. I put interfacing into the centre of it so that the eyepatch would keep the shape. The elastic was measured to fit my face and fed through the holes in the eyepatch so that I could switch which eye the patch was on while wearing it.
As special accessories, I wear zipper earrings, one white and one black to represent the split personalities. White for Akito, and black for Agito. Also under the strait jacket even though they will be mostly hidden, I wear pleather & mesh gloves.
I entered this cosplay in Otakuthon 2011's masquerade. I didn't win anything for it, like I didn't for Rider, but I'm okay with that. I was just happy to go on stage, not fall off, etc. I did however receive a very kind compliment from Yaya Han, who was the Cosplay Guest of Honour. She told me that while I was on stage I was absolutely adorable. That's enough of an award for me. I was entry 12, Split Personality.
Photography:
Otakuthon shoot: Henrickson
Belleville shoot: DeadKoiBunny
Otakuthon masquerade: Charles Mohapel
Anime North 2011 (Toronto, ON)
Otakuthon 2011 (Montreal, QC)
Costume Con 35 [2017] (Mississauga, ON)
Status: On & Off Hiatus
Why Agito/Akito?
I love these two so much, and getting to essentially be two characters at once was a lot of fun. I wanted the challenge of walking around with all of those straps dangling off of me. I'm just thankful I didn't try to rollerblade with those! That likely would have ended badly!
This was a year of planning before the costume was finished.
I ordered a Clover wig in dark blue from Cosplay.com Shopping and used a pair of thinning sheers to style the wig into the proper style. I cut the back short and trimmed the bangs to the correct length. The side bangs I left long, but I still had to shorten them a little so that they'd be right for Agito/Akito.
The strait jacket and straps are made of cotton. My mom helped me draft a pattern for the strait jacket, extending the sleeves so that they would go down to be at my knees (they originally went down to my ankles, but that was far too long). Before putting the sleeves onto the strait jacket, I added the stripes with liquid stitch. Unlike a lot of people who put the black on either side of the white, I put the black strip down the middle of the white. I had to, in order to hide the orange underneath. After the strait jacket was 90% done, I added on the remaining bias tape with liquid stitch. My mom helped me put the strait jacket together. The straps at the bottom of the strait jacket were secured with liquid stitch, and I added keyrings to the bottom to attach the hooks to.
My mom showed me how to do the straps in a way that would work best. We sewed them into long tubes and then using a safety pin, I pulled the straps through so that they were the right way. Before sewing up the ends, we pressed them. We attached them later to the pants and strait jacket. At the end of the straps on the pants we attached swivel hooks, so that when walking, I could hook the straps up to the keyrings so as not to trip.
The pants were bought at the thrift store in Madoc, ON for $2.
I even made the eyepatch from scratch. I used a soft white cotton which I also bought at the thrift store for $1 for the entire 3 meters. I put interfacing into the centre of it so that the eyepatch would keep the shape. The elastic was measured to fit my face and fed through the holes in the eyepatch so that I could switch which eye the patch was on while wearing it.
As special accessories, I wear zipper earrings, one white and one black to represent the split personalities. White for Akito, and black for Agito. Also under the strait jacket even though they will be mostly hidden, I wear pleather & mesh gloves.
I entered this cosplay in Otakuthon 2011's masquerade. I didn't win anything for it, like I didn't for Rider, but I'm okay with that. I was just happy to go on stage, not fall off, etc. I did however receive a very kind compliment from Yaya Han, who was the Cosplay Guest of Honour. She told me that while I was on stage I was absolutely adorable. That's enough of an award for me. I was entry 12, Split Personality.
Photography:
Otakuthon shoot: Henrickson
Belleville shoot: DeadKoiBunny
Otakuthon masquerade: Charles Mohapel