Interview with Living Ichigo
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Interview by: Roxy Lee GG
Hi all, this time I am doing things a little different. I know I have interviewed a lot of stunning and uber talented females over the past few months, but I thought I would throw in a little treat for our fans and interview an incredible male cosplayer. I got the pleasure to interview Living Ichigo. If you are not familiar with his work, then remedy that as he is just so talented, so impressive with his skill sets and a cool person to chat with. So let’s get right into it. Here is what he had to say about himself...
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“As a kid I was always a fan of anime and comic books I grew up with shounen titles like Dragon Ball Z, Spiderman, Batman, and Superman and many more. It was my love for anime and comics that got me into cosplaying. I wanted to bring my favorite characters to life. That’s one of the main reasons why I train and stay fit so I can look just like the character.”
Roxy: Hey Ichigo! Thanks so much for doing this interview with us! It’s nice to do things a little different for the fans.
Ichigo: It’s my pleasure, thank you for having me.
Roxy: Alright, when did you start cosplaying and how exactly did you get into it?
Ichigo: Well back in 2010 my friends got me back into watching anime. I hadn’t watched anime since the old days of Cartoon Networks Toonami, which would show all kinds of different animes. So the first anime I got back into watching was Bleach. As soon as I watched some episodes I was hooked! Then at that time of me getting back into anime a few friends of mine convinced me to go to my first anime convention where I learned about what cosplaying is. I later told myself I really want to cosplay Ichigo but I want to do it the best I could, meaning I’d need to train and get a lean toned body like Ichigo.
Roxy: The dedication you have to the character is certainly remarkable. What was your very first cosplay and convention? Were you nervous about dressing up?
Ichigo: My first cosplay was regular Ichigo and convention was Sac Anime back in summer of 2010. It was actually very fun, not nervous at all.
Roxy: I remember being so nervous about mine so kudos! Now do you create all of your own costumes, if so where did you learn to sew and fabricate such amazing pieces? What has been the most difficult costume to date and why?
Ichigo: Just about all of them yes. My girlfriend (Cosplayer JoJo PandaFace, seen in a lot of his work https://www.facebook.com/jojopandafacecos) is a seamstress and I work with her on making my cosplays. I have several friends who are very experienced at fabricating props and armors and I work with them on those types of projects. My most difficult cosplay to date has to be my Vasto Lorde Ichigo cosplay. That took forever to get done and even now that it’s a complete costume it takes over 3 hours to prep to even wear that cosplay with the fake long nails, the body paint and markings.
Roxy: Wow 3 hours, and I thought an hour of Ivy makeup was bad haha. Now being such an amazing cosplayer in terms of action and emotion in shoots and at events, do you have any tips for a new comer on development of a character when cosplaying?
Ichigo: For new comers I’d suggest looking for a character that is closest to you, or your body type. If you can, you’re already one step of the way to pulling off a good cosplay. You also want to make sure you have a good wig (if you need one) and basically, do your best. You want to represent the character as close as you can to the original. If you’re having trouble finding good quality costumes and don’t want to make one, there are many commissioners out there that you can hire. Also being able to convey the characters emotion through their facial and body for pictures. It’s also good to study the characters stances for poses.
Roxy: Some good tips there. Now when did your love for cosplaying as Ichigo come about? He and Goku are two of your most popular, and impressive cosplays in my personal opinion. How do you get into their mind sets before an event or shoot? What about them made them so desirable to want to portray them?
Ichigo: At the time I was starting to get back into anime I started to watch Bleach for the first time. After a few episodes I was hooked! Before a shoot I try to Envision myself as the character and what they would do for my photography. The characters I cosplay are normally my favorites, so I really want to be like them when I cosplay.
Roxy: And how do you choose which characters you are going to cosplay as next? Do you ever take fan requests or is it solely based on personal preference and love for those specific characters?
Ichigo: I have a list of cosplays that I want to accomplish each year. I also take fan requests as well just to get a new idea of things I might have not thought about yet.
Roxy: Awesome! What does cosplay mean to you? How has it changed or benefited your life?
Ichigo: Cosplay is all about having fun. It’s fun to cosplay your favorite characters that you love and pretend to be like them. Well, because of cosplay I have got myself to be very fit, I wasn’t always in this great of shape. Most my life I was very overweight, but once I wanted to start to cosplay as best as I could then I changed my life around for the better.
Roxy: That’s amazing congratulations, I am glad cosplay helped with that! How do you feel the Geek culture has changed over the past few years in terms of the added social media and technology aspect? Do you think it has benefited it or taken away from it? If there was one thing in this community you could change what would it be?
Ichigo: I think with Social media it’s made it way easier to interact with people with the same interests as you. It’s also made cosplaying a lot more accepted in the world now that so many people do it now and have their photos posted online. If there were something I’d like to change from the cosplay community it would be to tone down all the harsh criticism from either online cosplay contests and/or jealousy. I see way too often people taking things way too seriously when cosplaying. Cosplaying is about having fun and making new friends with the same love for your hobby, not to try and put others down.
Roxy: I agree, we need to stick together. What has been your favorite convention to attend thus far and why? Also what events will you be attending this year? And what will you be dressed as?
Ichigo: I really love FanimeCon a lot. I also enjoy Anime Expo a ton too. I’ll be attending concomics in Guadalajara, Mexico as a Guest. Fanime Con, Anime Expo, SDCC for the first time, Sac Anime, and a few other ones.
Roxy: Now time for the lightning round!
Ichigo:
1. Favourite movie: Casino Royal
2. Favourite TV show: Dragonball Z
3. Favourite Geek celebrity: Seth Green
4. Favourite Superhero/Villain: Superhero-Goku Villian/Cell
5. Favourite game (Pc, console, table top etc): Dragonball Z Tenkaichi 3 for PS2
6. Favourite Super power to have: To turn into a Super Saiyan.
7. Favourite Character to dress up as: Goku
8. Favourite comic book or book: I love Batman
9. Favourite Artist or director: Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragonball Z
0. Favorite website: I really enjoy Gametrailers a lot for their reporting on video games.
Roxy: Please take this moment to plug all of your pages where we can find your work or any other projects you are a part of that we should check out, and also any final words for the fans?
livingichigo.com -
youTube -
Twitter -
Instagram -
deviantART -
Cure
Roxy: Ichigo, thank you for this amazing interview, please keep up all the amazing work and I always look forward to your next projects. Good luck and hope to see you at an event soon!
Ichigo: It’s my pleasure. Thank you for taking the time to interview me.
Roxy: There you have it Geeks and Geekettes, I hope you all loved the change of scenery here as much as we did. Living Ichigo definitely is a breath of fresh air in the cosplay world, an all around great cosplayer and certainly some eye candy for all of the fans and us here. Go check him out, show him some love and stay tuned for some more epic interviews!
Cheers.
-Roxy Lee GG <3
Photo Credits:
Psycho Cosplay: Borderlands photo by
Cosplay Photographers
Jecht Cosplay Photography by: Fremen Photog
Vasto Lorde Ichigo Cosplays Photography by
livingichigo.com
Vizard Ichigo Cosplays photopraphy by
livingichigo.com
SSJ Goku Cosplay photography by: Françous
Gilgamesh Fate/Hollow Ataraxia photo by
JoJo PandaFace
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April 20 2013