Katsuki Yuuri and I
"He never fails to surprise me. Ever since I first saw his skating, it's been an unending chain of surprises." - Katsuki Yuuri
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| Yuuri's bedroom. |
I believe a lot of people grow up discovering
someone who inspires them to take up a certain hobby or career. It could be a parent, friend, or a public
figure and idol. In my case it was an idol
- a Japanese cosplayer named Reika. Her work made such an impression on me that
I took up sewing again in college after believing
I wouldn't find a reason to sew again. And just like any person who is a fan of
an idol, I began collecting a lot of art and
books on my Reika. We've all done it: be it basketball players, boy bands,
singers, and so on. If you ask my close friends, they will tell you that when you enter my
room, I have framed posters and photos of Reika mixed in with the artwork and anime
posters I have collected over the years up on my walls.
Sounds familiar right? With every costume she
made, I was more in awe of her skills. That, in turn, kept making me want to push myself to get better,
even if it was just a little at a time.
What does this have to do with Yuri!!! On Ice and my reasons for cosplaying Katsuki Yuuri? Well,
besides both our rooms having a major dedication to our favorite person; a lot actually. I loved that this anime starts in the
middle of Yuuri's career. He isn't a high school student, but in his 20s, just
finishing college. This made it easy for me to relate with him because I am
also in my 20s and started cosplaying in 2013. Yuuri
got into ice skating as a child, but when he saw Viktor performing
in the Junior Championship he become more inspired and determined. Watching this Russian skater encouraged Yuuri to
take up skating because he wanted to be able to be as good as or better than Viktor. I, instantly, felt the same
way. I wanted to improve my cosplaying any way possible so that maybe, one day,
I could do a professional photo shoot with Reika. (I'm still dreaming about
that.) Yuuri was in the middle of his career, close to
making his dream. However, due to
unfortunate events like stress, his family dog passing away, and weight gain,
he messed up big time. We all have those moments. Yuuri knew he had screwed up.
The scene where Viktor is offering a photo with
Yuuri and he walks away is heart-wrenching
because I knew I would do the same. If I ever made a flop that bad, I wouldn't
be able to smile and take a photo with my idol. It is how I am. By the end of
the first episode, Viktor shows up in Japan telling Yuuri that he will be his
coach and, throughout the series, you see that Viktor wants Yuuri to know he is
a lot more talented and has more potential than he believes.
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| Viktor shattering Yuuri's heart before the Free Skate. |
It was so easy for me to put myself in Yuuri's shoes as I
watched this anime. We both doubt our skills, become over worried about how our actions will affect others, and fear how
people will see us. I really got emotional during certain
scenes because I was picturing myself as Yuuri and Viktor as Reika. For an
original anime, it drew me in so deeply and emotionally that I saw the passion
and love the creator, Mitsurō Kubo, has for skating and her characters. I just could not wait for the next episode each week. Plus, who doesn't wish for their idol to
show up one day saying they will coach you??? By the 3rd or 4th episode, I knew
I wanted to cosplay Yuuri. It was not a hard decision what so ever. I even
joked with a friend saying "It'd be really amazing if Reika decided to
cosplay Viktor." Well, a surprise came to me the next morning when I woke
up to a status update from Reika of her getting
supplies for her Viktor cosplay. I think I spammed my friends' phones with the
news and ended up buying fabric for all my Yuuri cosplays ahead of schedule.
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| Training outfit. |
First of the Yuuri outfits I worked on was his training
outfit; which did not take me long to make. This
outfit includes the black and blue pants, the navy long-sleeve shirt, and the
black Mizuno jacket. I made the shirt and pants in the same day. The shirt is
made out of a navy knit with white piping. The pants were made out of a blue
and black lounge wear or jogging fabric. The jacket took me a few days to make
because I started off by designing a pattern for
it using felt as my template. I took a lot of screen shots from the anime and looked through hundreds of photos
of Yuzuru Hanyu, a Japanese skater, to find every view
of the jacket. It took a few hours just to find a decent view of the back. I
used the same black fabric as the pants with blue piping that matched well. I
was lucky that one of my friends knew someone in college that had a fab lab they
could use, since I don't own an embroidery
machine. I was able to pay them to make the
patches and logos for the outfit. I use this outfit a lot outside of cosplay as well, especially since I took up ice skating to
help relieve my stress.
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| Free Skate outfit. |
The next outfit I worked on was Yuuri's Free Skate outfit. I
really loved this outfit because of how elegant it looked along with the
beautiful back design. This was, by far, the most emotional cosplay for me
because I messed up a lot while making it. All but the lining of the suit jacket
is made out of knit fabrics. As I started to work on it, I realized halfway
through that the suit jacket was a size too big on me. Really distressed me
because I hadn’t been able to tell it was too big until I sewed in the lining.
I had to take in at least two inches on the sides to get it to look right.
Still not very happy with how it came out. Maybe I will redo it one day. Other
than the sewing issue, the time consuming part was putting on the rhinestones.
I used a mix of iron and glue-on rhinestones, but with a large area to cover, I
had to do a little at a time. In the end, this cosplay took me about a month to
make with all the issues and rhinestones. Also, by this time, I had gotten the
wig meant for the skating competition cosplays and was having a hard time
styling it. I ended up restyling the wig so many times that I was going nuts.
Luckily, two friends lent a hand and took some time to see what they could do
to help. Though, being a perfectionist, I still keep wondering if there are
other ways to improve it.
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| I wasn't really happy with these shoes in this photo during of my first test wear, I got better ones a week later.. |
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| Yuuri and Viktor's Gala performance. |
The last project I made for my Yuuri collection was the Gala
Performance outfit. The ending of the anime took my breath away because seeing
Yuuri skate with Viktor was just beautiful. After all, I think anyone wishes to
be on the same level of the person they respect and idolize. I am no exception
to that as I mentioned how much I wish to do a pro photo shoot with Reika. I
knew she was going to Anime Matsuri 2017 (AM), so I decided to create the Gala
outfit to take. I started this right after the anime ended. I could not find
any blue ombre chiffon fabric in the US, so I asked my friends in Indonesia to
look in their country for me. As luck would have it, my friend Miho found the
perfect fabric and sent it to me as a gift. It is a beautiful fabric that has a
nice shimmer to it; perfect for an ice skater. ^_^ I started with the black
button-up shirt, using a knit like suiting fabric that would be very form
fitting. It only took me a day to make but I ended up doing some alterations to
make it more form fitting. I decided to use the same pants from the Free Skate
outfit for the Gala. When I got to the chiffon overlay shirt, I started by
making a pattern for it out of felt. Once that was done and I cut out my
chiffon pieces, I used my serger to do rolled hems on the edges that wouldn't
be sewn on. Using the same fabric as the shirt to do the cuffs and cuff straps,
I used a shiny satin fabric for the front design. To hide the raw edges on the
front design, I bordered it with a black trim.
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| The Velcro that I added to the Gala outfit. |
I ran into two issues while making this outfit. One, it was
the first time doing rolled hems and I forgot that they don't work with corners
very well. I should have designed the back into three sections so that where
the two tails meet would look sharper. It doesn't bother me much, and I know
now what to do if I need to make another outfit like this; or need to remake
the top due to wearing out. I also was able to put a close edge stitching,
recently, to give it the look as if it was sewn in three parts and make the
corner sharper. The second was the cording. At the time of the anime, I could
not decide on gold or silver. For me, the lighting for this performance was weird
and it was hard to tell which color it was. In the end, I went with gold to
match Reika for AM. However, when I started to work with the cording I realized
I was a yard short. When I went to go buy more, I found out that the company
redesigned the cording and it was a different texture and color from what I had
used. I had to redo all of the cording. By this time, it was confirmed it was
silver cording in the anime. As I waited for the new cording to come in, I came
up with an idea to make all the cording sections (the front bits and the
shoulder pieces), go on with Velcro. This would make it easier to put the shirt
on and I could do a set of silver cording to switch out for later events and photos.
In addition to the delay, I had to add all the rhinestones. I used three or
four different sizes. It was a long process because I had to glue them all on,
which took a few days since I ran out of rhinestones just as I was close to
finishing. I also had to put paper under the chiffon so that I wouldn't glue
the shirt to my carpet. In the end, it came out wonderful even with the small
fault in the back design. I just love how elegant it looks on me. I am excited
to make the silver set of cording for it now as well. This is, by far, my
second favorite cosplay I made; the first being Noiz from Dramatical Murder.
I am still not done making cosplays for Yuuri. I plan to
make his Short Program outfit, Eros, which I already bought fabric for. Then,
there is season two of the anime coming out later this year which, I am sure,
means new outfits to make. I might not get Reika as my cosplay coach, but I
will keep pushing myself to make better cosplays. Also,
something fun happened at Anime Matsuri with Reika, but you will have to read
my Anime Matsuri 2017 blog to find out what. ^_^
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