Kiyone: Tenchi Muyo! – Kira Kira Cat
Character: Kiyone Makibi
Series: Tenchi Muyo!
Version: Mihoshi OVA
Debut: A-kon 2012
For A-kon a bunch of friends were planning a Tenchi Muyo! cosplay group. I really wanted to join, Tenchi was one of the very first animes I ever saw so it holds a special place in my heart. I think a lot of us in the group felt that same way and it really showed when we all got together at the con and talked about the show and why we wanted to cosplay from it. It also coincidentally happened to be Tenchi’s 20th anniversary this year.
I always thought if I cosplayed from Tenchi I would be Ryoko or Ayeka. Since this was a large group though, I wanted to pick a character I could really fit, both personality wise and visually. after looking up some quick stats it turned out Kiyone was the tallest girl in the series, and only a couple of inches shorter than I am. Bingo! I had already been thinking about selecting her so it turned out quite well.
For Kiyone I selected her uniform from the Mihoshi OVA special because I liked the skirt and boots combo more than her regular GP uniform. I started with dying the blue fabric with RIT and making the top. I used a shirt pattern and altered it to have the points in front and the very short back. The back of the shirt tucks into the skirt where the front hangs over, so there are slits on the sides that get hidden by the belt. Kiyone’s skirt has some pretty ridiculous and inexplicable seam lines on the back so I had to pattern that out myself and then sew the skirt together. All of the fabric is twill.
The boots were painted white using leather paint, they were originally a very light tan but had the perfect shape. I found a base belt and covered it in vinyl and made the holster straps and holsters out of the same vinyl. I had to look at a lot of gun holsters to come up with a design that made sense. The wrist cuffs were made from bangles. For the gold one I just found a wooden bangle in the proper shape and painted it. For the silver one I found a large plastic one and used craft foam to give it 3 diminutional shape. I then wrapped it in silver stretch vinyl. The circle detail is sculpted out of sculpy.
The wig is a mirkwood green le tigre long from Arda. I teased and styled the part to give it some height and cut in her bizarre bangs.
The pistol is made in a similar method to my Mami rifle, but it was much more complicated. I made around 10 separate parts out of craft foam using model magic and insulation board as a filler. I attached them all together and used wood glue and modge podge to seal the foam. Then the gun was spray painted and clear coated. The gold accents are just buttons covered in gold vinyl and glued in place.
Photos: AngelWing