#YKPlatform10th Top Cosplays and Yona Kuromatoki’s Interactive Podcast Fan Favorite Awards 2024

Hallo again, YKPers! I apologize once more for not posting new content on the blog because of various ganaps for the past five months. But now we’re so back again and again, so it’s about time for the coolest events of the year - the Yona Kuromatoki’s Interactive Podcast Fan Favorite Awards 2024 and the #YKPlatform10th Top Cosplays Special Awards!

For the first time in seven years, we’re gonna bring back the top cosplays rank to celebrate the platform’s tenth anniversary and after a few weeks of deliberation, we internally select 15 characters that mark both its first ten years of existence and my first 15 years of cosplaying. But before revealing who’s who, the YKIP Fan Favorite Awards this year will consist of the first 11 episodes of and guests featured in Yona Kuromatoki’s Interactive Podcast 4F and what’s more, we have a new addition that is the Favorite New Guest category. Without further ado, here are the list of nominees for the three categories for the award!

Favorite Episode

1. “Honey Flash! A Golden Fiesta for Cutie Honey!”

2. “In Fiercely Full Bloom! Power of Hope ~PreCure Full Bloom~ Impressions”

3. “Soarly Fly Together!!!!! The Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure Overall Impressions”

4. “The Power of JaneNella 2.0: Electric Bonggaloo”

5. “Everyone’s Friends! Wan, Wan, Wonderful! The Wonderful Pretty Cure! First Impressions”

6. “United by Music, Now, Then and Forever! The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Commentary”

7. “Queers and the Challenges of Society”

8. “Ready? Game Start! Road to Wonderful Pretty Cure! The Movie!”

9. “Gearin’ Up with the Gearsoul Productions Fam!”

10. “Cosplay, Politics and Society”

11. “Pyonderful to You~! Satoru and Daifuku Toyama Appreciation!”

Favorite Guest

1. Marco_G99

2. Cure Chronos

3. Dandy Basil

4. Dorian Gray

5. Yokio 

6. Nightcat 

7. Len

8. Alf aka Mita Futaba 

9. Mimi Arañez

10. ThatOneLucarioFan

Favorite New Guest

1. Marco_G99

2. Cure Chronos

3. Dandy Basil

4. Dorian Gray

5. Yokio 

6. Len

7. Alf aka Mita Futaba 

8. Mimi Arañez

9. ThatOneLucarioFan

And now, the moment that we’ve all been waiting for… Here the 15 cosplays that mark both my first 15 years of cosplaying and the first ten years of the YK Platform who’re battling for the top spot!

1. Shana (Shakugan no Shana, first debuted in 2009)

2. Hayate Ayasaki (Hayate the Combat Butler!, first debuted in 2013)

3. Seiji Sagara (Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!, first debuted in 2014)

4. Yui Nanase (Go! Princess Pretty Cure, first debuted in 2015)

5. Reina Kousaka (Hibike! Euphonium, first debuted in 2017)

6. Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran High School Club, first debuted in 2017)

7. Kobayashi (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, first debuted in 2017)

8. Pikario/Rio Kuroki/Cure Waffles (KiraKira Pretty Cure A La Mode, first debuted in 2018)

9. 13th Doctor (Doctor Who, first debuted in 2018)

10. Emiru Aisaki/Cure Macherie (HUGtto! Pretty Cure, first debuted in 2022)

11. Hizuru Minakata (Summer Time Rendering, first debuted in 2023)

12. Takumi Shinada/Black Pepper (Delicious Party Pretty Cure, first debuted in 2023)

13. Evangeline Burton (Birdie Wing ~Golf Girls’ Story~, first debuted in 2023)

14. Ellee/Cure Majesty (Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure, first debuted in 2024)

15. Satoru Toyama (Wonderful Pretty Cure!, first debuted in 2024)

To vote for both awards, we’ll open the Google Forms for YKIPFFA 2024 and #YKPlatform10th Top Cosplays within before Halloween or after the Undas break so please watch out. Also, get your gadgets ready because the four highest number of votes in these two online polls will be crowned for all four categories. As with last year, the voting will end on December 15 and the winners will be revealed on Xmas Day, December 25, on the blog.

May among the coolest chaps and the episodes mentioned take the four grand tokens, so we wish them the best of luck!

Update: The YKIPFFA 2024 and #YKPlatform10th Top Cosplays Rank online votings are now out on Google Forms, so please go to these webpages and start voting!

Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast Fan Favorite Awards 2024 Online Voting

#YKPlatform10th Top Cosplays Rank Online Voting

Yona's Blog Pride 2022 Special: The Bright x Dark Haired Queer Couple Trope

 

As we celebrate the pride month for 2022, I decided that I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to talk about one of the most notable tropes in the queer culture, the bright x dark haired couple trope! This trope is so indeed popular across different spectrums of media, whether in animated, comic, literary or live action form, because it depicts on two characters with strike contrasts of their personalities (i.g. cute and childish bright haired character x cool and matured dark haired character), as well as the iconic bright and dark colored hair as part of a certain story, can be either in full romance, romantic subtext or romantic friendship whether canon, semi-canon or not yet.

As mentioned in the latest episode of Yona Kuromatoki's Interactive Podcast titled "The Thasmin Effect on Queer Culture," this trope itself really makes sense since there are similarities although it all comes in different shapes and sizes, including the happy and the sad endings of a story, where either one of the pair (or both) has died due to unfortunate circumstances or lived due to pleas of the fans or various circumstances given by the creators.

Such examples are Resine de Poisson and Simone D'Arc from Shiroi Heya no Futari (The Couple in the White Room), Serge Battour and Gilbert Couteau from Kaze to Ki no Uta (Song of the Wind and Trees), Ash Lynx and Eiji Okumura from Banana Fish, Yuzu and Mei Aihara from Citrus, Utena Tenjou and Anthy Himemiya from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Evangeline Kimishima and Aoi Amawashi from Birdie Wing: Girls' Golf Story, Ren and Haru Kaidou from Super Lovers, Luz Noceda and Amity Blight from The Owl House, and Adora/She-Ra and Catra from The Masters of the Universe series in the animated and the comic sides. On the live action side are Eve Polarsti and Villanelle from Killing Eve, Emma Swan and Mary Margaret Blanchard from Once Upon a Time, Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens, and the 13th Doctor and Yasmin Khan from Doctor Who.

Of course, aside from being actual comfort characters, these pairs are among our sources of inspiration that we look up to in every corner of our lives and in order to be the better versions of ourselves because they teach and want us to do good things, condemn the wrong and use various skills for applying the reality we live in. Therefore, fictional queer couples make more sense to the eyes of many geeks and enthusiasts both in the LGBTQIA+ and allies like myself with lots of smiles on our faces, and full of unconditional love, acceptance and understanding no matter what they are.

Who are your favorite bright haired x dark haired couples from any media platform? Comment down below, on my FB page, my Instagram account @yonakuromatoki or my Twitter @goddessyk13. Again, happy pride month, everyone!