Princess Al's Evening Salon

Hikaru no Go Month 2026 (Part 4)

Sun, 24 May 2026 23:37:19 GMT

It's been an eventful week! Thankfully, no migraines.

First, that Ebay lot I mentioned last week arrived! It's weirdly Kaga-heavy, so I'm probably going to send part of it to a friend of mine who's a fan of Kaga. I mean I like Kaga, but not enough to have a folding fan with his face on it, you know? Anyways, I'm gonna try to get this all digitized and up on my HikaGo web shrine. Eventually.

This week I've also started work on a Sai OOAK doll. I'm using Made-to-Move Barbie as a base, because it's far too expensive for me to import anything from overseas right now, and MTM Barbie is really the only doll on the American market right now with enough range of motion to sit in seiza. I'll make a separate post detailing my process eventually, but for now, here's some WIP photos as of the time I'm writing this:

I'm making him largely so I can do oshikatsu. Nendoroid Sai is too prone to falling apart for me to bring out n about, but I'm repping Sai at the oshikatsu meet the NYC EGL comm is doing next month, and I really want a doll to take some photos with. Of course, I also want him to fit in with my other dolls, so I'm making a lot of design choices with the proverbial freaky fabulousness in mind. He'll be the new go teacher at Monster High! I mean, he is a ghost, after all. Don't... don't worry about what happened last time he got a teaching gig. It's fine. Don't even worry about it bro.

Also, I happened to come across an entirely fanmade episode of Hikaru no Go! It's REALLY good. I'm completely blown away by the production quality and the clear love and attention to detail that went into it. Please give it a watch!! There are spoilers though, so maybe watch the entire anime first and THEN watch this.

And finally... I FINALLY FINISHED THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE HIKAGO FIC I'VE BEEN MEANING TO WRITE FOR LIKE THE PAST 10 YEARS AND NEVER GOT AROUND TO ACTUALLY DOING!!!!! Please give it a read if you're interested! It's a ship-free, slightly sitcom-like canon divergence in which Hikaru and Akira move in together, resulting in various complications from. you know. living with a third roommate who only Hikaru can see and hear. You can read it here.
Writing something lighthearted like this has been a fun change of pace from what I usually write (I mainly write for DMC and Castlevania these days and I generally draw a lot of my inspiration from gothic novels), but at the same time it's been a challenge trying to accurately depict the level of unhinged held by 14yos. Please let me know if you have any scenarios you'd like to see!

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Hikaru no Go Month 2026 (Part 3)

Sun, 17 May 2026 16:39:48 GMT

Well, I've had a weird week. I've been dealing with chronic migraines the likes of which I've never experienced with this frequency before, so...

There is some good news, though!!! I was browsing Ebay and I came across a bulk lot of early 2000s HikaGo merchandise for a good price, so I bought it. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow, or maybe today if I'm a very good girl and pray real hard to the god of go 😇 I might make an unboxing video when it gets here..? I don't know, on the one hand I think checking out old anime merch is super interesting, on the other hand I know HikaGo has extremely few fans in the anglosphere, so. Let me know if you're interested I guess???

I've also been continuing the live action drama, which does continue to be good as fuck. That being said, I think it's really funny how they keep asserting that Chu Ying is DEFINITELY NOT A GHOST YOU GUYS I SWEAR!!!!! but then the explanation for what he actually is is like... really vague and kind of incomprehensible 😭 they keep talking about a supernova but I really don't get it at all, lmao. Anyways I think Bai Xiao Xiao is probably gonna beat up that one rich kid at the Young Lions Tournament.

Finally, every now and then when I've got the time, I've been continuing Heian Gensou Ibunroku. The yokai in this game really hurt to look at lmfao

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Hikaru no Go Meme Dump

Sun, 10 May 2026 23:22:53 GMT

While we're celebrating HikaGo month, I figured I may as well share some memes, for the like three other people who care about this series. Most of these are things I've made myself, but a few I have saved from way back when as well. Should be fairly spoiler-free, aside from some out-of-context mangacaps. Enjoy!

That last one is a joke about the card "Sai's fan" from the TCG, which has the effect of simply "draw 3 cards from your deck."

Finally, have this underrated gem of a video:

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Hikaru no Go Month 2026 (Part 2)

Sat, 09 May 2026 21:43:04 GMT

Well, the first week of May has come and gone, and I'm definitely pretty deep in the go mines. I've not really seen anyone other than me posting about it this year (I say that as if it's not the same every year lol), but that's fine. I'm having fun!

So, let's see. First of all, I finished updating my ita bag! I moved the backing to a bigger bag and added a bunch of new items. I'm so happy with how it turned out!!!

I work as a seamstress and I'm very lucky in that my employer allows me to watch videos on my phone while I work, so I've continued rewatching the live action drama, as well as whatever random episodes of the anime I've managed to dig up on YouTube. Most of the anime episodes are not subbed, but between my intermediate-advanced Japanese and my overall knowledge of the story, I haven't had any problem keeping up.

Can't say the same for whatever the hell convoluted ass political drama is going on in Heian Gensou Ibunroku, which I've also been playing a bit of. It's been so long since the last time I played go that I keep getting my ass handed to me, even though I'm not even far enough in the game to play on the full size board yet 💀💀💀 Man I'm still just trying to figure out if Sai and Dad Touya- sorry, "Fujiwara no Kouyou-sama"- are related in this game or not. Also, there's a bit where you run into Akari and Nase in the palace and Hikaru comments that Akari is his childhood friend, but Hikaru is a commoner, so like... Did Akari marry into the nobility, or what? I mean she's like 14, but that hasn't stopped Hikaru from being a wholeass cop apparently, so. You know how it is with old timey times. This game is fucking bonkers.

Aside from that, I've been working on a HikaGo fanfic, one I've been meaning to write for years now. It's something of a slice-of-life about Hikaru and Akira moving in together, and the comedy that ensues from the problem of having an intangible secret third roommate who Akira knows exists but can't see. I hope to have the first chapter up soon, and I'll definitely share it here when I do! There's a surprising lack of HikaGo fics that actually feature Sai... I guess it's because so many people are really only into it for the shipping. Sigh. Ah well, here's hoping I can do him some justice.

Oh yeah, and APPARENTLY THERE'S A HIKARU NO GO MUSICAL FROM 2024 AND NOBODY TOLD ME???????????? I did find a bootleg, but I'm not gonna share it publicly; DM me if you want the link. Instead here's the trailer. I'm kind of obsessed with the set design and choreo going on here, it's such an interesting way to incorporate the concept of go, it's so cool!!

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IT'S MAY!!!!

Sat, 02 May 2026 00:37:02 GMT

YOUUUUU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or, if you don't, it's the annual event in which for 30 days I go bonkers for Hikaru no Go, a franchise very few other people in the anglosphere remember or care about.)

So, what am I doing to celebrate this year?My original plans were to buy a whole bunch of the trading cards (yes, those exist, hilariously enough), scan and translate them, and then see if I could get them up and running in Tabletop Simulator. Unfortunately the current tariff situation in the U.S. thwarted those plans. :/ So I'm keeping it more lowkey this year. I've started rewatching the live action drama for the first time since it originally aired in 2020, which has been fun so far, I forgot the costume design in this show was so good!

Aside from that, I'm also updating my HikaGo ita bag. Or, to be more accurate, I'm moving the backing to a different bag entirely, since I have a black and white ita backpack now that's a bit more spacious than my small purse. Here's what it looked like last year:

I'll be adding some trading cards (ita bag tip: get those adhesive pin backs they sell in the jewelry section of Michaels and stick them on some toploaders), as well as a polka dot border using leftover fabric from my HikaGo themed lolita skirt I made last year. Currently I'm carefully removing the brown felt from the fabric backing, and then I'm going to re-stitch a few sequins that have gotten loose.I'm debating whether or not to put lights in it... I'm always a fan of an ita bag with lights, but then I'd have to buy more lights, and also attaching them is a huge pain so. eh. Probably just gonna leave it as is, tbh.

Anyway, if any of y'all are also Hikaru no Go fans, I'd love to hear what your plans for the holiday!

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2026 Summer Cosplay Plans

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 01:51:38 GMT

I'm going to go to all three days of my area's annual convention this year! I've got three different cosplays picked out for the occasion: Atem from Yugioh, Johnny from Guilty Gear, and Goemon from Lupin the Third.

Atem is one I've been doing for... Since like 2019 I think? 2018? I haven't worn it in a hot minute though. I need to remake his cape. I have some iridescent purple powerstretch I bought in the final days of Joann fabric, so I'm gonna use that. The Millennium Puzzle could use a cleaning and some touch-ups, too. I'm contemplating refinishing the whole thing, but... it is haunted so I'm kinda reluctant to make any major changes. But the paint is definitely flaking in a few spots and the ring on top is slightly broken, so I gotta reglue it :(

Johnny's been around since 2024, but only for Halloween, so this will be his convention debut. I'm finally going to make him a sword (which I will use for Goemon as well, since they look identical) and I should also possibly consider making gloves, since the ones I bought at Spirit Halloween are kinda big for me. Not sure about the wig situation... The one I usually use for him is pretty old and cheap and lowkey balding, but the style is right, so as long as I keep the hat on it miiiight be ok? Idk, I'm kinda reluctant to get something high quality, since a lighter wig is convenient (especially cause Johnny has thin ass whiteboy hair lol). I also need to get new sunglasses, since they broke.

As for Goemon... That one's going to be completely new. I'm still in the early stages of planning. I love to glam up my cosplays, but I gotta figure out how exactly to do that for Goemon, since he's got such a different style from the ostentatious western(ish) guys I'm used to cosplaying. Now admittedly I'm pretty sure Goemon has some sort of pathological fear of serving cunt and also glitter is impractical for sneaking and thieving, but idgaf. Anyway, one of the other challenges for this will be figuring out what to do with the chest; Goemon's a tits-out kind of guy, and while I don't mind that, the law certainly does :/ For Johnny I wear a gold spaghetti strap crop top, but that's not really Goemon's style, so I might have to make some sort of fake guy chest shirt or something... Much to ponder. I gotta get started on it soon, though, since it needs to be done by July. I ordered the wig this morning, so that's out of the way, at least.

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Making a Rose of Versailles themed denim jacket, part 2

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 18:05:11 GMT

A little update, since I've been working steadily on the jacket over the past few weeks. Part 1 is here if you haven't seen it.

First, the sleeve. Once again I used the precariously suspended projector to trace the image onto the fabric, and kept a printed version next to me for reference. I started by outlining the basic shapes with a pen and then giving them a light base coat.

I then built up additional layers of paint and pen outlines. In order to achieve the soft blending that can be seen in the shadows on Oscar and the highlights on the vines, I used a wet-on-wet technique; instead of doing the base color, letting it dry, and then doing the shadow or highlight color, I did both at once, using two different brushes. (Both were 1/4" angle shader brushes, if you're wondering.)

The red fabric paint I had would only go so dark, and adding black predictably just resulted in a hideous shade of mauve, so I mixed in a little bit of a copper acrylic paint in order to achieve the darkest shadows on Oscar. Acrylic paint is pretty flexible and I didn't use a ton, so I don't think it'll make a huge difference in the overall durability of the piece. It also adds the barest hint of a metallic sheen to the shadows, which is fun.

If you look closely at the opening, there's sparkly twinkles on Oscar's hair. Rather than painting on white spots to mimic them, I wanted to interpret it as glitter, so I saved Oscar's hair for last. I mixed a bit of glitter fabric paint into both the light and dark colors, and then to top it all off, I added a layer of pink holographic glitter acrylic paint I once used for a pair of shoes for Lagoona. Now she's visible from space!!

Here's the finished sleeve.

Eventually I'm probably going to write the lyrics to Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru on the other sleeve, but I can't make up my mind if I should do it in Japanese, romaji, or English, so in the meantime I'm doing some of the sewing work. I added a lace cuff to one sleeve (currently working on the second one), a matching gold lace trim at the collar, and I've also stitched on one of the rose patches. It's a weird shape, so it's not my best work, but eh, it's attached. Still better than it would be if I'd ironed it on, lol. All of this is hand stitched, and I just eyeballed the pleating on the lace since I didn't feel like doing math about it.

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Goemon fruity little beverage

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 01:31:22 GMT

Goemon fruity little beverage

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Attempting to Play the Lupin III DS Game

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 01:33:19 GMT

I've been watching a lot Lupin the Third part 2 lately, so naturally, the usual questions I have when I get into something new eventually came to mind: "Does it have video games? Do they suck? Can I play them on my hacked 3DS? Did you know it's actually surprisingly easy to hack y-"

Anyway, so I looked into it and there's a few Lupin games. I wasn't at all surprised that most of the are pretty old, considering the series has been running since the 60s; what did surprise me is that there haven't been any new ones* since all the way back in 2010! I expected more, given the way the franchise has been especially strong in the past decade or so. Nonetheless I decided to try that last game, a DS game called ルパン三世史上最大の頭脳戦, or "Lupin III: The Greatest Brain Battle in History" (though I would argue "battle of wits" might be a more natural translation, but I guess this is what people call it so whatever).

This game is a puzzle-platformer that, from what I was able to play, seems to consist of two gameplay modes. The main experience is a pretty typical 2D platformer: avoid the guards, push boxes around to open buttons or reach higher ledges, the usual. The other gameplay mode is Professor Layton style puzzles scattered throughout the stages. Given the "sneaking into a weird mansion to steal some shit" premise, I expected they'd mostly be sudden surprises that you have to complete or die, like that one Death Note DS game. But nah, I guess you can just do them any time?

As for the story, it's uh... There was like, this artist guy whose art was all actually puzzle pieces for a map to his secret treasure, and he hid them in a fucked up mansion, and then Bill Gates- sorry, "Billigates"- bought the mansion, or... something like that, I'm not really sure... Look, it's Lupin, man. You know the drill. The gang wants to steal something, shit gets weird, Zenigata's there.

Unfortunately, this game was never officially released in English. There is an English patch made by an Italian team, but it has a glitch that causes the game to crash every time you walk past a certain unavoidable spot in stage 2. Apparently no one's ever been able to figure out a way around that. :( I might attempt it in Japanese, but given that it has minimal voice acting and no furigana (it is a DS game after all), I don't think I'd be able to understand most of it. Tbh I'm lowkey kinda shit at puzzles even when I can read the instructions, so I'd probably be fucked if I tried to beat it in Japanese... I might at least try to progress a little further, though. I wanna see my funny lil guy Goemon!!! WHERE IS HE!!!!!!

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Making a Rose of Versailles themed denim jacket, part 1

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 21:08:13 GMT

My first post on Dreamwidth, yippee!! So naturally I'm talking about a current craft project.

On a whim I decided recently to make a Rose of Versailles themed denim jacket. I actually usually prefer leather for patch jackets, but somehow denim feels more appropriate for BeruBara; the natural color is nice, it's got an association with uniforms, and of course it's long been associated with blue collar workers and the lower class, so there's a sociopolitical element that feels thematically appropriate as well. I'm sure if you wanted to there's probably something that could be said about Marie Antoinette's infamous cotton dress, but in any case, one way or another I'm doing this on denim.
Side note, it is SO goddamn hard to find denim jackets that aren't fake distressed these days. I don't mean thrifted jackets that have natural wear and tear, I mean jackets that all have identical factory-created random ass rips in them. I hate it!! First of all, it's stolen valor. Wear out your jacket your damn self you pussy ass bitches. Secondly, it's a huge pain in the ass for any kind of decorating. I managed to find an intact jacket at a thrift store eventually, but god...

Anyways, I bought a bunch of stuff to put on the jacket.

Most of this stuff came from physical stores, except for the Oscar and Antoinette pins, which are from the "Destined Duos" retro shoujo pins Kickstarter campaign by WisteriaMemory and NextStopPlease. (I have Anthy & Utena and Maya & Ayumi too, hehe). I will be stitching on all the patches by hand. I do NOT fuck with iron-on patches, those things be peeling in the corners no matter what you do and then god forbid you want to move them to another jacket or something, cause it'll leave weird glue stains behind... It's just bad all around. So I prefer to stitch all my patches. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITHOUT A THIMBLE IF YOU VALUE YOUR FLESH.

As for the rest of it, I looked through various Rose of Versailles official art and chose two images to paint onto the jacket: one for the back, and one for the sleeve. (As for the other sleeve, I'll probably write the lyrics to Bara wa Utsukushiku Chiru.)

The big hurdle was trying to figure out how to transfer the image onto the fabric. In the past I've done this with various methods, including the old charcoal-pencil-on-tracing-paper trick, but this stuff is too complicated for any of that to work. In the end I settled with potentially the most dipshitful, yet effective, technique possible: I bought a mini projector for 10 bucks on Ebay and precariously held it aloft on top of my table using my brother's photography tripod. lmao. I also made a printed copy for easy reference, because the projector is still a bit blurry and faint, so some of the finer details have to be done by eye.

I first marked out the general color shapes in pen as per the projection, and filled them in with fabric paint, starting each with a base coat mixed with white.

After I finished the paint (including a layer of gold glitter that lowkey makes it look like her uniform has smallpox), I outlined it using Sakura Micron pens. You might notice that the roses aren't painted in; I'm eventually going to do those in ribbon embroidery instead.

I also added firefly glaze to her eyes to add a lil bit of extra shoujo glam.

That's as far as I've gotten right now. I still need to do the outlines on the gold pieces, but unfortunately, my gold pen exploded and Michael's is currently closed for Easter. Still, I'm happy with the results so far! I'll post an update when I've gotten more progress done.

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