Cosplay Sundae time again and this week we have the ever popular Ms. Himeno Shirayuki bringing to life a high class little lady – or rather timeless vampire – in the form of Rachel Alucard (from the BlazBlue game franchise) to life!

Perhaps not the fiercest of looking vampires, but certainly one of the most stylishly dressed!

From the popular BlazBlue game franchise comes Rachel Alucard, a centuries old, powerful vampire who is the current head of the Alucard family. Rachel has an habit of carrying herself as an upperclass lady, a member of high society, and thus a woman burdened with their usual traits of arrogance, apathy and extreme boredom.

She deals with her boredom by meddling in with the lives of the others around her, but she also happens to be the only one who seems capable of retaining her memories through the constant time looping caused by the Calamity Trigger, thus making her aware of the problem and perhaps the only one who can guide others into breaking the never ending loop.

She possesses some powerful fighting abilities and is also in the possession of the Tsukuyomi Unit, a powerful Sankishin Unit which possesses the ability of the ultimate defence.

Although not accompanied by Rachel’s loyal butler, Valkenhayn Hellsing, Japanese cosplayer Ms. Himeno Shirayuki nevertheless manages to bring the character perfectly to life, showing off a great detailed costume and perhaps the personality to match it.

No wonder she’s so popular on the web at the moment! :)

Leave me alone, I'm thinking damn it!

For the last time, bunny ears these are not!

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazblue

Ikki Tousen made more of name for itself thanks to its penchant for short skirts, ripped clothing and ecchi situations that kept cropping up instead of the great occasional fighting sequences and attached humour that went along with everything happening on screen. Nevertheless, I actually quite enjoyed the first series and so this week’s Cosplay Sundae features a character who made more of an impact in the second series than the first: the invincible Kanu Unchou!

Yes, this is a big stick with a blade on the end. And yes, I am planning on hitting you with it!

Kanu is one of the most feared and powerful Toushi around, the reincarnation of Guan Yu, the legendary Chinese leader of the Shu Five Tiger Generals. Empowered with her invincible weapon, the Blue Dragon Crescent Blade as well as the legendary sword Kusanagi, Kanu believes that it is her destiny and sworn duty to protect Ryuubi Gentoku, leader of the Seito Gakuen. A powerful and aloof warrior, Kanu is not a fighter you wish to tangle with – nor enrage by making a move on her naive charge, Ryuubi.

Today’s cosplayer bringing this long-haired, fearless bladed whirlwind to life is a Japanese-based girl calling herself ayakan according to her cosplay.com profile. As you can see for yourself, she manages to pull off a great costume of the anime version of Kanu, though I’m not so sure about some of those poses – definitely not something Kanu would approve of! :)

Not the greatest of implements to chop carrots with you know.

Okay, I'm not going to comment on this pose. Maybe she lost a contact lens...?

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Battle_Vixens_characters

Let’s head back to gaming for this week’s Cosplay Sundae trip, looking up one of the perennial favourites in the gaming world, the legendary Final Fantasy series. Today’s cosplay on display takes a shot at one of the characters with the most mixed fan reception that Square Enix has ever had to deal with: Final Fantasy X and X-2′s Rikku!

Who, little old innocent me? I swear I didn't steal your lunch money!

15 year-old Rikku is a young and impetuous Al Bhed who first befriends and aids Tidus as he arrives on Spira before moving on and joining Yuna’s entourage of guardians. She speaks both English and Al Bhed and as a character class in the game, Rikku falls somewhere between that of a thief and a chemist. She comes across as a bit childish at times, but she is often the shining light of the group, always being cheerful and coming across as eternally positive.

Rikku was designed by Tetsuya Nomura and voiced by Tara Strong and Marika Matsumoto in the English and Japanese versions respectively. Of course, none of that is particularly important for this post as it is none other than an America cosplayer going by the handle of missfawn that brings Rikku to life in this particular photo shoot. Note the great costume detail and as a whole, this is one Rikku that has been done pretty right! :)

I'm not exactly sure how she would avoid cutting herself with her own blades had they been real.

She may not be the strongest fighter, but she'll certainly rob you blind!

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikku

The cute Himeno Shirayuki graces us with her cosplay talents in today’s Cosplay Sundae entry, pulling off an excellent C.C. impersonation from the awesome Sunrise anime spectacular: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2!

Withholding more information and secrets than what she cares to reveal, the mysterious tritagonist of the hit anime Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 comes across as a young, carefree, though detached, girl with no regard for anyone else and the penchant for doing whatever she wants whenever she wants.

However, C.C. is not this girl’s real name nor is she even really human any more – despite appearing little older than 16 years old, she is in fact immortal and has been alive for longer than anyone can remember. Unable to die, despite being shot, crushed, burned at the stake and beheaded by a guillotine, C.C. bears the power of the “Code” and more importantly the ability to pass on the power of the Geass to whomever she so chooses.

Seemingly intent on tormenting and interfering with Lelouch, the boy who saved her and whom she empowered with the ability to force anyone to obey his will, just what her ultimate goal is remains a mystery – though her insatiable love for all things pizza is not.

This capable if enigmatic leader (as revealed in R2) is recreated here in real life by the popular Japanese cosplayer Himeno Shirayuki, who manages to pull off a great costume with the matching personality to great effect. Fantastic cosplay as per usual in other words! :)

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.C._%28Code_Geass%29

We haven’t had much time for machine gun-wielding women on Cosplay Sundae as of late, so how better to get back into the swing of things by making this week’s hot cosplay entry of none other than the Baroness, Cobra Commander’s right-hand girl!

So distracting you might not even notice the machine gun in her hand!

The Baroness is a cold-hearted killer of a woman that serves as Cobra’s intelligence officer and lieutenant to Cobra Commander. The quintessential femme fatal, this ruthless black-haired beauty has for long been a thorn in the side of G.I. Joe.

Although the character wasn’t in the original G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero release back in 1982, the Baroness is however in fact the first character to make the crossover from the comic books, into the animated series and then finally into the toy line, making her debut as an action figure in the 1984 series.

Today’s sizzling cosplay comes to us courtesy of the popular Filipino (and fairly well know around the world) cosplayer, Alodia Gosiengfiao who as you can see puts on the absolute perfect face of everyone’s favourite badass femme fatal, the Baroness! Nice.

Baroness gracefully adopts a pose to dodge a bullet

Strong biceps are what are needed to hold up that machine gun you know

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_%28G.I._Joe%29

It’s all the way back to the 80′s for this week’s Cosplay Sundae entry, taking a look at the over the top Puma sisters Anna and Uni, from the beloved manga creator supremo, Masamune Shirow’s Dominion Tank Police!

Furry sisters of destruction!

Dominion: Tank Police was originally a two volume manga series written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow, before getting the green light to be turned into an successful two part OVA series back in 1988 and 1993 respectively. The story is set in the fictional city of Newport, Japan, in a future in which bacterial air pollution has become so severe that people must wear gas masks when stepping outdoors. And as the name suggest, the series follows a rather unorthodox police squadron that makes use of tanks!

Anna and Uni are the criminal Puma Sisters, beautiful android catgirls who were originally created as “love dolls” but who then developed beyond this simplistic programming and went on to join the Super Criminal Buaku – the very person who the Tank Police were formed to act against!

Armed to the teeth and with a penchant for violence, these to inseparable sisters possess strength and agility far superior to humans and apart from the occasional spat, a more cohesive team you won’t find anywhere else!

The cosplayers tackling the big hair, big guns and metallic suits are a pair known as Jia*Jem and HezaChan, and as you can see, with the help of a lot of paper clay, big guns courtesy of artist Daguru, styled wigs, ears and lined bodysuits, the pair pull off the purrfect catgirl android duo!

Catgirls. They don't normally wear hand grenades attached to their belts, do they?

My, what a big gun you have...

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Tank_Police

Mezzo Forte, high energy explosive action mixed with a good quantity of very black humour and loads of graphic violence, unfortunately tainted with some rather suspect scenes inserted by an oversexed director, is the subject for today’s Cosplay Sundae entry. And when we talk Mezzo, who else would we mean but our child assassin, Mikura Suzuki!

Don't let the view distract you - this girl is as deadly as she dresses!

Back in 1998 a very hard hitting OVA from director Yasuomi Umetsu hit the screens and the explicit sex scenes in the director’s cut aside, Mezzo Forte was an absolutely brilliant roller-coaster high-energy action ride that pitted the child assassin Mikura Suzuki of the Danger Services Agency against Momomi Momoi, the psychopathic daughter of a rather tainted Baseball Franchise owner.

Mikura, the protagonist of the story is DSA’s combat specialist with a penchant for shooting first and asking questions later. She is still pretty young but has the heart of an experienced and cold-hearted killer, aided by her limited but uncontrolled precognitive ability. She’s strong, proficient at hand to hand combat and weapons firing and comes across as particularly determined and strong-willed, making her quite the competitive character.

And yet, despite all the blood that flows around her, all the normal things teenage girls like still come into play – like karaoke for example!

In the original OVA Mikura is voiced by Tomoko Kotani (Japanese), Melissa Fahn (English) and Marie Court for the English sex scenes. The follow up television anime series sees Tomoko reprise her voice role with Luci Christian taking on the English version.

The cosplay star who has seen it fit to represent Mezzo’s Mikura is none other than the Internet Cosplay sensation, Omi Gibson, who up to now has managed to keep a pretty low profile when it comes to more information about her apart from her apparent undying love of all things Metal Gear Solid and her ability to put together and model some fantastic cosplay costumes.

And as you can no doubt see here, even the stone cold teenage killer Mikura is no match for Omi’s cosplaying skills! :P

Damn, she even has eyes in the back of her head it would seem!

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzo_Forte

Today’s Cosplay Sundae borrows a character from Yashichiro Takahashi’s successfull light novel series, Shakugan no Shana, played out by the rather talented and upcoming cosplayer: Uria!

Swords and red hair. Surely not a safe combination!

In the never-ending battle to ensure balance in this world, Shakugan no Shana’s Shana technically bears no name and is only interested in one thing – slicing up anything that would effect the balance. Befriending by a Torch unlike any other, Yuji Sakai, Shana is gifted the name mainly because a) it gives Yuji something to call her and b) it is better than being called by her full title which is Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter.

She is what is called a Flame Haze and wields a nodachi named Nietono no Shana. Although not human, she does seem to carry many of their traits, and as her relationship with the Torch named Yuji deepens, so she as a character further evolves.

Oh, and she has a disturbing love for all things melon bread.

Cosplayer Uria tackles our fiery headed swordswoman today and as you can see, she captures the look and feel of the character to great effect. Yet another fantastic cosplay done right!

Seriously, are you messing with me? I have a katana with me you know!

Still, more than enough time to pose. Nice detail wouldn't you say?

Related Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakugan_no_Shana