The Grand Intro Post + 2024 Reflections and 2025 Goals in terms of Gyaru

I am not an English Major so I have no idea how to best start off a blog post! Welcome? Hello? Hi! This is what I'm calling my yap corner, except instead of yapping I'm typing, but just imagine me yapping while you read this. A lot of this yapping will be surrounding my life outside of work, which includes any trips I go on that I remember to document, karaoke discussions, bingo events, gyaru clothing hauls, DIY projects, co*des, and other things to document! Mostly Gyaru!

Now for some context on who I am! My name is Brenna, I'm 26, I currently reside in Rhode Island, USA, and I have a lot of varied interests, but I have been slowly learning about the Gyaru subculture since last 2021/early 2022. I do a lot of online window shopping and I also try to DIY some items! A lot of this year has been finally coming to terms that Agejo is my calling, but I have also been into wearing Ane Agejo and pieces that might read as Hime Gyaru. 

In terms of other interests, I'm into almost any music(including Eurobeat ofc), Karaoke, and Bingo events! I also really like AXiS of Tokyo 7th sisters (Taki and Sabina are my top fave), Ar Tonelico, Epic of Zektbach... and I play video games once in awhile! Not as much as I used to though. 

Bear with me as I develop this blog, though I work to make it pretty and work on adding images in an ~aesthetic~ way.

I figured, it might be good to start the blog since it's the end of December to go over my 2024 Gal Goals and how I did, and what I'd like to do in 2025! 

In 2024, my only goal to myself was to "present more gal" much more often than I did in 2023. When I say "present more gal", I meant put on the clothing I had been buying, doing my make, styling my hair, and wearing heels.

I'll be honest, I had not understood how to curl my hair or walk in heels properly until this year. With the heels, it actually was January 1st, 2024, where I wore a not-so-great co*de to a friend's new year's party. The Jesus Diamante dress was cute, but I didn't really have a good coat or shoes, so I was wearing my Sabina Shima cosplay coat + shoes. I remember struggling to walk and my friend Caty yelled "HEEL TOE BRENNA! HEEL! TOE!" and sudden it clicked!

Enjoy some pictures of the 1/1/24 code this year :)

I also still can't curl my hair with a straightener like some folks can, but I can use a curling iron! I did a lot of hair curling back when it was longer the first half of the year. I definitely used it a lot during the summer when I was also experimenting with self tanner and influenced by the "it's summer time to bring out some cute summer vibes and forget Agejo is a thing!" These were both taken around June and July.

I will say, a lot of my development as a gal this year took place after August of this year. I had just wrapped up my anime con season, finally settled after moving, and had just gone through some tough mental stuff, and I realized I needed to get back into the gal forme. I was wearing my gal clothing to Karaoke when I could. I'm very thankful for my friends who are so supportive of my style even though none of them are gals themselves, it's really helped boost my confidence when wearing gal.

I've also slowly joined into community discussions after lurking on the actualgyaru subreddit for a few months, and I have an instagram too @herabibi__ 

I've met a lot of wonderful gals, and I'm not the best with social media messaging, but everyone I've chatted with is so nice!

And then with all of that, I've been doing lots of more research and looking into more gal specific media and if a gal says "you should know who this model is" you bet I am looking her up to get more information. I have been trying to learn more about some of the Koakuma Ageha models since I've been staring at them in my mags, and also looking at other scans for inspiration too. I also have been following a good chunk of current active gyaru both in Japan and outside of Japan too and it's so fun to see how everyone is living their own lives, and how they style themselves and do their make! It's so fun to see everyone and it's also nice to get inspo!!

And finally, I finally came to terms with my love of Agejo, and it's ok for me to wear it. It sounds a bit weird, but for the past few years there's been something inside me that would stop me from wearing it. I won't go into the mental health complexities of mine in detail here, but in a TLDR fashion, I felt like it wasn't OK for me to present as an adult woman... which is kind of weird since I'm 26. But I'm 26, it's what I want to do, and I can do it! And I have been doing it! And honestly, the support from my friends (and my parents looking and me and then saying "you are 26 so it's not an issue..."). I have also slowly been learning towards the kyabajo dress brands... but that's a 2025 issue I think!

With the last of the 2024 reflections, I want to share some of my more recent co*des, which include some of my dream pieces and the first two times I wore Prisila wigs out!!

(Wigs have been pretty big for me since I have not been bleaching my roots while I consider hair colors for 2025).

With all that yapping about 2024, I want to talk about some specific gyaru goals for 2025!!

1. Learn Parapara dances!! I went to my first parapara panel at Katsucon this year held by the lovely 109 Degrees Gyarusa!! I had such a fun time (I... do not remember the dance though). I'd love to learn at least one, and hope to go to another parapara panel at a con if there is one!
2. Coordinate all of the pieces I have bought without buying new ones. I have treated myself a bit too much this Christmas, and I really need to actually wear all of the pieces before trying to make any new large hauls off of Mercari JP. My goal is to wear every piece at least once, and to try to re-wear as much as I can of course! This is going to probably cause a lot of lifestyle changes of when I get up and get ready, since it can take awhile.
3. Go to an IRL Gal meet! I would love to meet some other gals locally. I knew of one in Boston back in October, but I was out of the country so I couldn't make it. I'm hoping that there are more organized in the future and I'd love to keep an eye out it!
4. Work on navigating with longer nails. This was the year of navigating heels, I'm hoping next year I can work with nails to maybe consider getting my nails done or just keeping my press ons for longer than an evening. My natural nails are pretty short so I can type with no issues, and it's not hard to get normal task done. When I've had longer nails on this year, it's been wild.
5. Wrap up all current DIY projects. I have two DIY outfits I have planned that I just have... sitting here! I want to work on those further to make some cute outfits I can wear. 
6. Circle lenses at least once. I've been putting this off for ages due to just not having an updated eye prescription, and I'd rather get lenses that I can use to help me see. I'm hoping in January I can schedule an eye appointment and get it all taken care of.
7. DO NOT FALL FOR THE SUMMER GYARU PROPAGANDA!!!!!!! I could go into a huge ramble about how I do like restricting my substyles for the sake of consuming things. I made a large mistake of trying to do a whole summer wardrobe redo and a lot of items I ended up buying at the local thrift ended up going back during my winter cleanout. I have a lot of clothing still that works for summer.
8. Keep this blog going! I hope to post for now once a week minimum, I may try for more depending on if I'm doing anything. December specifically is a work-heavy month so I may not have as much free time.

Ok! I think that's enough yap for the first blog post. If you've read this far, thank you! :D