[Sakiko Toyokawa, Mutsumi Wakaba, Misumi Uika, Nyamu Yutenji, Umiri Yahata Cosplay] Ave Mujica's Afternoon Tea Party

This time, we prepared a pure white dress-themed tea party photoshoot featuring all five members of Ave Mujica. Rather than deliberately pursuing a heavy, grief-laden vibe, we wanted to bring the characters into a relaxed afternoon gathering scene. It took a lot of communication beforehand to gather these five matching vintage white dresses. There are subtle differences in the cuts for each character—some lean towards layered ruffles, while others feature crisp bowties and crisp white shirt lines.

On the day of the shoot, we spent almost the entire day in the studio. Alma Ma's studio setup had exceptionally good lighting, especially the natural light in front of the French windows. Falling on the white lace and wigs, the texture immediately popped. Fastening the hats, hair ornaments, and elf ears relied entirely on clips and hairnets, and striking comfortable poses in platform boots was actually quite a test of skill. The props were prepared very thoughtfully; we got those black velvet bows for the blue- and white-haired characters, creating a strong visual contrast with the pure white outfits, which was a clever touch in the overall composition.

Naturally, a tea party needs tea sets and pastries. We deliberately set up strawberry cake and a teapot of what looked like cucumber sweet water. Such realistic, everyday items helped us immerse ourselves better into the setting. During the shoot, there were many spontaneous interactions—while sitting on the sofa, helping each other tidy up the skirt hemlines of whoever was in front, or adjusting ribbons on hats. With all five team members taking group shots together, the hardest part was finding positions where everyone was comfortable and the composition looked harmonious. We basically tried sitting in the front row of the sofa, standing tall in the back, and various combinations next to the piano.

The shoe pairings this time were quite interesting: platform white boots, Mary Jane style designs, and styles with short socks and bows. Although everyone looked elegant, if our movements got even slightly bigger, we'd accidentally show the athletic platform soles, which created an endearing contrast. When taking group photos, it's best to avoid overly staged poses, so in the 5th photo, we intentionally included relaxed actions like holding tea cups and eating, making the shot look like a captured candid moment of chatting.

In addition, the hair color coordination this time was extremely accurate to the source material: lake blue, beige-white, mint green, lavender purple, and the classic black-and-white split dye. Each wig matched the original color tone of the character. Being able to avoid confusion under such uniform white clothing was entirely thanks to the distinction in hair colors. Special thanks to all the cosplayers for their dedication throughout the day; everyone was highly cooperative with composition and lighting feedback. The post-processing barely needed major edits since the original lighting and shadows were already stellar. Let's treat this post as a little record of our Mujica tea party. Finishing a satisfying group photoshoot with good friends is a truly joyful thing in itself.