Cosplay

Cosplay, is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, fantasy movies, Japanese pop music bands, Visual Kei, fantasy music stories (such as stories by the band Sound Horizon), and novels. However, in some circles, “cosplay” has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume.

In Japan, “cosplay” as a hobby is usually an end unto itself. Like-minded people gather to see others’ costumes, show off their own elaborate handmade creations, take lots of pictures, and possibly participate in best costume contests.

Cosplay can be seen at public events such as video game shows, as well as at dedicated cosplay parties at nightclubs or amusement parks. It is not unusual for Japanese teenagers to gather with like-minded friends in places like Tokyo’s Harajuku district to engage in cosplay. Since 1998, Tokyo’s Akihabara district has contained a large number of cosplay cafés, catering to devoted anime and cosplay fans. The waitresses at such cafés dress as game or anime characters; maid (or meido) costumes are particularly popular.

Possibly the single largest and most famous event attended by cosplayers is the semiannual doujinshi market, Comiket. This event, held in summer and winter, attracts hundreds of thousands of manga otaku and many thousands of cosplayers who congregate on the roof of the exhibition center, often in unbearably hot or cold conditions.

Cosplayers in Japan refer to themselves as reyazu; pronounced layers (by writing the word cosplayers in Katakana, it is possible to shorten it in this way). Those who photograph players are called cameko, short for “Camera Kozo” or “Camera Boy”. The cameko give prints of their photos to the players as gifts. Tensions between players and cameko have increased due to perceived stalker-like behaviour among some obsessive males who push female cosplayers to exchange personal email addresses or do private photo sessions. One result of this has been a tightening of restrictions on photography at events such as Comiket.

A recent trend at Japanese cosplay events is an increase in the popularity of non-Japanese fantasy and science fiction movie characters, perhaps due to the international success of such films as The Matrix, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Characters from the Harry Potter films have a particularly high number of female fans in Japan, with female cosplayers playing either male or female characters, Draco Malfoy being an extremely popular choice.

The act of cosplaying as characters of the opposite sex is called “crossplay”, whereas the act of cosplaying as characters who dress as the opposite sex as the cosplayer is called “cross-dressing”.  Crossplaying and cross-dressing may be the same in some cases; however, they could be different.  For example, a female cosplayer cosplaying as a male character who dresses as a normal male (such as Kira Yamato from Gundam SEED) would be cross-dressing and crossplaying; a male cosplayer cosplaying as a female character who dresses as a normal female (such as Lacus Clyne from Gundam SEED) would also be cross-dressing and crossplaying. However, a female cosplayer cosplaying as someone like Mana (male artist from the Visual Kei band Malice Mizer known for dressing in female clothes) would be crossplaying, but not cross-dressing (since the cosplayer is cosplaying someone of the opposite sex but is wearing clothes of her own sex); a male cosplayer also cosplaying as Mana would be cross-dressing, but not cross-playing (since the cosplayer is cosplaying someone of the same sex but is wearing clothes of the opposite sex).

A small niche group in the crossplaying field are dollers, a subset of kigurumi cosplayers; usually male, they wear bodysuits and masks to fully transform into female characters.

Another recent trend in cosplay is a blurring of the distinction between costumes based on characters from games and anime, and “original” costumes based upon a general theme or existing fashions. In particular, the Tokyo teen-fashion trend of Gothic Lolita has attracted some cosplayers who might not have the inclination (or possibly courage) to wear such distinctive clothes around town, but who would like to dress in such a manner on some occasions. Other popular trends include the so-called “original Visual Kei cosplaying”, “original punk cosplaying”, “original Super Dollfie cosplaying”, etc. These cannot be called genres in the cosplaying area. Since Visual Kei and punk are genres of music and Super Dollfie a kind of ball-joint doll, and not simply trends in fashion like Gothic Lolita, it would be impossible for cosplayers to create “original” characters of them. However, many cosplayers who think that dressing in such a style that would fit Visual Kei, punk, Super Dollfie, etc. claim that they are cosplaying “original” characters, whereas they are simply under a false impression.

Convention activity in the United States and Canada has become a much larger and much more popular trend in the 2000′s. Larger conventions such as Anime Boston, Otakon and Anime North have become renowned internationally. With the added public attention coming from such popular animated series imported from Japan including Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha and now the popular Bleach, cosplayers and the anime world have peeked their heads into the world of mainstream pop-culture, on at least a relatively underground scale. More and more convention goers cosplay as their favorite characters from their favorite anime, and thus, the cosplay and anime subcultures have been able to have enough influence to further the creation of anime conventions to accommodate for the increasing number of cosplayers.

Conventions in America often include both cosplay and costume contests. The cosplay or “masque” is a skit contest done in cosplay costume. This can range from a single person quoting a character’s famous line (e.g., Monkey D Luffy from One Piece, or Vegeta of Dragon Ball Z: “It’s over nine thousand!”), to a 10-member costumed cast singing and dancing to the theme of Sailor Moon, to actual comedic or dramatic one-act plays. The costume contest is often a test of skill, design, and audience reaction. The contestants are judged either before hand or on stage and then walk across said stage while the audience cheers. The increased popularity of convention costuming has led to the addition of several relatively new cosplay-based events, adding to the traditional masquerade and hall costume contests. Such events include the Anime Dating Game, and Cosplay Human Chess, where participating cosplayers act out their characters’ role in the game accordingly.

Competition has led to the development of many cosplay groups that plan for conventions months in advance.

Non-competitive cosplay can often be seen at opening nights for science-fiction and fantasy movies, especially those with an established following. Even in small towns, some cosplayers wait in line for hours before showings of movies in franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Even cult hits like Serenity have drawn opening night cosplay.

In US and, fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show attend screenings of the cult film in the costumes of its characters. This tradition began soon after the film’s release in 1975. Over the last year cosplay has been growing now there is an even 3 cosplay group the latest one being the du cosplay that meet up and hang around London in cosplay.