Seeing people dressed up in costumes at conventions is just an accepted reality now at anime conventions and larger comic shows, even at trade shows with the notorious booth girls. The practice has its origins at sci-fi conventions where fans showed their appreciation for a certain series or for science fiction as a whole. The first modern example of fan costuming was Forrest J Ackerman at the 1st World Science Fiction Convention in 1939 in a “futuristicostume.”
But cosplay is much more than just wearing a costume; it’s an entire hobby. The word is a contraction of “costume play” in the typical Japanese fashion of combining the initial syllables of the phrase, coined in 1984 by Nov Takahashi at Worldcon in various Japanese sci-fi magazines, in reaction to the costumes in the hallways and at the masquerade that he saw at the convention. The “play” refers to playing dress-up, although in Japan, cosplay also refers to sexual play while dressed up, overlapping with what we call in English sexual roleplaying or fetishes, such as the innocent, yet naughty school girl, the playful nurse, and the angry boss. Sex clubs that specialize in sexual cosplay are called image clubs, where a few do cater to otaku tastes, with staff dressed up as your “special” favorite anime characters. However, that’s rather left of where this column should be heading...
In Japan, “cosplay” refers to an entire subculture of creating handmade costumes, wearing them and showing them off, taking photos and participating in contests for the best costume. These costumes are usually of characters from anime, manga, live-action films and movies, video games, J-Pop musicians and fantasy films. Non-Japanese fantasy and sci-fi films are a growing trend in Japanese cosplay, especially Harry Potter among female cosplayers. Teenaged cosplayers often congregate informally in Tokyo’s Harajuku district to share their creations, while the Akihabara district contains many cosplay cafes that cater to anime and cosplay fans, with waitresses in anime and video game based costumes, especially maid costumes. Nightclubs and amusement parks also play host to dedicated cosplay parties.
The most well-known event for Japanese cosplayers (called reyazu, pronounced “layers,” as a shortening of the katakana for “cosplayers”) is Comiket, the semiannual doujinshi comic convention at the distinctive Tokyo Big Sight convention center. (Check out the original Comic Party anime and manga series to learn more about this convention and the culture built around it.) Thousands of cosplayers pose in character on the top of the convention center for hundreds of thousands otaku photographers called cameko (shortened version of “Camera Kozo” or “Camera Boy”). As a gift, they often present the cosplayer with a copy of the photo. Most cameko are polite and admiring of the cosplayers’ skills and dedication, but some of them act in a stalker fashion towards cosplayers, pressuring girls to pose provocatively, give out personal information or do private photo sessions. As a result, photography at Comiket has become more restricted.
A subdivision of cosplay is crossplay, cross-dressing cosplay. Crossplayers are usually females dressed as male characters, although the opposite, males dressed as female characters, does occur, but tends towards parody (see the origins of Man-Faye and Sailor Bubba) or facing resentment due to societal pressures (“That’s a GUY? But her costume looks so good!”). Happily, negative gender stereotyping is changing in the US, while in Japan, crossplay sticks to females dressed as male characters.
A subset of kigurumi (Japanese name for full-body animal/mascot costumes) cosplayers, male animegao (nicknamed “dollers” outside of Japan) wear bodysuits and masks with padding to become female animated characters exactly as they appear in print and on the TV. Animegao consists of a small group of cosplayers in whole, and I myself have never seen one at a convention in the US.
The gothic-lolita fashion trend among teenagers has blended the edge of cosplaying and just dressing up, as the trend gives teens who would never dream of cosplaying an excuse to invent an original character or one based off of an existing character. In the US, we just call these kids goths and punks.
Outside of Japan, cosplay grew thorough the rest of Asia, and then worldwide, as it merged with the long tradition of costuming at sci-fi conventions. At US conventions, there is a great difference between costuming and cosplay. Costuming refers to the creation and display of a costume, whereas cosplay adds the element of acting as the character in dramatic skits (called masquerades), seeking to capture the character’s essence beyond the clothing. Cosplayers are judged on acting skill, costume design and audience reaction, either before walking on stage and/or while on stage. Separate competitions are held for both hobbies, honoring best costume and best cosplay skit, although cosplayers do usually compete in the costume contest (imagine a line of costumed models, walking the catwalk one at a time to display their costume and strike a few poses). Competitions are further divided into craftsmanship and presentation, the first concerning the making of the costume, the second on how the costume is worn and used. Many cosplay groups begin their preparations months in advance.
US cosplay differs from Japan additionally in which costumes are deemed acceptable. Japanese cosplayers often create Nazi costumes and use religious symbols that would be considered in horrible taste in the US, while in the US, it’s not unusual to see historical reenactment and Renaissance Faire costumes, Star Wars and Star Trek uniforms, and other sci-fi series costumes alongside anime cosplay at anime conventions, but especially at sci-fi conventions. Photography is also practiced at US conventions, but the cosplayer doesn’t usually get a copy, although nice photographers will supply a website for where the photo can be found online in a day or two, and most people try to be respectful. Western cosplayers are often mocked as being too overweight to cosplay as their character, as realistically speaking, the perfect anime physical composition of long legs, skinny waist and bottom, and big breasts is rather rare. The debate on whether cosplayers need to stay true to their character’s physical measures still rages on, but in general, US cosplayers take a more inclusive position, while Japanese cosplayers focus on an authentic representation of the character. Each year, the World Cosplay Summit is held, where various cosplay groups representing their country participate in an Olympic-style competition for the title of best cosplayers in the world. This competition has been the source of a lot of controversy in the past, best explained in the fact that the 2007 competition does not feature a US team, as one group was disqualified under questionable circumstances and were allegedly treated rudely by their Japanese hosts.
Cosplay in the US came into its own during the early 2000s, as the major anime conventions (such as Otakon, Anime Expo, Anime Boston) gained international attention for their competitions, and the general mainstreaming of anime brought the hobby into the limelight, as more casual con-goers dress up as their favorite character. (Most cosplayers make their costumes from scratch months in advance, while casual cosplayers opt to create their costume from pre-made parts, Hallowe’en leftovers and items found around the house and in the closet. The later group isn’t really cosplaying as much as just being creatively resourceful.) The popularity of cosplay at anime conventions has led to the creation of cosplay-based events, such as anime human chess (cosplayers dressed as the game pieces) and the anime dating game.
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