Cosplay
Cosplay stands for the combination of two English words:
costume and roleplay (also known as kosupure). Participants wear cosplay to represent a specific character or idea, usually stemming from a Japanese fiction. Popular sources of cosplay include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies.
First presented in 1980s,
cosplay has become more and more popular, often among
teenagers, and been practiced almost everywhere especially in Asian and European countries.
We can see
cosplayers gather at public events such as
video games and manga trade shows, or participate in parties at nightclubs and amusement parks. There are also many cosplay cafés or at least a number of manga and anime conventions to serve cosplay fans. In these places people dress up in game or manga costumes.
The two largest events celebrated for
cosplay fans are he semiannual doujinshi market, Comiket in Japan during summer and winter, and the annual San Diego Comic-Con held in the California city, USA. Thousands of
cosplayers gather and show their
best designs and favorite characters.
Unlike Halloween and Mardi Gras
costume wear, cosplay can exist in every day in the year. Moreover, cosplay aim at attempts to become one's character much as a stage actor inhabits a role. Once in costume, cosplayers imitate the affect, mannerisms and body language of the characters they portray.
Sometimes the cosplayer dresses up and portrays a character of the opposite sex, which is called "
crossdress" or “
crossplay”.
In Western countries, costumes have widespread for almost fifty years. Western cosplay's origins are based primarily on science fiction and historical fantasy as opposed to animation. It is more common for Western
cosplayers to recreate characters from live-action series such as
Star Trek,
Star Wars,
Doctor Who,
The Lord of the Rings, and
Harry Potter than it is for Japanese cosplayers.
Differences in taste still exist across cultures. Some costumes that are worn without hesitation by Japanese cosplayers tend to be avoided by Western cosplayers, such as
outfits that evoke Nazi-era uniforms.
Cosplay is also becoming
a new trend in other countries as China and Singapore.
Many game designers drawn cosplay and bring it into their
dress up games and fashion games. In these
dress up games, gamers are provided with a manga model and a series of make-ups and accessories from hair to tail and inside out. The final result is that
the model looks like a specific
manga character .
Cosplay and its popularity have affected almost every aspect of life. A new trend in
fashion, a new aspiration of
dress up games and
fashion games, a new topic of discussion, and so on. And it has changed in itself, too, of course.
