The Culture of Cosplay

by Farah Ardiana Ahmad Hanizar

Naturally, the sight of something out of the ordinary catches your eye, doesn’t it? That being said, we all turn to first impressions considering sight is what meets the eye. Fashion, for example, catches one’s attention regardless of style. While different countries have different ways of clothing that represents its culture, Japan introduces a hype of its own, called cosplay. This is linked to the fact that Japan is considerably well-known throughout the years for their Japanese animation (or “anime”) and the fad was brought up a notch by the “otaku”s. The term otaku is commonly used to designate a rabid fan/hobbyist of anime, manga, computer games, and related genres. (MacWilliams and Ortabasi, 2008: p.277)

A girl cosplaying the character on the right

Ever since the 1990s, more people are seen cosplaying as a hobby and the number keeps increasing, turning the phenomenon into a popular culture. The term cosplay is a combination of the words “costume” and “play”—or “role-play”. It describes the act of transforming fictional characters into real-world identities by spending countless of time, money and effort into performing as exactly as the chosen character is in fiction. In a way, it is a more personal and glamorous form of masquerade as it displays one’s commitment in portraying and resembling a certain character from scratch. Cosplay is primarily a social activity associated with various activities and conventions, where cosplayers gather to share their passions for anime and manga characters. (Aoyama and Cahill, 2003) Japan not only dedicates its conventions (such as Comic Market or Comiket) to showcase all the effort these cosplayers have put forth into by encouraging competitions and such, but also uses it as a part of their marketing strategy and promoting other items such as the release of electronic consoles as well as games and many more.

Disneyland Princes and Princesses

But cosplay is also a form of fashion!

In the Western world, Disneyland for example, also uses the same prospect of cosplay by having these “characters” walk around the theme park and welcome visitors throughout the day as if creating an atmosphere that’s almost as real as in fiction. That goes to show that cosplay is not limited to just Japan, but the term has also been widely used across the globe—although not as apparent, but still visible nonetheless. It is more significant in Japan with the addition to the fashion integration that comes along with it in places such as Harajuku and Akihabara. Countries from the United States of America, Canada and even right here in Malaysia have adopted the popular culture within their own environment and continue to spread the hype via conventions, but what would be the typical audience response from this be?

Photographers and cosplayers at a convention

The single most obvious intersection point between the real world of modern American life and the fantasy world of anime and manga is undoubtedly cosplay. (Napier, 2007: p.159) While Japan glorifies and takes pride in the culture of cosplay, its level of depth hardly matches that of other countries. As much as it is treated as a norm in Japan, it may not be the same elsewhere. Many issues have arose due to the culture exposure alone including those such as identity issues, gender and sexuality roles and discrimination, imbalance between fantasy and reality, as well as others because of the misinterpretation of the particular phenomenon. Typically, a perfectly positive response is not to be expected. From the bigger picture, sometimes the essence of another culture is hard to capture—having major differences and strengths in cultures all around the world tends to do that. I believe that to understand another one’s culture is to experience it hands on, which is generally the idea of the generation nowadays as the children are more open-minded to a wider range of influences. It does not necessarily mean that these varieties of cultures should come together as a whole, but perhaps the better step is to accept and respect one another for each of their own uniqueness in the first place.

References

Aoyama, T. and Cahill, J., 2003. Cosplay Girls: Japan’s Live Animation Heroines. Tokyo: DH.

Lamerichs, N. 2010. Stranger than Fiction: Fan Identity in Cosplay. Transformative Works and Cultures.

MacWilliams, M. W. and Ortabasi, M., 2008. Japanese Visual Culture. Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime. M.E. Sharpe, Inc., USA.

Napier, S.J. 2007. From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Cult in the Mind of the West. Palgrave MacMillan, USA.

Winge, T. 2006. Costuming the Imagination: Origins of Anime and Manga Cosplay. Mechademia.