Cosplay Competition

If you were in Permaisuri Imperial City Mall last Saturday morning, you would have seen Cosplayers performing on stage on the first floor. I arrived at the mall a bit late and I missed the performances of the first two contestants. There were eleven contestants so I only managed to watch the performances of nine of the contestants.

The term “cosplay” is a combination of the words “costume” and “play.” The term was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of Studio Hard while attending the 1984 World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Los Angeles. He was impressed by the hall and the costumed fans and reported on both in Japanese magazine My Anime. The coinage reflects a common Japanese method of abbreviation in which the first two moras of a pair of words are used to form an independent compound: ‘costume’ becomes kosu (コス) and ‘play’ becomes pure (プレ). Cosplayers, the people who partake in cosplay, dress as their favourite characters from comics, video games, anime, manga, movies, and television..

It takes courage for Cosplayers to put on their costumes and makeup and go into public but it is their way of celebrating the characters that they love and embracing their fandom.

.Although some cosplayers simply don off-the-rack costumes, the truly dedicated create outfits from scratch. High-end cosplay outfits require considerable time and resources to produce, often taking weeks and costing hundreds of dollars. Accessories are often needed to complete a character’s iconic look.

With their costumes, wigs, makeup and accessories , the cosplayers complete their transformation into otherworldly characters. Despite the many hardships required for successful cosplay, from uncomfortable costumes to oversize props, cosplayers love what they do. It’s an opportunity to be a hero, princess, or otherworldly creature