Animax’s Blog

CARD CAPTOR SAKURA: THE FAVORITE OF CHUBBY COSPLAYERS

© CLAMP/SUNRISE•Bandai Visual

Let’s say you’re
hanging out at your favorite mall when suddenly you find yourself
surrounded by wizards, sorcerers, warriors with swords, robots and
aliens. You might even find yourself bumping into a deadringer of a
hugely popular Japanese comedian, who dresses in an outlandish all
black leather ensemble that would make full-blooded males cringe or run
away. Before you think you’ve been sucked into a wormhole and taken to
another dimension, don’t panic. Chances are there’s a cosplay
convention happening nearby.

What the heck is Cosplay?

Cosplay is a
contraction of two words — "costume" and "play." While certain fans
would dress up as their favorite characters in sci-fi conventions as
early as the 70s, it was in Japan wherein cosplays has been elevated to
an art form. Fans would go out dressed as their favorite
anime/manga/video game characters, popular J-pop and TV stars to
compete in prestigious cosplay competitions or to simply show off their
elaborate costumes to fellow fans. In recent years, cosplay has not
limited itself to Japanese pop culture. They have also included popular
characters from Western novels and movies. The Star Wars characters remain a huge favorite among fans. Don’t be surprised if you also happen to bump into students from Hogwarts.

Some of the major
conventions in Japan that feature cosplay competitions include Comiket
(which is held twice a year, usually in August and December), Tokyo
Game Show in September, and Jump Fiesta in December. There are also
numerous cosplay competitions held in every prefecture in Japan. All
you have to do is check schedules on the Internet. If you’re that
frustrated and excited enough to cosplay, then go to Harajuku and
Akihabara where cosplay gatherings are held every Sunday.

Becoming a Cosplayer

While to the
dubious onlooker, cosplay may seem like an outlandish form of
frustrated theatrics, ask any cosplayer and they’ll tell you that
cosplay is not just simple acting. To be a successful cosplayer, you
have to BECOME the character you’re playing. This is not only through
the elaborate costumes they wear; they also need to project the
character’s personality, so that even for a moment, you would think
that you are indeed looking at and speaking to the character. In fact,
during cosplay conventions, you never address a cosplayer by his or her
real name. You call her by the name of the character she is playing.
You can tell a real good cosplayer if he or she exudes the personality
of the character.

I spoke to Marvel comic artist Wilson Tortosa (who is presently hard at work on the Wolverine Manga)
and his pretty lady friend Mic at the recently concluded Toycon in the
Philippines. Both are avid cosplayers. In fact, Wilson has served as a
judge in several prestigious cosplay competitions in the country.

"While most fans
think cosplaying is all about the costumes, actually it’s just a part
of what makes a cosplayer," Wilson explained. "When I was a judge, I
was often disappointed by the way certain cosplayers would just march
on stage and model around as though they were in a fashion show. That’s
not what cosplay is about. You have to be the character you’re playing.
It’s usually the cosplayer who convincingly portrays the character who
wins the competition."

Wilson cited two good examples of Filipino cosplayers. "JM Chua who portrayed Saitoh Hajime from Samurai X
was the winner of the first AXN Anime Festival in 2001, which first
introduced cosplay competition to the Philippines. He later went on to
compete in the HK Comics Festival, where he also won First Place. A lot
of Chinese contestants complained about his win in both competitions on
the basis of the costume, because their costumes were certainly pretty
and elaborate. However, while JM’s costume may be simple in comparison,
he floored the judges with his dead on portrayal of Saitoh, complete
with the mannerisms of the character. It was like you were looking at
Saitoh himself." (BLOGGER’S
NOTE: Lamentably, despite the huge popularity of the two AXN Anime
Festivals, neither AXN or Animax were able to continue these festivals,
much to the disappointment of Filipinos anime fans and cosplayers.)

Filipino JM Chua and Singaporean Huang Zhilong as Saitoh and Shishio

© September, 2001 by Bamboo_Vine

Another cosplayer
who has captured the hearts of Filipinos is Hard Gay Philippines, who
made his debut at Ozine Fest this year. Laughs Wilson, "Hard Gay
Philippines (HGP) is undoubtedly a smash because he truly captured the
flamboyant spirit of original Hard Gay Masaki Sumitani of Japan. There
is one cosplayer whom he left in absolute shock though I overheard her
saying to her friend, ‘Oh my God! That’s my UNCLE!’" All the Obataku
could say to this is "BE PROUD OF YOUR UNCLE, KID! He’s got a lot of
guts!" XD

Hard Gay Masaki Sumitani and his Filipino counterpart, Hard Gay Philippines

© April, 2008 by Alvin and Hard Gay Philippines

To all those who
have been bombarding me with questions on where they could buy or rent
cosplay costumes, that would probably be a point AGAINST you. According
to Mic, "Japanese judges specifically look for creativity in the
cosplay costume. They can tell if the costume was simply made-to-order.
You need to show and prove to the judges that you have added your own
personal touches to your costume."

If you were to
have a dressmaker or costume maker do your costume for you, it would
cost you from between USD 200 to as much as 1,000, and this is
excluding the accessories. However, if you are that creative and
resourceful enough to make your own costume, you could slash this
estimated value by half or even more.

Pointed out
Wilson, "There are two things that cosplay judges look for in the
costumes — creativity and cosplayer resourcefulness."

To those who
couldn’t sew a full garment even if their life depended on it, Mic
suggested that you have a dressmaker sew the BASIC costume, without the
embellishments. A good example are the long coats in D-Grayman.
Have a dressmaker sew the basic black coat. You then will sew on the
elaborate laces, beads, buttons, zippers, etc. that would transform it
into the character’s costume.

Some characters
obviously have their trademark weapons, such as fancy fighting staves,
swords and big guns. As Wilson himself demonstrated at the con, a
wooden staff and sword can be made to look like a convincing metal
weapon by using the right type of paint. Bazooka-type guns that are
strapped to the arms could be made from large plastic soda bottles. Add
some embellishments using a little cardboard, styrofoam, colored paper,
glitter and a lot of glue, and voila, you have yourself a weapon.
Sentai helmets could be made from styrofoam, papier mache or by
recycling old motorcycle of bike helmets that you have at home.
However, certain helmet embellishments like the visor may need to be
manufactured by a professional. As Mic narrated, what is preventing her
and Wilson from cosplaying Jun and Jinpei from the Gatchaman anime is that the bird-like visor for the helmet alone would cost USD 150.

Characters like the monsters from Alien
and other video games and robots would require a lot of creativity and
imagination. Obviously you cannot use metal because it is not only
expensive, it can also be very heavy and hot to wear. Some players have
made robot costumes out of very stiff cardboard, but as Wilson pointed
out, it could also be very flimsy. Just one hard bump and it could
create a dent in the cardboard. He and his friend have found a perfect
solution to this. Instead of using cardboard, they used sheets of stiff
leather which they purchased from shoe manufacturing companies in in my
country.

One mustn’t
forget. Henna and cosmetics are also a cosplayers best friend for those
tattoos and fierce face paints. And don’t forget the colored wigs,
which you can purchase from your local wig shops.

Someone inquired
about purchasing special contact lenses that would make him/her have
Kakashi’s sharingan. These lenses are called theatrical lenses,
specifically "scleral lenses", because they don’t just cover the pupil
but also the white of the eyes. I have asked around and you can only
order them online. Most optometrists would not make scleral lenses
because prolonged use may cause visual disturbances and eye damage.

As Wilson himself
also put it, "While having Kakashi’s sharingan may seem impressive,
please take note that you are up on stage and the judges may not even
be able to see your special lenses that clearly. You don’t convince the
judges you’re Kakashi by the theatrical lenses you’re wearing; you have
to be Kakashi himself."

COSPLAYING TIPS

After reading the
above and you still want to be a cosplayer, here are a few tips from
yours truly and a few people who have cosplayed in the past.

1. Because
cosplaying could be expensive, select the events that you would like to
participate in. If you are going to compete, better to give a few
months to prepare your costume and accessories.

2. DO NOT
immediately choose a character you want to cosplay. Take a long hard
look at yourself in the mirror, choose a character who closely
resembles you in appearance and body build, and apply the basic tips of
fashion. If you are fat, for heaven’s sake, please don’t wear those
frilly mini-skirt ensembles from Card Captor Sakura and Paradise Kiss because
the added volume of the garment could make you look even fatter. Call
me snooty if you will but it really makes me cringe whenever I see
chubby girls dressed in billowing, frilly dresses. Let’s face it. I’m a
bit on the hefty side myself and I know what I look like when wore
voluminous dresses. Go for a dark, streamlined garments, such as
trenchcoats or basic shinigami garb to hide the flab.

3. Study closely
the character’s personality and mannerisms. By knowing every nuance of
the character, this would make you a convincing cosplayer.

4. If you are
competing in either the individual or group cosplay competitions,
REHEARSE. Yes, it could be nerve-wracking on stage. But with constant
practice and rehearsal, you will find that you will become more at ease
when you finally face the adoring crowd.

To conclude this
blog, a bunch of people were asking me where in their countries they
could buy cosplay costumes and accessories. For heaven’s sake, I live
in the Philippines. How would I know the answer to that question? If
you are that desperate to cosplay, inquire from local costume
manufacturers, use the yellow pages of your phone book, or better yet,
do what Mic had done and just have a dressmaker sew your basic costume
and you add on the embellishments yourself. If you live in the
Philippines, you can join Cosplay.ph: The Philippine Cosplay Compendium,
where you can communicate with fellow cosplayers who can give you not
only valuable tips on how to make your costumes, but can recommend
stores wherein you can buy the necessary items for your costume at a
cheap price.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 12:29 am and is filed under Current Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.