Cosplay Theory of Evolution

Hey guys, since I just got Otacool2 which is about Worldwide Cosplays, I thought I should share some of these nice articles with everyone =)
(The English kinda broken... I know... I just retyped them...)

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Cosplay Theory of Evolution

The forever challenging cosplayers have transcended the "Kaso(masquerade)" x "Kasou(virtual)" world

Tatsumi Inui of "Cure" - World's largest cosplay site talks about the evolution of the globally growing cosplay.

Cosplay in Japan

What kind of keywords come up to your mind when you hear the word 'Cosplay', 'Akihabara', 'Maid', 'Nurse'? In the cosplay industry this type of costume is called 'Uni-Cos' (short for uniform cosplay) and since it is not cosplay of a particular character, we use the term to clarify the difference between the two. When we cosplay characters from anime, manga, and video games, we call it 'Chara-Cos' and it has become a world wide trend evolving the cosplay culture.

People who love the work admire the characters and wishes to become one with them by wearing the same costumes and make ups. This idea of wanting to become one with the character seems to be a unique Japanese philosophy, whereas people outside Japan seem to focus on enjoying the costumes and world view of the character. In Japan it tends to be more about how far one can 'get into' the character. Not just costumes, they also seek for the perfect wigs, color contact lenses, weapons, facial expressions, poses and try to become as close as the character as possible.

The world that we live in, is 3 dimensional, however since we try to become close to the 2 dimensional world characters, cosplay world is sometimes called, "The 2.5 dimensional world".

Cosplay Around The World

We hear a lot of people oversea say "We like Japanese animation culture". When we hear these feelings for Japanese animation and manga, we really feel a connection over borders and give us courage.

The cosplay by those people differ depending on each country. For example, in the U.S, they can dress up in their costumes at home, ride their car to the convention center or do a cosplay shooting at a grand view location, and people won't look at them differently.

Also, many people walk around events communicating with each other. In Japan cosplayers can pay attention to details, however they have restriction with size of the costume. But at oversea events, there seem to be more freedom about size and prominent costumes really catch your eyes.

How to enjoy cosplay

First of all, you don't have to think too much. Many people say, "Everyone's an otaku, right?" but that's not true. Many people have regular jobs, and they just enjoy cosplay cons over the weekend to have fun.

We also hear the question, "How do you have fun when you cosplay?" Many people say, the best part is shooting photos. Taking photos of yourself in a totally different look,or finding a character that you like and asking them if you can take photos with them. Since you can identify the love of the same work as the cosplay character, it's easy to make friends as well.

Furthermore, if you make many cosplay friends you can rent a studio as a group and have fun taking photos. Unlike conventions, cosplayers can take high quality photos in a controlled environment where they can pay attention details to create high level works.

Another activity that is getting popular now is getting location permissions to shoot in an outdoor environment. Cosplayers enjoy, finding a location close to the world that the character exist in and take photos there.

In addition there are many conventions specializing in cosplay. In 2009, Cure hosted a successful convention called "Cure Cosplay Festival '09" that featured a huge photo session show.

Cosplay Industry

Originally cosplay was more of a personal hobby where fans created costumes by themselves to wear at 'Doujinshi Event'. However, recently companies and organization have developed all sorts of business surrounding cosplay. Especially for the cosplay costumes, it is said that the market is over several billion yen (several hundred million US$). The reason behind the development shows the presence of cosplayer demand. You can imagine how many users are out there in the current cosplay industry.

How to become a cosplayer

You do not need any license to become a cosplayer. But I'm sure there are information that is hard to find like, where to buy things, and which cons to attend. As a start, we recommend registering to "Cure" a community website dedicated to cosplay. All the needed information is linked so that even beginners can have fun comfortably.

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Of course... This is KKCC Blog and I would suggest newbies to register in our forum ClickStartPlay (lol)

[TIPS] Where to get Cosplay Costumes?

So you wanna cosplay, but dunno where to get the costume?
Prefer local tailor?

So I am preparing a list of local tailors in KK that can make cosplay costumes...
I have yet to receive information about other tailors, but I will surely post it up once I got them. Right now I have one tailor that I trust can make a cosplay costume that you will be satisfied with.

Shop name: Top Beauty Centre
Address: 1st Floor, Kompleks Asia City (KAC), Behind/beside Hikosen Cara.

A very highly recommended tailor from me. Alvin, the tailor is a very nice and friendly person. You can bring your own fabric and materials and let him sew the costumes for you, and you can also ask him to help you buy the fabric! He does let you choose what type of fabric you want, and gives you a sample of the fabric before making a final decision on buying the right material for your costume.

I would also like to add that although he is not a cosplayer or had any experience in cosplay (Well that is before we start ordering costumes from him), he is a perfectionist. If he thinks he is unable to make the costume you want, he will reject your request. Once he accepts your request, he will do his best to make it perfect. Of course, not 100% perfect and look-alike with the anime/games/etc.

His previous works:


All 3 maid costumes


School Rumble School Uniform


Road Camelot from D-Gray Man


Hatsune Miku from Vocaloid2


Yumiko Readman from Read or Die

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Do visit his shop if you are finding a cosplay costume tailor - And don't forget to bring a few reference pictures of the costume you wanna make to let him see!

~IRTeA