Cosplay Girl

Every year, the Sunday night party invites club-goers to dress as their favorite manga or anime character. American comic book characters are also welcome. Alternatively, those who don’t have an anime or comic-related costume can dress as a schoolgirl.

“There are a lot of cosplayers in the scene,” said co-promoter and DJ Xian Vox, herself an anime fan. “You would expect that, but no one really fesses up to it as much as they readily fess up to be being involved in Ren Faire or Pirate Faire. When you see so many people come out in these costumes, you go, wow, you didn’t put that together in one weekend.”

Otaku Society has become a popular event for the club, not just for the cosplayers in the club scene, but for those of us who love anime but don’t necessarily dress the part. Several people I met confessed that this was their first cosplay experience. As for myself, I never attempted cosplay before, but happened to be Ai Enma/Hell Girl for Halloween and had intended to repeat that for the party until my wig turned into a hideous, shedding beast and I was forced to go as Girl in Japanese Winter School Uniform.

Kingdom Hearts!

Dressing up is an automatic conversation starter. Within five minutes at the club, I met local artist Jettila Lewis of the manga-influenced graphic novel Motor City, and proceeded to strike conversations with a handful of others throughout the night. We talked about the depression that sets in after watching Gunslinger Girl, how being inside a 21+ nightclub means no Naruto cosplay and how everyone excluding yours truly managed to get a picture of an apparently fantastic Alphonse Elric cosplayer at Anime Expo last summer.

At midnight, prizes were awarded for the best costumes (the Kingdom Hearts Halloween Town cosplayer seen here took second place), but it seemed like many of the people were unconcerned with contests. The real highlight of the night was having the chance to unleash our inner otaku.

Check out ladead.com for the club’s photos from Otaku Society. This event took place on November 23, 2008.

Editor’s Note: The Anime Blog’s Guest Contributor Liz Ohanesian is a Los Angeles-based journalist covering music, media and club culture. She is a staff writer for Club World and her work regularly appears in such publications as the L.A. Weekly, Razorcake and Outburn. She has written for such publications as Punk Planet, PopMatters, Santa Monica Mirror and others.

This year’s event will feature at cosplayers from at least 13 countries. There have been seven preliminary rounds held so far which select each country’s representatives.

September 8, 2007

The German preliminary round was held as part of Connichi 2007 at the Kongress Palais Kassel in Kassel, Germany. There were three judges: one member of the WCS 2007 German team, one Connichi organizer, and one member of the cosplay community “Cosplay Heaven“. The winning team performed as characters from Sailor Moon.

• Annie Fischinger (left) as Sailor Moon
• Katharina Wehrmann (right) as Sailor Chibi Moon

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

September 23, 2007

The Thai preliminary round was held as one of the final events of Japan Week at Central World in Bangkok. There was a large panel of judges, mostly Japanese, including the Public Relations & Culture Division Chief of the Japanese Embassy, TV Aichi’s Division Chief of the Executive Office, the Deputy Manager of the JETRO Bangkok Center, the Head of the JNTO Bangkok Center, the Head of the ANA branch in Bangkok, and the Head of the Japan National Tourist Organization’s Sightseeing and PR Office. The lone non-Japanese judge was the organizer for Korea’s WCS preliminary. The person who wrote the report about this preliminary round mentioned that:

“The Japanese judges were older guys lined up on stage; it felt as if they were in the wrong place! Basically, it didn’t feel like it had an otaku atmosphere.“

However, the reporter also had a favorable reaction to their choice of the team who would represent Thailand. This team performed as characters from Xenosaga.

• Julaluk Lohanawakul (left) as T-ELOS
• Jittraporn Distaprom (right) as KOS-MOS

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

October 4, 2007

The Italian preliminary round was held at the Romics 2007 comics and animation festival. The event took place at the Camera di Commercio di Roma in Rome. Like the Thai preliminary round, there were many judges, though, this set of judges seemed to be a better fit (less business oriented).

According to the person who reported about the Italian preliminary round: “The Jury was made up of a number of personalities from the world of TV and entertainment so as to have different points of view in the final decision: a TV producer, Cosplay experts, publishers, the Italian representatives of previous editions of the WCS, a voice actor for anime.” This reporter also seemed to like the judges’ decision. The winning team performed as characters from Five Star Stories.

• Nadia Baiardi (left) as Lachesis
• Martina Arnaldi (right) as Amaterasu

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

November 3, 2007

There were two countries which had preliminary rounds on this date. The Danish preliminary round was held at J-Popcon 2007 at the Valby Kulturhus in Copenhagen. There were four judges…two were from Gainax (a director and a character designer), one was a member of Germany’s WCS 2007 team, and one was a WCS 2008 staff member from TV Aichi. They selected a team who performed as characters from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

• Liuwina Haeklund (left) as Sakura
• Lisa Hvidberg (right) as Shaoran

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

The Spanish preliminary round was held at the 13th Salón del Manga (which is said to be the oldest manga and anime festival in Europe) at the Poliesportiu Centre in Barcelona. The were six judges including the Envoy from the Japanese Embassy in Madrid, the Event Coordinator of the Salón del Manga, 2 editors from comics publishing firms (Planeta DeAgostini Comics & Norma Comics), a TV producer (from Televisión de Catalunya), and a gothic fashion designer. Coincidentally, they also chose a team whose performance featured characters from Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

• Maria Pérez Tomás (left) as Sakura
• Nicolás Cabrerizo García (right) as Shaoran

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

December 7, 2007

The US preliminary round was held at the innaugural New York Anime Festival. The competition was at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City. This marked the return of the US to the WCS after a two year hiatus. There were five judges- a photographer, a cosplayer, and three people representing the sponsors of the WCS. They chose the team who performed as characters from Magic Knight Rayearth.

• Renee Gloger (left) as Umi
• Sonnya Paz (right) as Hikaru

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

February 4, 2008

The Mexican preliminary round was held as part of the 14th Expo Manga Comic TNT GT2 event. The venue was the Mexico City World Trade Center large event hall. There were four judges: one was a member of the 2005 WCS Italian team, one was a coordinator for TNT, and there were two others. They chose a team of veteran cosplayers (9 and 6 years of experience) who performed as characters from Digimon.

• Teresa Garcia Hernandez (left) as Lady Devimon
• Ingrid Alin Naba (right) as Angemon

Use the following links to view more information about the preliminary and the team members.

More preliminaries are scheduled to round out the final list of competitors. This year, Japan will have two teams (an East team from the Tokyo preliminary and a West team from the Osaka preliminary). Other countries which will be sending teams include Korea, Brazil, China, France, and Singapore. Here is a projected itinerary for their preliminary rounds:

May 18, 2008

Japan Team 1 preliminary round

• Tokyo Dome City Cosplay Festa Tokyo Dome City, Tokyo

June 1, 2008

Korean preliminary round

• Everland Cosplay Party 2008 Everland, Yongin

July 13, 2008

Japan Team 2 preliminary round

• Cosplayers Jam@World Cosplay Summit 2008 – West Japan Grand Prix Kyocera Dome, Osaka

July 21, 2008

Brazilian preliminary round

• Event name TBA in São Paulo Dates and Locations TBA

Preliminary rounds for China, France, and Singapore

Once all the teams have been chosen, they will participate in the World Cosplay Summit 2008 in the late summer. The venue will be in Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Japan.

One note- early reports had indicated that Australia would be holding preliminary rounds for the 2008 WCS. However, according to the Animania Festival website, these preliminaries are for the 2009 WCS.

Images and reports of preliminary winners: WCS website (more photos from the preliminary rounds may be accessed here as well)

ANN Stories:
World Cosplay Summit 2008’s Italian Finalists Chosen
Tsubasa Team Wins Danish World Cosplay Summit Round
Spanish World Cosplay Summit Finalists Chosen
World Cosplay Summit Announces American Finalists
Mexico’s World Cosplay Summit Competitors Selected
Cosplay Event Adds Brazil, China, France, Singapore, Korea

© 2007 Reuters

The Ministry under the leadership of Foreign Minister Taro Aso, has been using Japanese popular culture as one means of promoting Japan to the world community. They were one of the sponsors for this year’s competition. Unfortunately, the Foreign Minister was unable to meet the teams. He had to attend a meeting of Asian foreign ministers in Manila. In his place was Vice Foreign Minister Katsuhito Asano. He commented to the crowd of reporters:

“My boss is a total manga geek. He must be sorry to miss this,” he said, adding: “When we talk about serious foreign policy, we don’t get this kind of media response.”

© 2007 SPORTS NIPPON NEWSPAPERS

He then gamely posed with the cosplayers using some “classic anime moves”:

As I mentioned earlier, teams from 12 countries competed. They represented Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan (3 teams), Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, & Thailand. Each team consists of two people. Some of the rules for the competition:

• The costumes must be from Japanese anime and manga.
• At the preliminary competitions, costumes from Japanese video games are permitted.
• At the cosplay championships to be held in Japan, Japanese manga, anime and costumes only.
• Costumes are to be hand made. Pre-made costumes are not allowed.
• It is preferable that costumes are hand-made by the contestants themselves, but it is permissible for family and friends to help.
• Purchase and then re-making of ready-made goods to use in costumes is permissible.
• Team costumes at the cosplay championships are to be characters from within the same anime or manga.
• Participants must be 18 years and older.
• It is possible for those under 18 years of age to participate, but permission from a guardian must be obtained.
• The representative cosplayers who are chosen are to cooperate in a positive manner at the World Cosplay Summit 2007 (Parade, Championship, media and other events).

The competition was held at Nagoya’s Oasis21, which is a combination bus terminal, shopping mall, and event venue.

Unfortunately, it would take too much space to show everyone. Here are the three winners:

In First Place was the French team of Damian Ratte and Isabelle Jeudy as Tsugiri and Myobi from Alichino:

They were presented with a trophy from Judge Monkey Punch, a return trip ticket to Japan from Judge Ken Nagata, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Prize (this prize is for those who promote friendship between Japan and other countries in the world) presented by Judge Hiroshi Tokita.

Second place went to the Tokyo Venue team (Japan Team B) of Naoki Shigure and Kikiwan as Death Note’s Light Yagami and Misa Amane:

They received an assortment of manga and anime goods worth ¥100,000 from Judge Ichiro Mizuki.

The third team won an award called the Brother Award. This was the team from Mexico…Linaloe and Alejandra Rodriguez Rivera performed as Eternal Sailor Moon and Sailor Galaxia from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon:

They received a Brother super-slim digital ‘MyMio MFC-850CDN’ Multifunction Machine from Judge Essai Ushijima.

ANN Stories:
Cosplay Summit Convenes at Japan’s Foreign Ministry
French Team Wins 5th World Cosplay Summit

Additional Sources and Photos:
Reuters – Anime fans mass in Japan for cosplay fest
World Cosplay Summit 2007
otasuke.new-akiba.com (Japanese)
Sports Nippon (Japanese)
animeanime (Japanese)

Being the curious cat that I am and still being fairly ignorant of who’s who in terms of cosplay, I’ve got no problem admitting that I wasn’t familiar with 65% of the cosplays we snapped. I stopped a few cosplayers and asked them a few questions about their costumes.

Here to start off The Anime Blog’s Cosplay Interview Series is Orha Duren from Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata.

Orha-Duren Cosplay Interview:
[audio:Orha-Duren-Interview.mp3]

Halloween for Dave and me is like Christmas, birthdays, Easter and the Fourth of July all rolled up into one, only better. We take Halloween seriously; while most people will lose weight and get in shape for spring break and their weddings, we do that for Halloween.

I’ve been planning my costume for two and half months and I now understand what hard-core cosplayers go through for cons. My hat’s off to all the cosplayers who make their own costumes from scratch; I salute you. I’ve endured discrimination and funny looks by non-believers when I say I’ve been planning my costume for Halloween…in the middle of July.

I can’t imagine the trials cosplayers go through when they make their costumes and it’s not even for the grandest holiday of them all. I’ve gotten closer to fellow seamstresses and sewers and learned things I never thought I would because of the earnestness of my latest endeavour. This Halloween is really special to me for personal reasons and I’m going all out on the fabric, the shoes, the hair, the nails, hell; the whole nine yards!

Not everybody is as die-hard about Halloween as me nor is everyone a cosplayer, but I’m hoping everybody out there is at least starting to think about their costumes. I’m putting up a list of sites that might be helpful for people who are having a hard time pulling things together.

I personally am having a few a rough patches obtaining certain items for my costume and I’d like to share what I’ve learned and the sites I’ve been to that’ve helped me out. One of the greatest resources for me and Dave, though, is something in our own backyard (figuratively speaking people) that I’ve been yammering about ever since I discovered it: Rock Star Rags.

This place has been invaluable to us and sinfully cheap to boot. I’d been having the worst time getting a hold of a petticoat suitable for a loli dress that wouldn’t cost me an arm and a leg (take my advice my fellow loli wannabes; don’t ever buy a square dance petticoat for a loli dress cuz it’s way too big and flouncy).

We went to Rock Star Rags last week and I hit the jackpot while looking through a big pile of full length pettis in the middle of the floor. I found this awesome full length hoop skirt that I knew I could turn into a mini hoop skirt. I took it home, washed it, and did a bit of surgery on the hoop, yoke and bottom lace, and viola, brand frick’n new crinoline perfect for a loli dress that cost me $2.50 and two hours.

So what I’m trying to say is; If you live here in St. Louis or the area, get yer ass to Rock Star Rags before they close so you can make yourself a kick ass costume for less than 10 bucks!!!

Without further ado, here are the links that I found to be helpful on my lil’ journey:

• Ruffles and Lace – Don’t let the chick with the big rack on the home page fool ya; this place has what you need for petticoats and pettipants. (For lolitas, keep in mind that the petticoat shouldn’t be very full nor should it go past the middle of your thigh. Mine is 15″, 16.5″ with the ruffle and it fills out my skirt beautifully. The only problem with a crinoline versus a petticoat is now I need to wear pettipants or everyone can see my dainties, and well, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone unless they paid for it).
• Spooky Boutique – Cool shoes for costumes or whenever.
• Ben Nye Makeup – It just wouldn’t be Halloween without the makeup!! Ben Nye is the best makeup for stage, Halloween, etc., IMO.
• World of Wigs – Sadly the wig sites I wanted to post are all booked with orders till further notice. This place is decent and has good prices, but for cosplay or something really different it would seem that you would need to plan months in advance for Halloween, hmmm…
• How to Style Spiral Curls – For those of us who already have long hair and/or are too cheap/broke to pay $45 for a wig.
• Jongleur Cosplay – This is a cool site with some great how to tips and tutorials. They no longer accept commissions but it’s still worth a look.
• Cosworx – The well known cosplay website that has a ton of stuff. I’ve been noticing a trend though, that some small commission based cosplay sites are closing down or are too booked…Is that a sign of booming business or impending doom?

Dave and I have never personally cosplayed, as I’ve stated time and time again, but we’ve been making our own costumes, jewelry, props, and clothes for over 15 years so we know a little bit about costumes, jewelry, accessories, etc. If someone has a sewing question, a makeup question, prop question, whatever, leave a comment or send us an e-mail and we’ll try to help out. I would post pics of prior costumes, but frankly, I’m too shy of my former weight to do that, sorry.

Good Luck with your costumes and let us know what you’ll be dressing as or how you’re making your costume so we can share some tips!

Here’s a group of anime fans at the 2006 Japanese Festival that Rachel and I met. They’re posed in front of the lily pond at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

The head instructor for the Bon Odori, Montgomery Sensei, told me to go to Wal-mart and get red flip-flops…but, those flip-flops needed to have a wooden or wood colored sole and a red satin thong. I looked all over St. Louis and, surprise; the only ones I could find with a wooden-esque sole were blue, black, brown, white, anything but red, with crappy rhinestone flowers or some such.

After looking at one pair of flip flops too many, I grabbed a comfy white pair with the intention of converting them into zori that met my teacher’s standards.

I’ve never made anything cosplay-ey before in my life and although I personally didn’t make these for cosplay purposes, I’m posting instructions so someone who needs to make them can. Maybe you need zori for a cosplay or maybe you’re like me and need zori for a bona fide (Bon Odori) reason. Maybe you have big feet, maybe you’re broke, or maybe you need a special challenge in your life to keep from going crazy, any way I’ve got your back.

First off, you need to buy flip-flops that meet these criteria. Deviate from these and I won’t be held accountable for how your zori turn out:

• The flip-flops should be comfy (duh)
• If you can’t find wood or wood-esque soled flip-flops, get the spongy foam variety of flip-flops. Don’t get any flip-flops that have sheen of any kind, the paint won’t stick. The foamy flip-flops are inexpensive and will readily absorb the acrylic paint and won’t crack once the paint’s dry. I’ve actually experimented with Dave’s zori with some Op ffs and they cracked when they were dry. So don’t even think of it; it’s already been done and it didn’t work. Try and get as light a color as possible; white is preferable.
• The thong must be either a soft fabric or soft material. NO jellies or hard materials like leather. Try and get as thin a thong as possible since sewing the satin around them will bulk it up a bit. You could fold the thong material in half and sew it up to make it thinner, but I didn’t do that since the thong seemed sturdier and more comfortable as is.

It’s the end of the summer season and everything summer is on clearance. I got my flip-flops for $7.00 at Kohl’s and that was two weeks ago – I bet flip-flops are like $2.00 or something now. Next, you’ll need the following:

Materials:

• 1/4 yard red satin or red velvet material for women or ¼ yard black satin for men (you can use any brocade or type of material you like to make custom zori)
• Matching polyester thread and a sewing needle
• Scissors to cut the material
• Measuring tape
• Brown acrylic paint in various shades to create wood grain effects. I used the following three colors of Plaid acrylic paint: white, yellow, and nutmeg.
• Small paint brushes
• A damp rag
• Clear semi-gloss acrylic sealant. MUST be acrylic.
• Sewing machine (optional)

Instructions:

1. First off, clean the flip flops well and let them dry completely.
2. Mix a decent amount of a light blonde wood color to cover both ffs.
3. Paint a light coat of the blonde color in long strokes over tops and sides of ffs. Paint the strokes in one direction, like wood grain. Wood grain isn’t side to side and up and down; it’s going to go the length of the flip-flop, so try and paint them lengthwise. Try and avoid getting paint on the thongs for the express reason that it’ll be a bitch to get the needle through later on.
4. Let dry for about 20 min and mix up a slightly darker version of the base color. You can use a brush for this, but I just applied a thin line of the color with a fingertip going lengthwise down the side of the ff. I dragged the color a bit with a damp rag going the way the wood grain is to soften the line. Don’t rub it off though. Do this a few times all around the sides.
5. Mix a slightly darker version of the darker base color and repeat step #4.
6. Repeat #5 till you achieve a wood grain effect you like. DON’T overwork it; too much detail will be lost at a distance anyway, so keep this effect to a minimum. The wood appearance is going to be carried by the color for the most part.
7. You should have something that looks like this, but of course, your’s will be slightly or vastly different depending on your preferences.
8. If you feel the need, paint the bottoms of the flip-flops, but I’ll tell you now that the paint will come off sooner rather than later since it’s acrylic. When it comes to pavement versus acrylic, pavement wins every time.
9. Let the paint dry completely, about three hours. Apply a thin coat of sealant in a well ventilated area, once again painting in the direction of the grain.
10. Let dry two hours. Repeat step 8.
11. Repeat step 10.
12. Let those bad boys dry for 24 hours before you handle them.
13. Measure the circumference and length of the side straps. Figure the length by measuring from where the thong inserts at the side to the center fork and add ½ inch. Figure the circumference by measuring around the thickest part of the thong and adding ½ inch. These half inches are for turning the material under so you don’t have unfinished edges showing.
14. Do the same for the middle “fork”.
15. Iron the fabric and cut out the properly measured amounts. You should have four side thong and two middle thong pieces.
16. Have the wrong side of the fabric facing you (should be the matte side if it’s satin) and measure out ¼ inch on each edge. Fold those ¼ inches towards you and steam iron them flat.
17. If you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, sew the hems on the pieces. If you don’t have a machine, you can hand sew the edges so they have a hem or you can see if you can tuck the edges under when you sew the material to the thong. Good luck with that.
18. Now comes the fun part…thread your needle and knot the end, set aside. Wrap the appropriate piece of material around one of the side thongs like you’re wrapping a bun around a hot dog. If you measured it right, the material should fit with just a little bit of slack, but not much. Start sewing the material together at the finished edges.
19. After you finish sewing up the thong, tuck the material into the space where the thong inserts to the sole. I used a butter knife for this and even though the word butter would make the utensil seem benign, the word knife means that it’ll screw your paint job and gouge a hole if you’re not super careful.
20. After you’ve done that, sew the bottom of the satin to the thong by passing the needle through the fabric (see why you needed to get soft fabric) thong. Keep the stitches small, small, small so it’s not obvious that it’s sewn on. Do the same for the part that meets the middle. It should look like this when you’re done.
21. Yay! Repeat on the other side!!
22. Do basically the same thing for the middle. I personally had to do a lil’ bit o’ creative sewing when it came down to finishing that piece, but that’s me and my particular flip-flops.
23. Sit back and relish this moment; you’re done and if you’re anything like me, you’re cat’s probably deaf from all the cursing you did when you pricked yourself with the needle.

I hope this experience wasn’t too painful; there’s not too much guess work, just a lot of busy work. You now have a custom pair of zori that can be as authentic or original as you like. Wait another 24 hours before wearing them around.

A word to the wise: only wear these for your cosplay or Bon Odori since they will need touch ups. Mine held up well for practice and passed muster with the group. I got a lotta “Where did you buy those? Those are so nice!” Meaning; where did you find good looking zori for your giant feet.

I’ll be making my next pair using wood stain for the bottom sole part since I really don’t feel like touching up my zori. I recommend and will be using an oil based wood stain on white flip flops for my next pair. I’m thinking of using artists’ oil paints over the stain for the wood grain effect, or maybe those oil based furniture touch up markers. I’ll post when I make the wood stain zori and let you know how it goes.

If any of these instructions confound you or make no sense, e-mail me or post a comment. I’ll do my best to help you out!

August, 2006:

• August 12th and 13th, Sat and Sun
• August 19th and 20th, Sat and Sun
• August 26th and 27th, Sat and Sun

September, 2006:

• Sept 9th and 10th, Sat and Sun
• Sept 16th and 17th, Sat and Sun
• Sept 23rd and 24th, Sat and Sun (this date may be canceled)

On all these dates they will be open from 10am to 3pm. The price is $1.50 per pound. They accept CASH only. No children under 12 are permitted as per Rock Star Rags insurance carrier.

You can make individual appointments with Deb during the week by calling either 772-5448 or 621-0318 (leave a message and she will get back to you)

Although I would never dress up outside of Halloween as an anime character, I would consider dressing as a Lolita, since in my opinion, it’s a fashion statement and not an actual cosplay per say. I would also consider sewing for someone who looked like a character, but only if they looked a helluva a lot like said character and invested the time and money in the cosplay, otherwise, you’re not only embarrassing yourself but me as well.

How many people cosplay? How many just watch, and how many of you out there mock cosplayers to no end?