BEHIND a few wrinkled T-shirts and a couple pairs of pants in the back of Robbie Pleasant’s closet are rows and rows of costumes, among them a black and silver collared robe modeled after “Manjoume,” from the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh GX. And a tattered, wizardly gown famously donned by “Nagi” in Mahou Sensei Negima!
On his walls are posters of big-eyed heroes and heroines; on his desk, stacks of DVDs and video games, each colorfully illustrated with characters that look like they shop at the same stores he does.
And though it would be easy to write him off as a run-of-the-mill Japanimation geek, that would miss the mark. Pleasant is a cosplayer—an anime fan who takes his love of the Japanese art and cranks the nerd dial up to dizzying heights by creating costumes and dressing the part of his favorite characters. And for four days at the FanimeCon anime convention at the San Jose Convention Center this week, his ilk will reign supreme.
“I started in 2004 or 2005 when a friend suggested I go to an anime convention and I said, ‘Yes, but I want to cosplay,”‘ says the 20-year-old UC–Santa Cruz literature major matter-of-factly. “Now I go to four or five conventions per year. I usually don’t have enough money to buy the fancy costumes, so I try and construct mine with materials I acquire at thrift stores. My grandma helps sew some of the harder ones. She’s incredible.”
Cosplaying, or as it’s known in Japanese (and to the more hardcore fans), kosupure, represents a fervent subculture of anime fanatics that travel to conventions like FanimeCon and Anime Expo in Los Angeles, chat on message boards like cosplay.com and meet up at parks and coffee shops around the world dressed like everything from twinkly-eyed schoolgirls to multitentacled beasts.
Their source material is most often anime titles, manga (comic book) series and Japanese fashion trends, though video game heroes and American animation characters also find traction in certain circles.
At FanimeCon, which has been held every year since 1994 and drew 15,000 fans last year, the motto is “By Fans, For Fans.” That might as well be “By Cosplayers, For Cosplayers” because for folks like Pleasant and others like Jerry Pang, who’s coming dressed as “Russell” the plump, Asian Cub Scout from Disney Pixar’s Up, the anime art itself takes a back seat to the elaborate costumes created in tribute to it.
“Cosplaying is its own universe,” say Pang. “It’s essentially representing something you have viewed on mainstream media and emulating it. Five to seven years ago it was really underground, now it’s pretty widespread. It’s just an excuse to hang out with friends who are into the same things you are.”
Nerds and Nerdettes
While other geek mainstays like Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: The Gathering exist suspended in a thick solution of nearly pure testosterone, cosplaying manages to attract a sizable number of ladies. In anime films and comics, female characters often find leading roles as deadly assassins, seductive temptresses and powerful matriarchs. And if the powerful roles weren’t enough, the female characters are also often dressed like they’re on their way to a beachside bondage party, giving a gal with some assets to showcase plenty of options. And for the girls who would rather go as a hulking hero or the guys who long to wear miniskirts and knee-highs, “crossplaying” is a common and accepted practice.
Kai Gault, a 21-year-old San Jose resident who moved from Michigan last year and starts at West Valley College this fall, has been cosplaying since 2007.
“I remember seeing cosplayers in magazines and saying, ‘Man I want to do that,'” says the young woman who’s going to FanimeCon as “Tall Alice” from Alice in Wonderland and also as “Revy” from the anime series Black Lagoon. “I think of it as an expression of my fandom. Also, being able to dress up and act differently, it’s kind of an escape from reality.
“A common misconception is that we’re just nerds. Yeah, you have to be a nerd, but most of us do have jobs and lives and don’t live in our mom’s basement.”
The more crafty cosplayers like Gault and Pleasant’s grandma make their own costumes from items found at stores like Goodwill, Savers and Home Depot. Others buy their costumes from sites like qqcosplay.com where hundreds of precisely made anime costumes are available for anywhere from $75 to $1,000. A sales agent from the Chinese-based company says they ship about 200 costumes per month to fans around the world and that characters from Bleach, Naruto and Kingdom Hearts are the most common items.
“Some people will spend whatever it takes to look like their particular character,” says Pleasant. “It would be nice to have that kind of money.”
Whether it’s a $1,500 two-person “Chocobo” suit or a $5 set of tattered Tetsuo hospital scrubs, dressing up like a Japanese cartoon character can appear geeky to a fault to outsiders, no doubt. But is it unprecedented? Hardly. Since shamans first danced in feathers and football fanatics showed up on Sundays in face paint, obsessive fans have been doing their best to imitate their idols.
With intellectual and sometimes arcane hobbies like science fiction and fantasy art, however, simply finding imaginary avatars that one can relate to—so much so, indeed that one is prepared to dress like them—is like bonding with a new friend. And in a society where nerd-bashing is still an American pastime for whenever there aren’t computers that need programming, a nerd can never have too many friends. Where the culture falls short, fiction fills the gap.
When our three cosplaying protagonists and others get to FanimeCon, one of the first orders of business will be seeking out other fans who dressed as characters in the same anime title. After that, however, all that’s left is the partying.
“Cosplayers can get crazy,” says Pleasant as he readjusts his glasses and hangs his Aizen costume back in his closet. “We certainly know how to have a good time.”
When Pleasant, Gault, Pang and others get to FanimeCon, one of the first orders of business will be seeking out other fans who dressed as characters in the same anime title. After that, however, all that’s left is the partying.
“Cosplayers can get crazy,” says Pleasant as he readjusts his glasses and hangs his Aizen costume back in his closet. “We certainly know how to have a good time.”
FANIMECON
San Jose Convention Center, May 28–31
Registration is $55 per person and includes all four days.
www.fanime.com
