What is Cosplay?

Cosplay is a performance art with costumes and accessories dressing as a specific character.

Characters are usually from Japanese and East Asia media that includes anime, novels, video games, tokusatsu, comic books and fantasy movies.

Cosplay, short for "costume play", involves wearing costumes and reenacting characters and inventing stories inspired by chosen sources and character.

CosPlaying includes two categories: basic cosplay and Masquerade. Basic cosplay only involves an attempt to look like a character and Masquerade is much more detailed. When masquerading, CosPlayers try to act like the character would. They often make up skits and act as the character's personality would act.

Anime CosPlay is very popular in Japan and North America. Some CosPlayers even make their own costumes while others buy their costumes from a costume designers. The costumes are worn to Anime conventions to show them off. Some Anime conventions also have contests for Cosplay and for Masquerade.

There are some well known cosplayers who have become very popular and they are treated like celebrities.

If someone dresses as a character of the opposite sex, it's called "crossplay" and cosplaying as a character who dresses like the opposite sex is called "cross-dressing". The biggest reason that people do "crossplay" or "cross-dressing" is because in anime there is a large number of feminine-looking male characters and females can usually act play the characters better than the males.

Cosplay can be at public events like video game shows and nightclubs hold cosplay parties. In Japan, teenagers often gather in public places like Tokyo's Harajuku district to have cosplay events. In Tokyo's Akihabara district there are a lot of cosplay cafes that cater to cosplay fans. The waitresses at the cafes wear costumes as well and maid costumes are very popular.

Thank you for reading!