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One of the hardest things about cosplaying an anime character has to be the challenge of making cartoon facial and body features look as striking, interesting and attractive in real life as they do in the animated world.

Twitter in Japan has been buzzing with just that dilemma this week after the launch of the anime adaptation of light novel series Danmachi, known in English as Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?  Why? Because one particularly well-endowed female character, Hestia, has a blue ribbon enhancing her cleavage, and Twitter users across Japan decided to try it out in real life. While some fans were disappointed, others seemed to feel they might just be on to something with this ribbon thing!

“Danmachi,” incidentally, is short for Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka?, which has been given the equally snappy English title, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Hestia is a popular character in the series. Like her Greek goddess namesake, Hestia is depicted wearing a white robe, although she has updated it with a cut-out area in the chest that’s a bit like last year’s boob shirts. Hestia’s trademark accessory is a blue ribbon that runs under her boobs and over her arms.

▼ As you can see, the magical ribbon holds and lifts up Hestia’s boobs. The original Hestia probably didn’t have the nickname Loli Big Boobs, either, but whatever.

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▼ But, but how does she move her arms?

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After the first episode of the anime aired last week, girls on Twitter were taking inspiration from Hestia in their outfits and uploading photos of the results. But would the ribbon trick work in real life?

▼ “My boobs just won’t lift up like Hestia’s…”

This cosplayer gave us a detailed analysis of the experiment:

“Would a ribbon like Hestia’s actually give me any uplift?
Result: Not in the slightest.
Conclusion: It just makes it hard to move, and the ribbon is cutting into my arms.”

Twitter user @keno_kasumi also gave The Hestia Experiment a try:

“I ended up like this.”

“Will it give me a boost…? It cuts into your upper arms, that’s for sure.”

“Nope, sorry, this is all I got.”

Some found the whole experience a little discouraging:

“I tried out Hestia’s ribbon thing.”

https://twitter.com/sekaisouzousin/status/585738152179937281

While others were very pleased with the results:

▼ “I got my wife to do the Hestia trick for me (・_・) “

https://twitter.com/NAMAZUr/status/585757663612370944

If you’d like to see a bit more of Hestia, you can check out the trailer for Danmachi below.

Sources: otakomu, togech
Featured image: Twitter/keno_kasumi