While we’ve mostly been filling you in on pre-order sale notices and upcoming releases, the popular line of outfits has been so sought after that they’ve been almost impossible to purchase. But today, dear readers, we have for you the best news of all. Due to the huge response from fans, the entire Sailor Moon collection is available online right now!
Little birdies flying around someone’s injured head in cartoons and the like have been making severe physical trauma fun since time immemorial. Fans of Street Fighter II will also remember this age-old gag as that frustrating feature that would leave your character momentarily stunned and vulnerable to any attack.
Every time those baby chicks started circling, I’d suck air through my teeth and start violently slamming both hands on the joystick and buttons. Meanwhile, my opponent would just smile and slowly walk up to deliver some easy yoga noogies.
Now you too can recreate all that fun and mild annoyance with the Street Fighter II Piyoru Headband!
For a lot of us, Dragon Ball Z was our after-school superhero show. Powered up aliens, defending the earth from destruction, huge battles, and fearsome stare downs-what more could you ask for?
How about fulfilling everyone’s childhood dream and becoming the superheroes we idolize? That’s where cosplay comes in. You don’t get any of the special powers, but you get to pretend for a day and look the part, and it just got easier than ever to cosplay as some of your favorite Dragon Ball Z characters thanks to some new life-like masks that will help turn you into Goku, Piccolo, or Frieza.
As a kid, I loved Halloween. My brother and I would go all out decorating the house with tombstones, cobwebs, and corpses made out of old clothes stuffed with newspapers. Plus, how can you not like a holiday that gives you not only free candy, but an excuse to stay up past your bedtime eating it too?
So I’ve been happy to see how whole-heartedly Japan has been embracing Halloween, which each year seems to get bigger and bigger here. Some neighborhood shopping arcades have started inviting trick-or-treaters and passing out candy, and there are now multiple costume parades in the Tokyo area. As a matter of fact, Japan is so psyched for Halloween this year that stores started selling decorations in August.
In recent years, it’s become increasingly popular for doting dog-owners in Japan to dress up their pets in little outfits when they head out for a walk. But since their canine companions are already equipped with a natural coat, all doggy fashion is really doggy cosplay, so why not dress your dog up like a member of the cast of smash-hit anime Attack on Titan?
We’ve got the info on an upcoming event in Nakano, to be held on Saturday October 31; in other words, Halloween. The event will turn the area around Nakano Station, which includes Nakano Broadway, and Nakano Sun Plaza shopping areas, into anime heaven for the day. You’ll be able to get into the spirit of the holiday by dressing up in cosplay, snap some great photos of other people’s intricate cosplay creations, or just be content with watching the various costume parades and shows on offer.
Even though your mother would like you to know that it’s a silly, pointless hobby to spend your time trying to dress up like video game characters, and also, would it kill you to bring a girl home once in a while, Mike, instead of staying in your room all day reading those weird Japanese comic books?,cosplay is actually kind of hard work and requires a lot of commitment.
Sometimes that commitment comes in the form diligently researching every detail of a character, up to and including freeze frames from films and anime to get every dent, scratch and imperfection in your costume just right. Sometimes it’s commitment in the form of slaving away over the plastic pieces of your storm trooper outfit to ensure they fit together perfectly and are comfortable to wear and are appropriately badass.
And sometimes, it’s in the form of dropping the equivalent of a used car in cash to just buy a pre-made kit.
Japan’s love hotels, as the name implies, are all about the loving. Not only do these short-stay accommodations provide a welcome oasis of privacy for couples that want to express their physical affection for one another, they often have elaborately decorated themed rooms to help them get in the mood.
But while most visitors to a love hotel aim to spend as little time as possible with their clothes on, one group has found a way to enjoy them while staying completely dressed: cosplay fans who’ve discovered one love hotel that makes a great photo shoot location.
Cosplay has certainly become of Japan’s most well-known and loved subcultures, exploding on the world stage partly thanks to the Internet and partly thanks to the ingenuity of many of its most fervent participants. Despite this, it can still be difficult to find and make friends in the cosplay community if you’re coming in alone, as with any other subculture. But it doesn’t need to be that way! The Japanese cosplay community is just that — a community — and some of its members are working to make sure people can get together and cosplay as often as possible.
Perhaps the most relaxed way to join the fun is to take part is Shinjuku CosKara, or Shinjuku Cosplay Karaoke! While singing in front of others might set your nerves on edge, the events are organized so that people can come, have fun, take lots of cool photos, and make friends. You needn’t worry about your warbling offending anyone either; half the fun of karaoke is doing it badly with a giant grin! So, come along as we take a look at the event and talk to some local cosplayers!
For any guy with a romantic streak, the highlight of summer is no doubt a weekend getaway with the girl he loves. What could be better than a little sightseeing, a stroll on the beach, and a night spent together in a hotel?
But what if the girl you love happens to be a video game character? No problem! All you need is a life-size costume of your digital sweetheart and you’re all set, as this dedicated fan shows with his series of vacation photos starring one of the characters from dating simulator LovePlus.
Cosplay is all about slipping into a costume in order to assume the identity of a fictional character. But what do you do when the costume itself has become more famous than the character who wears it?
That was the problem faced by one attendee of the recent Comiket dojinshi event, who wanted to show his support not so much for the goddess Hestia from light novel and anime franchise Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, but for the boob-lifting string and impressive bust that the character is so closely associated with.
Until now. Ladybeard cosplayed as Street Fighter’s Chun-Li at the recent summer Comiket, and the results are unbelievable. His mission is to be the best Chun-Li cosplayer ever, and he’s got the thighs of steel to make it happen!
Those of you braveand crazy) enough to attend Comiket this year obviously read our tips to surviving Comiket, but it turns out we forgot one little tip that would make things infinitely easier: bring your own bodyguards/servants. That’s exactly what this “oil tycoon” did as he was seen walking the Comiket floor flanked by his army of intimidating bodyguards. People parted ways and made room for the petrol baron as he flashed the wads of cash he had stored in his special briefcase. What sort of oil magnate buys dojinshi at Comiket? Find out after the jump.
Now that Final Fantasy VII is officially in the “re-works”, fans are furiously digging through their closets to find all their favorite Gaia memorabilia, dusting them off and putting them back on display. For two die-hard fans, it meant it was time to return to the game that they loved and cosplay two important characters in one of the most iconic scenes from the game. The resulting photo shoot is breathtaking and might even be better than the HD remix that Square Enix has planned.
Comiket 88, the world’s largest dojinshi fair, is now underway at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre. And while thousands of people are already rushing to buy some of the best and rarest anime, manga and video game merch money can buy, others were there for one thing only: cosplay.
Despite the beating sun and intense humidity that comes as standard with Summer Comic Market (you did read our Comiket survival guide, right?), the almost complete lack of shade outdoors did not deter Tokyo’s cosplayers, who stood out for photo after photo, striking their best poses and wowing our reporters with their incredible outfits.
Join us after the jump for a look at some of our favourites!
It’s a simple question, and if you spend enough time here, you’re sure to be asked it countless times by Japanese people. In fact, Japan has a whole television show dedicated to asking foreigners this very question, called YOU wa Nani shi ni Nippon e?
For those of us who came for to learn a specific trade or study the language, or who are married to a Japanese spouse and/or have family in Japan, it usually isn’t a hard question to answer honestly. However, for those foreigners that were drawn to Japan’s shores through things like anime or manga, cosplay, robots, or schoolgirls, it can be a question that’s difficult to come up with a socially acceptable answer to.
Still, not all foreigners are ashamed of coming clean about some of the strange hobbies that brought them here, like one Polish Twitter user who is proud to be living out his some of his wildest dreams in good ol’ Nihon. After arriving in Japan, he was presented with the chance to act out one of his many perverted fantasies, leaving otaku on Twitter both amused and green with envy. Read More
Without question, one of the hardest video games you can play right now is Dark Souls 2. The entire series is known the world over for its brutal, unforgiving gameplay, and while some may argue that the sequel isn’t as hard as the original, there’s no question that this a game you couldn’t pick up and beat in a Sunday afternoon.
It’s only fitting, then, that when Japanese Twitter user @nanonanonano set out to make the Astora Elite Knight Set for cosplay, he made it by hand…and spent eight months creating the incredibly faithful armor replica!
A lot of gamers have a soft spot for Resident Evil 2. Maybe it’s because the second chapter of Capcom’s survival horror franchise introduced us to fan-favorite Leon Kennedy, or because of its unique dual scenario system that added longevity to the game by slightly altering its events depending on whether you choose to begin play as Leon or fellow zombie fighter Claire Redfield.
In recent days, we’ve seen a group of Italian fans start crafting a remake of the classic title, but they’re not the only ones channeling their love of the game into creative endeavors, as one Japanese cosplayer has put the finishing touches on an incredible cosplay outfit of Resident Evil 2’s last boss.
There are only so many days in a year, so if you’re busily trying to check each and every costume off the ever-growing list of cosplay staples, it can be hard finding time for them all. But if your schedule is looking pretty tight, you’ll be happy to know there’s a way to double your efficiency, with this new outfit that combines two established cosplay favorites: the school swimsuit and maid uniform, in one innovative piece of swimwear.