The Mysterious World of Cosplay: Love is Everything!

5 Sep 2007 Category: Fashion, Features, Japan, Manga

The Mysterious World of Cosplay: Love is Everything!

Today, I will incorporate this: cosplayer Mello Yubari dressed up as "C.C." from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion.

Yay, we made it through Tokyo Fashion Week without showing too much of excitement! In terms of unique Japanese fashion we investigated a bit and thought we’d rather first show you something else: Finally we managed to meet a girl who can tell us candidly all about this mysterious world of cosplay! Cosplayer Mello Yubari visited the PingMag office to talk about one love…

Written by Chiemi
Translated by Natsumi

When did you start with cosplay, Mello?

I first encountered cosplay when I was in second year of junior high school. I had always loved manga and anime and I discovered the world of dojinshi at around that time. Dojin activities involve things like drawing your favourite manga characters to make original goods and distributing fanzines of new stories featuring characters from existing manga or anime. One day, I attended a dojin event to get their freebies and dojinshi and found people dressed as my favourite manga characters. It just seemed like such a fun thing to do!


Mello dressed as the character called Mello from the quite popular manga Death Note. Obviously, also her cosplayer name.

Another one of Mello as her favourite character from “Death Note.”

This is kind of basic, but what is your exact definition of cosplay? I mean, would you include the recent trend of maid dresses and Lolita Fashion as a part of cosplay, for example?

That depends on if the person is wearing it as a fashion or not. For instance, people wearing that kind of clothes in Harajuku are mostly doing that for fashion. So Lolita isn’t the same as cosplay and it even has subcategories such as Gothic Lolita, Sweet Lolita and Black Lolita within. Meanwhile, there are cosplayers who wear costumes of occupations like nurses and maids, or the costume of a band member. I would say: Cosplay is somewhat closer to lookalikes.


No, this is not just some Lolita fashion! This is Shinku cosplay from Rozen Maiden.

I see…. By the way, is there any hostility between Lolitas and cosplayers?

Some Lolita fans don’t like to be mistaken for cosplayers, but I don’t think cosplayers mind as much as they often double as Lolitas.

What kind of characters do you usually cosplay as?

Basically, I cosplay as my favourite manga and anime characters. It can be for all sorts of reasons – I might like the story, the style or the character’s appearance, and I sometimes wonder if I might look good in it or not.

Do you feel differently while you are cosplaying, like you have assumed a different personality?

Many cosplayers say that they enjoy becoming a different character but I do it because I can truly express my love for the character. I feel as if I can get to know my favourite characters even better by wearing the same costumes.


The cosplay of Iroha Miyamoto from manga and anime Sumomomo Momomo.

Another cosplay of Iroha Miyamoto. Strike a pose!

When you cosplay, do your gesture and the way you speak change at all?

No, not really. (laughs) But I pose as the character at photo shootings. Costuming is essential for cosplayers, but it’s just as important to look at your own pictures objectively. Cosplayers deepen their love for the favourite manga by doing shootings in costume – just like those people who make fanzines based on their favourite works. Cosplayers want to see their favourite characters’ costumes as a real thing and to realise it with their own hands.

That’s wonderful! I never knew that cosplayers felt that way. Do you make all the costumes and accessories by yourself?

You can buy popular costumes in many shops - but when it comes down to minor items, we have to either make it ourselves or place an order for it at a specialist. A popular cosplayer item will generate sufficient demand for vendors to mass-produce it, so it will most likely appear in the “Cosplay Costumes” category of Yahoo’s online auctions. However, most people learn sewing on their own and make costumes by themselves. Some people even go into sewing careers from there! Once you start, you’ll become more conscious of your fabrics’ selection too.


Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. At this point, cosplay almost resembles Cindy Sherman’s, self-portraits.

How do cosplayers socialise with each other?

There is a word for that: “awase, for ”gathering,” which means to cast the parts. Cosplay is fun enough on your own but you can duplicate scenes from your favourite manga if you get enough people together. At events, we participate with friends as an awase but you can meet new people through online communities, where there are posts like “We have an awase for such-and-such manga, looking for someone to play so-and-so.”

Another way is at events, where there are people in elaborate costumes or playing intriguing characters. So it’s common to ask if you can take their pictures. Cosplayers usually carry their own business cards with their cosplay photo or their website address, so we exchange cards and get in touch to suggest an awase.

You also participate in “photo shootings” - what is that like?

A private photo session is for one model and about five or more photographers, and she will appear in all sorts of costumes. There are also group photo sessions for an awase of one specific manga or anime.

Mello as the introverted bookworm Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Well, are there sometimes unpleasant moments at private photo shootings?

If it’s a modelling job then you might come across strange people, but you have to think of it as all part of the job. In my case, I only participate in shooting with reliable photographers. Essentially, cosplay is all about socialising so there aren’t that many people who act strangely.

And finally, what does cosplay: mean to you?

It’s a way of expressing one’s love for something – it’s a really fun mode of expression.

Mello, thank you for your fascinating and enlightening story today! Please continue to deepen your love of manga and anime with this incredible costumes!

26 Comments

  1. The only good cosplayer I’ve ever seen was someone dressed as Porco Rosso.

    Posted by: tingle on September 5th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

  2. the only good cosplayer i’ve ever seen was danie cowling as Awful D. from “final D” i.e. HIS SELF!

    Posted by: sludgekins on September 5th, 2007 at 10:20 pm

  3. C.C., Yuki, Haruhi FTW! Kidding, i still prefer their ‘real’ 2d counterparts….

    Posted by: Cyberpukish on September 6th, 2007 at 12:46 am

  4. Such a beautiful girl!

    Posted by: Badger on September 6th, 2007 at 5:16 am

  5. kudos for not resorting to photographing the kids on the TIRED bridge leading into meiji jingu, or promoting the pics of TIRED photographers who camp out there and claim to be “documenting the scene”. ugh.

    Posted by: Anonymous on September 6th, 2007 at 7:45 am

  6. Cosplay is a pretty interesting subculture. If somebody has fun with it and stays smart, like Mello seems to, more power to them.

    I just dislike the handful of really creepy people that take it to an extreme and wear very unflattering clothing that sort of turns me off from the concept a bit.

    Posted by: Chris Papadopoulos on September 6th, 2007 at 8:39 am

  7. [...] interview with Cosplayer, Mello Yubari, on their own perception of the cosplayer world. For Mello, cosplay is a way of expressing one’s love for something – it’s a really fun mode of expression… Share [...]

    Posted by: Global Voices Online » Japan: Cosplay on September 6th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

  8. Childish, derivative nonsense. Cosplayers are wasting their time.

    Posted by: GelatinousBlob on September 6th, 2007 at 8:41 pm

  9. Great profile and insight into a fascinating sub-culture. Thanks for producing this!

    Posted by: rikomatic on September 6th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

  10. [...] hat die Cosplayerin Mello Yubari zu ihrer Wahrnehmung des Cosplay-Universums befragt. Mello hält Cosplay für eine Möglichkeit, die Liebe zu etwas auszudrücken - eine sehr lustige Form des [...]

    Posted by: Global Voices auf Deutsch » Blog Archive » Japan: Cosplay [Linktipp] on September 7th, 2007 at 4:10 am

  11. From the outside, all sub-culture look and act weird, this doesn’t however make it wrong. I recently saw a photography book about Cosplayers from the US. Somehow the people in it just didn’t look quite right. Have we already grown used to the fact the Japanese ‘invented’ Cosplay and everyone else can’t quite do it correctly?

    Posted by: MiNGLED on September 7th, 2007 at 8:17 am

  12. I like the cosplayers who can look perfectly like the original characters. American cosplayers aren’t all that. Most are there for fun and look nothing like the characters. But I see cosplay is a kind of extention of playing with toys. When you grow older playing with toy charachters becomes odd. But actually to become the character and to play kind of real live give bit more fun and thrills. Or just Halloween for everyday.

    Posted by: Chung Dha on September 7th, 2007 at 8:30 pm

  13. Great article, but I wish it went into more detail about what the actual essence behind the “cosplay sub-culture” is. For me, it all seems a bit odd, but I would’ve liked to know, in layman’s terms, what this is all about. And what is the whole “lolita” thing?

    Posted by: sachi808 on September 11th, 2007 at 4:16 am

  14. Cute! Great article, by the way.
    I should write article about cosplay as well..

    Posted by: yaschan on September 18th, 2007 at 6:30 am

  15. well i`m a cosplayer myself
    the hobby itself is pretty much fwked up
    i dunno myself why i do it

    but … it`s fun….. DON´T ASK ME WHY lol

    maybe because it`s pretty creative

    Posted by: Malte on October 17th, 2007 at 11:53 pm

  16. I just started cosplay this summer and I love this article. My first one was tiring to make but it came out and I’m so glad that I did it. Thank you for this cool interview.

    Posted by: shizuyuki on October 18th, 2007 at 4:46 pm

  17. Hi there! I am writing my dissertation on Cosplay and was hoping to use this article in my bibliography. Does anyone know the second name of the person who wrote this? Thanks :)

    Posted by: jennifer kent on December 4th, 2007 at 12:50 am

  18. I’m a cosplayer myself and I think this is a pretty good article. Unbiase and fairly accurate.

    Though like most other one-time Cosplay article, it doesn’t go deep enough to allow the general public to understand this complicated and often misunderstood hobby better.

    Posted by: kaika on January 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

  19. Good article and thanks for the pics too.

    http://www.cosplaytoday.com/

    Posted by: cosplaytoday on March 7th, 2008 at 12:13 am

  20. [...] a result of comic book characters being dressed in uniforms, we showed you before how many teenage cosplayers use imitation uniforms to remake themselves into their favourite manga [...]

    Posted by: The Japanese School Uniform - From Tradition To Perverts « Girl Tears on April 14th, 2008 at 11:03 am

  21. you get SO many pwnsome points you surpass…everone i bow to you like hella the point of my bowing just broke my back .

    Posted by: cosplayer retard on June 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  22. When cosplay is done right, PWOAR! But when done wrong, as many, MANY western people do, it looks like they’re confirming the fact that people who like anime and manga are all fat, greasy heard nerds with no life. So, please, do it correctly. Quality, not quantity.

    Posted by: Anonymous on July 4th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

  23. Thank you.
    I’m so sorry for my cosplay’s quality.

    Posted by: Mello on December 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm

  24. Good article and thanks for the pics too

    Posted by: halı yıkama on January 11th, 2009 at 7:52 am

  25. Eric Carlson and Joan Wagar, A,K,A, Doubleclick and Mrs Dash,( yes those are there nicknames they gave each other.) admitted to poisoning me while I was a plasma donor back in 2005.
    Eric Carlson pedofied me behind prison walls and then framed me as a pedophile on march 26th 2007, I caught the crime on a audio recorder I put in Joan’s purse.
    there were people in authority helping them with this and nobody in authority will help they pretend nothing happened and refuse to investigate this.
    Eric Carlson changed his hair color and his name but this is not hidden, only ignored by the authority’s and media
    I’m disabled from being poisoned and the hospitals refuse to admit I’m poisoned.
    My Family is in danger from these people and I have no other recorse but to make these charges public.
    My name is Terry Wagar,Im from Portland Oregon and I’m backing up these charges.
    I have been threatened with harassment charges by a Sargent Walker, She is a portland police officer stationed at the OHSU hospital, for the non crime of reporting a multi murder conspiracy within that hospital.
    They dont give a s4!t Joan and Eric was poisoning a plasma donor!
    Why don’t you give A s4!t Portland Authority’s, its already reported.
    Where did Mrs Dash keep her stash?
    In A garlic salt shaker, nuff said!

    http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/11/382778.shtml

    Posted by: Terry Wagar on January 23rd, 2009 at 1:16 am

  26. Thanks güzelim

    Posted by: halı yıkama on March 21st, 2009 at 5:36 pm

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