JAPAN: Anime and comic buffs from across the world turn their fantasies into reality through "cosplay"

For these ardent Japanese anime and cartoon fans, just watching TV or reading comic books is far from enough. They love their favourite characters so much that they dress exactly like them, hoping to make the characters move out of the realm of fantasy into reality and get the feel of "becoming one" with the characters. That's why more than 300,000 anime buffs gathered at a recent amateur comic fair in Tokyo, where they played "cosplay" - short for "costume play" - which is a Japanese subculture centred on dressing as characters from manga comic books, anime films or video games. Like-minded people gathered to see others' costumes, showed off their own elaborate handmade creations and took lots of pictures. A 24-year-old transvestite cosplayer who called himself Renato said he took a train three hours to attend the event where he hoped to encounter some more open minded attitudes than he'd been used to in the mainstream. "I suffer when people call me a weirdo, but I hope an event like this will help people understand cosplay more," said Renato, who is a part-time cook. "This way, I can realize my dreams," said another cosplayer, 21-year-old student Kurumi Nekomiya. "I can become the character I like, the character I have long wanted to become." Cosplay has also gone global. Most features of cosplay spread first to the other parts of Asia, then to North America and Europe. At the Tokyo fair, foreign visitors mingled with Japanese cosplayers. "I see a major difference. The costumes here are much better, and the characters they are playing - they fit into the characters more," said Patrick McDade, 22, a cosplay fan who flew from Pennsylvania, the United States, to Tokyo for this event. The cosplay event was held as part of a comic book fair at the same venue, where amateur comic writers sold their work and exchanged tips on the latest trend in the market.

ITN Source | January 5, 2007

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