Enter the wacky world of Cosplay, Japan's underground costume scene. All over Japan hard-core fans of anime, video games and manga dress up in their latest costumes. This is a world where ordinary girls reinvent themselves as street-fighting chicks, em
Cosplay, a blend of costume and play, has taken off in popularity around the world. This entertaining and enlightening volume introduces readers to the wide and vivid cosplay world. They will learn the history of this creative outlet and how some people have taken this colorful and whimsical hobby and made it into a lucrative business. Whether the reader is interested in costumes, makeup, acting, photography, or another aspect of cosplay, this book provides inspirational yet practical examples of people who have made careers out of creative cosplay.
Thanks to an intervention from a certain someone, Koutarou and the invaders are now forced to try and work out their territorial dispute peacefully. But when playing cards gets boring, scheming Kiriha and maniacal Theia cook up a plan. Their next battle for control of room 106 will be... the obstacle marathon for clubs at the school sports festival?! But won't the invaders all have to join clubs first? What happens when Koutarou decides there's something more important at stake than room 106? And how does a ghost even run a marathon?
We both love wearing dresses, the prettier the better. We also both love cosplaying. But that is where our similarities end. Right? Nobody would call Elliot a flashy person, he's calm and kind, spending most of his time with his nose in books or playing games. But when he's finally brave enough to cosplay loud and cheerful Aoi, a female character from Magical Princess Club!, at AmAnime it changes everything. Especially when he's swept off his feet by a girl cosplaying Sakura, Aoi's best friend. Can he really expect more than friendship when he's dressed like someone else entirely? Izzy lives for cosplaying and conventions. She loves dressing up as magical girls because when she slips into their characters, she transforms a little too. Cosplaying and dressmaking are her ways to deal with the discomfort she feels over the body she was born in, making her feel more like her real self. And cosplaying at AmAnime is the highlight of her year. Meeting friends, showing off her skills... And this year, somehow being face to face with a person who makes her heart beat faster than ever before. She's always thought that dating would be out of the question, but is it? When Elliot and Izzy impulsively team up for the yearly cosplay contest, they may win more than just a trophy...
Chinese-speaking popular cultures have never been so queer in this digital, globalist age. The title of this pioneering volume, Boys’ Love, Cosplay, and Androgynous Idols: Queer Fan Cultures in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan already gives an idea of the colorful, multifaceted realms the fans inhabit today. Contributors to this collection situate the proliferation of (often online) queer representations, productions, fantasies, and desires as a reaction against the norms in discourses surrounding nation-states, linguistics, geopolitics, genders, and sexualities. Moving beyond the easy polarities between general resistance and capitulation, Queer Fan Cultures explores the fans’ diverse strategies in negotiating with cultural strictures and media censorship. It further outlines the performance of subjectivity, identity, and agency that cyberspace offers to female fans. Presenting a wide array of concrete case studies of queer fandoms in Chinese-speaking contexts, the essays in this volume challenge long-established Western-centric and Japanese-focused fan scholarship by highlighting the significance and specificities of Sinophone queer fan cultures and practices in a globalized world. The geographic organization of the chapters illuminates cultural differences and the other competing forces shaping geocultural intersections among fandoms based in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. “This important collection complicates our understanding of fan practices, showing how national and regional factors play an important role in how media texts and identities are understood. It also shows how the Chinese-speaking world is home to dense and often conflicting modes of audience reception of cultural texts deriving from Sinophone, Japanese, and Western contexts.” —Mark McLelland, University of Wollongong “An exciting anthology by a talented group of emergent scholars whose vibrant studies offer fresh insights on the diverse practices and transregional flows of queer fandom in the Chinese-speaking world. Local in its specificity and transnational in its scope, this book highlights the creativity of queer fan practices while critically locating them within the political and social structures that produce them.” —Helen Hok-Sze Leung, Simon Fraser University
Collects Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2015B) #12-21. When Squirrel Girl takes Nancy to visit her parents in Canada, what could possibly go wrong? If you guessed "nothing," guess again! Things get real crazy real quick, resulting in the team-up you've been waiting for: Squirrel Girl and Ant-Man! Back at Empire State University, life returns to its regular routine - until a fistfight breaks out! A big one! And Doreen scores a new Flying Squirrel suit that would render her even more unbeatable, if such a thing were scientifically possible! But will it only make her more desirable to a new villain who wants to mold her into the perfect minion? Plus: As Squirrel Girl heads to the Negative Zone, Koi Boi, Chipmunk Hunk and Brain Drain must keep the city safe! What could go wrong?
Ichigo Kurosaki never asked for the ability to see ghosts: he was born with the gift. When his family is attacked by a Hollow–a malevolent lost soul–Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping the tortured spir
Cosplay, short for "costume play", has grown from its origins at fan conventions into a billion-dollar global dress phenomenon. Costuming Cosplay takes us from elaborately crafted DIY costumes to online fandoms, examining how the practice of portraying fictional characters from popular culture through dress and performance has become a creative means of expressing and playing with different identities. With an approach that ranges from admiration and role-play to gender performance, this is the first book to fully examine the subculture and costume of the Cosplay phenomenon. Drawing on extensive first-hand research at conventions across North America and Asia, Therèsa M. Winge invites us to explore how Cosplay functions as a meritocracy of creativity, escapism, and disguise, and offers a creative realm in which fantasy and new forms of socializing carry as much importance as costume. Illustrated with color photographs of both celebrity and amateur Cosplayers, Costuming Cosplay is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion and costume, popular culture, anthropology, gender, and media studies, as well as global players and fans of Cosplay.
Cosplay, comics, anime, and geek culture have exploded into the mainstream over recent years and have resulted in a thriving community of costume enthusiasts and pop culture fans. Today’s cosplayers find inspiration on the pages of comics, classic literature, and even history, as well as film, television, and video games to inform their creative and oftentimes elaborate ensembles. They utilize all manner of materials and techniques including 3D printers, thermoplastics, craft foam, fabric and more to design their costumes and props. Libraries on the leading edge are already embracing this new worldwide sensation by integrating cosplay into their programming and events. Learn all about the world of cosplay and how you can host cosplay events, workshops, makerspaces, clubs, and more in your library! This one-stop guide includes quotes and interviews with librarians who are incorporating cosplay into their programming as well as with cosplayers. You’ll also find 32 full-color photographs of cosplay in action to give you both ideas and inspiration for getting started!