Solo Cosplay (Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake from Naruto)
Photo by: Allan Valleza
By Sheila Salar
If you’ve ever been to mall shows, local festivals, or other public gatherings these days, you might have noticed people – mostly teens aged between 13-19 – wearing colorful wigs and intricately detailed outfits while wielding makeshift swords, high-powered guns, or manning huge robots that scream business from head to toe.
If you’ve been wondering what all of these is about, then you must not have heard of the word “cosplay” yet.
“Cosplay” is a term used by the media to refer to the act of wearing costumes and other accessories to imitate popular comic, live action film, animated film, or video game characters.
The term, a combination of the words “costume” and “play,” was coined in 1984 by Nobuyuki Takahashi, an employee of the Japanese studio Studio Hard who was attending a science fiction convention at Los Angeles at that time.
Prior to its introduction to Japanese pop culture, cosplaying was mostly done by Western cosplayers imitating characters from comic books and live action films. After it gained popularity in Japan, cosplayers started cosplaying characters from anime, manga, (Japanese comic books) and video games; a trend that soon spread to other territories such as Europe, North America, and South America, thanks to the then increasing popularity of anime outside the Asian continent.
It eventually found its way to the Philippines around mid to late 90s, starting from small events that were mostly used to show off the costumes made by the cosplayers to bigger competitions where individual and group cosplayers compete with one another for cash prizes and the chance to make a name for themselves in the cosplay scene.
Now gaining more fans all over the country thanks to famous cosplayers such as commercial models and product endorsers Alodia Gosiengfiao and her sister Ashley Gosiengfiao as well as recent PBB Teens winner Myrtle Sarrosa, cosplay enthusiasts from Lucena City who used to go all the way to Metro Manila to watch or take part in cosplay events have found a closer venue to show their love for cosplaying.
In fact, they are becoming a regular fixture in local events such as when they took part in the official launching of SM City’s Cyberzone and Pacific Mall’s Technohub as well as the Pasayahan Festival held last May.
Check out the photos below and see them in action.
Mecha Cosplay (Mandarin from Spawn)
Photo by: Erwin Flancia
Solo Cosplay (Chibi) Sakura Kinimoto from Cardcaptor Sakura Photo by: Jhe Mercado
Solo Cosplay: White Rock Shooter from Black Rock Shooter THE GAME
Photo by: Allan Valleza
Cool, huh? These photos may not even be able to sum it up yet, because considering how they’ve already organized their own group, it will probably be the start of more cosplay events to come.
How about you? Have you tried cosplaying for yourself?
Sources:
Cosplay. (2012, August 14). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:41, August 16, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cosplay&oldid=507408191
Credits
All photos were used with permission from their respective photographers.
For more cosplay photos, please check out the Facebook pages of Mr. Jhe Mercado of JheJhePixs (Jhe Mercado Photography), Mr. Allan Valleza of OrlockLestat Photography, and Mr. Erwin Flancia of Erwin B. Flancia Photography
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