The Art of bringing drawings into reality

The term cosplay originally appeared in the japanese comic and animation fanscene, but refers to the english words „costume“ and „play“ - costume play. This means that the cosplayer ( the hobbyist) produces costumes from anime-, manga- or videogame-characters and also personate the charaters in mimic, gesture and bodylanguage at pictures for example. The cosplayer assumes the role of the character for a short time.

By now there are many different types of styles embed in the cosplay scene. The costumes are not longer limited to anime (japanese animations), manga (japanese comics) and japanese videogames. Characters from western video- or computergames, japanese music bands or real movies become more and more famous. Self created costumes (Originals) or heros from US-comis like Batman or Spiderman are personated now. Where you'll draw a line at doing a special costume is your own decision.

Compared to Japan in Germany cosplayers set a high value on sewing and producing costumes on their own. On japanese conventions (meetings) it's normal to buy or lend costumes of all types. For german cosplayers this hobby is much more cost-intensive because many items can't be bought easily at a store but must be self-made in detail work. There are no finanical limits for costumes, depending on the effort and complexity a costume can cost about 500€ or even more. But the fun of producing a costume and the enjoyment of wearing the final product is worth the trouble for all the cosplayers.

At conventions the visitors can also gaze the costumes on stage. Even at small conventions or meetings are contests where cosplayers can attend alone, with a partner or in groups, presenting their costumes with a little show. Well known are the German Cosplay Championship (DCM), the final takes place at the bookfair in Frankfurt, and the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in Nagoya, Japan.

(by Tiamat and Miaka-li - please don't steal!)