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People who dress as characters from anime, manga, or video games are known as cosplayers. The term “cosplay” is an abbreviation for “costume play.” They are referred to as “players” or “cosplayers,” respectively.1)
Cosplayers fall into three categories: 1) people who dress up as fictional characters from anime, manga, or video games; 2) those who dress up as members of specific professions, such as nurses or soldiers; and 3) those who make their own costumes.2)
When cosplayers dress up and play characters of the opposite gender, this is known as gender-bending cosplay.3)
The slang term for “cosplayer” in Japanese is “layer”.4)
A cleaning service called “Layer Support” has been created especially for cosplay outfits.5)
After attending Worldcon in Los Angeles, Japanese journalist and manga publisher Takahashi Nobuyuki first used the term “cosplay”.6)
When Sailor Moon's final episode aired in 1997, a “gazillion cosplayers” donned Japanese schoolgirl miniskirts as part of their costumes.7)
The first cosplay cafe debuted in Akihabra, Tokyo, in 1999, and numerous others soon followed.8)
Launched in 2003, Dengeki Layers is a magazine aimed at the Japanese cosplay scene.9)
The inaugural World Cosplay Summit was place in Nagoya, Japan, in 2003.10)
In 2009, Jessica Nigri rose to fame as one of the most well-known cosplayers in the world when she was pictured at San Diego Comic Con wearing a seductive Pikachu outfit.11)
The “No Costume is No Costume” rule was established by cosplay organizers in the 1970s and 1980s after a few attendees turned up to conferences in their underwear. If a character is being represented in a lawful way, partial nudity is still permitted.12)
Kris Lundi made an appearance as a naked harpy in 1974 at the 32nd WorldCon convention. In the competition, she was given an honorable mention.13)
Because cosplay costumes are intended to depict specific characters rather than to reflect the meaning of a festive event, they differ from Halloween or Mardi Gras costumes.14)
Women have created the “Cosplay is Not Consent movement” because sexual harassment at cosplay conventions has become such an issue. The movement emphasizes that it is inappropriate to grope, touch, or verbally harass fellow cosplayers, regardless of gender.15)
Japanese suppliers of cosplay costumes report yearly profits of over 24 billion yen.16)
Some cosplayers find that dressing up like heroes and well-known figures increases their confidence and self-esteem.17)
One cosplayer who attended the 30th WorldCon in 1972 carried a pretend blaster that shot actual flames; as a result, the event's organizers decided to outlaw fire.18)
A woman complained to the police about a cosplayer's “underboob” at a cosplay convention (the bottom part of the breast). The main protagonist of the anime Kill la Kill, Ryuko Matoi, was the cosplayer's chosen character.19)
The biggest cosplay event is Comic Market (Comiket), a semi-annual doujin market. Thousands of cosplayers and hundreds of thousands of manga and anime enthusiasts attend the Comiket convention in Japan.20)
Scott Shaw dressed up as “The Turd” at the 30th WorldCon in 1972 in a peanut butter costume. Under the intense lighting, the peanut butter rubbed off, causing harm to other people's costumes, furnishings, and going rancid.21)
The San Diego Comic-Con and the New York Comic Con are the two most well-known cosplay gatherings in North America.22)