Cosplay, << KAHZ play, >> is the act of dressing up as and portraying (representing) fictional characters. The word cosplay is a Japanese contraction made from the English words costume and play. Cosplayers create costumes and portray the characters at organized cosplay events.
Cosplay began as a Japanese costuming subculture. A subculture is a group of people who share distinct traits within a larger culture or society. A subculture may share such traits as an art form, a language, or a set of beliefs. Many people in the cosplay community share a passion for design and expression through craft.
Early cosplayers chose characters from Japanese works, usually from anime (a Japanese style of animation ). Today, cosplay characters are also taken from cartoons, comic books, fantasy films, graphic novels (book-length stories combining pictures and text), manga (Japanese comics), television shows, and video games. A cosplayer makes most of his or her costumes—sewing the clothing, for example, or cutting and gluing foam to make “weapons.” Cosplayers try to use as few ready-made items as possible, with the exception of such difficult-to-make items as shoes, leotards, and wigs.
After a costume is created, cosplayers often have photos taken of themselves in character to share with friends or post to the Internet . Photo sharing has spread the cosplay subculture. People engaged in cosplay like to attend conferences on related interests, such as anime, video games, science-fiction (sci-fi), and fantasy. Cosplayers also attend cosplay conventions, which focus on cosplay alone. They gather to see costumes, show off their own creations, and take group photos. One of the most popular practices at all cosplay events is the _competition—_a theatrical exercise in which participants act out the characters they are portraying. They may dance, make facial expressions, or speak lines that they believe their character would say, while interacting with those who pass by.
Cosplay became popular in Japan in the late 1980’s. Nobuyuki (Nov) Takahashi, a Japanese expert in the fields of animation, sci-fi movies, and video games, coined the term after traveling to a World Science Fiction Convention in the United States. As the popularity of anime, manga, and other forms of Japanese popular culture spread throughout the world, cosplay developed into a costuming subculture in many countries.
See also Comics ; Manga ; Science fiction .
