VISA Assignment 2: Cosplay.

Olivia Roberts

October 14^th, 2021

VISA 1500 Fall 2021

Terryl Atkins

Assignment #2 Part A

The photo presented is of female cosplayer Kim Zibin, (cosplayer name being Batty), attending Tsukino Con 2017, which was being held at University of Victoria. Tsukino Con is primarily an anime and Japanese culture convention, but also celebrates comics, and video games. Kim is dressed up as Umi Ryuuzaki, a character from the 1990’s manga/anime series Magic Knight Rayearth. The series was created by the all-female manga group Clamp.¹

The costume is hand made. The material that make up the cosplay include; worbla material for the armour and sword, resin jewels with a dragon cast (inspired by the Umi’s “Water Dragon Attack”), purchased belly dancing clothes, beads with hand-painted crystals, hair tassels, and a blue wig. According to Batty, the cosplay is inspired by Umi’s “Celestial Armor” which was featured in a Magic Knight Rayearth manga and artbook.

Kim attended Tsukino Con 2017 because she “loves conventions”. She states that conventions bring out a sense of community, and she likes participating in said community. It’s a fun time to dress up and challenging herself to create cosplay is like, and I quote, “a love letter to my inner child”

In the case of the character Umi, the character in story goes from ordinary Japanese highschool student, to a magic knight.² Cosplay can be viewed as a transformation of identity, starting off as an ordinary individual into a character from a fantastic world.³ People cosplay specific characters for different reasons, whether the character is fun to dress up as, the individual sees themselves in said character, or modify the character/ costume to fit there own identities(s).⁴ Some cosplayers showcase their work at conventions by simply walking around the convention grounds, while others put on a performance that reflects the character in both behaviour and environment.⁵

The type of character type that Umi fits with the character type known as the ‘magical girl’. Magical girl is defined by the concept of a normal girl gaining superpowers, emphasizes through a transformation sequence which showcases the girl altering her appearance into her super costume (ex. Sailor Moon ).⁶  Third wave magical girls, (1990’s-2000’s), in particular were heavy in use of outfits, accessories, and cosmetics.⁷

Despite the name, the magical girl genre/dress is not female exclusive.⁸  There is also the concept of the ‘magical boy’ (ex. Saint Seiya), which explores a similar concept and aesthetic to the female counterpart.^9. While these genres could arguably be gender specific, it’s not uncommon for women to cosplay as male characters and vise versa, which is known as “cross-play”.¹⁰  Both identities can be viewed as being empowering to either gender¹¹. It could also be argued that expressing ones-self through a character is easier then when not in costume.¹²

The concepts of the ‘magical’ genre and cosplay seem to parallel each other in more ways then one.

My chosen photograph reflects how we view an individual in costume, or in an environment that they appear to be happy in. While Kim is a woman cosplaying as a character that is written has female, dressing as said character could be viewed as female empowerment , or empowerment in general.

Endnotes

1, 2. “Magic Knight Rayearth”. Wikipedia. Accessed October 14^th, 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Knight_Rayearth

3, 4, 10, 12. Yamato, Eiko. “Self-Identification in Malaysian Cosplay”. Transformative Works and Cultures, no.34 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2020.1771.

5. Lamerichs, Nicolle. “Stranger than Fiction: Fan Identity in Cosplay”. Transformative Works and Cultures, no.7 (2011). https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2011.0246.

6, 7. Saito, Kumiko. “ Magic, Shōjo, and Metamorphosis: Magical Girl Anime and the Challenges of Changing Gender Identities in Japanese Society”. The Journal of Asian Studies 73, no. 1 (2014): 143-164. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021911813001708.

8, 9. Get in The Robot. “Why There Are Magical Girl Transformations In Anime – Why, Anime? | Get In The Robot”. Youtube. November 16, 2018. 14:58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SokEpjeubvg.