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Cosplay Girls Reviewed
What is she wearing?!? All over Japan, hard-core fans of animation , video games, and manga comics are hitting the streets in their cosplay ( short for costume play ) outfits --especially women! Devotees spend countless hours and hard-earned yen transforming themselves into their favorite characters and strutting their stuff at conventions, parks, and clubs. Inside, you'll find street-fighting tough chicks, emerald-haired princesses, spunky school girls, and faux-fur kittens. Cosplay Girls is a peek into Japan's wanna-be subculture with all its glitter, glue, posing, and preening.
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That's the teaser on the back of the cover of Cosplay Girls, published by Cocoro Books. Those words aptly sum up the contents of what I consider to be a well-written book. Cosplay Girls has nearly 100 pages of nothing but, oddly enough, cosplay girls. I got my copy for Christmas and promptly began 'studying' its contents. Overall, I'm impressed with the level of detail that's gone into it. The page layout is fresh. Each page is crafted in a familiar video game interface style that has a nice foreground/background interplay. Sections are color coded for different types of costumes. A green and yellow theme for Action Heroes, Sweet Things has a pink scheme, and Asian Style has a purple palette, etc. Images of cosplayers have been hand crafted to nicely fill the space of the page. Some have had the background in the photo masked out so the cosplayer pops off the page. Others have the background replaced by a solid color that's part of the overall theme for that section. It makes for a tasteful and easy-to-browse layout.
The real reason someone would buy this book is not the layout, but the pictures of the girls. Are they cute?... slinky?... or just plain goofy? To answer that question depends on your perspective, but my short answer is "YES." No doubt, one has to be a little bit of each in order to pull off a good cosplay and to endure the hours of posing these girls subject themselves to. I give Cosplay Girls a "10" for breadth of photo content. It includes many facets of masquerade popular today, including Gothic Lolita and Sci-Fi. What you won't see are Hollywood costumes from recent Disney and Potter characters. Cosplay by its very nature is Japanese, so it's fair to assume the majority of characters portrayed would come from Japan.
The first half of the book contains photo collections of recognizable characters found at any anime convention stateside. Between sections, you'll find a 2-3 page photo spread featuring a particular character such as Cutie Honey or Misha from Pita Ten. Near the back are a few interviews with seasoned cosplayers as well as tips and techniques. As for the quality of the photos, I'd give it a "7." While there is a huge variety of outfits portrayed, there is clearly a variance among cameras used, and many photos could use a bit more color correction to improve the overall tonal quality. Keep in mind though, this is a $20 book (sometimes cheaper), not a National Geographic documentary, or a Victoria's Secret catalog. You get what you pay for, and it's well worth the price. |
There is something inspiring about looking at a person in costume and trying to guess which character they are. The more seasoned you become as a cosplayer and anime fan, the easier it becomes to identify these characters. What's cool about Japanese cosplayers is they have instant access to a wider selection of characters because they don't have to wait for a series to be translated. That means their outfits are fresher in terms of how many times a particular outfit has appeared in public.
What's most helpful about Cosplay Girls is the inclusion of captions for nearly every photo. The author has gone to great lengths to not only tell you the name of the character, but the genre (Animation, Music, Game, etc), the name of the show, the name of the cosplayer and even the number of costumes that costumer has. I'm a firm believer that cosplay equals free marketing for the production industry. I look at a cool costume and I go "Wow, what show is that from? Hmmm, I've never heard of that. I'll have to find it." It's word-of-mouth marketing without even having to say a word. I think the Japanese production companies are starting to take note of this and are making an effort to include character sketches from multiple views right on their websites to make it easier for cosplayers to recreate those characters.
If you're interested in cosplay, whether you're a guy or girl, young or old, you'll like this book. If you've ever spent more than $100 on a costume, I'd almost go as far as saying "You need this book," but hey enough of the free marketing. |
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Garry aka Prof
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