Naruto: Gaara

I have little knowledge about this character, though I have heard from several friends that the rings around his eyes are a result from not sleeping… I’m serious, he doesn’t sleep because if he does, the sealed spirit within him attacks anyone at random.

It’s sad though, that he lost his mother and his uncle (the only one who cared for him)… His father only sees him as a threat, and so he lives without ever feeling what love is.

Anyway, this is a beautifully made costume… His green eyes literally haunts you and the attention to details is awesome.

Originally from Anime Illusions.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, gaara, naruto, anime illusions, anime

Final Fantasy X: Yuna 02

Oh boy, how many days have gone by without me updating this site? Apologies on that. A recent thunder storm fried all the connections… Let’s see how many entries I can come up with today to make up for lost time…

Now, the thing about the Final Fantasy series, is that they have beautiful guys and girls. And everyone would want to be powerful individuals with perfect skin and hair to match, right?

Note this Yuna cosplayer. She’s got smooth skin and a lovely hair color. The costume is perfect, though I’m wondering about the choice of backdrop. It looks like a warehouse that’s going under construction, or probably really old…

Now, I’ve never played Final Fantasy X before, so I have no idea if there was a scene similar to this in-game. So please do correct me if I’m wrong… I just always had the impression Final Fantasy X has beautiful, natural backdrops all the time.

By the way, why do they call it “Final” Fantasy when the game always comes out with sequels..? Hm…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, yuna, final fantasy, x, final, fantasy

Inuyasha: Inuyasha

A rather, redundant title for this one… But the title of this anime is in fact the character’s name after all.

Inuyasha, whose name literally means “dog spirit” is a half demon, half human being, rejected by both races. He embraces his demon side more than his human side, but hates being referred as a “dog” or “puppy”. He has a half brother, Sesshoumaru, in whom he shares the same father.

Great choice of scenery, pose, and costume. You can hardly see how his fake dog ears are attached to his head. Wonderful job on this one! Though I’m not sure if this Inuyasha is a male or female cosplayer…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, sesshoumaru, dog, spirit, demon, hanyou

Ah! Megami-Sama!: Belldandy

“Because you are pure of heart, I will grant you one wish.”

“You will grant me anything?”

“Yes.”

“Then I want to be with a girl like you forever!”

And so begins Morisato Keiichi’s hillarious adventure, living with a goddess named Belldandy, and her sisters Urd and Skuld!

I love this cosplay of Belldandy. She’s one of my most favorite characters in the anime world! Therefore, I’m extremely picky about how a Belldandy cosplay should/could look!

The hair, the attitude, the dress… everything is near perfect! It really does make you think she is a goddess who came down to earth! I bet a lot of male otakus wished they cosplayed Morisato Keiichi during this event..!

Technorati tags: nanao, research, ah! megami-sama!, aa! megami-sama!, oh my goddess!, megami-sama, goddess, belldandy. morisato, keiichi, urd, skuld, cosplay

The Rose of Versailles: Lady Oscar François de Jarjayes

A popular anime and manga, The Rose of Versailles revolves around the story of a fictional character, Lady Oscar François de Jarjayes. She is the successor to her father, whom, having 6 daughters and no son, decided to raise his youngest as a man. She is a gifted warrior, and became the commander of the Royal Guard, responsible for the safety of France’s Royal Family and its Queen, Marie Antoinette.

One can tell right away that this is a cosplay of the beautiful Lady Oscar. Her hair, look, and costume is perfect for her, absolutely stunning..! She even rivals the beauty of the actress of the live action film, Lady Oscar’s Cartiona MacColl!

This image was originally from .:Oriental_Spaghetti:.’s Flickr Account.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, the rose of versailles, versailles, france, lady oscar françois de jarjayes, lady oscar, françois, jarjayes, cosplay, rose of versailles, cartiona maccoll, oriental spaghetti, flickr, marie antoinette, queen

Gundam Seed Destiny: Alex Dino aka Athrun Zala

In the end of the war of Gundam Seed, Athrun disguises himself as Alex Dino in order to stay by Cagalli Yula Athha’s side as her personal bodyguard.

And what a lovely cosplay of Athrun Zala / Alex Dino we have here. I personally like the color of his hair. It looks absolutely perfect! The eye color and attitude are lovely as well.

On a side note to the Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny Fans, can anyone tell me who Athrun actually ended up with at the end of the Seed Series (including Destiny and etc.)? It seems Athrun was first engaged to Lacus, then Lacus broke that off to be with Kira. Athrun then fell in love with Cagalli, but during the aftermath, he departs with Meyrin Hawke.

I’m just confused… Does anyone have a definite answer for me?

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, gundam, gundam seed destiny, seed, destiny, seed destiny, gundam seed, athrun, zala, alex, dino, lacus, cagalli, yula, athha, merin, hawke

Final Fantasy VII: Vincent Valentine

Perhaps it is because of the latest Final Fantasy VII Movie, also known as the “Advent Children” that the Final Fantasy Cosplayers have come back to life.

Now their costumes are better, more detailed, and by far more impressive.

One of the characters that have a lot of, uhm, “screaming fangirls”, is the immortal, anatomic experiment Vincent Valentine.

This picture is perhaps one of the best of Vincent’s cosplayers who’s ever attempted to look like him. The details of the costume and accessories are exquisite!

A great job well done. Simply stunning and absolutely gorgeous.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, final fantasy, final fantasy vii, VII, 7, final, fantasy, vincent, valentine, vincent valentine, cosplay, cosplayer

Hikaru no Go: Shindo Hikaru and Fujiwara no Sai

Hikaru no Go, a popular anime and manga that revolves around the game of Go, an oriental board game that has been around since ancient times.

Fujiwara no Sai, the one with long hair, is a spirit and a Master Go Player. He has not yet moved on to the next world because of his strong desire to play Go and accomplish “Kami no Itte” - “Divine Move,” or the “Hand of God” a perfect game.

Shindo Hikaru is the only one who can percieve Sai, and therefore is the one that Sai continually pesters to play Go with! Though at first, Hikaru has no interest in Go, his passion grows as he begins to understand the game the more he plays.

It’s probably one of the most influential animes / mangas Japan has seen. And the cosplay attempts of the series says a lot, as well as the rise in the number of Go players around the world.

Image originally from the Anime Illusions Forums.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, hikaru no go, go, hikaru, shindo, fujiwara, no, sai, anime illusions

Bleach: Kuchiki Rukia

I find Bleach to be one of the more popular cosplays this year. Perhaps it’s because of the simplicity of the costumes and hairstyle that lets people think they can pull it off without a problem.

I beg to differ.

The simpler the costume, the plainer the look, the harder it is to let people know who you are cosplaying as. I’ve only found a few images on the net that have pulled off their Bleach Cosplays successfully.

This is one of them.

She may not be trapped in the tower like she was in the series, but you can tell from one look that she’s cosplaying Kuchiki Rukia. It would be hard to top this cosplay.

Good job to both the cosplayer and the photographer!

Technorati tags: bleach, nanao, research, rukia, kuchiki, kuchiki rukia, cosplay, cosplayer, cosplaying

Rozen Maiden: Souseiseki

I’ve featured Jesuke as Suiseiseki before, and now I have her twin, Souseiseki.

She looks really young… I’m not sure, but she looks like she’s someone who’s younger than 13..?

Her eyes are so lovely, though. I can’t tell if they were digitally edited of not, but this is one of the most impressive Rozen Maiden Cosplays I’ve ever seen.

She really does look like a doll… a Rozen Maiden Doll…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, rozen maiden, souseiseki, suiseiseki, jesuke, cosplay, doll

Gundam Seed Destiny: Meer Campbell 02

Hm… I think I’m beginning to spam my own blog today. This is my third entry so far, and I think I will regret this later once I run out of pictures.

I can’t help it though. There are so many nice cosplayers on the Internet that I want to feature them all at once!

Here’s one that rivals the previous Meer Campbell cosplayer I featured from Deviant Art. I can’t decide which of the two girls is the better cosplayer, can you?

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, gundam, seed, destiny, seed destiny, gundam seed destiny, gundam seed, meer, campbell, meer campbell, deviantart, spam, blog

Bleach: Ichimaru Gin

Speaking of cosplay, it’s about time I gave most of my research in the Bleach Blog.

Here’s a nice picture of the Captain of the Third Division, Ichimaru Gin I found some time ago. I love the expression and the attitude in this photo. He really captured the character’s essence.

I don’t know who this cosplayer is, and before you react about copyright infringement, please read my disclaimer.

Technorati tags: bleach, nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, cosplaying, gin, ichimaru, third division, 3rd division, third, 3rd, division, anime, manga

Card Captor Sakura: Kinomoto Sakura

One of the most common characters in cosplay to date, Kinomoto Sakura from the CLAMP Series, Card Captor Sakura has so many costumes to choose from that it becomes hard to recognize a cosplayer portraying the protagonist of the series!

This girl? Well, she has the staff, she has the cards, and she has Keroberos (Cerberus) on her shoulder! Talk about paying attention to details..!

CLAMP would be proud.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, card captor sakura, ccs, card, captor, sakura, kinomoto, keroberos, cerberus, kero, clow, clow cards, staff, clamp

Naruto: Hyuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto

This picture just makes you go “Aawww…”

There’s no criticism when kids try their hand in cosplaying. No matter how silly or strange their choice of cosplaying may be, it still ends up with them looking so cute and chibi-like that you want to hug them and take them home..!

…

Or… Maybe not… You’ll get accused for kidnapping that way…

Please don’t leave me comments like “Naruto’s hair should be blond” and “Hinata’s eyes should be white”… These are kids, and they’re cute. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, cosplaying, naruto, uzumaki, hyuga, hinata, kids, children, chibi

Fruits Basket: Souma Hatori

In some cases, you don’t need to go way to overboard with your cosplay… All you need to do is have the right attitude.

In case of the anime drama, “Fruits Basket”, the characters in the anime wear ordinary, everyday clothing. There’s no other way to pull of a cool cosplay look, than with having the same feel as the character people are so familiar with.

Souma Hatori, the doctor of the Souma House, has a cold eerie aura about him. His hair covers his left eye because it’s almost blind due to an incident between him and the head of the house, Souma Akito.

In any case, this is a lovely cosplay. Plain and simple, but very effective. I wonder if he’ll turn into a seahorse if a girl huggles him? I wouldn’t mind trying it, would you?

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, fruits basket, fruba, souma, sohma, hatori, seahorse, akito, doctor

Full Metal Alchemist: Edward and Alphonse Elric

One of the hardest costumes to ever create is a full body armor. Not only do you have to make it look almost like the original, but you’ll also need to make sure you can walk around without destroying the costume and make sure you don’t dehydrate yourself.

These Full Metal Alchemist Cosplayers have good attitude and a great sense of humor. I actually feel sorry for the poor kitty Ed is torturing…

But it got me thinking, isn’t Ed shorter than Al? Then how come Al is having a hard time rescuing the kitty? Hm…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, cosplayer, full metal alchemist, fma, full metal, alchemist, edward, edsa, alphonse, al, elric, kitty

I’s: Yoshizuki Iori

Yoshizuki Iori from the I’s Manga is a 16-year-old, friendly girl who is easy to get along with. In the beginning of the series, her usual, positive outlook on life is changed drastically when she becomes famous thanks to a swimsuit magazine spread.

Now she has no idea whether guys like her because she is herself, or because of her beauty.

And what a gorgeous cosplayer this is… She really does look like Iori from I’s.

I remember finding this picture from Anime Illusions, but I can’t find it anymore today… Kind of sad, really.

Please do link me and use my site banners for your convenience! ^_^

Technorati tags: nanao, research, i”s, i’s, manga, anime, cosplay, cosplayer, iori, yoshizuki, is

Sailor Moon S: Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus

You don’t need expensive wigs to cosplay like a pro! This is a lovely picture of Neptune and Uranus (their human names escape me).

There have been a lot of controversy about these two. USA nearly banned Sailor Moon because these two were in a lesbian relationship. They changed the script (with the original author’s consent) so that they are cousins instead.

But, I think they are in such a situation that… Well, Sailor Uranus seemed to be a guy when he was still in Moon Kingdom (ruled by Sailor Moon’s mother). Proof of this is that there are short scenes showing Neptune and Uranus together, and Uranus was wearing a Prince’s clothing and he was obviously male. I believe Uranus and Neptune were engaged, but they never got to marry because of the war. Their rebirth resulted in a dilemma that Uranus was now a girl.

Kinda sad, don’t you think?

But really, I don’t know what the concept behind the artist’s story telling is… I just really like Sailor Moon when I was really young…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, sailormoon, cosplay, cosplayer, sailor moon, sailor, moon, uranus, neptune, sailor neptune, sailor uranus

Final Fantasy X: Yuna

After going through a few dozen (or so?) back-up DVDs, I finally found my long lost collection of cosplay photos. Most of the ones that were taken off the Internet are the ones that I found. I still need to search for the folders that had my own pictures in them…

Anyway… Enough of my own ramblings…

Here’s a really nice cosplay of Yuna from the Final Fantasy X game. Not a lot of people can cosplay Yuna, because unlike usual anime cosplay, Yuna is a 3D character. And how can you compete with someone who was so perfectly rendered in the perfect 3D world? Hm…

Again, if someone has an idea as to the identity of this picture, please let me know (with proof). ^_^

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplayer, cosplay, final fantasy, final fantasy x, yuna, kimono

Rurouni Kenshin: Battousai and Yukishiro Tomoe

This one is a classic favorite among all anime and manga fans. Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romatan (also known as “Samurai X” in the English translation) is one of the most influential animes that was ever produced.

Some cosplay watchers may find this image very familiar. I’d still like to find out who the cosplayers are in this photo. Not only did they get the costume right, but even the height (yes, Kenshin was shorter than Tomoe in the OVA) and Tomoe’s near impossible hairstyle!

The problem with cosplaying Rurouni Kenshin is that the costumes are too simple. So, if you don’t get the attitude right, you’ll simply look like a random person wearing a kimono!

Great work, and I love the blood detail in Kenshin’s Kimono… I have several other pictures of these 2, but I’ll save them for next time…

Originally from: the Anime Illusions Forums

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplayer, cosplay, kimono, rurouni kenshin, samurai x, himura, kenshin, yukishiro, tomoe, ova, meiji, kenkaku, romantan

Rozen Maiden: Suigintou

Rozen Maiden Cosplays are always very impressive when it’s done properly.

Or maybe there’s really something about a girl cosplaying a doll that’s appealing… A gothic lolita doll at that…

I don’t mean anything bad by that comment, mind you… I hate pedophiles as much as anyone, maybe more, but I definitely enjoy gothic lolita cosplays.

May I make a note that I am girl?

Anyway, lovely Suigintou Cosplay. Definitely a favorite in my book.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, cosplay, rozen maiden, suigintou, gothic, lolita, rori, goth, doll, cosplayer

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ayanami Rei

Another classic anime for a classic cosplay look, Evangelion has been tested and tried, and a lot of people have been cosplaying Ayanami Rei from any/all walks of life.

This is a photo of one of my favorites.

Red Eyes, blue hair, and a blank, angst stare… All the makings of a great looking Ayanami Rei Cosplay. And, I love her uniform look better than the plug suits I’ve been seeing all over conventions.

Sometimes, simple is better…

Photo originally found in the Anime Illusions Forums.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, evangelion, rei, ayanami, cosplay, convention, anime, manga, anime illusions, angst

More: What Is

Cosplay: simply put, it's when you wear a costume and have fun. Costume playing. It's a subculture originally from Japan. Here in the west it's mostly aimed at anime/manga-characters.

Casual Cosplay: it's my own term for cosplay you can do everyday, without people staring at you and wondering what planet you are from. I can be hairstyles, clothes and other things that belongs to the character without making it to big.

Lolita: one more subculture that comes from Japan. This is not related to the book whatsoever. The style gets it's inspiration from Rococo, baroque and the Victorian time. It should also cover you up. It's not sexy, it's cute.
Lolita has many of it's own sub-looks, but I like to take pieces from different genres and put together my own style. So my style will not look like everyone else's, and that's how I think it should be.

To be filled in more as times passes. :D

Gundam Seed Destiny: Meer Campbell

Before I get any more emails, I’d like to feature a cosplayer from the West, namely in America.

This is a cosplay photo I came accross in Deviant Art. Though I don’t know her name, she’s apparently Adella’s Sister. This is a very good example that you don’t have to be Asian in order to come up with a good cosplay.

Adella obviously took her sister’s natural beauty in deciding a costume for her. In my opinion, I love the way she portrays Meer. A lot of people have failed miserably when they try to cosplay Meer, but she does it just right, and she still looks good even if the costume is a bit revealing.

Kudos to Adella and her sister. I hope I get to see more of their photos…

Technorati tags: nanao, research, gundam seed destiny, seed destiny, destiny, seed, gundam, meer, campbell, meer campbell, adella, deviantart, deviant art, cosplay, costume

Final Fantasy X-2: Rikku

May I make a note please? That I am in no way biased?

I like featuring Asian Cosplayers because they do cosplay the right way. Cosplay is indeed about fun, but you must also consider how you look when you cosplay. There are a lot of photographers in anime cons, and if you aren’t careful in choosing your cosplay, you’ll end up looking silly and getting laughed at all over the Internet..!

Now who in the world would want that?

Take this photo of Rikku for example… In careful consideration? Her clothes really do look silly on any normal day, but this cosplayer’s got Rikku’s attitude down to a pat. This is why she looks good, and not nerdy.

Anyway…

Photo was originally found on Anime Illusions. And giving a nice thank you shout out to Ying Dong for featuring me in her blog. *3*

Technorati tags: nanao, research, final fantasy, rikku, cosplay, yingdong, sanriotown, anime illusions

Naruto: Uchiha Sasuke

This one I found in Sanriotown. Who would have thought there are anime lovers in a Sanrio Community too?

Don’t you just love the attitude this cosplayer is giving to the photographer? She definitely knows Sasuke-kun very well. It made me realize that cosplaying can also be considered as a style in modeling…

I think this costume was what Sasuke wore back in the earlier episodes of Naruto, right? I think the new seasons are now called “Naruto: Shippuden” or something like that.

You guys might want to check out Ichiraku Ramen Bar in Sanriotown too. Zakura seems to really like and know a lot about the series more than I do.

Technorati tags: nanao, research, naruto, cosplay, sasuke, uchiha, ichiraku, ramen, zakura, sanriotown

Kanon: Misaka Kaori

I received this from one of the Anime Mailing Lists I’ve subscribed to. The Japanese people sure know how to cosplay…

This is Tsukimiya Ayu from the Anime and Game Series called “Kanon”. It was a bit difficult to determine which of the characters she was cosplaying at first, but the light brown hair is definitely a trademark of the Taiyaki loving girl.

Nice set for this picture and the angle was obviously carefully considered. Lovely photo, don’t you think?

EDIT: My bad! Now I see the long hair, so this is probably Misaka Kaori! Thanks anon!

Technorati tags: nanao, research, kanon, cosplay, tsukimiya, ayu