anime

Cosplay and Culture at Anime Los Angeles 2019

We spent last weekend at Anime Los Angeles, located at the Ontario Convention Center, and let me tell you, the fashion did not disappoint. Between cosplay and the Japanese street fashion featured in the ALA fashion show, I felt like I’d entered into anime heaven, which apparently looks a lot like Harajuku fashion. If this kind of style interests you, here’s some designers that you should definitely check out.

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For the love of “Yuri on Ice”

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If you’re a Twitter or Tumblr user, chances are you’ve seen (or at least heard of) the winter anime that took the world by storm: Yuri!!! On Ice. We might be a little late to the review game, and several great articles have been written already on the merits of an LGBTQ+ friendly Japanese anime that also addresses the pain and pleasure of competitive sports. But what is it that makes YOI such a powerful story? They tell us from day one: the recurring theme of YOI is love in all its multifaceted forms.

It may seem like a simple, trivial theme for a show that centers on a competitive sport, but that is precisely where its beauty lies. Of all emotions, love is perhaps the most complex; a unifying feeling that can bolster or break someone. It hurts, it heals, and it gives hope. It is the great motivator behind countless calls to action, and YOI draws upon it to tell the story of three lost figure skaters—Yuri (Yuuri) Katsuki, Victor Nikiforov, and Yuri (Yurio) Plisetsky. They are all unique, individualized personas. And yet, they are startlingly alike in that each one of them is desperately afraid.
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Geek Chic: Crossplay for the Ladies

While we are a cosplaying Collective here, I’ll admit I haven’t participated in much crossplay. Um, what’s crossplay, you ask? Well…

It’s basically crossdressing cosplay. Duh. But, more than that, crossplaying gives men and women the opportunity to dress up as their favorite characters without gender-enforced stereotypes, and we love that. While there are some crossplaying dudes, many of them (that I have run into) perform Japanimation crossplay, which I know nothing about. What I do know is that in British and American television, my forte, there are more strong male characters than female characters. Case and point; I am a Doctor Who fan but if I’m dressing up, why do I have to be a companion? Why can’t I be the Doctor? Well, with crossplay, I can and I shall be brilliant. And, let me just add, if you are a purist who thinks that ONLY a man can dress like the Doctor or Sherlock or any other male character, well, bugger off and don’t read this post because you will not be happy.

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