Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)  
COSPLAY MANIA

“Cosplay” is a word that is widely spreading nowadays. The term “cosplay” is a portmanteau of the English words "costume" and "play". The term was coined by Nobuyuki Takahashi of the Japanese studio Studio Hard while attending the 1984 Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon. He was impressed by the hall and the costumed fans and reported on both in Japanese science fiction magazines. Cosplay costumes vary greatly and can range from simple outfits to highly detailed "mecha" suits. Cosplay is generally considered different from Halloween costume wear as the intention is to accurately replicate a specific character, rather than to reflect the culture and symbolism of a holiday event. As such, when in costume, cosplayers will often seek to adopt the affect, mannerisms and body language of the characters they portray (with "out of character" breaks). The characters chosen to be cosplayed may be sourced from any movie, TV series, book, comic book, video game or music band but the practice of cosplay is most often associated with replicating anime and manga characters.

The first purpose of cosplaying is to express adoration for a character or in feeling similar to a character in personality, seeking to become that character. This type of cosplayer may be associated with being a fan and is often labelled as an otaku. The second is those people who enjoy the attention that cosplaying a certain character brings. The third is those who enjoy the creative process, and the sense of personal achievement upon completion.

Alodia Gosiengfiao (Queen of Costplay)

The most popular form of presenting a cosplay is by wearing it to a convention. Conventions dedicated to anime, manga, comics, TV shows, video games, science fiction and fantasy may be found all around the world. As the popularity of cosplay has grown, many conventions have come to feature a contest surrounding cosplay that may be the main feature of the convention. Contestants present their cosplay, and often to be judged for an award, the cosplay must be self-made. The contestants may choose to perform a skit, which may consist of a short performed script or dance with optional accompanying audio, video and/or images shown on a screen overhead. Other contestants may simply choose to pose as their characters. Often contestants are briefly interviewed on stage by an MC. The audience is given a chance to take photos of the cosplayers. Cosplayers may compete solo or in a group. Awards are presented, and these awards may vary greatly. Generally there will be a best cosplayer award, and best group award, with runner-up prizes as well. Awards may also go to the best skit, and a number of cosplay skill subcategories, such as master sewist, master weapon-maker, master armourer, etc.While some cosplayers choose to have a cosplay photographer take high quality images of them in their costumes posing as the character. This is most likely to take place in a setting relevant to the character's origin, such as churches, parks, forests, water features and abandoned/run-down sites. Such cosplayers are likely to exhibit their work online, on blogs or artist websites, such as deviantArt. They may also choose to sell such images or print the images as postcards and give them as gifts.

D. Gray-man cosplay

There are the three things to be considered in cosplaying, the costume, attitude and looks. In doing the costume, the cosplayer should be knowledgeable of the character to be portrayed and must be focus on the details of the color and texture of the dress, the style of hair, the eyes, and other accessories. Your attitude will also be a big factor. As cosplaying is also a roleplaying, it is important to act just like the character. The looks on the other hand create a big consideration in cosplay. Fat people must avoid portraying characters which have sexy and daring look. This may only comes out as a funny thing. Thus,  cosplaying need some deep research regarding the character to be portrayed.