Cs-play

COSPLAY
Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupure?), short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters areoften drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and Sci-Fi. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games,hentai and fantasy movies. Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Inanimate objects are given anthropomorphic forms and itis not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa.
Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered around role play. A broader use of the term cosplayapplies it to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.
Cosplayers typically come from the ranks of otaku--that is, fans of Japanese comic books, known asmanga. They gather at public events such as comic-book and video game trade shows, as well as at dedicated cosplay parties at nightclubs or amusement parks. In Japan teenagers gather with like-mindedfriends in places like Tokyo's Harajuku district to engage in cosplay. Since 1998 Tokyo's Akihabara district has contained a large number of cosplay cafés, catering to devoted anime and cosplay fans.The waitresses at such cafés dress as game or anime characters; maid costumes are particularly popular. In areas outside of Japan, cosplay is primarily done at manga and anime conventions.
Thesingle largest event featuring cosplay is the semiannual doujinshi market, Comiket. This event, held in Japan during summer and winter, attracts hundreds of thousands of manga fans. Thousands of cosplayerscongregate on the roof of the exhibition center. The largest event for cosplayers outside Asia is the annual San Diego Comic-Con held in the California city in the USA.
Cosplayers in Japan refer...