My First Cosplay

Last Sunday was the annual cosplay (costume play) festival in Nipponbashi. Perhaps some of you read my post about going for the first time last year and how awesome and exciting it was! After going last year, I decided I wanted to actually participate by dressing up this year instead of just going to look. So, I started preparing my costume slowly throughout the year.

Festival Advertisement.

My favorite anime is Death Note, and although I find Misa Amane to be a bit annoying as a character, I really love her look which is like cute-gothic. I figured it would look cool and be rather easy to pull off. I’m not at all knowledgeable enough or equipped to make my own costume from scratch, so I figured that gothic clothing could be easily bought.

Me is Misa Amane form.

Actually, I got my main items on Amazon: the Death Note notebook (¥1,040), the dress & socks (¥6,350), the wig (¥1,980), and the chocker (¥899). I included the fees and shipping in all the prices listed. The dress was originally ¥5,500, but it was shipped all the way from China. The gloves were from Daiso (¥200). Some of the accessories I bought at the mall (～¥2,000), but some I already had. My tights and boots were also things I already had. So all in all, I’d say I spent around ¥12,500 or $111. Not bad considering I bought these items over the course of a year! I know some people must have spent hundreds of dollars on their costumes. I plan on wearing my costume again this Halloween to get my use and money out of it.

Full costume.

So let me tell you about the day! I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to prepare. I did everything from trimming my eyebrows, to shaving, to painting my nails, etc. I met my boyfriend at 11:30 to head downtown. I stopped at my local bar on the way to the station, though, to show my friends who were there. They are all middle-aged and don’t go downtown, so for them it was exciting to see me all dressed up, and they took a picture with me haha!

I was pretty embarrassed to ride the train dressed like an anime character, but I’m used to getting stared at for being white anyway, so I just accepted it. We got downtown around 12:30, and the weather was perfect! I ran into my friend right away which was fortunate because there were so many people! We got to take a picture together and then went our separate ways.

After that, my boyfriend and I walked among the crowds looking at all the different cosplayers. I got pictures of and with some of my favorites. It was really exciting for me when I found other Death Note characters, especially, Ryuk, a god of death from Death Note because he looked so awesome! When I asked to take a picture with him, many other people got excited to see us standing together and started taking our picture.

Me and Ryuk!

Me with L, another Death Note character.

Last year I got super excited when I saw Inuyasha, the main character of my childhood favorite anime, but this time I got even more excited to see my favorite Inuyasha character and junior high school crush, Sesshomaru!

Sesshomaru!!!!!

There were a couple Inuyashas this year, too.

It was a really fun experience to do cosplay. It does take a lot of work and planning, so it’s not something I want to do every year, but I DO definitely want to do it again sometime. Going to see the festival and actually participating in it is a different experience. It feels really cool to take on a different persona and be someone else for a day. 

Attack on Titan.

Spirited Away.

Pokemon.

Zelda.