TGS '07: Cosplayers come out and play

September 22, 2007 9:26PM PDT

By Emma_UK

TOKYO--One of the highlights of every TGS is the creative costumes that cosplayers come up with, and this year was absolutely no exception. On the public days, cosplayers can be found in the wild hanging out in between halls three and four. The minute they start to strike a pose, a horde of fans descend to take their picture, asking them to strike a variety of poses and taking up to five minutes to shoot to ensure that they have images of the outfits from every conceivable angle.

Naturally, the majority of the crowd being male, the longest queues were for the ladies, although there were also some great costumes from the guys. GameSpot stood in line to chat to some of this year's best cosplayers to ask them about themselves and why they do it.

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Imo was one of the very first cosplayers to strike a pose at today's Tokyo Game Show, and was clearly a veteran of the event. The Tokyo lass made her costume herself, and like many of the other cosplayers hanging out, had chosen a character from the Final Fantasy universe to dress up as. A big Final Fantasy fan, Imo chose sky pirate Elza, one of the three pirates that Reddas employs in the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. Revenant Wings is currently available only in Japan, but is due for a US release on November 20. When asked why she chose that costume, Imo said, "Pirates are cool and I love the outfit, too."

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Standing across from Imo was Hifumi, who also made her costume herself. The "proper" cosplayers all do this, although costumes for popular video game characters can be bought here in shops like Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku. She laughed when we asked her if she wears the costume out. "No, no, no," she said. "I only do this at shows." She started cosplaying because some of her friends were into it, and they got her interested in the scene. One of many Guilty Gear characters, Hifumi was dressed as the nunlike Bridget from the Japanese 2D fighting game series. She told GameSpot, "I look forward to TGS every year, because I love doing this. I'm here with all my friends too, so it's really fun." She's now been cosplaying for two years, and says it's so much fun she's going to be doing it for a while yet.

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Next to Hifumi were two friends who had also come to the show together, Sakura and Yuki. They had both dressed as the same character, but in different colours--Sakura is wearing the black costume, whereas Yuki is dressed in white. They both chose Dead or Alive Live's Kasumi to pose as. The two are avid gamers, and they love the Dead or Alive series. They're relative newbies to the cosplay scene--it's Sakura's first time posing, and Yuki started last year. Sakura said she wasn't sure what to expect, but she found herself really enjoying it. She said, "I'll definitely be back next year."

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One of the most impressive costumes of the show is the huge vinyl suit modelled by a guy by the name of Tora. Tora is wearing a huge vinyl suit, which he painstakingly made himself--and which took him one whole year to make. His character is Shin Getter Robo, a mecha which appears in the Getter Robot Go manga. He has been cosplaying for three years. In the hot, sticky Tokyo heat, it must have been rather uncomfortable inside the huge suit, but Tora says he doesn't mind. He said, "I don't care. I love wearing it."

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Next to Tora was another guy--hey, guys love cosplay too--who goes by the name of Kinuzeru. Kinuzeru is dressed as the big, tough guy Barret Wallace from Final Fantasy VII. Barret is the leader of the military organisation Avalanche, and then joins hero Cloud Strife to help him defeat the evil Sephiroth. Tora has been in the cosplay scene for only eight months, and he says that he chose Barret because "he's manly."

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It wasn't only the Japanese who were out parading in their cosplay outfits--some Westerners had travelled all the way to Tokyo just for the privelege. These included three Western Australians from Perth, who were helping out the WA government to promote the region at this year's TGS. They are from left to right, K (Sora from Kingdom Hearts II), Vel (Axel from Kingdom Hearts II), and Drayke (Link from The Legend of Zelda series). K and Vel describe themselves as big into cosplay in their homeland. The two have both been cosplaying for over five years, and have their own business cards and fan sites. Isn't TGS a little far to go just to wear an outfit? "Cosplaying's great," says Kay. "It's really fun to dress up. We came here because we had to come to the country where cosplay started."

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Another pirate fan, Anya has been cosplaying for 10 years, although only as six months in this particular outfit. She bought herself the online game Final Fantasy XI, and found herself enjoying the vitual world so much that cosplaying was a way of almost stepping into that virtual world in reality. Her costume took her a month to make, and she bought accessories to make it complete. Her character is called Koseya.

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Anya's friend Haide has been cosplaying for 14 years, and drew the biggest crowd around her, as she struck a variety of different poses for the cameramen (and women--but mainly men) who lined up to snap her picture. Her character is also from online role-playing game Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI, and is called Alta Madoushi. So, obviously, she can't have been a Final Fantasy XI character for the whole 10 years--which others has she played? Haide said, "Hmmm...that's tricky. I've done so many I really couldn't count."