It’s a typical scene on most college campuses: A student group is gathered in a dining area, talking about upcoming meetings, rules and regulations, who has a TV they can borrow for the next party.
And yet the group gathered at the food court inside the College of DuPage’s student resource center in Glen Ellyn draws stares from passing students.
Why so much attention? It could be that the woman speaking, Courtney Borowiec, wears a purple, stylized gi (robe), carries a 3-foot Akomeogi (folding fan) and looks like a cartoon character.
“There are some people who are real accepting,” says Borowiec, 20, of Naperville. “And then there are some who are like, ‘It’s not Halloween. Get your costume off.'”
Such is the life of a cosplayer in the U.S. A popular subculture in Japan since the 1980s, cosplay literally and figuratively blends a love of dressing up in costume with role-playing (cos = costume, play = role-play). For most cosplayers, that means dressing up as a character from anime (Japanese animation), manga (Japanese comic books) or video games.
Usually, the costumes come out for special events like conventions or meet-ups with other groups. But some cosplayers will find the flimsiest excuse to dress up. A couple of cosplayers from the College of DuPage club are planning a Halloween party. The plan so far: hanging out in costume and watching anime.
“We just like to have fun and express ourselves,” says Kathryn Powers, a 20-year-old club member from Elmhurst.
Cosplay clearly isn’t limited to Japanese pop culture, says Patrick Drazen, author of “Anime Explosion! The What, Why & How of Japanese Animation.” Cosplay can include knights at a Renaissance fair or “Star Wars” stormtroopers at a sci-fi convention. What matters, he says, is the costume.
“The impulse to put on a costume is almost as old as humanity itself,” says Drazen, who lives in Hyde Park. “We call it Mardi Gras or Carnival. Putting on a mask has long been with us. This is just another manifestation.”
In the last decade, the Japanese form has grown in the United States, Drazen says, thanks to anime’s increasing popularity. Before, anime in America meant giant-robot shoot-’em-ups like “Voltron” or “Robotech.” That changed when the cartoon show “Sailor Moon” arrived in 1995.
With “Sailor Moon,” fans found a new kind of hero in the title character (a.k.a. Usagi Tsukino, or Serena in the English-dubbed version), a high school student who, on top of struggling with homework and boys, has to use her newfound superpowers to save Earth.
“It totally changed the demographic,” Drazen says. “People were surprised with how caught up they got in the story. It was more in touch with life as you knew it.”
Soon, “Pokemon” joined the ranks of anime in mainstream culture and the boom was in full swing. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki won the best animated feature Oscar for “Spirited Away.” Actors like Christian Bale and Billy Crystal were lending their voices to English-dubbed anime. And U.S. audiences were discovering a genre ranging from cuddly talking cats to apocalyptic demons.
“American cartoons are so restrictive,” says Danielle Roelandt, 20, who formed the College of DuPage cosplay club with Borowiec last spring. “… But anime is meant for older kids, the 8-, the 12-year-olds, the teenagers and the young adults.”
Roelandt grew up a “closet Moonie” in Naperville, unable to express her love for Sailor Moon until she joined an anime club in high school. There, she heard about Anime Central, an annual convention in Rosemont. She convinced her mom to make her a costume and went as Sailor Moon.
What she saw next shocked her. A convention center filled with people in costumes. Bright colors. Props. She recognized some of the characters; others were a mystery. And the detail!
“I remember standing in line going, ‘Oh my God. Look at that costume! It’s so amazing. How much time did they put into that?'” she recalls.
Roelandt learned the first rule of cosplay: The costume is everything.
Depending on the character, making a costume can range from sewing pieces of fabric to spot-welding to molding foam-rubber accents. Human characters are easy, cosplayers say. Demons and robots require a little more work.
Costs also vary depending on the character and personal finances. But it’s better than buying your costume, many say.
“People spend up to thousands of dollars on a costume and they take pride in it,” Borowiec says. “I just like making something and seeing my own abilities.”
Roelandt, who wants to design costumes after college, normally buys about $100 in fabric at a time. From that fabric she can usually create at least two costumes.
Roelandt’s club also holds tutorials to help novice cosplayers improve their costumes. Members swap tips on sewing, costume-making and makeup.
Powers recalls when Roelandt helped her sew a jacket for her character, Hinata, from “Naruto.”
“If anything, it helped strengthen a friendship,” says Powers. “If you can do it, good for you. If not, we can help each other.”
Many cosplayers work on several costumes at a time, picking characters that appeal to various aspects of their personality, sometimes regardless of gender. One of the characters Curtis Jackson, 24, of Joliet portrays is Lum, from the ’70s anime and manga “Urusei Yatsura.”
Lum is a 17-year-old alien girl who walks around in a tiger-striped bikini. Jackson admits to getting some flak about his costume, which in cosplay circles is known as “crossplay.” But the costume is well-made and it fits, he says, and his girlfriend, Amanda Walker, 23, doesn’t mind.
“The point of the costume is to be someone else, so why do you have to stay the same sex you are?” says Walker, of Channahon. “And honestly, he has learned so much about waxing and shaving. It’s helped our relationship.”
“I was trying to take the character seriously,” adds Jackson.
That sense of “being someone else” is crucial to cosplayers. Not only must they get the costume right, they have to know their character’s catchphrases and understand their personalities. Any cosplayer worth their costume should be able to strike their character’s pose on cue.
And, as the College of DuPage cosplay club decided one Thursday, they must know how to fight.
That works out well for Rob Marschall, 20, of West Chicago, who dressed up as the ninja Kakashi from “Naruto.” When another cosplayer attacks him with a prop sword, Marschall counters by stealing the sword and running off.
“It makes no sense,” Roelandt says, laughing at the melee. But if you know the anime and the character, a chaotic logic forms, one where only a fan’s passion for the material matters.
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Explore your inner anime fan
“I choose you!”
If you know that Ash Ketchum shouts that line before every Pokemon battle, then you’re probably an anime fan, and maybe a cosplayer at heart.
For those who want to learn more about cosplaying, here are a few places to check out:
Go online
Join cosplay.com, an international forum dedicated to costumes, role-play and anime. The site also has links to conventions, fabric stores and other cosplayers in your area.
Find a Meetup.com group
You can find other local cosplayers through meetup.com. Go to the Web site and type “cosplay” into the search field.
Hit a Halloween party
SushiSamba Rio (504 N. Wells St.; 312-595-2300) has become “Cosplay Central” this Halloween. The hip restaurant will host a cosplay party starting at 9 p.m. Oct. 27. And if the deejays, the Jack o’ Tinis and costumed wait staff weren’t enough, SushiSamba Rio is offering a $1,000 first prize for best costume.
Head out to Glen Ellyn
Talk anime, role-playing and the fine art of costume design with the College of DuPage cosplay club, also open to non-students. The group meets every Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. at the school’s student resource center (425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn; 630-942-2800). Not an anime fan? That’s OK. They accept “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” fans, too. For more information, visit the group’s Web site at codcosplay.suddenlaunch3.com or e-mail club president Danielle Roelandt at animemoonprincess@wowway.com.
Prepare for Anime Central
If you can hold out until next May, wait for Anime Central, an annual convention for die-hard fans. With 13,000 people attending last year’s con, Anime Central is one of the biggest in the U.S. And many cosplayers spend months preparing their costumes for the event. If you want to see cosplayers in their element, go to Anime Central.
Anime Central, May 16-18, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N. River Rd., Rosemont; 847-692-2220
— Glenn Jeffers
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gjeffers@tribune.com
