Curiousity Killed The Tangent?

[Sakurabi Ren]

So, there's a convention coming to my town (Dallas's A-Kon 21) in June, and I really want to cosplay. I've earned the money for the outfits in full, but I have a small question, for those of you that can answer it. Here goes.


If you've played Kingdom Hearts, chances are you've heard of the Japanese "It's A Wonderful Life", known more commonly as "The World Ends With You" or "TWEWY". IF you've heard of it, hopefully you know the characters, and all the things that create to Shinuya inside the game.

One of my favorite characters, however, is Sho Minamimoto, a crazed 18- year old with a taste for math and complicated riddle- like phrases. Here's the thing though:

I'm a girl.


My question: Is it alright to

1. Crossplay if you're a female into a male role?

And

2. Cosplay even if you're bigger in size?

I'd really like a fair amount of feedback please. Thank you.

[kateit]

personally i don't think fat people should cosplay somebody that's supposed to be sleek and sexy. i mean you can do it for fun and that's fine but it's really hard to tell what character you're supposed to be when they're stretched out vertically

[Sakurabi Ren]

The character is not so much "sexy", if sexy at all, as he is male, and that's where the problem lies.

[Kei]

You are absolutely free to cosplay/crossplay anyone you please. Females dominate the cosplaying hobby and there are a GREAT deal of female crossplayers out there. Weight should also not detour you from cosplaying but you have to know what's appropriate just like in normal dresswear. Anime characters are like...bone skinny and thus wear outfits that many who may not be small in stature would look very unflatering in (i.e: Evangelion plug suits). Just keep that in mind and you should be fine in any cosplay venture you decide to partake in.

[Sakurabi Ren]

Thank you Kei- san.


His clothes are, thank God, baggier. It's not spandex at all, but tupical cotton-poly mixes. Both skin color and weight are also big issues to me, because you hardly see African- American cosplayers stepping out of roles, and when they do, it's hard to pull off. Weight scares me because of the issue of pounds vs. the costume.

[Cheshire]

I completely agree with what Kei said. Crossplay happens a lot in cosplay, between both genders, so it's hardly something many frown upon or anything. Also, it's true that virtually 99.9% of anime characters have completely unrealistic proportions, and just like with clothing in the real world, what looks fine on a person of one stature may not look quite as good on someone of a different build, just because of how the clothes are made to fit/how they fall on the body/etc. Aside from what Kei said about keeping that in mind, maybe look at the outfit you're wanting to cosplay, and see if you can make minor adjustments here and there so it flatters your body more. Just altering a seam here and there to change even a few small things can make any outfit, cosplay or not, a lot more flattering to your specific body type, whatever it may be. :]

Above all, though, if you want to do it, just do it. People are always going to be shallow and judgmental over the absolute stupidest things. Doesn't mean you should stop doing something that make you happy, though. :]

[Sakurabi Ren]

Ah, thank you.

I do plan on getting the costume custom made (as I do with all my excess special outfits) rather than buying it by size.

Thank you for the advice.