"I want to cosplay, can you please suggest which characters would suit me?"

WARNING: This post may be extremely hurtful to some. Yes, I am harsh.




I do not know how many times I've seen this question and it's other variations in forums, FB groups and lots of other places.

"I want to cosplay, can you please suggest which characters would suit me?" - is the most common.

Some would also add details about their appearance to help potential people with suggestions, an example is like this:

"I want to cosplay. I have long black hair and kinda petite, please suggest characters I can cosplay"

or

"Can anyone give me characters I can cosplay? Female, school girl, brown hair only."

or

"Any ideas on which characters would suit me? Please see my attached photo."

Honestly, I think this question is DUMB. Yes, you read it right. DUMB, I don't like that question at all.

Why?



Because if you really want to cosplay, and cosplay for the sake of being a fan, then there will always be a character, or rather a bunch of characters that you're heart would scream out and choosing which one will actually come to life would be the toughest part of the process.


Even if you are just starting out, there will be a character that will come to my mind if you really want to cosplay because you are genuinely into cosplaying itself or because you are a fan. If you are in it just for the attention, then yeah, choosing which character to cosplay would really be difficult.


My list of characters which I am dying to cosplay is so long and keeps getting longer everyday, so to me, this question is really irritating. I don't even watch anime or read manga that much anymore because I am afraid that I'll see another character that would be added to my ever growing list of cosplay plans. oTL


There are well meaning people out there who will answer politely and give you suggestions but at the end of the day, it's still your choice. Some would give lots of suggestions, those are the nice ones but if you cosplay a character that you think just suits you or based on someone else's suggestion, a character you don't really know or like, then I can pretty much guarantee that your cosplay would be half-assed or worst, you might not enjoy it as much.


I have a friend who I feel, feels the same way about this, although our methods are different. What I do when someone asks this is give them a long speech about cosplay for fun not for people's approval and you should know the character blah blah blah blah. What my friend does is suggest characters that are really hard or down right near impossible, he likes trolling. XDD

If you really want to cosplay, along with a few other consideration, choose a character you really like and know, that way, cosplaying would be easier and a lot more fun. Facial expressions and posing would come out more naturally. 


Cosplay is not just about wearing pretty costumes or having cool props, knowing your chosen character and being able to give life to them is just as important. Remember that there is a solid reason as to why cosplay is called cosplay. Costume AND role-playing. Both are important elements and a good cosplay doesn't go with out the other one.


If you really just want to be cute then do yourself and everyone a favor, don't cosplay, just wear something really cute. It's much less expensive and not as much effort, don't waste you energy and resources on something you are not willing to commit 100% percent to.

"When you're in something you've got to give it everything you have, else what are you doing?" - Got this off Hario's interview with Kat Carpio (such a brilliant lass she is)

What if you don't want to fail in cosplay and you just asked because you fear that people will hate you?

Well, you basically failed already because cosplay is not about popularity or earning peoples' approval, if you really want to give justice to the character you are portraying then research and use all your abilities to make it a success. You should do it because it will make you happy. 

Don't be a fame whore! There's already a lot of that running around and we don't need more, thank you very much. Be a fan who will do their best for their fandom. Cosplay is not for popularity, if you want to be popular instantly then go take pics of your naked self then upload it to the internet, then again, a porn home movie might be a faster ticket to fame. 

Point is, cosplay should be all about fun. For you and the people who share the passion, don't use it as a leverage to get famous and win people's heart. If you do your cosplays well enough then people would appreciate your hard work even if you don't ask them to. =)

As per usual, niceties are in order.

This blog post is not intended for anyone in particular, I just see this question so often that I finally decided to make a post about it. Read with an open mind, otherwise don't. I did warn you that the contents would be hurtful, but if ever I did offend someone, please know that it was not my intention to purposely hurt you in anyway. I apologize in advance but this is my opinion and I'd like you to respect that.

*******************************

thanks for reading!

 jaa! visit me again, ne!

     arigatou! (*^3^)/~

FACEBOOK PAGE : http://www.facebook.com/jaroukasama
WORLD COSPLAY : http://worldcosplay.net/member/jaroukasama/
INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/jaroukasama/
DEVIANT ART : http://jaroukasama.deviantart.com/
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/jaroukasama