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[wombat_socho]

I wonder how long it'll take this to start showing up at anime conventions around here?

Via Chizumatic, appropriately enough on 6/6/06.

Comments

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And most the full-body costumes you see at cons right now are for non-human characters that basically *require* having a mask and stuff. Like the big Ryo-Ohki I've seen around a few cons, for example. Where on the other hand, making a mask and all that for a character who's human to begin with is kinda a lot of work.

That, and I think there's also another fundamental difference- kigurumi like that is basically trying to look like a completely animated character, where regular cosplay is often trying to recreate that character in real life.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

That, and I think there's also another fundamental difference- kigurumi like that is basically trying to look like a completely animated character, where regular cosplay is often trying to recreate that character in real life.

Maybe that's the essential point right there. With regular cosplay, sure, you're done up as an anime character, but your friends can still tell it's you in the Rose Bride/Major Armstrong/whatever getup. You don't have that with kigurumi.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. That and with regular cosplay, at least for someone like me, half the point is trying to recreate the costume to the point where it no longer looks like a costume, so to speak, but rather a real outfit someone could really wear. Kigurumi instead focuses on making it still look like it's animated. So in the latter case, it's like trying to be a toon stepped into the real world, while in the former it's trying to figure out what it'd actually look like if it were real and not a toon.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

So in the latter case, it's like trying to be a toon stepped into the real world, while in the former it's trying to figure out what it'd actually look like if it were real and not a toon.

There's an odd parallel here to the way anthropomorphic animals are depicted in anime as opposed to the way they're done here in the States. Catgirls, for example, are usually shown as humans with cat ears, tails, and occasionally whiskers, but Merle from Escaflowne is the only one I've ever seen that actually has fur. Now, take Tom (of Tom & Jerry) or Sylvester or (even older) Felix the Cat. These are all cats that happen to act like people, not people that look kind of like cats. I could go on and on with examples, but I'm sure you get the point.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Well, actually in Escaflowne, Merle, along with the other catgirls and various animal-like characters, are technically "beastmen", basically a race that's something of a hybrid between human and animal. As opposed to, like you said, Tom or Sylvester, who are supposed to be cats, not some other halfbreed.