The rise in popularity of Cosplay in the US

Although many people see cos-players as people who worship anime to it's very core, it isn't just those people who have spent a major portion of their lives watching anime or reading manga. A majority of those who cos-play imitate characters from their favorite movies, TV shows, and video games as well, not just anime. In large part, people (like myself) like to pretend to be that person in very sparing intervals of their lives, most often being from something that they have created themselves. (i.e: Original storyline, Fan-Fictions, or fan-spawned fictions from their favorite storyline)

There is no doubt that this trend originated from the land of the rising sun, especially when people see the Tokyo Game Show on G4, but my opinion on why there is an explosion of popularity in this trend is.... well, they don't just want to be themselves, but rather an expansion of themselves in an alternate reality, which isn't really all that bad. Escape is very much needed in today's society, and in all actuality, all of us need to join into this trend at one time in our lives, and that's what makes this trend so popular: the need to escape from ourselves and be something else. In brief terms, cos-play is so popular because people have a need to get away from themselves and have a little fun before going back to real life.

rise in popularity of Cosplay in the US

Cosplay, or "costume play", refers to dressing up as Japanese Animation, Manga (comic book), or video game characters. Though amongst "cosplayers" in Western society, it's become accepted to extend that term to dressing in virtually any type of costume. Cosplay in Japan is considered a hobby, and many cosplayers meet to show off their hand-made costumes at conventions (like Comiket in Japan) or in trendy, Harajuku, Tokyo. Since 1998, Tokyo's Akihabara district has had many "cosplay cafe's", cafes where the staff will cosplay, open.

It's said that the term cosplay was coined by Nov Takahashi at Worldcon, a science fiction convention, in 1984. It's also believed that his reports back to Japan of Americans dressed as science fiction characters later gave rise to Japanese cosplay. Though it's highly debated over that Americans are the originators of cosplay.

Japanese cosplay has only recently become popular in the US, boasting some 20,000+ individuals of every race, creed, and color. Yet Western cosplay does deviate from Japanese cosplay in that there's masques (masquerades), cosplay competitions that occur at conventions where cosplayers will display their costume(s) for judging and/or perform a skit on stage by themselves or with others. Prizes consisting of money, dvds, etc. are offered to the winners, varying on the category of difficulty the cosplayer entered. Many cosplayers also attend conventions for panels on various topics, Cosplay Chess (Human Chess in cosplay), and the Anime Dating Game. Cosplay has even become common at movie theaters on opening nights for popular science fiction and fastasy films (like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix).

The Americanized version of cosplay has even spread into Europe, Mexico, Austrialia, and the Philippines. While Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and other Japanese influence markets have embraced the more traditional Japanese cosplay. And while American cosplayers are generally frowned upon as being "nerds or geeks who play dress-up", it's becoming a more and more acceptible hobby as MTV, G4TV, and various cable networks, magazines, and print media continue to promote cosplay in a positive manner