Anime Heroes VS Game Heroes: Tough Call. Also, Cosplay?
So, my sibling-site(-to-be?) Giant Bomb provided the above trailer, which pits such classic Tatsunoko anime heroes as Yattaman, Gatchaman, and Casshern against Capcom favorites like Ryuu, Chun Li, and Morrigan.
Tangentially: the title of their post (”Anime Dudes vs. Game Dudes: The Final Battle for Supremacy Begins”) kinda reminded me of something I noticed at Expo (actually, I’d been thinking about it for some time, but Expo kinda hammered it in): it seems like a lot of the best cosplay out there tends to be from games– Final Fantasy, Phoenix Wright, Disgaea, etc.
I was told by some experts in the gaming con world (…Tim and Dale) that gamer cons tend to look down on cosplay. Maybe that’s why the gaming cosplay hits anime cons so big? On the other hand, the sorts of games that get cosplayed a lot tend to be the games that appeal to anime fans: the JRPGs, the ones that look like anime and manga (like Phoenix Wright and Disgaea), that sort of thing.
Thoughts, anyone?
Tags: capcom, cosplay, tatsunoko
July 9th, 2008 at 11:06 am
cosplay is win, especially game cosplay. kthx.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Then how do you explain the Star Wars, Halo and comic book cosplay at anime cons?
Sure, Japanese video games are enjoyed by a lot of anime fans, as are the above examples, but I think it has to do with the acceptability of cosplay in general at anime cons. Cosplay is such a traditional staple of every anime convention, and yet the term itself is not media specific.
A lot of people in the anime fandom like to dress up in costumes that reflect their various anime or non-anime interests, and because of this like-minded attitude of accepting and even joining in the costuming that’s found at anime cons, you’ll see a lot of people dressing up in costumes that may or may not be anime related.
Short answer: it’s all cosplay anyway, so go ahead and come as whatever.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:47 am
@Niko: Oh, I’m certainly not trying to say any kind of cosplay shouldn’t be allowed or anything like that. I LIKE the game cosplay. And in my opinion, cosplay is a Japanese fandom thing– so it’s perfectly appropriate at an anime con regardless of whether it’s an “anime” costume or not. I wasn’t trying to say that anime cons should only have anime cosplay at *all*.
I was merely commenting that I feel like I see a lot more game cosplay than anime cosplay– or Star Wars cosplay, or Halo, or Harry Potter, or whatever –even at anime cons, and was trying to figure out why.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
@Gia: I don’t mean to sound like I think you’re saying that non-anime cosplay should be discouraged. I was just stating why I think there’s generally a large amount of non-anime cosplay at anime cons.
Why there’s more game cosplay in particular? I guess it has to do with the growth of gaming in general. Gaming these days seems more publicized, I guess you would say. So has anime, but not as much.
Look at the proliferation on the Wii. It’s spread like wildfire, except more welcomed. The DS as well, which goes to all the Phoenix Wright cosplay, and that’s basically a shounen series with court battles instead of fighting. JRPGs are pretty much fantasy anime with interactivity, which makes sense.
Also about JRPGs, as they are more fantasy, they tend to have very fantastic and unique and elaborate outfits that serve as bright lights to the cosplayer moths. Even back to Phoneix Wright, while not that elaborate, are still unique costumes that stand out more than a random anime school girl outfit. Not to say that anime doesn’t have such outfits, as they do, but I think games probably have more as anime and mangy usually try to have a bit more simple designs.
I guess basically the unique outfits and the constantly growing popularity of gaming.
PS: Thanks for helping me avoid my work.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:11 am
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