Skirt-wearing male cosplayers creep out Washimiya villagers
I was just discussing this with a friend of mine the other night: every single cosplay competition I’ve ever attended, some middle-age monkeynutz guy (normally overweight, always bearded) feels compelled to show up in a Sailor Moon costume. I would try to wrap my head around the psychology behind this, but the old Nietzsche dictum “Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss. also gazes into you.” keeps me from approaching too close.
Stare into the abyss, my friends…
Residents of Washimiya, Japan have watched in horror as throngs of Lucky Star cosplayers, almost entirely men, have flocked to the town as a pilgrimage to Washinomiya Shrine, which figures prominently in the anime series. Of course, being an enterprising lot, the town is now capitalizing on their newfound fame, and are selling a wide variety of Lucky Star-themed trinkets and goods.
The Wall Street Journal (no doubt securing the mantle so recently vacated by the Mainichi Daily News as a prime purveyor of Japanese perversity) reports on the phenomenon. God Help Us All.
Lucky Star’s main characters are all female. “For us, this is a holy site,” declared a young man named Shigeki Ito, strolling through the shrine one recent weekend in a wig of blue tresses, a red-and-white schoolgirl uniform and dark knee socks. The 20-something Tokyo office worker said dressing up as Konata, Lucky Star’s easygoing main character, is “part of the experience.” Accompanying him as Miyuki was friend Takashi Tanno, his pink wig slightly askew.
The unlikely attention lavished on this small town shows Japan’s sometimes over-the-top obsession with anime, a style of animation that often features big-eyed characters delving into grown-up themes. Anime is one of Japan’s hottest industries, expanding into blockbuster films, videogames, plastic figurines and fan fiction.
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