A surprisingly complex take on the subject of cosplay
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yui Sakuma
Translation: Alethea & Athena Nibley
What They Say
Twenty-six year old Nagisa Kataura has a secret. By all appearances, she’s an average temp-worker, but beneath her business-casual exterior she’s a devoted cosplayer. Transforming into her favorite anime and manga characters is her passion in life, and her hard work and creativity has earned Nagisa respect among her cosplay cohorts. But to the rest of society, her hobby is a silly fantasy, so she has to keep her two worlds separate. However, as demands from both sides of her life begin to increase, she may one day have to make a tough choice – what’s more important to her, cosplay or being “normal.”
Technical:
The front cover here is rather striking, offering a close up look of Nagisa in her cosplay, with some rather exquisite shading, all placed over a neat white background covered with a pattern made out of cutting instruction imagery. It’s quite a nice image that really helps draw your eyes towards the book. The back cover simply shows a handful of the rest of the cast in a similar style, though I’d say this time there’s a bit too much blank space. It’s not enough to ruin the image, but it definitely does detract a little. In terms of extras, this book is packed with a few color pages, some bonus comics, detailed character design sheets for the cosplay characters, a “cospedia” of cosplay terms, and translation notes. So if nothing else, it certainly isn’t lacking on that front. Paper quality feels solid, text reads smoothly, honorifics are used, and sound effects are left in their original format and subtitled.
The art used throughout the book looks solid for the most part, with a higher than average level of detail. Of particular note is how well defined the characters are, such that they remain distinctive even when placed in the same costume, which is good considering the nature of the book. That said, the proportions of the art occasionally do get a little off, which can certainly throw things off. But it’s uncommon enough that it’s not a big issue, fortunately. Backgrounds also appear when needed and look solid.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the series opens up, we’re immediately introduced to the 26 year old cosplayer Nagisa Kataura, who’s particularly obsessed with the titular main character from an anime known as Magical Riding Hood Ururu. And to show us just how dedicated she is, we join her as she rushes to make last minute adjustments in order to add a minor detail to her costume for a convention. So yeah, we seem to be nicely on a path to a nice charming little series focused on the ins and outs of cosplay… until she just shreds into a casual cosplayer. And this is the point where the book goes a tad screwy, which may throw some viewers off. Because it’s pretty obvious she has some serious self worth issues that have her hating on both herself and others in relation to her “hobby”. That’s of course not to say that such an arc can’t be interesting, though at least for now her pettiness mixed into all this can kind of make it hard to truly cheer for her.
When things really get rolling, though, is when Nagisa is introduced to Aya Kurihara, a young girl who looks straight up identical to Ururu. Interestingly enough, though, she actually wants to cosplay as a completely different character. Plus she’s a complete amateur when it comes to this stuff, allowing her to be the conduit for “here’s what cosplaying is like” scenes, which are nice. And to give some credit to Nagisa, much as this girl is a source of distress for her, they still form a sort of unusual bond.
From there, things continue on with Aya slowly learning the hobby and even taking some photos in Ururu cosplay, much to Nagisa’s internal strife. But it’s then that Nagisa’s friend Kimiko steps up and pulls up a picture of her from the past. And this is honestly probably the best moment of the book, really showing and making the reader feel how there’s so much more to a cosplay than just the way you look, which is a nice little message. Oh, and to leave us on a nice cliffhanger, Nagisa accidently ends up in a situation where she “outs” herself to a coworker as a cosplayer. So that should certainly be interesting to see how that develops.
Finally, we end on the prototype for the series, which focuses on an even older lady who loves to dress up in the Gothica Lolita style. For the most part it works well and hits some nice emotional beats. The weird part, though, is the ending. Like, she clearly likes dressing like that and it hurts her to get rid of all the clothes. And yet things conclude with her moving on in the end, seemingly saying that it’s okay to let societal pressures force you to change and accept what’s “normal”. Which is a real crap message that I can’t say I agree with, and it honestly kind of taints the whole story for me.
In Summary
This first volume makes for an interesting start to the series, as it’s certainly not what you may expect. Just a glance at the book may cause you to expect a story that kind of leads you into the basics of cosplaying and really tries to show off what makes it enjoyable. And to be fair, some of that is there, and it definitely seems to be central to Aya’s character, which is cool. But Nagisa herself just feels broken down and kind of twisted in a way that’s intrinsically tied to cosplay, which is certainly not what I would’ve thought going in. And to be fair, that could certainly be an interesting choice, depending on how things progress in the future. But for now, it almost makes cosplaying feel kind of toxic, which is something of a shame. That said, there’s still a few great scenes that counteract that idea, including one in particular that really packs a punch. In the end, this makes for a book that can be a little rough to read in a number of ways. But even so, it’s got some very interesting topics in play, so if it can play its cards right in future volumes, it really could end up something special.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: June 21st, 2016
MSRP: $12.99
