Imagine walking into a room filled with characters from your favorite TV show. How would you feel?

I recently went to Another Anime Convention (AAC) in Manchester, New Hampshire. I was greeted by many different costumes and people. Cosplay is people dressing up as characters from anime, video games, sci-fi/fantasy shows, etc. The word means “costume play” and originates from Japan.

Cosplays can be homemade or bought, although it’s more impressive if you make your own. I buy mine because I just don’t have the talent to make one, but my specialty lies in acting like the character.

Conventions are all over the world and actually more popular than you think. San Diego Comic Con is the biggest convention in the United States with more than 130,000 people attending every year. The biggest in our area is Anime Boston and, in 2015, over 27,000 people attended. I’ve made many friends who have the same interests as me at cons.

Cosplay is gaining popularity quickly. It’s definitely more accepted than it used to be. Depending on the level of quality you want your cosplay to be, it can be very expensive. You can also commission costumes from people who are experts and they can make it however you want. However that’s very expensive as well. Cosplays can be very simple and cheap as well depending on how complex the character is. You can find people who commission on social media.

It takes courage to go out in public dressed up in cosplay. A lot of people give you weird looks, but honestly, do what makes you happy and makes you feel confident. I definitely feel more confident when I’m in cosplay because I feel like I am my character. We’re also celebrating the fandom by wearing our costumes.

I’ve been cosplaying since I was eleven years old and in that time I’ve cosplayed eleven characters: Hungary from Hetalia, Misty from Pokemon, Wrath from Fullmetal Alchemist, Fionna from Adventure Time, Lucy from Elfen Lied, Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, Ryuko Matoi from Kill la Kill, Madoka Kaname from Madoka Magica, Kotori Minami from Love Live, Nico Yazawa from Love Live, and Hinata Shouyou from Haikyuu! I’ll admit a lot of my earlier cosplays weren’t that great, but I’ve improved. I’ve retired most besides five of them because they don’t fit anymore or they fell apart. I’ve gone to four different cons in the area, all of them multiple times–Anime Boston, Another Anime Convention, Connecticon, and Rhode Island Comic Con.

I wanted to inform the school about cosplay, because it’s something very important to me and allows self expression. It’s also becoming a part of pop culture as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if more people know about it soon.