Cosplay - Attack on Titan
The term cosplay was coined from a play on words "costume" and "play" in the 1980's by the famous Japanese film director, Nobuyuki Takahashi. Cosplay is the act of fans dressing in costumes that resemble their favorite animated character from a Japanese animation show (also referred to as 'anime'), video games, and comic books.
Cosplay is considered a style of performance art on a global scale. Thus, prize-awarding competitions are held yearly all around the world for the highest quality cosplays.The term cosplay is not limited to Japanese pop culture animation and comics, but also can be used for dressing up for science fiction comic and TV show conventions, and also for Halloween style dress ups at masquerade type events. However, the term nowadays specifically refers to dressing up as Japanese pop culture characters.
The emergence of Attack on Titan(Shingeki no Kyojin) cosplays began around 2013 - 2014 in both Japan and internationally, with the TV release of the first episode airing in April 2013 (Japan). Major cosplayers (people who cosplay) in Japan, such as REIKA(麗華) and Hory(ホリィ), went viral with high quality cosplay pictures on Twitter of favorable characters, Eren Yeager (also spelled as Eren Jaeger) and Levi Ackerman, shortly after the premiere of the first season.
In 2013, Attack on Titan cosplays appeared at major anime conventions in the U.S. such as Anime Expo (Los Angeles, California) and Comic Con (San Diego, California). Most cosplayers in Japan after the premiere of Attack on Titan displayed their cosplays on SNS platforms - predominantly on Twitter.
Anime Conventions
Anime conventions are events held year-round throughout the world at large venues such as hotels for fans of all anime, comic books, and Japanese pop culture alike to gather together and display their passion. It is customary to cosplay one's favorite character at these events. Cosplayers and Otaku fans find cosplaying as a character makes it easy to build connections with other fans.
Anime conventions have various activities other than displaying your cosplay and competitions on the highest quality cosplay: dance parties, fanart displays for purchase, meet & greet of anime voice actors/actresses and producers, Japanese culture introduction (maid cafes), and much more.
The U.S. alone has approximately 73 conventions held yearly in each state with the largest and most well-known in California (Anime Expo), New York City (Anime NYC), Washington D.C. (Otakon),Texas (Anime Matsuri and A-kon), and Atlanta, Georgia (Anime Weekend Atlanta). Anime conventions held outside of the U.S. that are well known are: Comiket (Tokyo, Japan), Jump Festa (Chiba, Japan), World Cosplay Summit (Nagoya, Japan), Comic World (Korea), Japan Expo (France), Salon del Manga de Barcelona (Spain).
Attack on Titan Popular Cosplays (Mikasa Ackerman)
Most female cosplayers choose to cosplay as Mikasa Ackerman because she is the lead female character of the show and portrayed herself to be the strongest newcomer of the 104th Training Corps. in Season 1. Her off-duty outfit of a simple white dress, cardigan, boots, and signature scarf given by the main character, Eren, are considered easy to produce. Variations of her off-duty outfits and style are also popular to cosplay in the Attack on Titan cosplay community.
Attack on Titan Popular Cosplays (Eren Yeager)
Eren is the main protagonist of the series which compels most fans to cosplay this character. Eren shows a dynamic range of growth in character development and strength throughout each series. His casual attire is also considered simple, consisting of a green shirt, brown trousers, a reddish-brown coat, and brown shoes in the first season.
Attack on Titan Popular Cosplays Levi Ackerman
Levi Ackerman is popular to cosplay by both male and female cosplayers. His first appearance in season 1 episode 9 wooed the fans and professional cosplay community with his precision, social status (captain of the Special Operations Squad of Survey Corps. military), strength, cold-hearted expression, and attractive facial features.
Costume Parts/Full Costume Purchase
A majority of cosplayers purchase their costumes via web-store. It is considered to be easier and faster to purchase ready-made costumes. However, there are cosplayers who create their own cosplays with hand-made materials from the hair (wig) to the shoes, and even weapons. Thus, cosplaying is viewed as a competitive art in terms of costume quality and details. Due to hand-made costumes taking more time than ready-made ones, most novice cosplayers choose to purchase a costume set (full costume equipped with all necessary items) or purchase various parts of the costume from different vendors to find the highest quality, affordable prices, and fast shipping. Some cosplayers who make their own costumes do commission hand-made costumes by cosplayers sold to other cosplayers for a set price or negotiable fee.
For Attack on Titan cosplay, the main characters wear a uniform, a light brown waist high jacket with the Wings of Freedom badges of Survey Corps and green cape. Easy to recreate by cosplayers and are the most popular part of the uniform. In addition, the weapons of choice of each character too are something weapon-maniac cosplay fans like to recreate.