Anime Cosplay

Anime is a vast category of Japanese animated works. Other countries have imitated this storytelling style to expand it even further since its advent nearly a century ago. Within anime, there are a wide variety of genres focused on different content, style, and stories. Maybe you like cooking with Food Wars! or the adventure of Sword Art Online. We break down all your favorite character designs here, so you can have your anime cosplay ready in time for that next convention!Let’s take a more in-depth look at the wide variety of anime that is out there. Chances are, you will tend to prefer a particular type of story, and therefore base many of your anime cosplays on characters from that genre. Most anime shows can be classified as one of these basic genres:

• Action
• Adventure
• Comedy
• Drama
• Ecchi
• Fantasy
• Historical
• Mecha
• Romance
• Science Fiction
• Seinen/Mature
• Shoujo
• Shounen
• Slice of Life
• Sports

Many of these are self-explanatory, so we’ll just break down the more obscure terminology. Really, these are just instances where we borrowed the Japanese word, for lack of an easy English translation.

• Ecchi- This refers to anime containing sexual innuendo, but not depicting graphic sex scenes. The imagery tends to be gratuitous; and sometimes sexual activities are implied when they are not actually taking place. It is popular to cross this genre with others to appeal to fans with “eye candy”. Animes like Girl’s High, Colorful, and Air Master are prime examples of ecchi anime.
• Mecha-  Mecha anime emphasizes machinery, primarily robots. Popular anime in this category includes the many series of Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Code Geass. In anime, it is so easy to imagine highly advanced technologies and what we would do with them. Mecha anime cosplay tends to focus on armored suits and awesome moving parts.
• Seinen- This anime is intended for a more mature audience as indicated by its more thoughtful and adult themes. Akira, Tokyo Ghoul, and Ghost in the Shell all fall into this category. You can expect to find darker stories centering around politics and relationships.
• Shoujo- Shoujo means “young girl” in Japanese, and that’s who these shows feature as well as the target audience. Anime featuring strong “magical girls”, like Sailor Moon, are the essence of shoujo anime. It may very well be one of the most popular anime cosplay genres out there, as this age group is when many anime fans get brought into the fold. Cardcaptor Sakura and Yona of the Dawn are also considered shoujo anime, and make for great cosplay choices.
• Shounen- You may have guessed by now, but shounen means “young boy” in Japanese, and works the same way as shoujo. This is where shows like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Yu Yu Hakusho are found. The main characters are usually male, and there is an emphasis on action and humor to attract the attention of young boys.

Now you’re probably realizing that most anime series fall into more than one category. But of course they do! What fun is an anime with only one aspect? Hopefully, a good understanding of the types of anime stories will help you choose cosplay characters that appeal to you best. If you’re not comfortable showing off your underwear, perhaps an ecchi character is not for you. If you aren’t particularly good working with EVA foam, perhaps you should save a mecha cosplay for when you’ve built up your skills.