Cosplay Basics: A Beginners Guide to the Art of Costume Play

Gr 7 Up—Featuring both prose and sequential art panels, this pleasing introduction to the basics of cosplaying provides a ton of information packed into under 200 pages. The prologue introduces a cute original manga framing story about a young woman named Reia and her first steps into the world of cosplay. She unexpectedly meets a cosplaying coworker, Riko, at a comic convention, and the two decide to cosplay together. Reia has no prior experience about this activity, so Riko offers to teach her everything there is to know, step by step, which forms the basis for the book. Each chapter begins with Riko helping Reia learn about something new, such as costumes, props, and hair and makeup, as well as participating in events and being photographed. The manga-style images and the prose work exceedingly well together, and the book is informative and enlightening. The authors are veteran costume designers who focus mainly on character designs for women, although they do include a few suggestions for male characters as well. Pair with Miyuu Takahara and Kenji Weston's Cosplay—The Beginner's Masterclass (CreateSpace, 2015), which has a more American perspective and goes into much greater detail but lacks illustrations.