Tom Does Japan: Cosplay
and the TGS
Greetings to all from the Land of the Rising Sun. You may have already noticed that this article lacks the razor sharp wit of our host, Alex. The sarcasm is so dry on this site that that may have been a compliment to Alex or a witty quip. Who knows? However I digress. As I was writing earlier this is Tom Fricton, corresponding for Japan. I am currently living out the dream of thousands of nerds living out their lives in perpetual virginity, and that is living in Tokyo and attending such culturally poignant extravaganzas as the Tokyo Game Show.
That, of course, brings me to the topic of this article, the aforementioned Tokyo Game Show. The Tokyo Game Show is filled with acronyms, such as MGS:SE, DMC III, and of course RE IV: TCOLK, so I feel it is appropriate to use the abridged title, TGS. TGS is a yearly expo that displays all of the new hardware and software that will grace the video game industry in the coming year. Companies such as Sony, Konami, Microsoft and many others get their newest gaming merch and dress up Japanese women in mini skirts more often made of plastic than not, and have them hawk their shoddy wares. This is an example of a girl unenthusiastically displaying Metal Gear Solid III. I guarantee you that 80 percent of the people at the expo would look infinitely more exited to be holding a copy of that game. (There is nothing shoddy about Metal Gear. -Alex)
In fact this sad state of affairs couldn’t have been
more painfully illustrated than by Sony’s PSP
pavilion. Here they had girls chained to PSPs with full
grown men waiting in line to get their greasy, lascivious
hands on…the PSP. I am sure that the girl
doesn’t hurt the excitement these people feel, but it
pales in comparison to the crisp graphics and rock steady
controls they are about to experience with their next gen
hand held gaming console.
Every exhibit had girls dressed in similar costumes, and at
first I was appalled by the chauvinism of it all, but that
was quickly worn away by the sheer volume and frequency.
Then all my distress over this quandary was blown out of
the water when I went outside and stumbled upon the largest
group of wasted humanity I have ever witnessed.
As you may have read in previous publications by Alex,
there is a subcategory of humans that find pleasure
dressing up as their favorite character from a video game,
or often Japanese Animation. The Tokyo Game Show is only
one of many events that draws these “people”
out of their lairs and into the light of day. This is
called “Cos-play” or “Cos-playing”,
in the verb form, but either way it is a way for people to
stretch their love of a form of entertainment far beyond
social norms. Now I am not one to judge other people
(despite having an article on this website, and despite the
contents of this article), but there is a time and a place
for Cos-play. When I first arrived here I thought that
cosplay was completely unacceptable. However sad as it may
be, I now believe there is a time and a place for cosplay
and maybe the TGS is one of those places. (The hell it
is. -Alex)
Honestly I was impressed by some of the work that goes into
some of these costumes. For instance, this person went so
far as to get blue contacts for their costume. A lot of
effort that sadly could have most likely been spent being
put into a much more constructive hobby. Some of the
costumes I really had no sympathy for, for instance this
man dressed up as some sort of power ranger. He tried with
the pose, but to no avail.
There were plenty of positives at the game show, especially
for a born and bred nerd such as myself. However I think
this is the crème de la crème of the show. I would
certainly go again in a heartbeat.