Origin of the word cosplay

Cosplay, or costume play, is a popular trend where people dressing up mimicking fictional characters from anime, manga (comics), video games and movies etc.

Japan is generally credited as the origin of cosplay, but there are no actual facts of when the cosplay culture started. The credit for coining the word ‘cosplay’ seems more apparent though… although there are a few versions on how it was created, the credit goes to Nobuyuki Takahashi when he first used the word in some Japanese magazines in 1983/1984.

Akibanana has some scanned image of the My Anime magazine released in June 1983, which is said to be where the word first appeared, written in Japanese – コスプレ (kosupure)…

My Anime Japanese magazine where the word cosplay was first used

Possibly Related Posts

World Cosplay Summit 2007 presscon
2nd Philippine Cosplay Convention (2009)
Wonder Festival 2012 Winter cosplay
Kim Ha-yul sailor cosplay
Tokyo Game Show 2010 cosplay
AKB48 Chun Li cosplay


Comments

  1. kyon says:

    have u try cosplay before yeinjee?

  2. Yein Jee says:

    Nope… would like to try once though :)

  3. kyon says:

    seriously?? what character u want to play???

  4. Yein Jee says:

    Not really sure… probably something that will have my face covered lol.

  5. BigV says:

    hi 。。。 do you all from Malaysia..?

  6. Yein Jee says:

    BigV… not really. The author of this blog (that’s me) is from Malaysia, while the readers are from all over the planet… and one or two from outerspace perhaps :)

  7. bayushi says:

    I’m glad to find your site. So interesting! Keep writing :) And greetings from Poland ;)

  8. Yein Jee says:

    Thanks bayushi. Good to know that my readers are coming from a wide range of places.

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