Things To Be Grouchy About : Cosplaying in Public
This one is a biggie for me.
This one is a biggie for me.
Cosplaying itself, I don't really care about. If you wanna run around dressed as a character from a game/show/whatever, be my guest.
But there's a LIMIT to that.
In the cosplaying community, there is a fiiiine line between being a respectable cosplayer and being one of those obnoxious hindrances that no one ever seems to like. Which is unfortunate, since it's the latter that are most known to the rest of the world, so the former tends to get lumped into that group. The latter is the group that ends up giving everyone that enjoys anime, cosplayer or not, a bad name; the group that was relatively recently mocked on Saturday Night Live.
But there's a LIMIT to that.
In the cosplaying community, there is a fiiiine line between being a respectable cosplayer and being one of those obnoxious hindrances that no one ever seems to like. Which is unfortunate, since it's the latter that are most known to the rest of the world, so the former tends to get lumped into that group. The latter is the group that ends up giving everyone that enjoys anime, cosplayer or not, a bad name; the group that was relatively recently mocked on Saturday Night Live.
By bringing up this problem of bunching groups together, I might as well bring up the topic of "weeaboos". Now, a while ago, I thought I had the definition of weeaboos all figured out, but as it turns out, I was wrong.
A weeaboo is someone that firmly believes that Japan (and Japan only) is the best country in the world. They *also* believe that anime, manga, and J-Pop are the only things to the Japanese culture and will do everything in their power to try and emulate what THEY believe to be "the Japanese culture". Consequently, they will shun their own heritage, occasionally going so far as to say that they have Japanese heritage themselves.
A weeaboo is someone that firmly believes that Japan (and Japan only) is the best country in the world. They *also* believe that anime, manga, and J-Pop are the only things to the Japanese culture and will do everything in their power to try and emulate what THEY believe to be "the Japanese culture". Consequently, they will shun their own heritage, occasionally going so far as to say that they have Japanese heritage themselves.
"Weeaboo" Advice Dog
This is one of those things where you can't reaaaaally say "A is always B unconditionally", no matter how often it is the case. I know a few respectable cosplayers that understand that Japan isn't all that great; that it's a normal nation just like anywhere else with it's benefits and flaws. But the MAJORITY falls into that weeaboo category and HARD. To link this to the original topic of my post, there's a recent "trend" I've been noticing lately. Before, cosplayers would only cosplay on special occasions (convention, monthly/yearly gathering, etc). Now, it's gotten to the point where I can't seem to go to Little Tokyo without finding SOME group of cosplayers.
And AGAIN, it would be fine and good if they were polite and courteous cosplayers that simply enjoyed themselves while being dressed up.
Polite, respectful, and hardworking cosplayer
But they're not.
Instead, they're loud, brash, intrusive, rude, and messy.
What these people fail to realize is that Little Tokyo (and other places where this occurs, but LT is by far the most popular place for it to happen) is still a domestic area where people live their daily lives. It's not a zoo, it's not a theme park, it's a SMALL SECTION OF THE LOS ANGELES AREA. Which means that common sense, as well as SOME decency, is expected.
And I really feel bad for those that DO live in the LT area. They can't go shopping without having to hear the obnoxious squeal of "OMG LET'S GET SOME POCKY GAIZ OMG RAMUNE LET'S GET SOME RAMEN LIKE IN NARUTO!!1!!!!!!111!" on a near-weekly basis. They can't walk down the street without having to hear a loud cluster of brightly colored wigs traipsing down the street. And heaven forbid you work in a restaurant , lest you be doomed to take orders for food in broken, intelligible Japanese.
And I really feel bad for those that DO live in the LT area. They can't go shopping without having to hear the obnoxious squeal of "OMG LET'S GET SOME POCKY GAIZ OMG RAMUNE LET'S GET SOME RAMEN LIKE IN NARUTO!!1!!!!!!111!" on a near-weekly basis. They can't walk down the street without having to hear a loud cluster of brightly colored wigs traipsing down the street. And heaven forbid you work in a restaurant , lest you be doomed to take orders for food in broken, intelligible Japanese.
My point is this.
If you're going to cosplay in public, that's okay to do in small doses. A few times every month? Sure, why not. But just make sure to act like a decent human being while doing so.
also take those damn cat ears off you are not a cat you are a people.
