Cosplay Goes Global

Cosplay costume and role-plau Nov Takahashi subculture centers around participants dressing and emulating their favortite characters from Japanese mangas (comic books), anime (animation), and video games.
RICHARD A. BROOKS / AFP / Getty

Animated
Cosplay, an english contraction of the two words costume and role-plau, was first coined by sci-fi enthusiast Nov Takahashi in 1984 while attending the Los Angeles Science Fiction Worldcon. This subculture centers around participants dressing and emulating their favortite characters from Japanese mangas (comic books), anime (animation), and video games.

share

Get the Latest Photos from Time.com
Get TIME photos and pictures of the week delivered directly to your inbox.