Cosplay Trends

A recent trend at Japanese cosplay events is an increase in the popularity of non-Japanese fantasy and science fiction movie characters, perhaps due to the international success of such films as The Matrix, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Characters from the Harry Potter films have a particularly high number of female fans in Japan, with female cosplayers playing either male or female characters, Draco Malfoy being an extremely popular choice.

The act of cosplaying as characters of the opposite sex is called "crossplay", whereas the act of cosplaying as characters who dress as the opposite sex as the cosplayer is called "cross-dressing". Crossplaying and cross-dressing may be the same in some cases; however, they could be different. For example, a female cosplayer cosplaying as a male character who dresses as a normal male (such as Kira Yamato from Gundam SEED) would be cross-dressing and crossplaying; a male cosplayer cosplaying as a female character who dresses as a normal female (such as Lacus Clyne from Gundam SEED) would also be cross-dressing and crossplaying. However, a female cosplayer cosplaying as someone like Mana (male artist from the Visual Kei band Malice Mizer known for dressing in female clothes) would be crossplaying, but not cross-dressing (since the cosplayer is cosplaying someone of the opposite sex but is wearing clothes of her own sex); a male cosplayer also cosplaying as Mana would be cross-dressing, but not cross-playing (since the cosplayer is cosplaying someone of the same sex but is wearing clothes of the opposite sex).

A small niche group in the crossplaying field are dollers, a subset of kigurumi cosplayers; usually male, they wear bodysuits and masks to fully transform into female characters.

Another recent trend in cosplay is a blurring of the distinction between costumes based on characters from games and anime, and "original" costumes based upon a general theme or existing fashions. In particular, the Tokyo teen-fashion trend of Gothic Lolita has attracted some cosplayers who might not have the inclination (or possibly courage) to wear such distinctive clothes around town, but who would like to dress in such a manner on some occasions. Other popular trends include the "original Visual Kei cosplaying", "original punk cosplaying", "original Super Dollfie cosplaying", et cetera.