A Guide to Manga, Anime and Video Game Cosplay is a good beginner overview for multi-genre cosplay by Holly Swinyard. Tentatively due out 30th April 2022 from Pen & Sword on their White Owl imprint, it's 128 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a good general starting place for readers who are interested in cosplay. The author does a superb job introducing the background, current culture, and selecting projects and figuring out how to make a start for people just beginning in the hobby. I really liked her encouraging and supportive writing style. I (literally) grew up in the fandom world. My dad (and my grandfather! to a lesser degree) were early golden/silver age comics fans and I was along for the ride. To say that the fandom can be exclusionary and clique-y is a major understatement and Ms. Swinyard's welcoming and encouraging vibe are really nice to see.
The chapters following the introduction are arranged thematically and give some good advice on where to find inspiration and resources to choosing a character to cosplay through getting started and making the props and costumes. This is -not- a specific tutorial guide and there are no actual patterns contained here. The book is lavishly illustrated throughout with pictures from fan-group archives of cosplayers past and present. Spelling and terminology are British standard English throughout. That won't present a problem in context for readers outside the UK, but it is something to be aware of.
There is a companion book by the same author to cosplay for film & TV cosplay and both have a similar format. Here's a quote from my other review of the Film & TV book which applies equally to this book:
"The models are diverse. Representation is important! I remember being a nerdy girl in a *very* male dominated gaming, comics, and SF fandom and being told that I didn't belong. I gave up a million times, discouraged. Honestly it was the stories which always dragged me back (and finding a solid group of friends who stopped noticing I was female). I -wanted- Starfleet and the Federation to be true... I -needed- them to be true. Fandom is where we get to make the dreams true for just a little while. That's important and this author clearly "gets it".
The following chapters take cosplayers through choosing a cosplay (or more than one) to put together and gives some concrete advice beyond "pick your favourite character". There's quite a lot to think about and the author does a good job of being encouraging and thorough. I really liked that they took the time to specifically say that cosplayers don't need to feel locked into a particular character because they might have similar physical characteristics to that character - it's ok to love the costume, to relate to the character for other emotional reasons, to get outside one's own skin (hint: that's why we *do* this). "
The author has included some of the best chapter notes and references for further reading I've seen in a book of this type. This would make a superlative selection for library acquisition, maker's groups, theatre/recreation/SCA use and similar.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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