THE doors open and Ashlyn Tuen, as Tenma from High School Rumble, steps into the hall, where the Narutos, Sailor Moons, Black Ladies, Samurais and Shinigamis roam among other popular anime/manga characters.

Here is where the characters come alive, where fiction blends into a part of reality and where real identities become obscure.

Ashlyn, 24, is Sumomo to her peers. She reveals that cosplaying isn't just as simple as donning a costume, it's about becoming a character and by doing so, assuming a whole new identity.

"Some people may think we're weird, but the truth is it's really a harmless hobby, and it's not like we're schizophrenic or delusional. It's just about fulfilling the simple fun fantasy of becoming your favourite characters, that's all," she says.

The law student has been an active cosplayer since 2003 and describes cosplaying as fun and challenging.

"It takes tremendous efforts to cosplay. We have to do our own research to find out about the characters we play, how to act them out and to integrate their personalities, habits and little behaviours ... but that's the major fun about it!" she says enthusiastically.

The term cosplay is portmanteau of the words "costume" and "role-playing", in particular reference to the Japanese anime/manga costume phenomenon.

There are also no specific references as to how cosplay began, but it is an obvious extension to the otaku pop culture as young Japanese anime/manga fans were among the first to dress-up as characters and gather to walk the city streets.

However, throughout the years since its emergence, cosplay has gone beyond the realm of anime/manga fan-dom and involves characters from video games, movies, TV shows as well as other fictional entertainment mediums.

As Ashlyn desribes, cosplay goes beyond the mere wearing the costumes and make-up but an actual role-playing of the characters.

It is common to find extremely distinctive characters and personalities in Japanese fictional works that goes beyond mere character designs.

Multiple intricate details are given to each specific character from costume to catch phrases to signature behaviour.

Cosplayers often form a unique connection with the fictional characters, be it similarities or aspects they aspire to achieve.

Thus, cosplaying, albeit with its escapist undercurrents, becomes a healthy, positive and creative fulfilment of their fantasies of bringing their own personal utopias and paradises to life through the combination of active creative challenge in fashion design with method acting.

Most importantly, these creative challenges are born out of an honest passion.

Ashlyn and her friend Fiona Chin have been avid anime/manga fans since their secondary school days and for them, it's just a very natural transition to take their interest to the next level.

"I think it's pretty natural, I mean, everyone has their fair share of fan craze for the fictional entertainments they adore, and at some point or the other, we all want to be our favourite characters. Cosplay lets you do that on a platform where everyone knows its fictional but plays along for the fun of it," says Fiona.

She also opines that because there aren't a lot of occasions when local youths get to "dress-up", cosplay conventions and events become very precious events for the players.

"We don't celebrate Halloween or any festivals even remotely involves costumes. So, conventions are like these special times when you get the chance to have fun with costumes and be somebody else," she says.

The rising popularity of comic and cosplay conventions in Malaysia is greatly welcomed by cosplayers like Ashlyn and Fiona, who has always wanted to get into the act, but could never find the venue to do it in the past.

"I've been a major (anime/manga) fan since I was 13 and I've always dreamed of dressing up as the characters. But anime/manga was such a small niche back then ... it wasn't until post millennium that it became a big thing and suddenly there were cosplayers everywhere!" says Ashlyn joyfully.

Meanwhile, cosplayer Masami Mustaza, 23, reveals that active or professional cosplayers usually go to great lengths to create their own costumes.

From finding the most suitable materials, to the meticulous sewing works and make-up secrets, cosplayers have great pride for their successful creations and often achieve deeper connections with the characters they're playing.

Yet, there are those with limited tailoring skills.

"I'm actually one of those people who can't really sew. But that doesn't mean I feel anything less about cosplaying. Most of us would try our best to make our own costumes, but usually cosplayers like me would find tonnes of reference from the Internet, choose the fabric or sketch a design, and then head to a tailor to make our costumes.

"It's actually quite difficult to find willing tailors because most of these costumes are very hard to make," says Masami.

She currently has a Sailor Mars (character from Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon), a Tenjou Utena (from Revolutionary Girl Utena) and a Card Girl (from Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland) costume, and is planning to make a Rei Ayanami (from Evangelion) Jumpsuit for the next local annual comic convention, Comic Fiesta, the largest and most popular local cosplay event scheduled to be held in December.

However, despite its popularity among local youths, Will Wee Wen Wen, 25, finds that there are still voices of disapproval for cosplay that stems from misunderstandings.

"I actually read an article in a local newspaper last year saying that cosplay is in direct relation to hentai or porn; that isn't true at all. There are indeed anime/manga that are pornographic but that doesn't mean the entirety of the culture is," he says.

"Cosplayers here practise very strict etiquette; we do not condone the demeaning of different genders or social groups and every cosplay convention here have strict rules against vulgar behaviour and costumes that are too revealing.

"I think people need to understand what this is all about before passing comments."

Though it's always easier for a new youth culture phenomenon to invite criticisms from the society, Ashlyn believes that given enough time, cosplay will eventually accepted as a healthy pastime.

"There are far worst things in the world than cosplay. Some of our parents initially think that we're wasting our time and money. But when they see the effort we put into our creations and attended some of the conventions, they find that it's actually pretty cool and there's really nothing negative about it," she says.