By BRYAN TERNG
Photos by ARIS ZARIL
alltherage@thestar.com.my
THERE isn’t a single hobby that doesn’t benefit the hobbyist in at least some way, and cosplay is no exception. Echoing that sentiment, a judge of the recently-held Coswalk Competition said cosplay is just a hobby with a different approach.
“Every hobby has its own uniqueness,” said the judge, Foo Kaneshiro Ming Wei, better known in cosplay circles as iGloomy Mink. He’s the managing/editorial director of Malaysia Cosplay Toshokan, a cosplay community organisation.
The Coswalk Competition resembled a fashion show, but with a cosplay twist, of course. It was one of the activities held during the Jaya Shopping Centre Cosplay (JSCC) event on Oct 5 at Jaya Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Foo, a former cosplayer himself and an active judge in recent competitions, decided to judge the competition to help the organisers out. The other judges were Jaya Shopping Centre’s senior centre director, Ooi Hock Lai and cosplayer Marina Shukry, aka Version Fenrir.
“The main point of cosplaying is to have fun,” Marina said. “Cosplay brings out the creativity in people, because they would have to learn to create their own costumes.”
Aside from the Coswalk Competition, the event also featured performances by J-rock bands Sanoziro, MyClamyra Project and Lucrona, and a dance-off with dancer Dai Spammerz.
Stalls selling anime, comics and games merchandise, called Doujin booths, added to the carnival-like atmosphere.
According to the organisers, based on social media hits alone, approximately 200–300 attended JSCC. Given that it was Jaya Shopping Centre’s first attempt at hosting an event like this, Ooi reckons it was pretty successful.
“Based on its success, we would like to make JSCC an annual event,” Ooi said. “And we’ll do it on a bigger scale, too.”
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