Cosplay Resolution 2019: Presenting the Count(ess) of Monte Cristo

In March of 2019 I attended my first convention in Japan, and it was a whopper: Anime Japan in Tokyo! It was my hastily decided resolution for 2019 to do some ambitious cosplay because I felt like there was something special about Japan — cosplayers are pretty hardcore here, and I wanted to challenge myself to cosplay with what I considered to be the big leagues. I felt like I had to go all-out.

Did I succeed? I would say “YES!” …but not without some trials and tribulations! Consider this not only my resolution wrap-up for the year, but also a crash course in cosplaying in Japan…which has some marked differences with the US!

My Cosplay Character

I chose to cosplay the Count of Monte Cristo from the anime Gankutsuou, but with a twist: I wanted to flip the gender to make a Countess. I selected the cosplay because I absolutely love this science fiction reimagining of the Alexandre Dumas classic, and the costumes in the anime were designed by none other than Anna Sui, so that meant FANCY, which was definitely the type of ambitious look I wanted to go for at this convention.

The outfit consists of a jacket, vest, blouse, cravat, gloves, and skirt. Everything else consisted of a wig, prosthetic ears, gold ball earrings, color contacts, professional stage makeup (cream color) for the blue skin, and additional blue makeup for the lips, eyes, and eyebrows. Whew!

Cosplay Construction

I started gathering materials in December 2018 and January 2019, ordering completed pieces (like the gloves and skirt) as well as additional fabrics and trimmings for the parts I wanted to fully customize or create (namely the jacket and cravat). I do not have a sewing machine, and although that would make my life easier, I have always hated using them, so I sewed everything by hand starting from January and all the way into March, including the night before (and the morning of!) the convention…which I absolutely did not want to do. 🤦 But! The point is, I got it done, and the costume was 100% completed as desired when I wore it on the convention floor.

Easiest piece: The cravat, which I ended up making about two days before flying to Tokyo from Kumamoto. I had purchased a pattern from Etsy to go with a more historical interpretation, and had cut and assembled the patterns when I realized there were additional materials I needed to purchase (some sort of plastic looping thing that I didn’t understand and didn’t know where to get). I made the executive decision to completely make it from scratch. I 100% winged it and honestly, it didn’t take that long to make — just a couple hours. I made a sort of “cheat” version in that I didn’t make a single piece you simply tie and knot. I cut and hemmed a strip to go around my neck with snap button clasps, then sewed a pre-knotted tie onto to the fabric strip so it would always be centered and never undo.

Most difficult piece: The damned flouncy sleeves on the black velvet jacket. Oooohhhh, the bane of my existence. There were flames and glitter painting and black piping and black embroidery…but then the worst part still waited for me. I’m referring to the part of the costume in the anime where the Count’s jacket has large red cuffs with gold spirals on them — one of the most recognizable elements of the jacket. When I first did a version of this cosplay back in the US (6 years ago! OMG!) it was so difficult for me to figure out that I completely left it off, and the costume really felt naked without it. I knew this go-around, I had to do them. I didn’t want to make giant cuffs because I wasn’t sure how to, and I didn’t want to remove the cute lace flouncy sleeves from the jacket.  Since I was doing a girly version of the costume anyway, I compromised by splicing the two styles together.

The gold spirals were the problem. I had spent about a month (ridiculous, I know) working on these babies, with false starts concerning fabric choices and colors, not getting the spiral pattern correct, etc. I finally had the idea to blow up a screenshot of the anime to make a cardboard stencil for the spiral shape, which worked wonders, but then my fabric kept dissolving or pooling in weird bunches. After six rough starts or so, I gave up and just sewed the velvet spiral — with cardboard stencil still attached to it — directly onto the sleeve. That solved the problem, but I’m sure I’ve guaranteed this costume will never be properly washed without the whole thing falling apart, *sigh.* By the time I had to leave for Tokyo, I only had one sleeve completed — the main parts were attached, but I was hand-sewing gold braid around the spirals to make them pop and hide those fraying edges — and this was what I was still working on the day of the con.  But, the hard work and many failures were worth it because whenever people came up to me in costume, the sleeves would be the first thing they’d go for. YESSS!

Cosplaying at Anime Japan

…aka Cosplaying in Japan 101! While Anime Japan is a unique event, from doing some research on cosplaying here in general, I can safely say that you can treat this is the standard for convention cosplay here. If you ever decide to come to Japan to get your costume kicks, I hope these little tips help you prepare!

Tip #1: You can’t wear your cosplay to (or outside of) the con.

Back home in the US, it’s common to already be in costume when you enter the convention center to pick up your badge.  It’s perfectly normal to see people in the parking lots, walking down the sidewalks, streaming into the convention centers, fully geared up.

Not so in Japan! You’re outright discouraged from doing so. I can’t tell you the exact reason why, but I can make some guesses — to avoid attracting unwanted attention, disturbing others on public transport, respecting the 和, maintaining order and keeping control of the crowds. If you want to cosplay in Japan, you have to bring your cosplay with you and change inside the convention center.

Tip #2: You must pay to ‘play.

Cosplaying isn’t free! At Anime Japan, it was ¥1000 per day to cosplay (just under $10). They understand that cosplay is pretty elaborate and people will be hauling luggage, so they have an efficient “bag check” setup where you get a ticket and can access your bags, or check additional bags, at any point during the day. Only cosplayers get this benefit.  You get to check your luggage after you change into your cosplay — the baggage check and cosplay dressing rooms are right next to each other and everything is a quick, smooth process!

Tip #3: The private dressing rooms aren’t so private. 

…or rooms, exactly. The changing area was a sectioned off part of one of the halls (it looked like an airplane hangar) with temporary panels set up to construct walls for privacy. There were blue plastic tarps set up on the concrete floor, and you went in a single-file line in rows of six or seven people to sit on the ground to do makeup and get changed.

So, yeah — you get dressed in front of everyone. You are elbow-to-elbow with them, and there is zero privacy. And zero mirrors! Not even a full-length mirror to actually see what your completed costume looks like! 95% of my costume was put on completely blind, because, guess who her forgot hers because she was too focused on sewing? Luckily my friend had a small handmirror that she passed back and forth with me; but I just felt like I had to rush through everything because I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. And when you rush, you make mistakes. My mistake: styling my wig so quickly that I didn’t remember I was wearing my prosthetic elf ears (which I had hand-painted!), and accidentally pinned the wig right over them, including hiding the large gold stud earrings that matched the Count’s exactly. All that effort on details, and…OOF.

Tip #4: You can only take photos of cosplayers in special, designated areas.

To control crowds, you’re not allowed to take photos of people in the actual convention center when they’re looking at booths, attending stage events, buying swag, or just good old-fashioned walking around. While the downside is that you might not get to see all cosplayers — or capture pictures of all the ones you like — the ability to be able to move without obstruction is wonderful. But bear in mind, if you want people to take pictures of you, you have to plant it at the Cosplayer’s World section and wait for people to come up to you. Same thing for taking selfies — you can’t do them outside the area, and they do have people telling you to move if you’re taking photos where you shouldn’t.

The one and only exception to this is the booth cosplayers. These are the pros purposely hired by animation studios, game companies, etc., to promote their work, so as long as you ask politely, they are fair game and you won’t get in trouble for taking their picture. And because they are professional actors, you get to see a whole ‘nother level of cosplay.

Final Verdict

I’d say I accomplished what I set out to! I’m not going downplay the fact that cosplay, and cosplaying with a budget and deadline, is pretty stressful for me. Hand-sewing everything is not ideal but it’s what I know, and there’s a certain look I like to go for with cosplay that makes things…well, not easy.

In the grand scheme of things, I sewed very, very little, but it took a lot of time and effort. And because of that, I’m proud of this work. While I regret sewing the day of the convention, and I also regret effing up the elf ears I worked so hard on, I think I can count multiple successes:

• On the whole, this piece came out well; more accurate and better-constructed than my 2013 cosplay
• I got a couple highly coveted “上手!” from some awesome Japanese cosplayers. Validation!!
• Made it on some social media and Youtube (thanks to us being picked to do the Cosplay Parade)
• I even had a professional photographer come up to me and ask to take my picture! (My friend Mel also got a few pros to take her picture, especially on the second day. She even got the highly coveted business card from her photographers!)

Reflecting back on how and what we did, Mel and I came to the consensus that we love cosplay, and it’s worth the time and investment to continue to improve it. We also agreed that we have no idea how to pose in our pictures 😂, and this is something the Japanese cosplayers at the convention were so good at.  Seeing so many talented people spurred us on to work harder, so we’re focusing on upping our posing and makeup skills this year (specifically, our eye makeup. People in Japan are wizards at this).

Yep, you guessed it — we’ll be back in Tokyo March of 2020 for another cosplay adventure at Anime Japan! I’ll keep you posted on how that goes. In the meantime, for everyone else who had a resolution this year and worked for it, お疲れ様でした!