‘You can be what you want to be’ at event
Convention a call to arms of creative abilities and a nod to favourite characters
Saskatoon’s anime convention, called Ganbatte — Japanese for “good luck” or “do your best” — brought out a devoted crowd to TCU Place.
For the people attending the convention decked head to toe in intricate costumes, it almost seems like a call to arms to show off their creative abilities.
At the cosplay repair booth tucked into a corner of the basement at the convention, a small team of able craftspeople keeps everyone looking their best.
“Seeing all the cosplayers, and seeing what they come up with ... there’s no such thing as a bad costume,” repair booth volunteer Melissa Zimmerman said.
Cosplay is the act of dressing up as a specific character from a show or game: a portmanteau of the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’. As anime, entertainment, and comic expos have exploded in number over the past decade, cosplaying has become increasingly popular. For many, it’s a chance to show devotion to a particular show or character. For others, the challenge is in making the costume as detailed and accurate as possible.
So for the repair team at Ganbatte, keeping the attendees’ costumes together is crucial for everyone to have a good time.
“I find it’s so much fun. It’s another character I can be,” Zimmerman said. Dressed as the character Blair from the anime Soul Eater, Zimmerman said personally making a costume lets her exercise her creativity.
Putting together a cosplay is not always as straightforward as sewing fabric together. For some of the more complex costumes, props might be required — like a helmet for a Power Ranger, a sword for a ninja, or cat ears for just about anything.
Zimmerman described learning to craft realistic pieces of armour out of foam for a different costume, a process that took months to do properly.
Robert Elash spent days working on his costume, the likeness of a character named Megumin from the anime series KonoSuba. He said cosplaying is about more than the outward appearance of the character for him, but trying to reflect the personality of the character that means so much to him.
“I enjoy the work of trying to put a costume together,” Elash said after visiting the repair booth to get some stitching on his outfit fixed. “It’s about getting the attitude of the character right in the costume building.”
Elash said one of the best parts of going to conventions was being able to exchange costume ideas with other attendees, a feeling echoed by Zimmerman. Both cosplayers said being able to discuss the best way to put together costumes was a fun part of these events.
Not everyone at the convention on Saturday was an experienced cosplayer.
For 18-year-old Kirklin Berg, this year’s Ganbatte was his first convention. Equipped with only a set of cat ears, Berg said he’s working on putting a more elaborate costume together.
But Berg also said he’s putting together a costume for one main reason: to have fun.
“You can be what you want to be,” Berg said.
Seeing all the cosplayers, and seeing what they come up with ... there’s no such thing as a bad costume.