Animegao

A doller is a cosplayer who performs a variant of "kigurumi" cosplay. The face is fully covered with a mask, usually meant to look like a human cartoon character, and the costume of the character is worn. In Japan most cosplayers refer to this style as (nihongo2|アニメ顔 - Animegao, or "Anime Face"). It is still a very minor part of the cosplay scene in Japan, though it was around 2005 when it began attracting attention in other countries, including the United Statescite web | title = Reika's Kigurumi Haven | url = http://reika.mooshuu.com ] , Canadacite web | title = クリスのページ | url = http://www.kurisutsurifu.com ] , and Europeancite web | title = Leigh Kigurumi | url = http://leigh.kigurumi.co.uk ] countries. Or|date=June 2008

At the hobbyist level the characters in question are almost all female, and commonly human, although kigurumi characters of other races and genders do exist, including male (such as Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin/Samurai Xcite web | title = Kenshin's Kigurumi Zone | url = http://kenshin.kigurumi.us ] ), mechanical (such as Gundam Wing), elven (such as Deedlit or Pirotess from Lodoss) and demonic (such as Inuyasha from the anime of the same name.) Another cosplay motive may also be the desire to emulate a given anime character in exact appearance, and personality. Other cosplayers have developed their own characters.cite web | title = Rabbit In The Moon| url = http://www.rabbitinthemoon.us ]

By wearing a body suit or mask, kigurumi cosplayers are able to get closer to the appearance of the original character, especially in the case of animal characters or highly stylised characters. Non-professional animal kigurumi cosplayers painstakingly make detailed heads and bodies from plastic, wire and artificial fur. In animegao kigurumi, the actor or actress playing a humanoid anime character will wear a flesh-coloured body suit (known as a Zentai) and matching mask usually moulded from clay or fiberglass composites (FRP). The body suit allows them less-detailed skin features, on the level of animated characters, and the mask allows a similar level of facial features. Some hobbyists obtain masks from established hobbyist mask studios such as Build Up Studio SIGMAcite web | title = Build Up Studio SIGMA | url = http://www.buildupstudiosigma.com] or Dolphin Factory.cite web | title = Dolphin | url = http://www.iluca.jp]

As with other kinds of cosplay, many hobbyists have costumes of established characters from games or animations.

Even though this term originated as a translation of nihongo2|アニメ顔, the original Japanese term is not used to describe masking based on anime characters. Instead the term [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9D%80%E3%81%90%E3%82%8B%E3%81%BF 着ぐるみ] is used by most performers.

ee also

* Cosplay
* Kigurumi

References

External links

; External Resources
* [http://wiki.kigurumi.org KiguWiki] ; Mask Creators
* [http://www.buildupstudiosigma.com/ Build Up Studio SIGMA]
* [http://www.iluca.jp/index2.html Dolphin Factory]
* [http://kanakig.accsalon.com Kanakig]
* [http://www.mtcraft.com/ MTCraft]