Cosplay trends

A recent trend at Japanese cosplay actions is an add to in the popularity of non-Japanese dream and science literature movie characters, perhaps due to the international success of such films as The Matrix, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Characters from the Harry Potter films have a particularly high number of female fans in Japan, with female cosplayers playing either male or female characters, Draco Malfoy being an extremely popular choice.Cosplaying as characters of the opposite sex is called "crossplay", and cosplaying as characters who dress as the opposite sex is called "cross-dressing". The main reason that people do “crossplay” or “cross-dressing” is because in anime there is an abundance of bishounen .who are very attractive and feminine-looking male characters. Therefore, in the reality, females can often act as these characters better than the males. “Crossplay” and “cross-dressing” often coincide, but since some Japanese characters cross-dress to start with, it is possible to do one without the other.

For example, a female cosplayer cosplaying as a male character would be cross-dressing and crossplaying. However, a female cosplayer dressing as someone like Mana (male performer from the Visual Kei band Malice Mizer known for dressing in female clothes) would be crossplaying, but not cross-dressing; and a male cosplayer also cosplaying as Mana would be cross-dressing, but not crossplaying.