Slaying the Cosplay Game

Cosplay Slaying the Cosplay Game

Excerpt from “ Creating Through Cosplay ”

Amadara Oguara (Kyoto)

I am THAT cool anime-loving English teacher by day, but what my students don’t know is that I cosplay by night! I am currently a first-year elementary and junior high JET in Kyoto City. I attended my first anime convention in 2009 not knowing what cosplay was, and when I found out that it was a thing people do, it absolutely blew my mind. I’d always enjoyed dressing up during Halloween, but didn’t realize it was something I could do for more than one day out of the year!

I’ve cosplayed casually since, but have become more serious about it in the last year. As a cosplayer who is a person of color as well as LGBT, I’ve become more aware of discrimination and harassment in the community in recent years, and work to be an advocate for acceptance, change, and making cosplay a safe and enjoyable space for all. Cosplay is not only a form of self-expression and a creative outlet, but also a form of therapy for me after going through some especially rough years. When it sucks to be you, it’s nice to be someone else for a few hours or a day, and it’s truly a hobby of joy. Through cosplay, I bring joy not only to myself but to others, and that’s what keeps pushing me further. I’m sure it’s a similar feeling for some of you out there too! Even though I’m in Japan now, I want to continue to slay the cosplay game! I have cosplayed on Halloween before, during my study abroad at Waseda University in 2016. I went to the Shibuya Halloween celebration as Sailor Venus. The most touching moment was a little Japanese girl seeing me in the street and shouting, “母ちゃん、見て！セーラーヴィーナス”—“Look, Mom, it’s Sailor Venus!” As someone who has been called “inaccurate,” “the black version,” or even racial slurs while cosplaying, it was meaningful to know that in essence, the color of my skin SHOULDN’T and DOESN’T dictate what characters I can and can’t be. I AM Sailor Venus, and I made that little girl’s night.

As for this Halloween, I am looking at being Nezuko from (Demon Slayer). I feel blessed every day for getting to live in Kyoto and can’t wait to do some amazing cosplay photoshoots throughout the different seasons, especially this fall!

I cosplay characters from anime, video games, and American cartoons/webcomics—basically any character that resonates with me. Some of my favorite series to cosplay from are Steven Universe, My Hero Academia, Kakegurui, She-Ra, and Lore Olympus. I am most active on Instagram as @ miss_suju, and can also be found on Twitter as @miss_suju_cos. I’ve gotten to befriend so many people from around the world through cosplay, so if you see this, shoot me a DM, I promise I don’t bite!

Amadara Oguara, AKA Miss Suju, is a first-year elementary and junior high JET in Kyoto City. She’s of Nigerian and Native American descent and

originally hails from Seattle, Washington, USA.

Left: Amadara as Toga Himiko from My Hero Academia. Right: Amadara as Catra from She-RA. Cover: Amadara becomes a gem as White Diamond from Steven Universe.