Cosplay Culture Mentioned Showed This Week
Posted By admin on January 20, 2010
American Idol highlighted contestant Mere Doyle during the Boston auditions. Doyle called herself an “otaku, which is another word for anime freak.” Doyle also said anime inspired her to design and make her own kimono. The segment highlighted Doyle wearing a kimono and also other cosplay items such as a jacket worn by the titular character in Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga and anime. Doyle said her aspirations are to “become a singer and be successful in Japan.” Doyle sang Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” for her audition.
The characters in the double-episode premiere of the new FX animated series Archer referenced cosplayers. The series is about Sterling Archer, a secret agent, and the agency for which he works. The agency operates just like any other office — with paperwork and a Human Resources department. When a person on fire appears in the episode, Archer asks fellow agent Lana Kane what kind of person would wear a flaming suit, and Lana replies, “Cosplay enthusiasts!”
Guest star James Franco, playing himself, acted as though he were in love with a dakimakura (literally, a “hugging pillow”). In the episode, Franco starts a fake celebrity relationship with Jenna (Jane Krakowski) to dispel tabloid rumors that said he was in love with a hugging pillow. In the meeting to set up the fake relationship, Franco said, “Are you familiar with Japanese ‘moe’ relationships where socially dysfunctional men develop deep emotional attachments to body pillows with women painted on them?” Franco refers to the pillow as “Kimiko” and “Kimiko-tan” throughout the episode, and at the end of the episode announces that he is “in love with, and common-law married to, a Japanese body pillow!” The full episode can be watched on NBC’s website.
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