[Cosplayer: Guren] “Otaku” is the Mad Expression of Love

 

 

The last person in our series of the Cosplayer of the Year 2021 Grand Prix is…

It’s finally…finally… COMPLETE!!!

 

It’s our interview series of the winners of The Cosplayer of the Year 2021 Grand Prix and our guest for its finale is Guren (Women’s/Men’s)!!!

 

Luciano  from [Combat Theory Analysis System #Compass] (Photographer / Matsuhige)

 

 

 

The PC Couldn’t Handle All the Love

I mean somehow… Despite being in the situation of interviewing two people who wore the same costume in the final as explained in the interview I posted the other day with Dakara, I’m more than sure that both of these cosplayers will shine brightly.

 

“Actually, during the judging stage of the completion, I was saying to Dakara that it would be cool if either of us Lucianos could be in the top. We were saying that we should both try our best together. We were teaching each other how to draw beards backstage. To be honest, I started cosplaying Luciano because I was inspired by Dakara’s coolness, he’s definitely one of the cosplayers that I admire. However, my Luciano is also packed with so much love it’s insane!!!” 

 

Luciano  from [Combat Theory Analysis System #Compass] (Photographer / Matsuhige)

 

That’s right, Guren is an otaku steeped in love. What is love…? How should we express it…? I can be sure that Guren is at least made of 80% love.

 

“In my otaku life, I started cosplaying about 10 years back… I put all  my effort and my everything into my Luciano. Even at the Cosplayer of the Year competition, it was all love. Of course, I think that everyone there had love for their characters. However, I can’t make plastic models, and I can’t even model. All I have to fight with is love!! Everyone, look!! Luciano is so amazing!! My cosplay is such a big ball of love, it’s crazy–…”

 

Due to the COVID debacle, this time the interview was conducted over video call. Just now, as Guren was proclaiming his love right there on the screen, he suddenly got logged out.

 

…

……

………

“I’m so sorry! My PC crashed! It crashed due to the weight of my love.”

 

…said Guren as he returned to the call. Okay, okay… let’s take a breath.

 

Luciano  from [Combat Theory Analysis System #Compass] (Photographer / Matsuhige)

 

 

A Path of Through Life with Love

Alright, let’s get back on track. Guren has become somewhat of a cosplay icon, but he apparently started to get into otaku culture through illustration. 

 

Artist Bomber from Mysterious Joker

 

“When I was in elementary school, I saw the anime, “BLACKJACK”. I got really into it and when I asked my mom, she gave me the entire manga series. My mom is also a serious otaku.” 

 

Ah, so this is where you received your teachings?

 

“Not really. While I was reading BLACKJACK, I found I really wanted to try drawing it myself. I started by looking at and copying pictures in books and then I started to draw manga.”

 

Hmmm… just hearing that I can tell that it was your gateway to otaku culture. 

 

“When you draw manga, you want people to read it, right? But at that time I couldn’t easily upload it to things like social media, so I decided to make my own webpage.”

 

Yes, yes, even listening this far I can sort of piece it together.

 

Blazion from [Yo-kai Watch]

 

“But I was just a middle school student at that time and I didn’t really know how to make it, so I started by learning HTML”

 

Wha–…? Is this amount of passion born from love too….?

 

“I was pretty happy that I could actually build the homepage myself and I was able to show it to a lot of people. I also liked writing, so I started thinking about getting into writing novels. Then I learned there was an event called Comiket where I could distribute manga and novels!!!”

Slowly, Guren’s world was opening up.

 

Gokuo from [Usotsuki! Gokuo-kun]

 

“But I was still a kid and I was still figuring out how to get into it, so I made copies of my work and started a mail order service from home!!”

 

I guess we have a completely different definition of a “child”. I have never heard of a high school kid starting a mail order service from home.

 

 

 

Finally He Found Cosplay

“Then in my third year of high school in the middle of exam season, I discovered cosplay!!”

 

Yay! He finally found cosplay, but he was studying day in and day out and if he could pass the university entrance exams, a brilliant otaku life would be waiting on the other side. Keeping that in mind, Guren kept his nose to the grindstone. 

 

Sha Wujing from [Gogogo Saiyuki] 

 

“Actually I couldn’t wait that long, so once and only once I joined a cosplay photoshoot…in super, super secret!”

 

Secretly or not, I don’t think there’s a difference…

 

“My first cosplay was Sha Wujing from Saiyuki. I used to play him in theatre, and I have always liked him. Back then I had Twitter and I was seeing people cosplaying Saiyuki in the Tottori Sand Dunes. I thought, “I want to be a cosplayer like these people!!” I was blown away because I hadn’t known you could express love that way.”

 

I’ve gradually come to the realisation in my heart that cosplay and otaku culture are different mediums by which to express you love for the works and our favourite characters

 

Sha Wujing from [ Saiyuki (theatre version) ] 

 

 

 

A Succession of Otaku Expressing Love

“After winning the Grand Prix, I started to get more and more followers that would say things to me like  “After I saw you, I fell in love with Luciano” and “I started cosplaying (because of you)”. When I realised that in my position I was finally able to convey the same feelings I had when I started cosplaying to others, it brought me to tears.”

 

Yes, Guren became a person full of admiration. And to the people who started cosplaying because of him, Guren has become a person that was in turn admired. This is how the love felt by otaku is passed down in succession.

 

Son Goku from [Gogogo Saiyuki]

 

“Otaku culture saves people.. No, it saves the world. You can be anything if you have love and an expression of that love can be anything from drawing, writing novels, cosplaying or buying a book. I love seeing the manifestation of that mad expression of otaku love, and I want to continue to show it in the future.”

 

 

• Guren

Twitter：@bomb_gu_ren_go

 

Claps!：https://claps.pro/img/u49021a20c65/

 

 

 

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