Cosplayers of Color: A Late Bloomer, But Major Force

Cosplayers of Color is back with another amazing feature. Today to keep the momentum of #28DaysofBlackCosplay, we have AshaAnime Cosplay. We got to sit down and talk with this really dope cosplayer and we wanted to make sure you guys got to know her like we do.

Bobbo: So, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what got you into cosplay?

: Sure, So I truly discovered the world of anime nearly two years ago (late bloomer) lol. I have been very curious about the world of cosplay since finding out about it from a show called Face Off that airs on Syfy, and thought hmmm this looks fun. Then after watching the Naruto anime I became obsessed with the show and all things kawaii and dove further into the world of anime. I felt that my love for anime needed to be showcased in some greater form than buying graphic tee’s lol, so after joinig various cosplay groups on FB I became inspired to finally cosplay on my own.

Bobbo: Oh wow, that’s awesome. I love that you watch Face-off. It’s a great show especially if you love Visual FX and that and cosplay go hand in hand. So everybody has an origin story, and we want to hear about yours. What was your first cosplay and do you remember why you chose to do that particular cosplay?

: My first cosplay was Hinata Hyuga from Naruto Shippuden. I fell in love with Hinata’s character and identified with her the most out of all the characters. I chose to cosplay as her because I felt like the difficulty level would be easy to moderate and most importantly because she is my all time favorite female anime character. I have cosplayed as her on a few separate occasions and I constantly try to make modifications to my costume or overall look as my skill and knowledge level increase.

Bobbo: I love Hinata. She will forever be bae, lol. I know that you said that you are just getting into anime not too long ago, do you think that gives you a lot of catching up on some characters you want to cosplay?

: Yes, Definitely. I have a pretty decent mental cosplay list going on. How I choose a character is usually a battle of did I actually watch the anime and how badly I want to cosplay a character. I typically only cosplay characters from anime that i have actually watched but the more you think about a show other characters pop up in mind that you may not necessarily like, but you fall in love with their outfit and feel that it needs to be depicted in real life. So you essentially get stuck on one anime and end up cosplaying all your favorites before you move on despite watching other anime lol.

Bobbo: So, out of all the cosplays you’ve done so far. Which one would you say is your favorite? And what makes it your favorite?

: I have to say that Hinata is my favorite character to cosplay because there is so much that can still be worked on to improve it

Bobbo: Working to improve cosplays is so fun because it’s like a journey, seeing that character grow as you do. If you had a word of advice for people’s just starting out into this passion of cosplaying, what would you want them to know?

: Cosplay is for everyone! All that matters is that you have fun and you are respectful to others. It’s not an easy hobby however practice comes with each new cosplay, also try not to compare your work to professionals or more experienced cosplayers because they started at the bottom as well. And most importantly NEVER give up, if you need help YouTube is a great resource and there are many cosplay help groups with nice people willing to give advice. We are all showing our love for characters through cosplay so it does not matter if your costume was commissioned, store brought, hand made etc we are all in this together.

Bobbo: I really love that message, we all have to do what we love and realize that we are all in this as a fans of our favorite characters. I want to thank you for taking the time out and talking with us here on The block. We really love what you are doing and keep it up!

: No problem thank you for taking the time to interview me