‘Why Did You Go To Comic-con In A Skirt?’ - My MCM London “Crossplay” Experience
(Me in the centre)
First of all, let’s clarify: The fact that my cosplay included a skirt is one of the most insignificant details about it. Secondly, I don’t entirely agree with the term “crossplay” myself, as it draws too much attention to the fact that the character just happens to be the opposite sex to the cosplayer. But this post is intended for people who don’t necessarily share the same views as me on this, so the title is tailored as such.
So MCM London in May was pretty fun. I pretty much went entirely for the ‘Love Live! School Idol Project’ fan meet as I’d gotten rather into that franchise over the past year. I liked the bright tone of the show, and I thought the music was catchy and well composed. I’m a composer myself so I could appreciate all the creative details of the songs. I really like this ‘idol’ style of J-Pop, and the promise of discovering more songs of that style was the main reason I chose to give the show a watch. I had no idea what the quality of the show itself would be.
Turns out, it was pretty good. While it has a few flaws, mainly in that nine main characters was too many to develop them all equally, ‘Love Live! School Idol Project’ actually kind of nailed what it was going for. While I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone who considers themselves to be mature, those who still have access to their inner child may find themselves actually getting on board with this colourful show. And you don’t have to be a girl to enjoy it, even if some might consider it ‘girly’. It’s about a second-year student named Honoka Kousaka at the failing Otonokizaka High School; who tries to put together a J-Pop idol group with her fellow peers to attract more prospective students to the school.
By the end of Season 1, Honoka really stood out as a personal favourite character for me. As someone who wants to start and lead my own rock band, I really admired Honoka’s passion and determination for her creative project, and I relate to her intense focus on realising her idea, as well her inability to give up on something she’s set out to do.
…At the same time, she’s kind of the complete opposite when it comes to anything outside of the idol group, and she’s much less motivated when it comes to less creatively stimulating things like schoolwork and her student council duties.
….I relate to that as well x’D
So, that’s the background behind the character I decided to cosplay and what led me to this point. But I would imagine I also need to explain my views on gender roles and labeling things as being for certain genders.
Basically,my world view is very genderblind. I believe gender is irrelevant in almost every situation. In other words, people are people, and some happen to be boys and some happen to be girls (Or both or neither, if you identify as such), but it’s very much a back of the mind thing.
So the idea that certain things are for boys and certain things are for girls doesn’t really add up to me. It’s slightly absurd to suggest that I’m not capable of enjoying certain shows just because I’m a man. Women aren’t alien creatures, I can understand, relate to, and enjoy most of the situations that a “girl’s show” with an all-female cast presents without any difficulty. It’s like suggesting that a “women’s” deodorant doesn’t work on men. Basically I just think everything is for everyone.
So further extending these thoughts, the fact that the character I cosplayed is female really isn’t the important detail here. It’s a character I considered to be one of my favourites, so I cosplayed as her. Simple as that. And while it may included a skirt, I would go as far as to say that it’s not a “girl’s skirt”, it’s a skirt. There was no magic spell on it that scanned for my gentials before proclaiming ‘ERROR! THIS SKIRT IS FOR GIRL’S ONLY!’ and self destructing. To be honest, I would actually say it was more comfortable than trousers. So yeah, clothing isn’t gendered, and nothing is really.
It’s true that I could have done a male version, but the only reason to do that would have been out of fear of what people might think. That’s an unhealthy mindset I want to distance myself from. What I do appreciate is just how little the con community cared though, despite a few fears in the back of my mind.
So in summary: From my point of view, this was no different to when I went to MCM last year as Link. The only difference was that this was a character I genuinely loved, rather than a character I already convieniently looked a bit like. I honestly feel like a limit’s been lifted, and now I’m free to cosplay a lot of my favourite characters. A majority of them happen to be female, so I’ve never actually cosplayed a favourite character before
Thanks if you made it this far. Ideally I wouldn’t be making an explanation post at all, but I felt like it would be easier to talk about it like it’s normal (which it is) if I had a post written up for reference to explain my viewpoint to those outside the con community.
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