Cosplay – A hobby for some, a job with legal issues for others

My first contact with cosplay was when I started to get interested in anime and manga and went to some smaller conventions and fan meetings in Germany. It seemed like an interesting hobby but I never got into it due to lack of costume making skills. In Germany cosplay is still mostly a niche hobby, but in Japan it is quite major and some cosplayers have even made it their main job.

Cosplay is quite popular in Japan

Haco Stadium in Chiba 

In Tokyo and neighbouring prefectures you can find several photo studios that specialize in cosplay photography, for example the Haco Stadium in Chiba and Ikebukuro, Studio Aria in Tachikawa or Studio Booty in Shinjuku. All have several different themed rooms so they can cater to a large variety of cosplay and have a huge collection of props that can be rented for free. Compared to regular photo studios they even are quite cheap. You can use them for a whole day at around 4,000 to 5,000 yen.

Props at Studio Aria

Some studios also offer a photography service where you can have your picture taken by a professional photographer for an additional fee and costume rental services. All year round there are also cosplay events taking place where you can take photos in locations like abandoned places, churches or ruins.

Cosplay is very popular online, and you can find a lot of social medial profiles of cosplayers. Some even became popular enough that they can make a living by selling their photos / videos, taking part in paid photo sessions, etc.

But don’t wear your cosplay outside

In “normal” society, however, cosplay is still looked down upon in Japan. It is considered bad manners to walk around in your cosplay outside unless there is a cosplay event. But even for events it is usually not allowed to arrive in cosplay. Cosplayers usually arrive with no makeup and in normal clothes and change and do their makeup and hair in the changing room that is provided by the event organizer. The same goes for cosplay shooting in the photo studios. Some studios even ask you to take off your wig and wear an overcoat if you leave the studio to get something to drink.

I don’t really see why that is. Obviously, costumes with large wings or costumes that show a lot of skin shouldn’t be worn outside, but some costumes just look like a school uniform or are similar to Lolita fashion. The cosplayers just add some fancy wigs and a little heavy makeup on top of that. If you go to Harajuku, you will find people with fashion styles that are just as flashy as cosplay but these people can wear it because it is “fashion”?

Cosplay and Legal Issues

Recently cosplay also became the topic of legal discussion in Japan. In regard to the cosplayers that make money from their hobby copyright infringements are now being discussed. So far cosplayers would just cosplay what they wanted without asking the author or the company that owns the right of the franchise for permission - which in my opinion is perfectly fine if you do it as a hobby. But when it comes to making money, I agree that they should need the permission of the rights owner. After all, the author worked hard on their story to make it popular and a company spends a lot of money on advertising to make their franchise popular. Cosplaying a popular character will probably be getting the cosplayer more attention and photo sales than cosplaying a lesser-known character.

So, it makes sense that the cosplayer should have to get permission and possibly pay licensing fees to the rights owner. I assume some might just be alright without any fees because they consider it free advertising, but some might charge something just like Nintendo charges a part of the profits of Lets Players. So far a decision has not been made but there are plans to update the copyright law in regard to cosplay.

Another thing I find problematic is when cosplayers take photos only wearing swimwear or undergarments when the character is never shown in such a situation in the anime, manga or game.

In that case, they only do it for popularity and better sales. But I don’t think the author is very happy to see a character they out a lot of work into undressed. It depends on the person I guess, but I wouldn’t like it if I were an author. Also, is it really costume play when you don’t wear a costume? If they update the law maybe it will become possible for right holders to determine what kind of cosplay they allow and what they don’t want to see.

Have you ever done cosplay? Do you think cosplayers that make money should be paying license fees to the right owners?