It's another year of ChinaJoy, it was a few days when the two-dimensional concentration in Shanghai exploded, and I met a coser in "strange clothes" on the street, not only strange, but sometimes I also felt strange and good-looking.
Among them, there are students and full-time actors, but in fact, there is another category, they laugh and call themselves "older two-dimensional" in the circle, social animals, wives, or mothers, part-time cosers are more for love to generate electricity, and their wish is to wait for their children to grow up and go to comic conventions together.
The diversification of Coser ingredients is inseparable from the subculture to the masses. According to data released by iResearch, in 2023, the scale of China's "two-dimensional" industry will increase by 27.6% to 221.9 billion yuan. When cosplay is not professionalized, youth is not the end of cosers.
Part-time income is uncertain, ranging from one meal to thousands
The 95-year-old Kome, an animation practitioner with a stable working life, allowed her to participate in cosplay only on weekends. In 2023, Xiaogui will be promoted to become a mother, and in order to balance family and work, the frequency of going to cosplay will be even more "Buddha".
Generally, I only choose the characters I have seen or liked, because only if I understand this character, can I interpret it better on the stage, and now I just take it as a personal hobby, and I won't touch it if I am not familiar with it.
Xiaogui said that basically every activity can return to the cost, at most it is to earn pocket money, and sometimes even a meal of Haidilao.
We often have to prepare our own costumes and props, contact the post-production, and many of the costs are at our own expense.
■ Small turtle
Compared with the little turtle's "9 to 6", it is also the Sanskrit sound of the 95 former mother, because the work itself is related to cosplay, so the time is relatively free, and the frequency of doing coser is also higher, turning it into a side hustle, and the appearance fee is also thousands.
It is understood that at present, Xiaogui and Fanyin have signed contracts with MCN institutions, considering that they are not full-time, so there is no so-called KPI consideration, and they can choose the business order opportunities provided by MCN according to their own schedule.
■Sanskrit sound
The appearance fee is related to the type and size of the business order, there are team projects, there are also individual projects, and some large-scale events will provide their own services, for cosers, as long as they are alone. In addition to MCN, cosers like Xiaogui and Fanyin, who have been immersed in the circle for many years, will also rely on their own connections to take orders, and on weekdays, they have their own social platforms to record and display their beautiful photos.
Every industry has a '28 law', unless it is a particularly head coser, it will earn more.
The crazy student days, the beginning of the relationship with the second dimension
The story with the second dimension mostly starts from the student days. In 2005, Hangzhou took the lead in promulgating policies to support the animation industry in the country to build an "animation capital".
At a club cultural festival, Xiao Gui, who is still in high school, participated in cosplay with her classmates, which was also her first time as a coser. Little Turtle still remembers that he played the role of Medusa at that time. She said that at that time, it was a pure play mentality, and she did not expect this love to be maintained to this day.
When I think back to the craziest time, it should be college. At that time, Kotome spent almost all of his spare time cosplaying. She said that at that time, she made her own costumes, props, wigs, and scenery, and even had to go to the fabric and hardware market to find suitable materials, and rehearsals all night was commonplace.
■ Small turtle
Also in college, Fanyin joined the anime club since her freshman year, and the first time she cosplayed the role of the captain of the fourth team in "Bleach ", the deputy. She said that at that time, everyone was a man of action, and once for the sake of the shooting effect, a few like-minded good friends said to leave and rushed from Hangzhou to Gansu.
Interests will sprout, and they are inseparable from the protection of parents, especially niche hobbies. Koki said that when he was in college, he would participate in cosplay and play competitions, and as long as his parents were free, he would help pick up and carry materials. Sanskrit said that although adults don't understand cosplay, they will learn to appreciate it.
Mom often compliments me on dressing up beautifully, especially when I wear some ancient costumes and skirts, thinking that I look like a doll, and I am very lucky to have such parents.
■Sanskrit sound
Not professionalized, cosplay is more than youth
Last year, I didn't come to ChinaJoy because of confinement, and as long as I had it since college, I basically came.
For this year's ChinaJoy, Xiaogui began to prepare half a month in advance, originally, she wanted to cos an abstract anime character, "now the appearance circle is too volatile". But then I thought about it and gave up, and chose Boruto Uzumaki in COS "Naruto", that is, Naruto's son.
Fanyin is also arranging work in advance to consider whether it can make time for ChinaJoy, after all, this is an annual anime event.
In Xiaogui's opinion, there are not many "older two-dimensional" people like them who are still generating electricity with love.
At that time, there were hundreds of people in our club, and now there are only single digits of cosers. It is true that there will be more people who give up, and there are many practical factors, such as work, family, and some people who are out of shape and are unwilling to play.
However, even if you don't do cosers, the experience and enlightenment of cosplay still point out the direction of life for many former players. There are many such friends around Fanyin, because of their contact with cosplay, some people have become illustrators, some people have become makeup artists, and some people have learned programming and done game development.
Because of being a coser, many people find their own goals and spiritual sustenance in the process, and sometimes cosplay some very enthusiastic characters in the anime, who face life so positively, so they will also hope that they will be like this character and make themselves better.
Not only ChinaJoy, in fact, more and more two-dimensional events are setting off one heat wave after another in Shanghai. The increasing number of coser group portraits also shows that the public's tolerance and recognition of this niche culture is gradually increasing.
Because of this, Xiao Turtle and Sanskrit invariably said that if you treat cosplay as a full-time job, from an objective and rational point of view, this is indeed a bowl of youth rice, but if it is just a hobby, as long as you dare to challenge, why can't you keep cosplaying?
Xiaogui said that after being in this circle for a long time, he doesn't care about other people's eyes and opinions, and he just likes it. Sanskrit also mentioned that cosplay is more like a state of self-entertainment, and if you like it, you won't feel tired.