©Cosplay Trends©

  Is this the newest trend in Japan for cosplay?  For the past few years "Maid" costumes have dominated the Japanese cosplay market.  Everyone is dressed as a maid these days in Japan.  From cute and adorable characters such as Digiko from Digi Charat, to the mega sexy characters from various series.  Maid cosplays are everywhere and from the look of most Japanese cosplay pages, the trend doesn't seem to be dying down anytime soon.

But what about school uniforms?  Aren't they still popular? 

Oh yeah, I think Sailor Fuku's or School uniforms will always have a following.  There's nothing like a pleated skirt to get you though the day.  If you look on such Japanese cosplay shops such as Cospa, you can still find a wide array of school uniforms to purchase, however Cospa is very expensive and although they do ship to the US, you have to be aware of your clothes size and make sure you can convert your size into metric measurements!

What about dressing as Sailor Moon?  Will people look down at you for wearing her costume? 

Sailor Moon Cosplays have made a sudden resurgence lately.  I'm not sure if that has to do with the fact that the live action television series came out and became popular or what, but Sailor Moon is huge this year.

Before I digress any further, I want to take this time to mention something about US cosplay trends.  Unlike Japan, we here in the US don't follow a specific cosplay trend.  We tend to make outfits according to what anime or video game character we wish to do.  However there are some cosplay costumes that are more popular then others.  The new cosplay year just started, but I can tell you what I've seen from last year and from this year's Katsucon that's really popular.

Full Metal Alchemist has been big this year.  Also Inuasha is mega popular.  Sailor Moon as I said has made a gigantic resurgence.  Also, J-Rockers have dominated the scene for the past two years.  There have been a ton of Malice Mizer fans donning the fabled J-Rock band's highly elaborate gear.  And the whole Gothic and Lolita fashions are very popular.  Also Final Fantasy X2 was seen all over!  Among male cosplayers what I have noticed is the astonishing popularity of Hellsing cosplayers.  The snappy red coat and hat have been donned a lot.  And there have been a lot of Metal Gear Solid 3 cosplayers I've noticed for guys this year.  But mainly it's been Full Metal Alchemist and Inuasha for both male and female fans.