We had an anime convention last weekend, called Anime Festival Asia (AFA), the biggest and most popular of its kind in the Southeast Asia region. I did not attend, but read on Facebook that there was an ugly incident involving a cosplayer and an old lady. The old woman called the cops after seeing this cosplayer’s attire (taken from the Hardwarezone forums):
I have a friend, Mustapusta, who is currently doing his National Service in the local police force, and he had this to say:
Musta: If a person calls the police, for whatever reason, we have to go check it out. I do not see anything wrong in the picture. The police will normally let her go after taking down her particulars.
Me: So this is technically not violating the law?
Musta: No, you never show the important parts. It’s not against the law.
Me: Underboob does not count?
Musta: Does cleavage count? Why is the bottom part of the breast more valued than the top part? Does this mean that we, the police, have to arrest everyone at the swimming pool?
So there you have it. To set the record straight, the Ryuko cosplayer did not commit any crimes by slightly exposing herself. But to be frank, I would have preferred if she wore some nude padding instead of revealing real underboob. Or she could have just cosplayed Ryuko in her uniform attire, without the battle transformation.
This is just my own personal opinion though, and I won’t give her any demerit for her costume. These type of things take effort, time, and lots and lots of dedication. Also, everyone needs to watch Kill la Kill please. Strong contender for animation of the year, and this is coming from someone who hardly watches anime these days (because most of them are really, really bad).
Cruel Ultimatum 
Contradictory of you to praise the anime and judge a real life cosplayer for emulating it.
I am not against her costume, in fact, I liked it and can appreciate the effort.
I suggested those things not because of some moral high ground (like the old auntie), but because of simple, logical common sense: I would like cosplayers, especially females, to protect themselves and not attract any unnecessary attention. There are many people in this world with evil or stupid intentions (like the old auntie) — why make yourself a potential target to these idiots?
Prevention is always better than cure.
I have to agree with the editor regarding the part where he mentioned ” I would have preferred if she wore some nude padding instead of revealing real underboob. Or she could have just cosplayed Ryuko in her uniform attire, without the battle transformation.”
Yes; she had the option to wear a skin suit which is a body suit to cover up those exposed part of her body which would definitely make her looks more presentable in public appearance. Besides that, she also had the choice to cosplay the uniform attire; which is more decent looking as well.
Sadly; many/some cosplayer this days (not referring to all of us, but many/some) would rather choose the sexier outfit in order to obtain more popularity on the social media network as you fame is based on the amount of likes you had obtained on your picture.
Nonetheless; I’m glad that the Singaporean officers had dealt with this issue with a respectable manner. Kudos.
(all of those are my opinion though, so sorry if what I said offended you) 🙂 cheerios
Hi Krissy, thank you for taking the time to comment. Were you there on the day of the incident? I’m just curious on how the problem was resolved and if the cosplayer was okay. Thanks.
Who are you guys to post opinions if you just read it off fb.. you do not know the cosplayer or what actually happened except rumors from facebook. You are all not helping by posting your judgementa and speculating why cosplayers choose their costume and how they should make it more modest because it is up to how they want to express it and not about what is accepted outside of conventions because if you wanna talk about cosplayers choosing sexier outfits why not talk about girls wearing bikinis at swimming pools?? Same concept.
I also want to urge people not to continue spreading the picture of the cosplayer and passing ur own judgements on her choices because they are not ur choices and frankly it has nothing to do with you guys. It is a private matter and i hope you guys can respect that.
Also if its possible please take the picture of the cosplayer down.. please she doesnt deserve this and if people want an idea of the costume they can google it themselves.. she has done nothing wrong and as i said before its private. You wanna share about that incident fine! Dont share her picture..
No longer a private matter when it made headlines IMO 😛 Since nowadays it’s much more easier to prod and poke at unrelated news.
Also, there’s a utilitarian purpose for bikinis in swimming pools – especially if they are hoping for a tan, or maybe to impress the opposite sex, or perhaps they just wanna look FABULOUS! All in the name of self-advertising. Which, I think that’s how most Cosplayers perceive this (geeky) hobby now. (There’s a saying, if you ate chilli, you’ll feel the heat)
Cheers.
I have to ask why do you say things like take the picture down? It was a convention, I’m quite sure that well over 40 people took her picture at one point or another during the convention. There is no harm in having her picture on the internet. Men and women go to these conventions as cosplayers knowing that they are going to have their picture taken. It’s part of the fun of going to a convention. Also why not speculate on her attire? I personally don’t care and think it’s an awesome cosplay, but there is no harm in having conversations about things such as these. They are not private matters as they took place in a public setting and are able to be discussed as such.
wtf,, it was a cozplay, everybody is free to use any costumes.. there’s no cozplay law that saying the costume must cover all your body or smthing like that.. man.. why this is even come up ?
I disagree with the padding part or simply cosplaying a total different version however. wearing skin suit or adding paddings would simply not be as nice and accurate as what she did. And i don’t see why she could not cosplay the transformation version. One example i would give is, it’s the difference between cosplaying a transformed power ranger, and a pre-transformed one. It’s just different. if she likes the transformed version more, i don’t see why she shouldn’t do it. and please don’t stereotype girls. it might not be because of fame and popularity that she chose to do this version.
Yeah, you’re right. I think it’s totally okay with going in the nude with only a pair of white underwear – actually TWO pairs. Especially if I’m going to cosplay Hentai Kamen. I mean, I don’t mind burning my incredibly sexy body into the minds of everyone else who had the fortune of witnessing such divine beauty.
Oh wait, I’m not doing it for fame as well. I sincerely LOVE Hentai Kamen, what with him being a defender of justice and all that. ESPECIALLY if my name just so happens to be the hot topic of everyone in the community, I will not selflessly deny that I didn’t enjoy the amount of limelight!
Genius logic indeed.
hentai kamen is different because it reveals the whole butt, but kill la kill doesnt reveal anything private, other than underboobs which to me, isnt that different from revealing cleavage.
and yes, i’ve got friends who totally loves hentai kamen because they find it funny. just because you yourself doesnt appreciate the series doesn’t mean others don’t. to further add on my point, i’m just trying to say that, not all people choose characters that wears little because of fame, not saying that nobody does that. i dont know the girl, neither do most of us her, and i dont think its fair to judge her just because she chose this character.
There is people costuming hentai kamen that day!
still okay what..
its your own right
You can’t judge another like they force u to watch or wear it. Dun like it go away its not like u need to see or wear it.
That Auntie should see that Guy . I scare Army also arrive.
http://mitsueki.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/auntie-riled-by-cosplayers-underboob-ryuko-matoi-from-kill-la-kill-at-the-anime-festival-asia-2013/
like the police guy said, if this is illegal then all forms of bikinis and swim wear that exposes cleavage will be illegal which means we go back to the 60s or something where everyone wears some fugly stripped spandex or wadever it was and go swimming
Well, it is understandable that some old lady called the cops over the cosplayer’s costume.
She was an OLD lady, therefore a person whose moral and social standards are from and remain to be from a different era or age where such things were a lot stricter than they are today.
Still . . . ECCHI BANZAI~! Oppai daisukii~!! //w//<)o
This really should not be an issue. The old lady wasn’t wrong in having her own set of morals and principles, but this was a niche event that was beyond her morality. For example, I believe in upholding fidelity in every marriage ; should I attend a swingers’ party and call the cops on them? I’m sure you get the analogy.
The girl’s cosplay hardly violated the average ACG festival’s norms of decency, so no, it was not her fault and she never needed to make her costume more “appropriate”, in any way. If people still want to get all uppity, try Googling “Female hentai kamen Taiwan”, thanks.
honestly…who the hell cares? Let the old woman be ignorant and old timey, but don’t let it effect you to the point of altering your attire. I get trying to side step other people’s bullshit, but there’s a point where you should just simply disregard it if you know your rights. This shouldn’t even be a discussion…
Just don’t share her picture. I’ve seen many cosplayers like that.. showing almost half of the boobs, showing the lower part of their body. I don’t believe it’s for fame that she chose it she likes it. after all it’s cosplaying, “COSPLAYING”.
BTW sorry for my bad english.
This is just dumb.. I would hardly call it an incident but an idiot blowing things out of proportion. Underboob is no different than all the cleavage you see everyday. Especially at conventions, you expect to see some scandalous cosplayers. Some more revealing than this. Did she call the police on other people too? Crazy!
Wow, really. All over underboob? Grow the hell up, it’s just underboob. It’s natural. Her cosplay is awesome, not just because “ecchi, hentai” etc. Because it actually represents Matoi, Ryuuko and is a really good cosplay (she pulled it off well).
Old people seem to have a problem with today’s youth and take those opportunties whenever they can, it’s sad.
I really wish I could get the true story about what happened, a lot of lies seem to be floating about. Oh well.
I have to slightly disagree that the battle transformation “represents” the essence of Ryuko — it is merely how the costume was designed by her father and left behind for her usage.
Does Satsuki Kiryuin’s battle transformation represent her character as well? I don’t think so — it is merely a means to an end, doing what is absolutely necessary in order for her to obtain the power to accomplish her ambitions.
Ryuko is the embodiment of the Japanese “sukeban” 「助番」 archetype, or “delinquent girl”. She is a rebellious schoolgirl who is not afraid to resort to violence in order to uncover the truth behind her father’s supposedly unjust death. I find her default uniform attire — the sailor uniform with midriff exposed, the skirt jumpers, the red highlights on her hair, and of course, the menacing half scissors to be just as feminine badass.
Here are some examples of what I mean (taken from http://fuckyeahsukeban.tumblr.com):
I agree, prevention is better than cure ^_^
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There is nothing wrong with the girl, lady, and the police. The problems lies with the character design of the work itself. “Because their goal is to make film with a lot fan services (and even said that they actually made it as a homage to Showa’s animes which were not more decent from nowadays animes in term of fanservices), which now are being demanded by certain gender and type of fans, so they can make a lot of money in order to live in a country where basically anything is so unbelievably expensive and even their government already planned to rise the consumer tax next year so life will become much much harsher.”(phew) God, even in its origin country, it takes late night show slot to be broadcasted (around 1-2)…….wanna blame something? blame the situation then :3
You are quite right, the costume designs of the battle transformation are nothing more than just anime fan service, and it’s quite unfortunate that many anime titles these days have to resort to such things to sell their shows.
Although to be fair to Kill la Kill, the story does have a small narrative justification on why the characters have to fight in such attire (and it does help us understand one of the main character’s motivations as well).
Op talks about prevention is better than anything.
Proceeds to post her picture online with details of her rough location.
Seems legit.
I don’t know what you mean by “details of her rough location”.
Please read my follow-up post on why I decided to post the picture in the first place: https://gfoppy.wordpress.com/2013/11/14/a-follow-up-post-to-the-ryuko-cosplayer-incident-and-a-direct-call-out-to-brian-ashcraft/
Anybody want to track down this woman, and have a drag show in her neighborhood?
Are you referring to the cosplayer or the old lady? What good would hunting them down do? Let’s just leave them in peace and let this silly incident die down.
I think some people here are missing the point of the entire show! Why should it matter if she exposes herself!! All this freaking controversy and comments over the freakin underboob of a woman, who cares if she’s buck naked? You’re simply feeding into the idea that women should be ashamed to show their bodies and that there is something “wrong” with underboob. Give me a break.
You need to _understand_ that this event was located in Singapore, where we have a more conservative Asian society. Many of the older generation still hold on to these traditional values (i.e. that women should be properly dressed and not over-expose themselves), which was what compelled the old auntie to call the cops even though no laws were technically broken.
As I have already stated before, most of us are quite okay with the girl’s cosplay. What we are REALLY concerned about is for the cosplayer’s safety. If you follow the cosplay community closely, there are many cases of stalking and mistreatment of cosplayers (this is usually always a female cosplayer) by members of the public. It’s an unfortunate, “darker side” of cosplaying that not many people know about. If you are going to cosplay something that is revealing/attractive, you need to be prepared for the attention that will be directed your way.
From the experience of going to a con (and the only time I went because I didn’t enjoy it) they charge an entry fee. One of the purposes is to turn the inside area into a containment zone to not offend non-participants. Since someone was offended and rightfully called the police, then it means she was out of the containment zone. It was her responsability to stay inside the premises of the event and she failed that much, so naturally the incident occured.
She diserves no pity. Want to know why? No one forces you to pick a revealing costume. No one foces you even to attend. I’m tired of americans trying to impose their morals (or to be more precise, lack of morals) across the world and young people actually accepting them. Concern for her safety? Don’t make me laugh. Cosplayers are some of the most hypocritical people in the world. They want the whole world to revolve around them, and when it does they get overwhelmed and cry to their genetically engineered hugboxes and the cycle repeats. So whatever happened to her, she should have been fully aware of the risk.
The exact venue of this anime convention was located inside some convention halls in a huge office building complex. Unfortunately, it is VERY crowded and stuffy inside the halls because it’s packed with TONNES of people (previous attendance records state that as many as 600,000+ people visit our convention each year). Most cosplayers choose to cosplay outside the halls because there is a lot more room and breathing space. There’s also more space for the photographers to line up and take photos of them, which always happens every year — photographers are attracted to cosplayers like bees to honey.
I don’t think it’s very fair to generalise the girl in question as “hypocritical” because not all cosplayers are like that, and we don’t know her personally. But I do know a few friends who are cosplayers and they are normal, nice human beings who just simply want to express their love for their favourite characters.
on hindsight, sideboobs are superior. just not on a hambeast of a churchnut.