It is entirely possible to be a cosplayer, and not even know it. It’s true! Fans have been dressing up as their favorite characters for years, long before the term “cosplay” became part of the common fandom vernacular. But what is cosplay? Where did it start? What is crossplay? Where can I buy cosplay wigs? We’ll be answering all of those questions and more in this guide to the world of cosplay for the uninitiated.

What is cosplay?

The term cosplay is a shortened version of the phrase “costume play” in Japanese. It's generally considered a form of performance art, where participants dress in costumes that are inspired by characters from Japanese animation, comics, manga, video games, etc. It has grown into a full blown cultural phenomenon that spans the entire globe – no longer an isolated sub culture in Japan.

What is considered cosplay?

Cosplay is not without some controversy. Some cosplayers can't decide what exactly cosplay includes. Some of the generally accepted definitions are below: 

• Cosplay is anyone wearing a costume based on a fictional character
• Cosplay is anyone wearing a costume based on a Japanese fictional character (American and non anime/manga characters don't count)
• Cosplay is someone wearing a costume based on a fictional character and behaving as that character (it's not enough to just dress like that character to constitute cosplay)
• Cosplay is someone wearing a costume based on a Japanese fictional character and behaving as that character

As you can see, that's a pretty wide range. Whereas someone might consider a person dressed like Batman as cosplay, someone else may think it's not cosplay at all. Generally, most cosplayers fall into the middle somewhere, but there are vocal extremes on either side.