Crossplay (the term is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscrossdressing'' and ''

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subcultur ...

'') is a type of cosplay in which the person dresses up as a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

of a different

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

. Crossplay's origins lie in the

anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of acti ...

circuit, though, like cosplay, it has not remained exclusive to the genre. While it is similar to Rule 63 (gender-bending) cosplay, it can be differentiated by the performer becoming completely immersed in the codes of another gender, rather than picking and choosing what behavior enhances the performance.

Female-to-male crossplay

In most countries that play host to hobbyists who would call themselves cosplayers, female-to-male crossplayers (females costumed as male characters, sometimes abbreviated "FtM") are far more common, due to a variety of social and cultural factors. Many (or even most) females will crossplay for the same reasons that they would cosplay – because they like the character and/or the costume, and wish to represent that. In Japan, female costumers tend to dominate (in numbers) the field of cosplay in general, often portraying a huge assortment of colorful characters regardless of gender. As

bishōnen (; also transliterated ) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty ...

are portrayed in manga and anime as liminal beings, it is considered "easier" for a female to cross-play as a bishōnen than it would be for her to crossplay as a male character from a Western series.

Male-to-female crossplay

Comic Market 91 Day 1- Cosplayers (36106848610)

Male-to-female crossplayers, (males costumed as female characters, sometimes abbreviated "MtF"), are somewhat more common outside Japan. Originally, in America, a popular anime series for MtF crossplayers was ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine '' Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The s ...

'', creating "humorous effect and social levity".

References

External links

An article about Crossplay on TokyoPop's website
* ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/media/video/39966000/rm/_39966185_manga20_head_vi.ram BBC story on cosplay and conventions(RealVideo) {{crossdressing footer Cosplay Cross-dressing

Female-to-male crossplay

Male-to-female crossplay

See also

References

External links