I'm working on my 4th book now and one of the chapters is about Cosplay in Japan. So I decided to pay for my own trip and packages (special thanks to my fans at
Patreon too) to write and draw an unbiased review about each experience. I never cosplayed before so I was enthusiastic about the "Perfect Anime Costume" package, which cost 15,000yen or around US$140.
The Studio
Once you enter, you will see some makeup products for sale near the door.
You can also see a whole row of costumes.
They have many props as well, but no bow and arrow for Kagome/Kikyo, the character that I wanted to cosplay into.
The Backdrops
There are "normal" looking backdrops for people to rent, like for wedding or clothes catalog.
And those with plain white background.
This seems to be space-themed?
I guess this is Lolita themed.
This is the backdrop I will be using...
Gothic themed?
The Shoots
The dressing, makeup and wig took like 50min. The final photos that were touched up looked decent.
But actually it looked like this... I don't know why the makeup artist made me look older without concealing my puffy eyes and put on a pale red lipstick colour ... She also did not comb the wig and I was shocked to see myself looking like a ghost. I went to the photo shoots looking like this...
EEKS.
In fact, she was using an old tube of glue for eyelash and it fell shortly after we began shooting... Oddly she still included those shots into the album for me to choose the 6 digital photos I want. I wonder how they are going to edit out the falling fake eyelash if I chose this... hmmm...
There was time given to do your own shooting, so I setup my mini tripod and did a ghost dance... =_=
Fortunately they did a decent job in editing the photos, which they sent me after a week. They looked pretty decent:
Verdict:
There was only one young lady who was the receptionist, makeup artist and photographer! Talk about one-woman show (or Saikangwarrior). I wasn't happy with the makeup and wig but luckily the touch ups were ok (therefore don't believe in photos, haha). Because she wasn't a professional photographer, some of the angles and backdrop were not well placed. Many angles were not flattering too. But then again, she had to take care of the lighting too so maybe she was multi-tasking too much.
Overall I think it is better off asking your cosplayer friends to lend/rent you a costume and help you do makeup and wig and treat them for a meal or something. If you don't want to trouble them, then this would be the costlier option. By now you can tell that although I had fun, the makeover was disappointing.
P.S. They only have a makeup remover and toner/lotion so you have to bring your own skincare products if you are particular about it.
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