Koujaku was one of the most difficult costume I ever did - both in terms of crafting (dat kimono) and body modification (dat chest binding), but I have to say I quite like the end result. I'm actually embarrassed by how much I like myself as a dude.

Anyway, this cosplay is the result of a huge collaboration which ate away two months of our lives, so kudos to the team. Tenshi did the worst part of the job - bleaching the red fabric and then dying it green, in order to achieve that color-blending effect. Then Tenshi and me (with a little help from Wacky Cherry) hand painted all those blasted leaves and sparrows and flowers and whatnot - I did most of the work here, and lost at least one good pair of jeans in the process (if you even wondered how to remove fresh paint stains from denim, the answer is - tough luck). After the painting process was done, Ana and Marina jumped in to sew the pieces together - which was not an easy task, given that the kimono had to fit my body in a very special way: a lot of "smoke and mirrors" tricks were employed to make my waist look bigger, my hips smaller, my shoulders wider. Finally Ljubica, our makeup fairy, used her gift of magic to turn little girls into little boys.

And then the binding came. If someone wants to know how I achieved this almost perfectly flat look with my chest right there in the open - my boobs were NOT removed by Photoshop, they were invisible in real life as well - I'd be happy to share some tips.

Overall, I daresay we make fine young men.

As for why Koujaku of all people, it's a long story. I’m usually the first to rant that a good cosplayer must know the character from the outside and the inside, because having a pretty costume is not enough – one needs to strive for full immersion and complete transformation. This is why I always pick characters I can identify with, or at least relate to – and, when in costume, never breaking character is one of the things I’m proud of, even if sometimes it can give wrong impressions about my nature (people who met me as Morrigan or Cersei are usually pretty surprised when they talk to me later in my civilian clothes). So, after all these tirades on cosplay philosophy, why did I go for Koujaku, a hairdresser-turned-warrior with quite a flat personality, who’s the vanilla option in a BL game which I didn’t even like that much?

Two reasons.

One is the joy of a joint project. My cosplay kouhai Tenshi and Wacky Cherry, who did Aoba and Noiz earlier, were interested in expanding their DMMd cast, so I happily jumped in as the third member of the group. This meant a loooot of teamwork – and after a while, it resulted in a wonderful friendship with the girls (two months of hand painting one f*cking kimono does that to you). Now we cannot wait to work on future joint endeavors.

The second reason is something good old Freud would have a field day with.

See, I find Koujaku extremely attractive – but not the way I might admire the sex appeal of a female character, when my aim is to appropriate her sexiness and blend it with my own as I do the cosplay. I find him attractive in the sense that I’d totally tap that. In a heartbeat. Which is embarrassing to say for a 2D character, but still. He’s smokin’ hot. So the challenge with Koujaku was pretty mind-boggling: how to transform myself into my own object of desire. I wanted to push my own limits and see how far I can go with the physical transformation. Given how the costume turned out, I’m pretty happy with the result. Achievement unlocked: I’d date myself.

Narcissistic much? Quite so, I’m afraid. But I’m happily planning more male costumes for the future…

Costume credits - Koujaku
Kimono hand dyed and painted by Ferasha and Tenshi, with my assistance, sewn together by Ana Barajević and Marina Anđelković
Leather parts by Tenshi
Sword and hairpin by Endymion
Makeup by Ljubica Mirković


Costume credits - Aoba
Entire costume made by Tenshi
Makeup by Ljubica Mirković

Costume credits - Noiz
Costume by: Tenshi and Wacky Cherry
Makeup by Ljubica Mirković

Photo by Aleksandar Jovković, edited by Tenshi