ABSTRACT
This chapter will give a brief overview of gender and gender performance in cosplay and “otaku” culture and spaces. While the focus of the piece are events in Japan such as the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) and Comic Market (Comiket), reference will also be made to events across Australasia, Europe, North America, and East Asia. The act of cosplay—dressing as a character from anime, manga, film, music groups, or other popular culture media—may seem homogenous around the world, but this piece seeks to show that there are variations in the execution and expectation, depending on a given space or location.
