World Cosplayers: Interview with Super Cute Chinese Cosplayer Liyu

This year’s Comiket 94 opened its doors at Tokyo Big Site for three days from 10 to 12 August 2018 and attracted around 530 thousands visitors.

Many cosplayers had a great time during the summer festival at the cosplay area and braved the hot temperatures. Anime!Anime! has released photo reports of all three days and today we would like to introduce you to a wonderful cosplayer who left a strong impression, Liyu from China!

The number of participating Chinese cosplayers has increased lately and their high-quality cosplays are drawing attention. Chinese companies set up booths for Azur Lane, Girls’ Frontline and other productions during C94. Liyu (@Liyu0109) was one of the cosplayers whose presence was noticed by the attendees.

: KP31 from Girl’s Frontline/ C94 Shooting: Hanmo

University student Liyu is currently living in China, but because of her many activities in Japan throughout the year she has more than 300 thousand followers on Twitter. There is no doubt that she might be the most well-known Chinese cosplayer in Japan. She helped out at the Girl’s Frontline booth during C94 and cosplayed KP31. Here is Liyu’s interview.

Why did you start to cosplay?

Liyu
When I went to a doujin exhibition and spot sale in China (an event that is being held at various places where many cosplayers participate) I saw very lovely cosplayers and I started to like cosplay. That is the reason why I tried to cosplay myself. It was not as big as the Japanese Comiket, but I regularly participate in large doujinshi sale events in China.

: Ichigo from Darling in the Franxx

What is your favorite anime?

Liyu
Lately I’ve been liking Love Live!, Sword Art Online, My Hero Academia and others. However, as I have too many anime I like, I just can’t say which one I like the best. I have the tendency to like anime where many pretty girls appear [laugh].

: Tsuyu Asui from My Hero Academia

What are your important points when it comes to cosplaying?

Liyu
The quality of wigs, clothes, and modeling are all important. However, I think the most important point is the facial expression! Therefore, I practice some of the character’s expressions before the photoshoot. I think that the pictures will come out great if I put myself into the character’s shoes.

What criteria must the characters you would like to cosplay have?

Liyu
If it’s not for work, then I choose the characters that are close to my appearance. I will give up on cosplaying a character if I think that it is too difficult to adapt for me, no matter how much I like the character.

: Kizuna AI (C94)

What kind of troubles have you had with cosplaying so far?

Liyu
When I had just started to cosplay I just couldn’t portray the character well enough with my costume, pose, or expression. I think that after I spent a lot of time practicing I increased the quality of my cosplays.

**This time you participated and helped out at the Girl’s Frontline booth.**

Liyu
Even though I live in China, I come to every Comiket. This time I helped out at the Girl’s Frontline‘ booth, but I would have attended the Comiket, anyway. I came as KP31, because this is my most favorite character type. I like her character because she is very gentle, charming, and serious.

When did you participate in the Comiket for the first time?

Liyu
C91 was my first one. I still remember that the Japanese photographers were very nice. The Japanese cosplay shooting rules surprised me that time. In about 60% of the shootings in China you are surrounded and the other 40% you are taking pictures together with an acquaintance cameraman. I have hardly ever seen the photographers lining up. Therefore, I got confused when they started to line up in order to take pictures of me.

How often do you visit Japan in one year?

Liyu
Thanks to my job, the times I’m flying over to Japan have increased. But I have not counted how many times a year [laugh].

Unicorn from Azur Lane

Do you feel a difference between Japanese and Chinese animation?

Liyu
I personally think that Japan’s anime has the highest quality level. Therefore, I think that as an anime fan you have to visit Japan’s otaku events! However, I feel that China’s animations too are achieving remarkable growth these past three years. Some of the released works have quite a good level and are not inferior to Japanese anime.

Last but not least, could you tell us about your future dreams?

Liyu
I will keep it a secret because in China I was told that if I reveal my dreams, they won’t come true! I hope that many people watch over me growing.

Liyu has released a portrait photo book with the title ‘Nekomimi Usamimi Kemonomimi’. The book comes with 122 full-color pages of Liyu wearing her original clip-on ears. ‘Nekomimi Usamimi Kemonomimi’ is a print-to-order book and its ordering deadline was on 30 September 2018. Liyu is likely to release further cosplay photograph collections in the near future.

Liyu’s comment on the publication before the book was released: ‘This was the first time to shoot a portrait photobook, so I got new impressions. I would be happy many fans could get one. Please look forward to its completion.’