A geek.indeed. proud of it

4 years where being the weirdo is a must.

Having a good time with your pals is the ultimate purpose.

Performing spectacles where living a fantasy and get rid of the annoying reality is the final reward. We are talking about the cosplay contests.

Cosplay stands as an abbreviation of costume play, a situation where you can dress as your favourite character and walk around showing to other people your make up skills and how privileged you are because of owning that kind of face that resembles the in-vogue hero.

The Cosplayers? Well, we know them, we certainly do. They were our classmates at school, high school and probably at college. They made us laugh (despite their wish) and were those we could rely on when it came to studying. For the common of the people they are known as geeks.

They don’t like that term, because they are Otakus.

Otakus are the men and women behind the disguises, attempting an alternate lifestyle, praying for comprehension and looking for a better way to express themselves. They took their name out of the Japanese meaning the person that is very obsessed with any matter, in this case people having a strong liaison with the Japanese culture and their art know as manga and animé.

Being an Otaku in the country of the raising sun is nothing good at all. It has a pejorative connotation and groups all those individuals not matching the social stereotype. When occident countries started importing series as Mazinger Z, Heidi, Captain Raymar and others we grew up with, the Otaku phenomena also came along with its music, festivals and philosophy around mid 70’s.

Now, about thirty years after moving to these latitudes, no one dares to feel ashamed of becoming Otakus, since being part of this selected group its an honor.

According to Jafeth Baltodano, one of the founders of this movement and actual administrator of imperioanime.com there are about 3000 active Otakus spread around the country. “ When it comes to the annual cosplay contest, we receive from 2500 to 3500 people, but there is a lot of them that don’t show up so we are more than that amount”

Profile of a “Weirdo”

Ages go from 15 to 35, most of these people are related to the computers world, especially Web and graphic designers and they belong to a more- than –average social status. “ well, to be honest, you need good money to be part of this. Sometimes disguises are pretty expensive, buying DVD’s and music can also hit your pocket, and not to mention the action figures every animé fan wants to have” explains Baltodano.

Another interesting fact is most of this people are bilingual, having knowledge of Japanese, English or both, besides Spanish. This is due because most of the movies are shot in those two languages.

Cultural differences are more than welcome into this spaces, regular Costa Rican members are defined as not very sociable people and sometimes shy guys, who are not interest in public affairs at all according to Baltodano.

In a country with one of the highest immigration rates of the world, and with a high discrimination degree against Nicaragua and Colomb ia people, is there a way for foreigners to fit in the Otaku world ? “we do not discriminate people, unfortunately, we get back int o the money issue, because most of the immigrants arriving are poor people, so most of the time t hey just can’t afford Otaku living” answers Baltodano.