Cosplay Complex

I recently decided to start selecting random animes from The Anime Encyclopedia in order to 'expand my horizons,' and the first one I decided to try (that luckily wasn't a porno) was 'Cosplay Complex.' Cosplay Complex first came out in 2002 and lasted only three episodes, each about thirty minutes each. The only episodes I could find were dubbed or with spanish subs, so I settled on the dubs even though a part of me died inside because of it.

Overall, I found the first episode to be jam-packed full of... interesting moments. Basically the entire anime centers around the cosplaying exploits of high-school student Chako Hasegawa and her fellow members in the cosplay club, all who dream to eventually make their way to the World Cosplay Championships. Who knew such a thing existed, right? Anyway, this anime has its share of male fan-service (it's amazing how a girl can undress in so many different positions) and sexual tension. One of the most amusing and 'WTF?' scenes of the first episode was when the sole male member of the club comes in through one of the windows one night and begins to randomly try to seduce Reika, one of the other girls in the club. Needless to say, I found great amusement out of watching this bald guy (who I thought was their teacher/supervisor who just happened to have an unhealthy interest in his female students) try and play it smooth around Reika... who seemed to be, without reason, paralyzed with lust for Goro because she just happens to be wearing glasses at the time.

Really random, I know.

I think the character that scores this anime extra points would have to be Jenny, the Italian foreign-exchange student who seems to have an unnatural and rather creepy interest in little girls. Although it would probably have gotten her arrested multiple times in the REAL WORLD, Jenny spends most of her time in the anime oogling over and pursuing Athena, the one pre-teen member in the club. I kind of died when Jenny's nose started bleeding furiously at her first real encounter with Athena, though. It was just... wow.

What I liked best about this anime was the topic it was centered around, and that would be cosplay. The ending actually consists of pictures of real cosplayers taken from various conventions (looks like they were all mostly from Japan), which I really liked. Although Cosplay Complex doesn't have a super-involved plot, it's spontaneous randomness is enough to make me laugh out loud at times.

Which is enough for me when I'm not feeling too deep at the moment. ;D