Nepal celebrates pop and anime culture at annual cosplay festival 'Otaku Jatra'

'Otaku Jatra' is the occasion when enthusiasts and fans see their favourite anime characters come alive. The annual cosplay fest brings in thousands of footfalls and enthusiasts from Nepal to embrace the pop culture.

This festival started lately in the Himalayan Nation, setting a large impact and vigorous presence only after 2016, although it has been in existence since the early 21st century. Starting small in 2010, the festival now has turned into a mega gathering which is slowly transforming from a fan art competition to cosplay and gaming.

"This sort of event helps people understand more about the pop culture. People are curious about the cosplays, anime characters and what kind of characters they are and they come here to understand more about it. My elder sister also isn't aware of anime and pop culture but she came to attend the event and got the introduction. This sort of event is a platform to give them knowledge and understanding about it," Arun Limbu, one of the cosplay fans told ANI.

A portmanteau of "Costume Play," cosplay is an activity and performance art where participants wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent mostly a fictional character seen in anime.

People dressed as characters often interact to create a subculture and also perform role-playing tasks in venues apart from the stage. Anime, cartoons, comic books, Mangas, TV series and video games are the main source for cosplays.

"It's pretty free fun actually. It makes me feel like I am in an anime community and has brought a lot of things together and I really like it," Prapti Aryal, a cosplayer attending the fair told ANI.

It is believed that the tradition of cosplay came out of the practice of fan costuming at science fiction conventions in New York in the early 20th century. The word cosplay is said to have been coined in Japan in mid-20th century. Computer-generated animation originating from Japan, Anime has continued to influence youngsters and now has become an integral part of their lives. Most youngsters, especially millennial and Generation Z are fond of the animated characters which drove them to the event.

"It gives ideas about anime and not only anime, you can find novel-related stuff here. I could see a character from a novel that I read- Heaven Official's Blessing. There are lots of stuff that are present here plus it gives an insight about why people are crazy about anime. It gives insights and closure into how the characters are rather than what we just see...," Aryal further added.

Cosplay events are common features of fan conventions and today, there are many dedicated conventions and competitions, as well as social networks, websites, and other forms of media centred on cosplay activities. Cosplay is very popular among all genders, and it is not unusual to see crossplay, also referred to as gender-bending.

The Japanese version of the animation -- Anime is generally perceived as cartoons which has multiple genres of romance, sci-fi, horror and many others. Drawing a distinct difference between the normal cartoons which has been playing over channels, anime mostly focusses on real-life issues or human emotion. While being closer to humans, some of its contents are more violent and sexually explicit.

Connecting stories from one episode to the other like in the series, the stories of anime progress while the cartoons are made with an intention to make the people laugh.

The first anime ever released on TV -- Astro Boy was released in Japan around 1963. Since then, many American and European countries have come forward with anime which has become the blockbuster.

Generation Z (the generation reaching adulthood in the second decade of the 21st century) has started accepting and adapting anime as a source to learn real-life skills, hardships, friendship, courage and determination to pursue the dream, time management and teamwork. This distinct feature has driven the youth towards anime. (ANI)