Girls Who Are Boys Who Like Boys Dressed Like Girls
If you’ve been to Akihabara lately, the area in Chiyoda, Tokyo, where electronics and anime collectibles are a dime a dozen, chances are you’ve bumped into manga-doll-headed girls in cute costumes, or “Animegaos” as they call themselves. Their look is inspired by anime Magical Girls who are forced to fight evil to protect the earth, like Sailor Moon, and aside from clay or fiberglass doll masks, their mandatory costume consists of skin colored body suits called “zentai” and well-tailored, character-appropriate maid outfits. Did we mention that 90% of them are cross-dressing, skinny dudes in their 20s and 30s spending up to $2,000 on costumes to act out their pretty girl fantasies?
We recently set out to the Wonder Festival 2011; the biggest event on earth for garage kits—sculptures of anime and game characters—in an attempt to wrap our heads around this rising trend within Japan’s cosplay scene. The place was crowded with Animegaos, all with a unique style, and the otakus—that’s Japanese for tech-savvy-nerdy-dudes-into-video-games-and-anime—crowded up to take their picture going, “Wooooah” whenever an Animegao did a special pose. It was pretty strange to think that they were actually getting off on dudes, but then we found out that many otakus are so disgusted by real girls that only these 2D 'girls' - similar to the ones they interact with in their video games - can turn them on. This sexual preference is in fact so common that some Animegaos have turned their Magical Girl cross-dressing hobby into a thriving business, charging otakus a measly ¥10,000 - roughly $83 - for a one-hour, one on one photo session, with extra costs per costume change, a charge that increases if the otaku brings his own costumes for her to wear. There is even Animegao porn. One of the fundamental rules of Animegao is that they’re not allowed to speak - probably because we’d totally hear they’re men if they did, which would ruin the fantasy - so we could only communicate with them through notes and cell phone texts. Luckily, we also met Mr. Kodama, an Animegao girl who was off duty from his costume to sell his meticulously crafted Animegao masks.
Fuck this
April 12, 2011 05:28pm
You gotta fucking stop with the white text on a black background. My eyeballs can't take it. This seemed like an interesting article, but I can't even read it.
pshhh
April 12, 2011 05:38pm
Is is just me or is Japan just filled with horny old business men who would give anything to talk to a man dressed like an anime character?
Ryan Broderick
April 12, 2011 05:49pm
I find nothing completely insane about this.
Cassie
April 12, 2011 07:12pm
Who HASN'T been to Akihabara recently!? Oh wait, me, because I HAVE A JOB. Fucking Vice, I'll never understand you.
Aki Sanu
April 12, 2011 10:10pm
You don't want to be racist, but all Japanese people are insane.
yoda
April 13, 2011 04:04am
and anime fans are the most insane. this is just plain wierd.
BKnight
April 13, 2011 10:56am
The Japanese are nowhere near as crazy as they are made out to be. Funny to think of all the misguided fools who go there, see that it's not that weird after all and try to hide their disappointment by taking photos of "crazy" stuff.
A little note to those that say Japan is crazy
April 13, 2011 11:03am
Have you been there? No homeless in Tokyo except for Ueno park. You don't think the fact we let drug addicts sleep and annoy tourists and pedestrians is a bit weird? Its very fucking weird and they are laughing out thru their anime masks at you right now
Zin
April 13, 2011 11:07am
Animegao lol one of the many factors of the uncanny valley. sometimes it looks like the heads don't fit on the bodies right though sometimes, I'd say if you're gonna spend as much on one of those masks,might aswell get a custom or something
Zin
April 13, 2011 11:08am
P.S AYAMMMEEEE BLACCCKKBBBUURRNNN! lol
@Fuck This
April 13, 2011 03:24pm
You know the Economist offers the option of being able to read the articles in black and white because a huge amount of people find it easier to read, so fuck this, fuck off.
@Fuck This, pt. II
April 13, 2011 04:12pm
Yes, it is true that people who are dyslexic find it easier to read off black backgrounds with white text. Now, what is your excuse?
@Cassie
April 13, 2011 04:15pm
Doesn't it state "If you’ve been to Akihabara lately"? Yes, it does, so wtf are you whining about? People with jobs are allowed to go to Akihabara too you know, but I guess you didn't think of any of that did you. Maybe you should take a holiday from your well paid job and shut the fuck up
anemonemily
April 13, 2011 05:37pm
The Japanese are one of the most fantastical cultures out there - everything they do is out-of-this-world, from their fire-breathing charizard pokemons to their creepy hello kittys to their penis-lollipop festivals to their tiny bondi midget trees to their piggytailed 'n tubesocked harajuku girls that look like retro space fairies from venus - and now this. this shit is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
ThaMonkeh
April 25, 2011 10:04am
Please remember that this is the culture that gave us animation in the first place. They also gave us gaming back after Atari destroyed it. Whilst I can agree some of their culture is odd, I would be lying if I said I didn't like Animegao, and I do talk with a few of them myself. They're pretty nice, though they prefer to be in character, especially when donning the mask. We have crossdressers over here as well. We also have furries, fursuits, and our favorite sport "Football" has people running around in Mascot costumes, and they get paid for that. I'd say everyone's taken a bite of the weirdness pie, wouldn't you?
sylgard
November 08, 2011 11:37pm
hey iff they want to do that let them, thats what i say im a guy and strait and i would like to try this.also for anyone new to this some girls do it to and there are male animegaos tho there not as popular(id like to try male animegao for the record) youve just got to step baCK sometimes and make sure you dont devote youre life to it(make sure its just a fun hobbie not a way of living) also i concure with what thamonkeh said everyone is wierd in there own way
Anonymous
March 01, 2012 09:42am
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