The story has been told of Minato-san, a 30-year-old male office worker and cosplay enthusiast, who has stunned social media users.
The man recently shocked Japanese social media with his transformation into an anime-inspired heroine.
It’s no secret that great cosplayers can alter their physical appearance to the extreme, but in some cases the change is downright scary. Take the case of Minato, a 30-year-old Japanese man who likes to cosplay as an anime girl, and is so good at it that it’s impossible to guess his gender by looking at him.
With a clever use of makeup, modern accessories like prosthetic breasts, and a bit of digital manipulation, Minato-san can transform into a whole new person that often leaves the viewer confused.
Minato’s fascination with female cosplay started around four years ago. He had always considered the idea and process of turning himself into female characters that he liked cool, and one day he made an appointment at a beauty salon in Akihabara, Tokyo, just to see how he would look with makeup on. He liked the result, so he started learning makeup techniques.
The cosplayer as his real self and as as his anime sef
The 30-year-old man told Maidona News that he experiments with a variety of makeup products and techniques, and although the result isn’t always positive, he has gotten a lot better at applying cosmetics over the last few years.
But makeup is only part of the process. Minato also uses taping techniques to alter certain facial features, like his cheeks, as well as wigs, women’s stockings and even prosthetic breasts made of silicone to enhance the illusion. The cherry on top is a bit of digital processing that he considers essential to a successful cosplay project.
←ビュープラ
faceapp→ pic.twitter.com/YRRDu07wOd
— 湊@コスMTG (@cos_minato) March 4, 2021
Minato-san recently attracted the attention of Japanese mainstream media, after a photo collage showing him in his regular office clothes, next to him as a girl went viral. The photo was shared thousands of times and received over 100,000 likes on Twitter alone. To be fair, the transformation is quite shocking.
“I don’t believe in beautiful women anymore,” one Twitter user commented.
“I have to check again and again when I meet beautiful women in the future…” another person wrote.
茶vs黒 pic.twitter.com/5tBvdIGQIK
— 湊@コスMTG (@cos_minato) February 24, 2021
Minato-san is not the only confusing cosplayer we’ve featured on Oddity Central. In the past, we posted about “Cosplay Queen”, Rei Dunois, but also about CROME拉面猫就是星空萌, one of China’s most popular female cosplayers, and Hakken Ryou, a Malaysian girl who cosplays as anime-inspired heartthrobs.
