Stay in The Dreams - Cosplayer's Secret Obsession
His face is beaming. The weariness in Yohanes’ body vanished when he entered his room from work. “Welcome to my world,” said he opening the door. It’s dimly and messy. There is a particular smell of room freshener coming from the plastic cabinet where rows of waifu displayed. They welcomed their master with joyful smile. This fellow, born in 1989, looked at them for a while then falling into his bed while cuddling dakimakura.
“Since I was a kid, my weebo soul has emerged,” Yo, as he loves to be called, grew up in the 90s. He became acquainted with Japanese anime broadcasted by private television network in Indonesia at that time. Yo started to be a cosplayer amateur in 2016, using anime to fill the gap in his heart after separated with his girlfriend.
Yo own waifu named Nico. He once had brought Nico to travel to Japan for vacation, and also takes Nico to travel around Jakarta during holidays. “Traveling and going out with Nico is fun because she can pose. She is more alive.”
Bearing status as gutter kid (anak kolong - a call for children with parents at the Army) did not make little Yohanes free of bully from his childhood friends. “I was bullied as a fat kid.” The bullying is one of the reasons Yohanes turns to cosplay.
He then motivated himself to maintain his weight while also exploring values in the Allen Walker character from anime D.Gray-man. The sacrifice, relentless and withstand against seven deadliest sins formed in akuma (evil) is the trait of Allen Walker that inspired Yohanes as cosplayer, and as a Catholic as well.
Millennial generation has been profiled as lonely and prone to depression generation. As part of millenial generation, Yo takes benefit from the imaginative tools to skip the loneliness and self-motivate in order to gain idel body shape. Dr. Semiarto Aji Purwanto, an anthropologist from University of Indonesia said that this is post-human phenomenon; when human is captive with humanity, they started to build relationship with non-human actor. Yohanes consciously creates bonding with waifu and his cosplay character as avatar. Although coming from Japan, this is regarded more as phenomenon than culture.
Manga character is a projection of dissatisfaction of the Japanese toward his life. Their presence is the answer, a complement of life for Yohanes or somebody out there seeking for something they long to achieve.
