As shown on the cover of volume 4, Marin has shown up at Gojo’s house saying that she’s gone ahead and gotten a tan for her next cosplay, but just kidding, it’s make-up! And that’s why we need to address blackface in cosplay.
When the corresponding episodes of the anime adaptation came out earlier this year, there was some debate over whether or not this would be considered blackface if Marin had indeed gone out and gotten a tan but the fact is that Marin went ahead and used make-up to change her skin tone like a cosplay accessory, not her skin’s own melanin (and judging by her reaction to cosplay specialty make-up in volume 6, it seems likely that she just grabbed the darkest foundation she could find at a regular store). If Marin was a real teenager then I could plausibly understand her not realizing the implications of blackface, I certainly know of cosplayers who made that mistake when young and apologized for it later. However, Marin is not a real person, so I can only assume that creator Shinichi Fukuda either came up with the idea independently or came across Japanese cosplay sites explaining how to do it since Japan absolutely still has a blackface problem (yes those are the singers for a popular group that have done things like the Sailor Moon Crystal theme songs).
When these episodes of the anime aired I talked about it with some acquaintances on Twitter, mostly other cosplayers, and during the barrage of replies I got (including and up to including assertions that brown people don’t exist in Japan) it occurred to me that non-cosplayers have a few misconceptions about cosplay that I would like to address here: Cosplay is not a look-a-like contest.
This may sound wild at first but it goes hand in hand with one of the mantras in the English-language cosplay community: “cosplay is for everyone.” Cosplay isn’t something like say, being a face character at a Disney park where all of the performers need to look similar to each other; your cosplay absolutely should not be judged by your skin tone, gender, height, weight, any kind of disability etc. Yes the goal is to replicate a look but even during craftsmanship competitions (where I’d argue cosplayers are held to the highest standards in that regard) most judges won’t penalize you if you explain that you had to do something differently to accommodate a disability or the competition rules will say that certain aspects, such as wigs, aren’t a part of the judging process (largely because that’s another whole skillset but as someone who gets head-splitting migraines every single convention from wigs, I would be pissed if I was marked down in competition because I literally can’t wear heavy wigs for my own health). Cosplay is costume play, not “replicate physical markers that have been used as justification for oppression for centuries and then take them off at the end of the day as if you were just changing clothes.”
Would this conversation be different if Marin was a dark-skinned character using make-up to appeal paler? Possibly! Since a part of why blackface is wrong comes from differences in racial power dynamics that exist into the present day and, much like Europe and the US, Japanese culture is also a proponent of “paler is prettier.” It definitely feels like the series had no clue about any of this when Fukuda was coming up with a plot line that ends with Gojo admitting he’s just too distracted by Marin’s really skimpy cosplays to shoot them; and that’s part of why this segment felt like such a slap in the face to even me, a white cosplayer who has enjoyed the series a great deal. Clearly the series loves cosplay and loves depicting the craft of it (like when Marin and Gojo bring out the fake teeth and temporary set-dressing for this cosplay) but this is a significant warning to give to any new fan who are getting into the series!
This mini-arc does lead to some genuinely sweet moments, like Gojo being more honest with himself (that he’s getting just too distracted by the amount of skin on display to shoot a cosplay for Marin, something that will come up again later amusingly when making and shooting a bunny suit) and Marin thinking that yeah, I like this doofus, wish he wouldn’t deny that we’re dating so vehemently. The series continues with the mix of sweet, silly, and sometimes bittersweet when in volume 6 Gojo and Marin meet someone doing crossplay at an event and their new friend admits that even though he’s only been called “gross” for crossplaying one time that it’s something that still gives him anxiety when meeting new people.
Gojo is then later able to apply this to his own anxieties over seeming “gross” for his hina-doll related craft skills, an accusation that is probably largely responsible for his complete lack of a social life for a solid decade, and it’s genuinely a touching moment to see him starting on the path to being less self-conscious about what he loves. It’s the kind of little character detail that I really love to see and their new friend also has great lines such as “You can equip boobs, you know” which got me laughing. In many ways that reminded me of my own high school years — one moment you’re spilling your guts out to your internet cosplay friends and in the next moment the forum thread has devolved into a Bleach roleplay (hey it was the 2000s).
But again, despite the good in this series, I cannot now in good faith recommend this series to other people without giving a heads up about the blackface. It’s so frustrating to see a series with passion and heart face plant into the toilet like that. Normally I’m not big on apologies from creators (it’s simply so hard to tell if they’re sincere and not forced by someone higher up) but it would really be nice if Fukuda did say something about it in a future afterword, in addition to never doing it again. There’s a whole wide world of things to cosplay and ways to do it without using blackface after all!