YGKO ZERO: DEBUT - ANYTHING GOES

DEBUT:

All-new expositionand illustrationbythevery firstgroupofmainand visitingcollective members!

BREAKING THE MOLD:

FOXROTS ON FEMININITY, GENDER ROLES, AND BEAUTY STANDARDS IN THE COSPLAY COMMUNITY

An interview with professional cosplayer and graphic designer, FoxRots (she/her).

Let’s start from the very beginning. Did you grow up with a lot of exposure to anime, video games, and comics?

“I did, actually. I was very boyish as a child; I was kind of one of those little girls that was like, ‘I hate girly things! I hate the color pink!’ So I was into things like Zoids and Pokemon. I watched a lot of anime and I watched specifically shounen anime. I never even watched a lot of the other girly anime that people grew up with except for Princess Tutu because that was really good. But other than that, I stuck to shounen. I was a huge geek all my life, and it was only when I got a lot older that I kind of stopped watching anime–not stop, but lessened it a lot. It wasn’t my main media anymore, but yeah, comic books were a love of mine that I found when I was 12. I always say that I felt like cosplaying was kind of an inevitability with all the interests that I had growing up.”

You mentioned that you rejected a lot of femininity growing up. Was there ever a point where you felt like you finally reconciled with that, or is it still a process?

“I think I have reconciled with it. I’m very in touch with my femininity now. I think I was maybe around 15, 14, when I was like ‘You know, girl stuff isn’t bad.’ I watched this YouTube essay by Lindsay Ellis about why

,

people hate Twilight and they talked a lot about how people just hate young girls and people hate the things that girls like, so it’s easy to hate on these things, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that was me.’ I was such a hater for all these things and it kind of opened my eyes to see that hey, being a girl is super cool and I personally love it. I didn’t need to be one of the boys in order to be cool and quirky or anything like that. I could just be me and that could be a little bit of both feminine and masculine traits. I feel like there’s so much pressure to have to choose a side when I feel like every single person in the world is kind of gender fluid. I feel like gender is a spectrum that people will fall on and that’s okay. It’s kind of going against the grade, the ‘man.’”

I see that you often choose to cosplay strong women in media, if I may say, the “femme fatale” type. How do you decide who to cosplay, and does this choice ever have anything to do with who you are as an individual (i.e. someone you relate to, someone you aspire to be)? How close does that connection have to be?

“I feel like there are three ways that I pick a cosplay. One, I see myself so much as that character like Catra or Sombra. Or two, I already kind of look like the character, so I’m like, ‘Hmm, this will be fun, this will be easy.’ And then, three is a challenge. Mina Ashido, for example. I saw her and I didn’t really see myself as her, but I loved how she looked and I loved her character design and I wanted to challenge myself to do that. More often than not it’s actually the first one; it’s usually characters that I really like or see myself as or want to be more like. That’s a big factor in my choosing because I feel like I’m not going to be able to put as much passion into a cosplay if I don’t feel that way.”

Do you think that there are certain standards that the cosplay community holds participants to?

“That’s a tricky one. As much as I don’t want to condone

nor admit that these standards exist, they honestly do, and they’re not through anyone’s fault. I don’t think it’s wrong to conform to these standards if you want to. I’ve seen many women who break the mold and still end up really successful–it’s great. But I have to admit that as toxic as it is, the general consensus is that people who look a certain way, who have certain body types, who have generally ‘socially acceptable’ attractive faces are the ones who get further, easier. Which is really unfair because that’s not what cosplay is about at all. But despite the standard, people really shouldn’t be afraid to be the one to challenge it.”

Learn more about FoxRots and support her on her personal pages @foxrots_ on Instagram, @foxrots on Twitter, and @foxrots on Facebook.

Photo Credits: Ahri by FoxRots

Mina Ashido, Sylvanas by Ryan de Vera

Yuna by Jay Tablante

THE ART OF ARRANGEMENT

Silence

Kayley Chun

Sometimes I like to cut myself off From the rest of the world. I like to take a step back From people, From social media, From my reality, And enter a space only I know. A place that I feel safe in, Where I feel myself in. This month I’ve been in here for awhile And I’m starting to hate myself.

When the real world begins to be too much for me, I run away.

I always come back to the place I know best Inside my mind. A place where I control everything, Where I don’t get hurt, Or have any expectations. I can just do what I want Without feeling pressured. But I don’t feel happy, But I don’t feel stressed. This place in my mind makes me feel nothing. As if I never existed in the first place. As if reality never existed in the first place. It’s silent here. In White Space.

While White Space might be my escape, Reality continues without me. Deadlines, school, family and friends. They continue without me. The more time I spend in White Space, The more my presence becomes Nonexistent.

As

I slowly erase myself

From the narratives’ of my friends and family, The easier life becomes. I don’t have to struggle or face problems Yet I lose what I had before And I lose what makes me, Me.

During these last few weeks I’ve erased myself from the stories of others And entered their memories. Yet no matter how much I don’t want this to disappear, White Space tempts me to leave it as is. Tempts me to fall back into my own mind Where it’s full of fantasies and lack of emotion.

White Space consists of one thing That the World doesn’t offer me. Silence.

“OUR DREAMS AT DUSK”

“CARDCAPTOR SAKURA” YULIA

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA: A SERIES REVIEW!

YULIA / IG & YOUTUBE: BAGUETTEGOING

Despite my affinity for black clothing, the budding collection of Doctor Martens I harbor in the depths of my closet, and the floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump from years past in their original Japanese print residing in my room, I have what I imagine to be a surprisingly cute side—since, along with my soft spot for strawberry milk and adorable stationary, comes a love for shōjo anime! Tokyo Mew Mew captivated my interest in my elementary school years, eventually leading to my middle school discovery of Fruits Basket. Now in my sophomore year of university, I’ve fallen head over heels in love once again—this time with Cardcaptor Sakura! Originally serialized from 1998 to 2000, Cardcaptor Sakura is a touching coming-of-age story. Only a fourth grader, our title character, Sakura Kinomoto, is thrust into the role of a magical girl following her accidental release of the Clow Cards—with the deck of cards in question concerning an ensemble of magical beings, each of which, when summoned, can grant their master a unique power.

Rather than appearing outdated, and awkwardly jumping from keyframe to keyframe, every moment in Cardcaptor Sakura is fluidly executed, with its cel animation accentuating its charm—and, when paired with a memorable arrangement of soundtracks, Cardcaptor Sakura is timelessly preserved as a classic amongst the anime community. Furthermore, the moments in which Sakura interacts with her cards are beautifully illuminated, spanning from soft shades of blues to pastel pink hues—very much fitting the magical girl aesthetic the show strives to encapsulate! Though Cardcaptor Sakura does progress in a somewhat monster-of-the-week fashion throughout the first arc—in which Sakura encounters and befriends the cards wreaking havoc upon her hometown—each of these episodes serve as an introduction to the individual cards. These cards never speak, yet they all have their own personality, as well as their moment to shine in the following episodes.

Beyond the cards, we meet Sakura’s older brother Touya, her first love Yukito, her friends Tomoyo and Shaoran, as well as, as is with every magical girl series, the show’s mascot, Keroberos! Of these characters, Shaoran effortlessly seizes his place as my favorite character in the show. An exchange student from Hong Kong, Shaoran travels to Japan in order to capture the cards himself, as a descendant of the cards’ original master. With this goal in mind, he boldly declares himself as Sakura’s rival for the cards, only to—spoilers!—grow closer to her in light of their mutual affection for Yukito. The subplot concerning Shaoran’s romantic feelings is extremely convincing in terms of how they develop throughout the show, and I couldn’t help but get nervous on Shaoran’s behalf when he later realizes that he carries even deeper feelings for Sakura, and attempts to confess to her… several times. In one of the final scenes, it occurs to Sakura that she might like Shaoran back, in turn triggering the creation of her own card: the Love card—a heartwarming representation of the familial, friendly, and romantic love included in Cardcaptor Sakura.

Growing up, I had always been into cosplay. I followed tons of amazing and talented cosplayers and even dabbled a bit into the art myself. I would craft cosplays from the random clothes I found in my closet in hopes of looking like the characters I adored. It was not until early 2022 when I decided to start posting my cosplays and setting up a presence on social media, emulating the people I aspired to be like many years ago.

As a kid, I had a lot of self confidence issues. I was fairly shy and was bullied quite a bit, not only because of my interests, but also for my ethnicity. I grew up in the United Arab Emirates, born to a Swedish man and an Ethiopian woman. Being Ethiopian, which was the same race that many of my peers’ servants were, was a death sentence to my social life living in the UAE. The effects of this bullying would go on to affect me to this day.

A major reason why I never wanted to show off my cosplays and other work that I had done on the internet was the fear of others’ opinions. I had never permitted myself to be proud of what I had done; I only focussed on what people would think of my art. It was not until I went to my first American con with some friends from high school and college that I decided that I wanted to make my work public. Traversing Los Angeles Comic Con was a brand new experience for me. Witnessing cosplayers of different races, ages, and body types dress up and become their beloved characters and watching the community admire them and ask for pictures inspired me. It made me realize that although there may be people who may want to make fun of or discredit your work, the majority will cheer you on.

Self-confidence goes a long way as well. Loving your own work and showing it off to people without caring if they are going to love it or not is what will make or break you. You have to believe that what you’re doing is worth it, and that even if your work doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, you’ll continue to persevere because you matter and you know for a fact that your work will be in the spotlight one day. These revelations inspired me to develop more of a presence on social media.

I started making TikToks in my cosplay. I started posting photoshoots on Instagram and I even started streaming on Twitch. To my surprise, people loved my art! My first official cosplay was of Eren Jaeger, the protagonist of Attack on Titan. Dressed as Eren, I recreated the beautiful artwork Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel, inspired by a piece of fanart I saw on Twitter a while ago.

I received hundreds of likes and comments on my TikToks and Instagram posts and it’s what propelled me to continue cosplaying. I’ve racked up nearly 400 followers on TikTok and the same amount on Instagram and my followers continue to grow every day. TikTok has been especially great, as I have been able to connect with other supportive streamers and cosplayers on the app just by posting. My most recent cosplay was of Nathan Drake from the Uncharted video game series. Those cosplays made me quickly go viral on TikTok, racking up almost 30K views on one of them. My next cosplay is likely to be Inosuke from the hit anime Demon Slayer.

At the end of the day, as long as you love what you create, people are going to love it too. I didn’t think I would get this far, this fast just by uploading TikToks and photoshoots. These past couple of months have been extremely fun and I cannot wait to see where this whole thing leads me. No matter what happens or what people may tell you, keep making your art. Someone, somewhere is going to love it no matter what. You deserve to make a difference in the world with your art, so why let the opinion of others rob you of that opportunity?

Creative Director

CR CREEDIDITTS S

"debut - anything goes"

cyberpsiko

Staff and Layout quandrries (@quandrries) kaiiste (@kaiiste)

Guest Feature FoxRots (@foxrots_), photographed by Ryan de Vera

YGKO COLLECTIVE, Main Creator Team (UC Berkeley) Maricruz Reyes (@toxicmelon) Heaven Jones (@andro_arts_) lov_lyse / Elyse Argarin (@lov_lyse) Naisu Ami (@naisuami) Kayley Chun (@_k.s.chun_) Tatum Ekstrom (@voidgearz) Yulia (@baguettegoing) felinecity / Felicity Aktan (@notfelinecity) mousec1ub / Cath Geiger (@mousec1ub)

YGKO COLLECTIVE, Visiting Creators (Outside Universities & Alumni) Zaid Deus (@thehabeshahammer)

Published for and by Gekkou, the Queer and/or Women’s Anime Association at UC Berkeley.

ABOUT YGKO

An anime, art, and lifestyle double-feature student publication by the YGKO COLLECTIVE c / o Gekkou: The Queer and/or Women’s Anime Association at UC Berkeley.

We aim to redefine what it means to be an anime (and related media-centric) publication by utilizing a modernist, human-centric approach, as well as aligning with the main goal of identity-based inclusion that our parent organization, Gekkou, was founded upon. The title itself is a portmanteau of the club name and the Japanese aesthetic concept of “Yūgen,” whose meaning varies depending on context, but we have chosen to embody the idea of embracing beauty in what is seen but also, more importantly, in what is unseen–both occupy the same plane and should be celebrated as such.

While we do still welcome analytical content, we specifically want to craft a unique blend of an individual’s personal story and the content they both produce and partake in, rather than the typical, completely objective approach. With an emphasis on elevating female and/or queer voices in the community but open to all who come with an open mind, we invite a myriad of creators, from writers, illustrators, musicians, cosplayers and fashion enthusiasts, and more to think outside the box and visualize the impact this medium has had on them.

We want to hear: what has this community inspired you to do? What are the possibilities you’ve discovered within anime and its adjacent subcultures? How can we do that ourselves? How do you live within and outside of the art you create?