On Friday, February 17, I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Yaya Han at Katsucon in National Harbor, Maryland. We talked about how she began cosplaying, the skills it can can teach, how she tries to give back to the cosplay community, her book Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay, and the sociology of cosplay. Yaya was excited that Katsucon was back. “We do cosplay as a way to connect with each other in person”, she said. “Its not just about putting a picture or Tiktok online but showing how passionate we are and also meeting other people and conversing with them about the same shared passions”.
Yaya is a cosplay competition judge, cosplayer, model, costume designer, author, has appeared on Syfy’s Heroes of Cosplay and TBS’s King of the Nerds, is partnered with Joann Fabric, Cosplay Fabrics, and McCall’s, offers merchandise on her website, and more. In 2020, her book was released, Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay. She has a history of not only cosplaying, but participating as a vendor and in Artists' Alleys, and had previously created fan art. Yaya is frequently a guest at anime and comic conventions and in 2022 alone, was a guest at over 20. According to her website, she has created over 450 costumes and appeared at over 300 conventions.
Yaya Han cosplaying as Chu Wanning at Katsucon, February 17, 2023
Twenty-three years ago in 1999, Yaya found cosplay at Anime Expo, which she attended with an anime club. She was told people dressed up as characters there so she made a costume but said nobody recognized it. She still enjoyed the experience of turning fabric into a wearable garment, and as a fan she found her form of expression through cosplay. According to her biography on SyFy, her first cosplay was Mana from the J-Rock group Malice Mizer. The same bio states she won a Katsucon 2000 “Best in Show” as Kurai from Angel Sanctuary, which shows she picked up the art quickly and had dedication from the beginning.
When she started cosplaying, there were no resources and she didn’t go to school for the arts. If she wanted to create a costume, she had to figure out how to make it, because there wasn’t anybody else to do it. A lot of trial and error was used and learning from others. With all of the skills required for cosplaying, Yaya said it teaches people to be self-reliant and seek out information.
When Yaya was younger, she was introverted and shy and cosplaying brought her out of her shell and she tries to be authentic. She said it is a way to wear a giant sign that says “I love this thing.” Yaya feels she was lucky to build her brand before social media, having to connect on a real level through interactions, emails, or forums, having to be real. Yaya maintains positive communication with her fans and the cosplay community. Online, she hosts Facebook and Instagram live events for her fabrics and answers questions. At Katsucon, she hosted a panel and met fans all three days in the Dealer’s Room. She also expressed interest in visiting people all over the world, but explained on a March 9 Instagram Live that she needs to be invited first as a guest to conventions.
Having built her network before social media, Yaya said she is not a fan of social media and does not build her brand around it. She gave a panel called “Beyond Social Media” at Katsucon about long term success and cosplay. She said that building a name for oneself is not tied to the number of followers one has. Yaya said she approaches from a place of genuineness, wanting to connect to others through the real her. She has been welcomed into the community for so long, and is grateful and aware how she can contribute back and advocate for it and represent cosplay. To Yaya, that is more important than how to navigate social media and build followers. She wants to inspire other cosplayers to stop placing so much value on the fame and notoriety aspect.
On her YouTube Channel, she provides tutorials that show cosplayers, artists, and others the finest details of how she puts together her costumes, sets, and props. Yaya owns a unit in her warehouse that she creates many of her own set designs now. With her busy international touring schedule, having a stationary set makes sense for efficiency. Her husband also provides most of the photography out of convenience. She said it is easier for them to learn photography and create the sets. She applies her view on crafting to want to learn site building, photography, editing, and giving panels and speeches and has learned all this from cosplay. In one YouTube video, she created a Demon Slayer set and she showed how she layers the room for depth. For this, she ordered pieces off of Facebook Marketplace, Amazon, Ebay, and other online sites. The set used bamboo mats, fake wood wallpaper, spiderweb backdrops, a screen divider, paper umbrellas and lanterns, fabric, sakura branches, a dragon screen, crepe paper spider lily flowers, and of course lighting. The videos explain how her team achieved the final look of each photo shoot. In this Demon Slayer video, she said they had a lighting test the day before using three remote flashes, red gels, ambient lighting, and more. While it may seem like a lot to put into a photo shoot, the step-by-step processes are able to break it all down and allow others to recreate their favorite scenes. Yaya even created a separate video showing how to create the paper spider lily flowers.
Having witnessed the evolution of cosplay firsthand, Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay is the first book on the culture of cosplay and history of modern cosplay within the past 20 years and it contains many of her own experiences. It also delves into the state of cosplay and the future. “I wrote it from a personal perspective,” she said. This book approaches cosplay from a different direction. Many books talk about how to make costumes, but it explores the sociology about why people cosplay, what makes it worthwhile despite some of the challenges, and why has the author been doing it for over 20 years.
Yaya said that cosplay is in a vibrant phase; it is more accessible than ever and now there are more ways for people to join. It’s more inclusive, but there still needs to be more vigilance in welcoming those of all walks. New cosplayers should join because it is something that brings them joy. Cosplaying is more than just fun, because it is a time and money commitment. “I want people to do this because they are fulfilled by it as they can live out their favorite character for a day - they can watch an anime and be so hyped up for it they make a costume from it and get that satisfaction as a fan of having contributed to a fandom in a very active and unique way,” she said. The perks of being a convention guest, or representing a brand as an official character will come with time, Yaya added. “Enjoy the journey, and do not be too blinded by the destination or goal. Cherish the time you are learning these things and meeting people and having these experiences.”
Yaya has many conventions lined up for 2023. You can find her April 15-16 at SC Comic Con in Greenville, South Carolina, May 5-7 at Animefest in the Czech Republic, June 2-4 at A-Kon in Irving, Texas, June 10-11 at Anime Focal in Luxembourg, and many more.
Yaya Han cosplaying as Chu Wanning at Katsucon, February 17, 2023