Cosplay
Imagine for a day you transform into a different persona. And for a chance you have the freedom to guise as a different character whose personality is an upshot of one's wandering imagination. Probably for a cautious, old school type, it's a no. But for others, why not?
Yes, at least for once my son Kalayaan has shown a character whose attributes he shares. As part of their school's English Day culminating activity, involving high school students, it was a cosplay day.
Because I saw his earnest enthusiasm, I did a quick research of his chosen character's attributes for better understanding and appreciation. And even to the details of the costume so I could approximate the character. Kalayaan searched on the Internet for where we could rent the costume. Fortunately, we found a resident in Mambaling that supplies practically different anime costumes.
Clad in his red "priest's garb," a necklace, a sword, and dog ears, he has become, for a day, an Inuyasha. They paraded in their costumes to the amusement of other students especially the graders, yelling and giving high fives to my son.
But who is Inuyasha? Why does Kalayaan so fascinated with this character? "A Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi, Inuyasha's exact age is unknown but the Swords of an Honorable Ruler revealed he is over 200 years old, despite having the appearance of a teenager. He is a dog demon/human hybrid who initially wanted to use the enormous power of the Shikon Jewel to become a full-fledged demon. Fifty years prior to the main era of the storyline, though, Inuyasha fell in love with the priestess Kikyo, who was given the task to protect the Jewel. Inuyasha changed his mind, and instead, wanted to use the Shikon Jewel to become a human so that he could live with her, however, Naraku (an evil half demon) manipulated both of them into believing they had been betrayed by one another. Being a shape-shifter, he used Inuyasha's appearance to deceive and attack Kikyo. Before Kikyo died, however, she shot the real Inuyasha with a sealing arrow that bound him to the Sacred Tree. Inuyasha remained there for 50 years, until Kagome Higurashi (Kikyo's modern-day reincarnation) pulled out the arrow and broke the seal. A few days later, in an attempt to stop a crow demon who escaped with the Shikon Jewel, Kagome shot an arrow at it and accidentally shattered the Jewel into thousands of fragments that scattered across Feudal Japan. Inuyasha and Kagome travel together to retrieve its shards." Throughout the series, the fierce fighter Inuyasha showed a helpful and determined persona.
Back to our son, for bagging gold medal for best in costume, we treated him for a dinner in a nearby mall and from a distance, we saw stares from fascinated individuals, both young and old, who have obvious knowledge of the character.
I need to understand to what appeals the present generation. It is where I can start. At first glance, the activity looks superficial but when taking it into a higher perspective by exploring noteworthy lessons such the goodness of a character and the values being espoused, it becomes significant. Friendship, camaraderie, love and determination–are the very values we want to develop in our youths today. This specific interest must be translated into something meaningful for them to live as valuable members of the community.
However, while they are widening their horizons by being so fascinated with anime that are in all cases involving foreign characters, they tend to forget our very own. They gather in malls and other big venues for competitions. Schools are doing the same, riding on to such craze, and in so doing setting aside our very own Filipino characters. Where are now the likes of Panday, Mariang Cacao, Pedro Penduko, Darna, and many others?
Does it become an elusive objective for our teachers to integrate these characters into what our young ones are hooked into? Yes, we can explore on to what they are into, which is something far-off, but in the process we should also make sure to relate and integrate what are truly ours.
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