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Your Nigerian accent is too razz for the level of wealth you’re trying to project. You need to develop an accent, preferably British, to give off enough old-money energy.
Wear a boubou/kaftan everywhere
This needs to become your uniform. Inside, outside, everywhere you go. Also, make sure you always have dark shades on to stay mysterious.
It’s important to respond to every random situation with this question because people do, in fact, need to know who you are — a rich Nigerian.
Carry a portable fan everywhere
Heat might be killing everyone else in the country but certainly not you. You’re rich, so of course, you can’t be suffering like a common man. To make your statement even clearer, use one of those uncommon designs.
Also, use a cab service to go everywhere
You can never catch a rich man sweating inside a danfo. So why would you be taking public transportation? No, that’s off-brand.
Invest all your money in perfumes
You need to have all your bases covered, and one way to do that is by smelling expensive.
Or spend it all on skin and self-care
Sunburn is for the poor, my dear. It also doesn’t matter that you’ll be spending twice your monthly income on a new wig. Self-care is important, and your account balance shouldn’t get in the way of it.
And expensive designer items
Made in Aba or gotten off AliExpress; designer items are designer items. As long as they didn’t write Cavlin Rlein on that shirt, buy it.
Have like one million debit cards
It doesn’t matter if your entire net worth is ₦5k. Having many debit cards is a signal to people paying attention that your money is long.
Your car key must always be in your hands
It doesn’t matter that you have a pocket or keychain to hang it on. Have people seen your Benz that’s not really your Benz? That’s the main question, and it’s why your car key needs to be in your hands at all times. In fact, jiggle it to catch even more attention.
Burn all your savings on club memberships
Lagos Polo Club? Ikoyi Club? Join them all. Don’t mind the huge membership fees because it’s all an investment. By the time you start rubbing shoulders with actual rich people, your cosplay is complete. What’s remaining after that?
Nigerian anime fans got to have a safe space to gather and interact with each other at the 2022 Eko Anime Fest. And the cosplayers who attended had a lot to say about the joy of finding a like-minded community. Read about it here.
Emmanuel
This is my first anime event. I love the experience so far. It’s really nice, and I know it’s going to get better, so I’m here for it. The world is advancing technologically, so I hope they have a VR experience next time. But besides that, I love anime, I love HunterXHunter, my number one is One Piece, and I really like Cowboy Bepop. I’ve been watching anime since I was in junior school.
Mine
I’ve been watching anime since I was six, and my first was Naruto. Yes, I’m one of them; Naruto is my favourite anime. I’ve cosplayed about four times now. I cosplayed Carole from Carole & Tuesday and Yumeko from Kakegurui. I’ve been to about four anime cosplay events, and my favourite thing is seeing other people as enthusiastic about what we love around me. I love the feeling of being around people who understand why we do what we do. It’s a small-ish community, but it makes me happy.
Femi
I’ve cosplayed just once before this, and I did Itachi. My favourite anime is Naruto, but I like Akame Ga Kill. My big three are Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist and Akame Ga Kill. I’ve been watching anime since 2004, when I saw Ronin Kenshin. This might be my first anime con, but I’m impressed by how people went all out. They took their time to cosplay their characters, and I see the effort. I also love how this small community helps me meet like-minded people who love anime.
Kammie
I’ve been watching anime for two years. My favourite anime is One Piece and Kuroko no Basket. This is the second anime con event I’ve cosplayed at, and I love how happy everyone is. People come up to you to take pictures because they appreciate the effort you put into your cosplay. It’s amazing, and I love that we get to have this. For anyone trying to get into anime, it’s not too late. Watch Naruto, Food Wars, Demon Slayer and Black Clover as a starter. We’ll all be here for you.
Saiki
I’ve been watching anime for two years, since the pandemic. I’d heard about Naruto from primary school to uni, so it felt like a new starting point. I finally had time to try it because I was at home with nothing to do. I’ve seen almost 100 episodes since then because I kept watching them back-to-back to catch up. I’ve slowed down a lot, though. I love Saiki, it’s my comfort anime, but my favourites are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Attack on Titan.
This is my first time cosplaying, so I tried to do something not so risky but still significant. I did Saiki since he’’s my favourite character. It was fun to source the material to make it happen. I’m new here, but obviously, anime is going mainstream, so I love the sense of community we get to have. People on the road might wonder what we’re doing, but we get each other. It’s fun to see people excited about something others consider a niche. It’s just fun to be around people you can relate with.
Bolu
I’ve been a big anime fan for five years now. Not to be cliche, but I love One Piece a lot. Then there’s One Piece, Haikyuu!! and Dororo. I love cosplaying. I cosplayed as No-Face for the first time last year and actually won the competition. I love seeing other people as weird as me, who share similar interests and love of anime, in the same place. It’s so cool. Where else will I see these many people looking like this in Lagos?
Crys.chan.cosplay
I’ve been watching anime since primary school; my first was Pokemon. My big three are My Hero Academia, Haikyuu!! and Fullmetal Alchemist. Anyone who wants to start off should try Demon Slayer or Noragami. For romance, try My Little Monster and Say I Love You.
I’m a regular cosplayer. In 2022, I did about 26 cosplays in total, and I make almost all the costumes from scratch. I love coming to community events like these ‘cause everyone else I know dismisses my interest, but here, everyone likes it as much as I do. And I love it.
Hi, I’m Ezzi Jude, a 22-year-old cosplayer obsessed with creating anime-inspired outfits. A fun fact about me is that K-dramas used to have me in a chokehold, and up to 2021 I covered K-pop choreographies. I founded a Korean community for Nigerians out of my love for all things Korean and even became an honorary reporter.
“Used to be” a die-hard fan? How did that, unfortunately, happen to you?
Okay, so I’m still a fan. Okay, so I watch K-dramas sometimes, I just don’t complete them, so I can’t call myself a fan. I still love korean culture though, that’s why I started my Korean lovers community, other than me feeling like people didn’t know enough about Korean culture please! And it’s a group of over 700 people. I’m a fan of the culture, but right now I can’t focus on one K-drama at a time.
You know what? Fair. What’s it like being a Korean honorary reporter?
Well, it is unpaid work, but if your article does well, you may be invited to Korea, and there are occasional gifts such as snacks and rice cookers. I applied to Talk Korea to be an honorary reporter and It was a fairly simple procedure. I filled out a form and sent them links to a bunch of my TikToks where I’d already been covering a lot of Korean content, and I got in. Honorary reporters write at least six articles per year. It sounds small but it required lots of research. I quickly became bored and quit because I am not a writer and it was difficult. But, to be honest, I applied to build my portfolio for a Korean scholarship program.
Just six? Wow. Liking K-dramas is a long way from cosplaying. What influenced your interest?
After I stopped writing , on some random day, I saw an advert online for a comic con in Port-Harcourt and decided to create a free promotional video for them.
I’d only seen the new generation anime like Demon Slayer because everyone told me the old ones can be boring. But,I was hyped and I wanted a lot of people to know about the event and I figured that I could go in cosplay. I wanted to cosplay a character I knew, so I prepared for my Azula costume. But then, I saw an Ankara pattern that looked like water prints, which gave me the idea to make the water bender costume I wore in the promo video. After that went out, someone reached out to me and asked if I’d like to join a Nigerian cosplay community. The deal was I had to have done at least two cosplays so they’d know you’re serious. It’s a good thing I was already working on my Azula cosplay.
Don’t mind them. Watch the older anime, they’re really good. How big is this cosplay community?
Back then, we were about 12. Now, we’re 17. They always add new people, but cosplaying is expensive so people leave a lot. Some members even left because their families disapproved of it. Some were medical students, and their parents wanted them to be more focused. I don’t get why people always react badly to innocent pastimes.
Omo, that must suck. How did your family react to your cosplay?
I think they are cool with it because I used to cover K-pop choreography before I started cosplaying. I made so many covers, and one time Jennie from Black Pink reacted to one of my videos, which had 11k views. But I twisted my ankle dancing to the choreography of Stray Kid’s God Menu, and my mum made me promise to only dance with a knee brace. She’s supportive in little ways like that. My dad just minds his business. They like that I’m happy and hope my obsession with cosplaying and Korean things works out for me.
If it wasn’t cosplaying, what would you have gotten into?
I’d just always create things. I used to paint a lot till I clocked 19. I stopped because I had to pay attention in school. Plus, it cost a lot to buy the things I needed to paint, and the money I had wasn’t enough for it.
Is cosplaying cheaper than painting?
It is cheaper, tbh. I’m a style influencer for an Asian costume brand, so I apply to them when I want to cosplay, and they are supposed to give me the costumes. But I’ve only successfully gotten two from them. I made the other 13 myself.
What’s your favourite and least-favourite cosplay?
Okay, so I spent a lot of money and time on my Azula cosplay because it needed to be detailed to give it that “oomph”. The tiny details cost a lot too — I only wanted small bits of each item sold at retail price — only for it to be my least favourite cosplay. Meanwhile, the cheapest one was my mushroom hat cosplay. But I made it by myself and it’s my favourite one so far.
What’s the longest time you’ve spent on a costume?
If I have all my materials, I can finish in a week. If not, it takes up to a month. For example, my Azula costume took me a month to create, and I didn’t even like it. I didn’t like being called Azula after that; that babe is wicked.
I am dying, please. Do you think you’d create cosplays to sell in the future?
Maybe, all I know is that I want to be an official costume designer someday. I don’t want to create original pieces. I want to recreate things people have already made. That’s what I’m good at. There’s a comic con event in September [2022], and some creators reached out to ask if I could help with their costumes. I’m excited about working on that.
I fantasise about making costumes for cosplayers and celebrities on a big scale, like Kamui Cosplay does. She uses technology like led lights to make some of her cosplays glow in the dark, and I love it. That’s the future I see for myself, but… baby steps.
Speaking of the future, have you found fulfilment in cosplaying?
I’ve had former friends tell me to use my following for regular brand influencing, whatever that is, but that’s not me. They don’t understand my audience is not as big as they think. People follow me because I’m creative, but they’re not really interested in me. They follow for free tips on how I make my costumes. Not everyone is anticipating my next cosplay.
My satisfaction comes first. I pick challenging cosplays to impress myself. I do what makes me happy, hoping to find an audience interested in it too. I’d only stop if it stopped making me happy, but creating will always make me happy. So, of course I feel fulfilled. I’m always creating.
If you have been watching anime for a long time or you’re a beginner, eventually the cosplay bug will hit you, but your bank account might not get the memo. After reading this article, There’s no reason why you should wear jeans and a t-shirt to a comic con because the floor is the bar for these cosplay ideas.
1. Go as Luffy
Why? All you need is a redshirt, just remember to cut the hands and pair it with stonewashed blue jeans shorts and a straw hat. Everyone might judge you for being a fan of that long ass anime, but they go dey alright.
2. L from Death note
He wears a white long sleeve and jeans, that’s an easy cosplay since you’ll most likely have those in your wardrobe. To nail this look though, make sure you always sit with your knees against your body as he does and randomly keep your thumb close to your mouth. Bonus points if you carry a plate filled with cake.
3. Yato from Noragami
If you are not the kind of person that wears tracksuits -and honestly no one should be- you might have to buy this one. You’d need a white t-shirt and could use an old white shirt as a scarf. The problem now is that ugly ass boot he wears. Luckily, Nigerians sell the weirdest things. Finding affordable cowboy boots will be easy.
4. Killua from Hunter X Hunter
For this cosplay, you’ll need a blue turtleneck long sleeve, a white v-neck t-shirt and grey shorts. You could bleach your hair white, and for the final touch, you must make all your entire family skilled assassins.
5. Karasuno’s Team Uniforms
In Haikyuu, the high school volleyball players wear orange and black sports uniforms. To create this look you can thrift any black and orange jersey that you like, black kneepads, hold a ball and of course, wear sports shoes.
6. Kids from the promised neverland
These kids have a very simple outfit that consists of simple white collared shirts paired with white pants or a pleated skirt. To achieve the look of any specific character though, you’d have to use the character’s respective wig and number on the neck. You’d wear plain clothes too if you had to die.
7. Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen
Gojo’s outfit should be easy enough to find since it’s a plain black high-necked jacket with matching black pants, check your dad’s wardrobe maybe? You can always dye a white handkerchief black and tie it around your head. It would be a plus to bleach your hair white and behave like a millennial that thinks he’s GenZ.
