Tanya Shringapure

Cosplayer

“Cosplayer, someone who is one of her kind and with the name.The situation has changed dramatically for Tanya and several other cosplayers in India since then. Thanks to the internet and YouTube, Tanya and her friends would begin experimenting more with cosplay, usually during Halloween meet-ups at the Mumbai Anime Club. After Cool Japan Festival 2012, Tanya was inspired to pursue cosplay in a more serious fashion. Colleges began to invite her group for events and with Comic Con taking place later that year, her interest in cosplay – much like its growth in India only deepened over time.It’s difficult to point when exactly cosplay really became popular. Events like Cool Japan Festival and Anime Con existed but there was no official organization or forum where cosplayers could interact. Many Indian cosplayers are self-taught, learning from YouTube and the internet. The popularity of cosplay is attributed to the exposure of anime in the West through the late 90s and 2000s. However, the act of donning a costume and acting like Batman or Superman has been around much longer. The infrastructure for cosplay as a profession only really emerged in the past decade for countries like the United States.”