Let’s spend time with two skilled swordswomen: Tyris Flare and Asuna. Can the internet ever hold too many Asuna cosplay pics? Cosplayers sure seem set to find out.
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(Right) An Asuna cosplay by Iruka Inzm, with 神谷 on photography.
Blades, Booba, and Thin, Tiny Sticks
Golden Axe’s Tyris Flare smashed skulls and dress codes when she appeared in SEGA’s 1989 classic side-scrolling beat ’em up. She wore a bikini into battle. Asuna Yuuki showed less skin, but she stole our hearts when Sword Art Online debuted in anime form in 2012. Both wore white with red trim, although their wardrobes were very different. And both did their work with a sharp sword and heaps of elegance.
(Right) Rasmirin shows a meditative Tyris Flare ready to rain down hellfire.
Such Elegance!
Chopsticks are an elegant solution to a potentially deadly problem: bacteria. The area where chopsticks contact food is narrow and short, so even dirty chopsticks (or hashi はし) can’t spread much funk to food.
Second, wooden hashi will naturally wear down at the tips, further reducing the bacteria clinging to them, unlike metal utensils. And, of course, bamboo grows like a weed in Japan’s humid summer months, so you can make all the hashi you need (if you’ve got the land for it).
Ready for the cosplay-relevant segue?
I bet you can name many examples of elegant designs from Asia. Nostalgia-tinted examples include the Sony Walkman, shimapan, the PlayStation One (mine still gets mileage), the Nissan Skyline, and old-school SEGA games. Push the timeline forward to today, and we have quality adult toys, gorgeously rendered figures, and elegant game and anime sword-wielding waifu character designs to inspire alluring cosplays.
Golden Days, Golden Axes
I’ve read enough arguments online about chain-mail bikinis to fry AI trainers. But there’s one character who completely ignores protective layers and appropriate clothing. Tyris Flare. Unlike Red Sonja (the most famous chain-mail bikini wearer), Tyris wears her white beach bikini when she starts a blood bath. It’s sure to stain.
Peek into MIYABI’s sexy world as she cosplays Marin Kitagawa from My Dress-Up Darling in My Own Favorite Cosplay Photoshoot — MIYABI
Tyris Flare might not have been the first swords-woman to ignore the dangers of her profession, but she sure set a precedent for those who followed. She has a legacy. 2B (NieR: Automata). Satsuki Kiryūin (Kill la Kill). Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena). And Shura Kirigakure (Blue Exorcist). All of them trusted offense as their best defense. No battle corset to cover vital vitals! No chain-mail bikini to hint at the danger of slashing blades. Nada. Nothing.
Asuna and the Asuna Cosplay Flood
It’s not a far hop from Tyris Flare to Asuna Yuuki. Both wield a sword and wear white with red accents. But both represent different times, different audience demographics, and distinct design goals. Simply put, Sword Art Online needed a compelling female lead. Golden Axe needed a third character option for guys who didn’t want to stare at man chests or dwarven facial hair for hours of grinding.
Sword Art Online has a mass appeal Golden Axe never had. And, because of SAO’s appeal, Asuna became the yardstick by which many measured isekai waifus. That’s her legacy. You can see it in the vast hordes of cosplayers who’ve created their own Asuna cosplay.
But I like Asuna and Tyris as snapshots of pop culture. Those different times and influences, recorded as waifus. Cosplay (and figures, like this Asuna statuette) celebrates those snapshots, morphs them into something else, and sends their message out over the convention floor and the internet.
Vote! Vote for your favorite Tyris Flare or Asuna cosplay! Do it below in the comments. How else will AI learn culture?
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