First worn: Anime LA 2007
And so it begins. My first Chihaya. Coincidentally, I wore this costume the same weekend that the first IM@S console game was released in Japan. I’ve been a fan of the series ever since the first trailer for the IM@S 1 Xbox 360 game was released in 2006. I have some friends in the gaming industry, and as soon as this game was announced, my friends sent me links to the news, knowing it was right up my alley. “It’s like a Morning Musume game!” Current fans may not understand the comparison, but it was so true. They had the tall airheaded girl (Azusa/Kaori), the tomboy prince who just wants to be a girl (Makoto/Yossi), the hyper Mini Moni queen (Yayoi/Mari — they are the same height), and the “twins” (Ami and Mami/Kago and Tsuji). I was amused after seeing the first news, but after watching the first video I was HOOKED. I learned the dance to GO MY WAY!! right away (I was already crazy about learning J-pop dances). Surprisingly, the songs and dance routines for THE IDOLM@STER were actually GOOD, like real J-pop! Before then, there was an obvious difference between J-pop and anime/game music, but that difference is disappearing, especially with the rising popularity of idols. THE IDOLM@STER caught the very beginning of that wave (AKB48 made its CD debut in 2006).
After watching that first IM@S trailer, I went and dug up everything I could find about the game — which included the 1st Anniversary Live concert, the first MASTER BOX (all the in-game versions of the songs plus dance videos for the original 10 arcade songs), and the MASTERPIECE series CDs. This series really is perfect for cosplayers who are fans of idols. With so many girls, songs, and outfits, there’s really something for everyone. They also made organizing performances easy, because you can put any girl in any position and you can choose the “long camera” view to get a good view of the dance.
Cool & Sexy in Twinkle Black was the original signature outfit for the series, although the coloring in the artwork did not match the in-game version (they later added a color that matched the artwork as DLC). This is actually the Xbox 360 version of this outfit, which was updated from the arcade version. Angel Hearts used the trailer videos as costume reference (also because we had a Miki, and she was not in the arcade version). We learned the dance for “THE IDOLM@STER”, which was the series’ original theme song (ok kinda obvious). We learned the arcade version though, because dance views for the console version were not available yet (they’re actually a little different… so if you ever wondered why we do it “wrong”, this is why).
I chose Chihaya based on looks, as I knew nothing of any of their personalities back then, but Chihaya turned out to be my favorite! She suits me so well, and her songs are beautiful. She has become my idol queen! Also, did you know she was the second best dancer in the arcade version of the game? The best was Ritsuko, and Makoto was actually 4th due to generally mediocre stats. Chihaya was the only character with a maxed-out starting stat (Vocal). Her stats were so high that even her Visual stat, which was her weakness, was higher than some of the girls’ high stat. Yet this girl is calm, cool, and kind-hearted. She’s just serious and works very hard, but she has a soft side too. The only thing is, I’ve never been the biggest fan of cobalt blue. I mean, it’s ok, I like blue, but I prefer turquoise. Chihaya’s image color was originally “blue and turquoise”, but since the addition of Hibiki it is now just “blue”. At least blue suits me.
As for the costume itself, I am proud of my patterning on this, since I managed to figure it out before I knew how to properly pattern-draft. It may not be obvious from the front, but this is a six-panel design with no side seams. I did have to add extra seams in the front of the top at the princess line so it would fit, though. I wore a black wig the first few times I cosplayed Chihaya because she had black hair in the arcade, and because the girls generally had natural colored hair, so I wanted to go with a natural color as well. I wanted to look more idol-like and less like an anime/game character. I later switched to blue, and in fact I dance so much as Chihaya that I’m on my fifth wig! I now reserve one for dancing and one for photo shoots.
Whew. I sure had a lot to say about this one. Chihaya has become my signature cosplay, and is the character I cosplay by far the most, with no end in sight. There are literally hundreds of costumes, including color variants. I’m also proud to say that my Angel Hearts girls are the most prolific IDOLM@STER cosplayers out there XD! IM@S FOREVER