Japan’s Best-Paid Cosplayer Transforms Urusei Yatsura Characters in Captivating Photo Collection
Rumiko Takahashi, the creator of the Inuyasha manga is collaborating with Japan’s top professional cosplayer to make some of Inuyasha’s most iconic characters.
A first look at a cosplay photo book inspired by the work of Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha creator Rumiko Takahashi is out.
The book will show an array of cosplays by Enako. She is a voice actress as well as a streamer and model. She is recognized as Japan’s highest-paid professional cosplayer. The well-known cosplayer will be taking on the role of many characters from Takahashi’s most popular series like Maison Ikkoku Ranma1/2 and Inuyasha. Takahashi even designed a brand new character for Enako to portray in her new novel. Enako posted the first image from the book via her own Twitter account. It features Enako dressed in Lum the alien princess from Takahashi’s Urusei Yatsura. The as-yet untitled collaboration book will be available in Japan on September. 6.
RELATED: Urusei Yatsura Reboot Reveals First Trailer and Premiere Window
Urusei Yatsura has been the focus of renewed attention lately in the context of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure studio David Production prepares a new animated adaptation of Takahashi’s classic sci-fi romance. The reboot is being produced by Hideya Takahashi ( Platinum End) and Yasuhiro Kimura, who also directed Jojo’s Golden Wind season. The new series is set to last for four seasons, and will adapt select stories from the manga’s first season that ran from 1978 – 1987. The return of Lum and Ataru to TV in Japan will begin airing in October. Information about the show’s international release have yet to be revealed.
If she’s not writing hit manga or supervising the many adaptations of her manga, Takahashi is busy collecting prizes: in 2020, she was given the distinguished Medal with Purple Ribbon award by the Japanese government in recognition of her contribution to culture and the arts, and in 2021 she was admitted into the Harvey Awards’ Hall of Fame for her accomplishments. The manga creator is still working on her current manga, supernatural fantasy Mao,, which was released in the year 2019. It’s distributed in English through VIZ Media.
RELATED: Urusei Yatsura Is the O.G of the Harem Genre
Enako began cosplaying around 2012, and is now so well known in the Japanese cosplay community and anime fandom that she is compensated by conventions to bring her cosplay to their events. According to reports, she earns over $90,000.00 USD per month through appearances and photo shoots that are paid. Cosplay has turned into a full-time profession for the 27-year-old, and in a video she released in the first week of this year, she explained she has an ” cosplay warehouse” which houses hundreds of costumes, which are meticulously catalogued and stored by her team.
