
Zohakuten of Hantengu from Demon Slayer
Cosplayer: aerospace.ace
Photo: jaecin_88 & gkcarter21
Convention: AnimeFest 2022 (Dallas, TX)
I was drawn to Zohakuten’s design and since I generally lean towards the shorter characters when cosplaying, it was perfect. This cosplay was a chance to challenge myself with sewing his skirt and making his drums since it was only my second time working with EVA foam. Besides that, I love to cosplay characters that not many have cosplayed before. It makes me happy seeing reactions to characters I love that may not get as much recognition.
I learned quite a lot through this cosplay. It was pretty tedious but overall it was super fun to create and design everything. I’m most proud of how the skirt and drums turned out. Since he has no official coloring yet or have been cosplayed barely at all, I wanted to make the cosplay my own. I love the fabric I used for the skirt and even added details that aren’t in his official design. I think it makes him look more extravegant and demon like versus how his manga design would look in real life. I think the biggest challenge was making the harness to wear the hoop of drums. Luckily I was able to figure it out but I was really crunching for time since I barely gad a week left until the convention.
At Anime Fest I expected maybe a few people to know my cosplay since he’s only in the manga right now but I was honestly surprised with the response I got. Including those who didn’t know the character but loved my cosplay! It really made me feel like all the work I put into it was worth it.

I was honestly surprised I won best prop in the cosplaycontest! That may be the perfectionist in me talking but when the judges said that the prop looked real I genuinely didn’t think it was me! What was even more surprising was when an actual drummer (unconnected to the con) thought they were real as well! Winning best prop was one of the happiest moments I had at the con! I can’t wait to enter more in the future!
Cosplay is like an escape from reality for me. With college and work, it’s exhausting to live day to day only thinking about my future and studying. My motivation comes from the breaks I make to work on creating my cosplays and dressing as some of my favorite characters. I find a challenge in every costume and prop I make but it’s more fun than anything. I’ve made amazing friends through this hobby and feel like I can really express myself.
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