Manga-inspired cosplay is nothing unusual for Japanese otakus or even here in the United States (see, for instance, our post about the Comic Con 2010 costumes)

But in China, cosplay has taken a weird twist:

Japan’s TBS news visits a gathering of otaku in China to report on how there is now a “boom” in the number of male fans who dress up like female anime and manga characters.

The cross-dressers were apparently influenced by television shows about otaku who do the same kind of thing in Japan. The publication of a Chinese cross-dressing cosplay manual is cited as evidence of this being a trend. It is also mentioned that a lot of Chinese netizens have criticized the weird activities of these otaku.

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