By Katherine Ozawa

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Countless hours spent on cosplay paid off for Senior Alina Kalani when she won the Best in Show category at the 10th annual Kawaii Kon, which took place at the Hawaii Convention Center. Held from April 4 to 6, hundreds attended to enjoy the different panels and events planned for the weekend.

“Cosplay is very important to me because it kind of gives me a sort of confidence, being able to go out with other people and friends who have the same interests as me and it really helped me be able to open up to more people,” said Kalani.

For every day of the Japanese anime and manga-themed convention, Kalani had a different cosplay to wear, each taking months to complete. On the Friday of the convention, Kalani dressed as a modified black watch; on Saturday, she cosplayed as Princess Sakura from the anime “Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles” and on Sunday she dressed as Mikasa and Hanji from “Attack on Titan.” Kalani decided to enter her elaborate Princess Sakura cosplay into the Cosplay Showcase, which was held on the second day of the convention. “I chose the last (dress), which was the bridal gown, which was very, very complicated. It was the most complicated out of all of (Princess Sakura’s) outfits. And I had actually asked around with my friends saying, ‘Okay, these are the top three that I want to do for her. I want you guys to pick either one of them. Which one do you guys want to see me as? And if you pick that last bridal one, then I promise that I’ll enter into the cosplay contest,’ and everybody decided to go for the bridal one,” said Kalani.

Beginning during winter break, Kalani spent about three months working on her entry for her first ever cosplay contest. “It was tedious, but it was more time consuming because all of the gold pieces on the dress were hand-sewn onto the dress. A lot of the actual sewing of the pieces together weren’t as hard. It was just having to sit down and hand stitch all of that gold ribbon onto the dress. That was the part that took a lot of time,” explained Kalani.

Presenting on stage in front of people can be nerve-wracking and scary for anyone and the Cosplay Showcase was no exception. Although Kalani was nervous, she was able to overcome it and the performance paid off. “Before I went on, I remember being backstage and I really was nervous because all of the hard work being put into that costume, I didn’t know what the crowd would think or what the judges thought beforehand during pre-judging, so the only thing I knew what to do was just go up there, show everybody all the hard work that was put into that costume and just strut my stuff and hope to god that they like it,” said Kalani, “But afterwards, I felt so relieved because all of that hard work coming into that, and finally getting off like, ‘Oh my god, it’s done. Everything is done.’”

Kalani also had to balance her hobby with school and extracurricular activities. “I kind of like it to have it in my life because it adds onto the time management, because I have school and I also have to work on the yearbook all the time. And then also, I have (Color Guard), which also takes up a lot of time and dedication to those two pieces. Even though I have to spend so much time on those too, it’s kind of nice that I have cosplay to look forward to as well. Even though I have such a busy schedule, I kind of like that business because it gets me to do things,” said Kalani.

Although Kalani views her cosplaying as more of a hobby, it is also an outlet for her creative expression. “It’s just that I think everybody should do what they love. Because it’s something very important to have in your life. For me, cosplay is also a way of expressing myself, and expressing my love for something. I think everybody should have that because I don’t think it’s healthy to just go with something. It’s something unique, you know?” said Kalani.

Kalani is considering competing at Kawaii Kon again in the future and is looking to expand in the field of anime and cosplay.