From how one would at look at her when she portrays her fierce characters, one wouldn’t think she was a timid girl who only started cosplaying a year ago. Yet Keileen has come into her own, becoming a recognized cosplayer who simply loves the thrill of being the character she portrays. We of course had to invite her to be arkadymac.com’s latest Cosplay Model. Presenting Keileen in her first online feature, photography by Xtian Mack, post-processing by our guest editor, Ecko.
For our feature,she cosplays Sasuko, the genderbent vesion of Naruto’s Sasuke Uchiha. ” I love portraying fierce characters, those who look harmless but are actually very strong,” she shares. “I love the way they look innocent and are underestimated, but in the end they are stronger and fiercer than anyone could imagine. Characters like Erza, Lucy, and Dokuro Chrome are ones I aspire for. I admire Dokuro Chrome the most as she had a very sad past but I love how she kept up with it with a smiling face.”
She recounts cosplaying Misa Amane from Death Note at her first event when she started just last year. “I guess most girls start out with Misa,” she says with a smile. She got into cosplay when her professor gave her the suggestion since she liked anime so much and thought she resembled a character from one of them. At the time she was really very shy, but cosplaying has given her more self-confidence as she went on, going to as many events as she possibly can. “When I cosplay I feel like I’m in the world of anime itself, and it makes me so happy.”
“I cosplay to express my love for anime,” she explains as her reason why she continues with the hobby. “I get to dress up and look like the characters I have come to love and admire, and at events when people recognize my character, I feel extremely happy.”
Keileen tells us cosplay opened up a lot of new doors for her. “I made a lot of friends through cosplaying. I get to experience new things like being independent, learning to travel on my own, and being sociable, as I’m more used to staying in a corner in the past.”
Outside of cosplaying, Keileen tells us she’s still much of a kid and likes to play games a lot. “I love war games and RPG games,” she admits. “I enjoy drawing too, mostly anime characters since I enjoy watching series and anime of every kind of genre imaginable.”
We of course gave her the chance to say a few words to those who have supported her. “Thank you to my professor who gave me the idea of cosplaying. Thank you to my parents who let me cosplay. Thank you to my family who cheer for me. Thank you to my classmates who support me. I want to thank everyone since they all have become a part of my life.”
As of now, she’s busy with her studies but whenever she gets the chance, count on her to be at events being surrounded by people admiring her great portrayals. And how long does she intend to cosplay? “Until I have kids to cosplay with,” she laughs. “I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll stop.”
We hope that you can all continue to support Keileen, and you can all be sure that we’ll be more than happy to feature her here again at arkadymac.com.
Thank you for dropping by, and please visit us again for more cosplay features here at arkadymac.com.
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