Whether it is in cosplay, shōjo manga, JRPGs or literature, the figure of the girl is a a contradictory one: she is neither woman nor child. Although powerful and magical, she is also often without agency.

My research uses Japanese shōjo theory to interrogate cosplay and western texts.

I am currently writing a book with Dr Lucy Fraser (UQ) and Dr Masafumi Monden (USyd) (under contract with Routledge). Our work analyses shōjo literature’s obession with the west using texts from both inside and beyond Japan’s borders.

You can find out more at our ongoing online and travelling exhibition Maidens Sans Frontiers.

Publications include:

La Robe à la Française et la Robe l’Odalisque: wearing women’s clothing in The Rose of Versailles (2021)

Sakura ga meijiru: Unlocking the Shōjo Wardrobe: Cosplay, Manga, 2.5D Space (2019)

The Mountain Witch at the Train Station: the Yamamba and the Shojo in Aoyama Nanae's Hitori Biyori (2008) (cited in Yamamba as Muse by Prof. Rebecca Copeland, 2021)

Howl, Sophie and the Witch of the Waste from Howl’s Moving Castle. Tessu as Howl, Cate as Sophie, Emerald as the Witch. Costumes made by the wearers. Photography by Sammitography; Editing by Tessu

Cosplay studies is an emerging multidisciplinary field which draws on theories from fandom studies, textile studies, sociology, anthropology, and translation studies.

I am an award winning cosplayer, cosplay judge, and event MC. In 2020 I was named ‘WCS Support Ambassador’ alongside renowned cospayers such as Yaya Han and Reika.

My work focuses on reading cosplay costumes as text, treating them as acts of fan translation.

Publications include:

Gotta Sew Them All—A Case Study of Pokémon Legends: Arceus Trainer Costumes and Historical Plausibility (2023)

Creating the Body Beautiful Cosplay: Crossdressing, Cosplay, and Hyper Femininity/Hyper Masculinity (2023)

Cosplay Everywhere: Costume Diplomacy at the World Cosplay Summit (2023)

Red Capes, Dog Gods and Demon Lords: Making Historically Plausible Inuyasha Cosplay Costumes (2022)

Okay, Let’s Go (豪)! A Brief History of Cosplay in Australian Cosplay Conventions (2020) video essay commissioned by the Japan Foundation, Sydney

A Brief History of Cosplay in Australian Cosplay Conventions (2019)

Performing Gender: Cosplay and Otaku Cultures and Spaces (2019)

Tailored Translations—Translating and Transporting Cosplay Costumes (2016)

Girls Who are Boys Who like Girls to be Boys: BL and the Australian Cosplay Community (2013)

Galo from Promare. Costume made by Emerald L King. Photography by C-01 Photography

Classical psychoanalytic theories of masochism by Sigmund Freud and Theodor Reik take it for granted that pain is the natural and expected part of a woman’s life – menstruation, pregnancy, and penetration are read as necessary and violent rites of passage for those whose bodies are not cis-male.

My research focuses on the work of Japanese women authors who write characters who not only reject these expected and accepted ideals of feminitiy, but who draw pleasure and excitement from these transgressions.

Publications include:

Pricking Pain Surrounds Us: Restraining, Shaping, and Taming the Body in Hebi ni Piasu (2020)

Absent mothers, constructed families and Rabbit Babies: Kanehara Hitomi and Mazazu (2017)

Kanoe from X/1999. Costume made by Emerald L King. Photography by Sammitography; Editing by Tessu

Gothic literature is imbued with a sense of doomed wonder and mystery. My work combines classic western notions of the gothic with Japanese strange tales or kwaidan.

I have long been obsessed with vampires, witches, ghosts, and monsters - especially those that hide in the mirror.

My work focuses on literature and film, as well as goth fashion and lifestyle, a left over from the time I was the door bitch at my local Goth night club.

Publications include:

“Top Model: Cosplaying Ito Junji’s Tomie” (2021)

”Tangled Hair and Broken Bodies: Remaking Women and Technology in Japanese Gothic Horror Tradition from The Tale of Genji to Ringu” (2019)

Girls in Lace Dresses: The Intersections of Gothic in Japanese Youth Fiction and Fashion (2017) with Dr Lucy Fraser

Lady Rokujo from Asakiyumemishi (The Tale of Genji). Costume made by Emerald L King. Photography by Fiathriel