[Ganyu Cosplay] Birthday in 2025: Gentle Vigil of Liyue's Adeptal Qilin

Happy Birthday to Ganyu! Taking advantage of Ganyu's birthday today, I'm posting this set of photos taken during National Day. Counting this outfit, I've cosplayed seven or eight different Ganyu looks altogether.

Many people ask why I always cosplay the same character. I think Ganyu has a unique charm. She looks a bit dazed at times, often forgetting to eat due to work, as if forever handling Liyue's affairs. But in reality, her heart is firmer than anyone's; thousands of years of time have endowed her with both the loftiness of an adeptal beast and the gentleness of integrating into the mortal world. This 'gentle yet strong' trait is precisely the spiritual core I want to replicate and express most.

For this shoot, I specially upgraded the details of the costume and makeup. This dark form-fitting base layer paired with layered white-and-gold drapes is somewhat complicated to put on and take off, but has a very high degree of completion. The jade-green pendant at the waist and red tassel cord knots are classic Liyue-style accents. To get closer to the original design, I gave the blue spliced sleeves on the arms a structured treatment so they offer better body support during photos. Contact lenses were also switched to soft pink to echo the hair color; combined with this ice-blue wig and the red-and-black horn ornaments on top of my head, I feel the resulting temperament fits the character even better than my earlier attempts.

The scene for Cosplay photography was chosen in a traditional study/tearoom with a great atmosphere—wooden cabinets, paper sliding doors, woven bamboo mats, calligraphy scrolls all over the walls, and a touch of red maple in the corner immediately brought out an antique charm. Although Ganyu lives in Teyvat, this kind of oriental elegant setting maximally highlights her temperament as a Liyue adeptus.

During the shoot, the photographer really knew how to capture the right frames. The look of holding an oil-paper umbrella and glancing back in the first shot was intended to create a cool, detached martial-world aura, while later poses sitting at the low table and bamboo mat leaned toward restoring her daily gentle, languid, yet ever-ready-to-work cuteness. Special praise goes to those photos sitting on the floor, where poses were deliberately chosen to display both the back cutout design and black tights. The texture of black stockings in soft light, paired with the minimal white cross-front shoes on my feet, created a very comfortable visual contrast for this Black stockings cosplay setup.

Because we shot exclusively horizontal photos this time, I had to post them as collages. Collage creation is actually a process of secondary creation, combining images of different angles and moods so the same outfit presents a rich narrative feel. During post-editing, emphasis was placed on preserving skin translucency and hair luster, making the overall image look clean and refreshing.

Every time I cosplay Ganyu, I'm actually racing against my past self to see if I can capture a work even truer to character setting than before. Now in 2025, Ganyu remains a deep bond for me in Cosplay. On this special day of Ganyu's birthday, sharing this most satisfying horizontal photo collage serves as a humble birthday gift for Miss Ganyu. I heard everyone is also looking forward to vertical photos; I'll share those gradually once I organize them.