[Honoka Kosaka cosplay] Love Live! The First Page of the Story: Our Three-Person School Diary

We gave this school-themed Cosplay photoshoot the concept theme of "The First Page of the Story." From finalizing the shoot plan to actually picking up the camera, it took over a month of preparation. Since it involved a three-character crossover group, everyone's schedules and states needed to be synchronized. Fortunately, my teammates "A-Hua'er" and "Tianzai" were incredibly supportive and highly cooperative.

This time, I portrayed Honoka Kosaka cosplay, a character overflowing with energy. Since we wanted to restore that fresh sense of youth and campus life, we meticulously deliberated on the costume details multiple times. The three of us unanimously chose this classic Japanese School uniform: a white dress shirt as the base, layered with a bright yellow crewneck knit vest, a red-and-blue striped bow tie at the collar, and matching blue-white-and-red plaid pleated miniskirts with black knee-high socks for the bottom. This ensemble actually demands precise proportions; specifically regarding the skirt length and sock height, a slight mismatch can easily make the legs look short. We intentionally adjusted it multiple times, and the final cuts indeed make our leg lines look exceptionally elongated visually. Though the look seems everyday, styling the wigs took considerable effort. My orange-red short hair was paired with a yellow scrunchie, while Umi's deep blue long straight hair and Kotori's flaxen long hair were precisely groomed in advance—down to the bending angles of the bangs and the degree of stray flyaways.

The studio environment on the day of the shoot was a highly restored Japanese-style classroom. Large expanses of wooden window frames let in strong side-backlighting, and the room's wooden floor bore natural marks of wear over time. Paired with the yellow desks, chairs, and a small blackboard, the atmosphere instantly emerged. The photographer "Xiaojing" exercised clever ingenuity in lighting design; instead of using harsh hard light that would ruin the indoor texture, they used low-power warm-toned continuous lights blended with the natural light from the window to simulate a lazy afternoon campus vibe.

When it came to moving and positioning, we were actually a bit stiff at first. When capturing the composition of us sitting side-by-side in Figure 2, Xiaojing told us to relax as much as possible. Sitting on the wooden desks and chairs, we had to manage our body tilt angles carefully—both to look natural and to let the lens capture a sense of full-body extension. For instance, Sonoda Umi cosplay on the left side needed to stretch her legs out diagonally, I sat matching her posture, while Minami Kotori cosplay reached her hand out and leaned forward. The angles of these few cuts can be considered the group in the entire photo set that best displays the texture of our School uniform, as both the skirt pleats and the leg lines contoured by the over-the-knee socks were beautifully showcased in this staggered sitting arrangement. The other shots of the three of us reaching out hands together or making V-signs were primarily intended to break the fourth wall, inviting the audience to immerse themselves in the story together.

The post-production was handled by "Yingsu." During our post-shoot communication, we unanimously agreed that this kind of school set shouldn't excessively chase that "anime-style look" under pastel-pink filters, but should rather preserve the natural skin textures, the wig sheen, and the clothing fabric textures. Therefore, the post-processing mainly focused on unifying the image colors, slightly dimming the overexposed areas outside the windows, and warming up the overall color temperature slightly. For the two standing compositions in Figure 1 and Figure 4, the retoucher specially managed the perspective relationships so our figures wouldn't look bulky before the lens, rendering clean outline contours.

This set was actually shot on International Children's Day last year. Although it wasn't compiled into final cuts until this year's Children's Day due to various reasons, the passage of time instead added a layer of authentic commemorative meaning. Roleplaying these vibrant girls inside a school setup occasionally created an illusion, making it feel as if we truly returned to our student days. Seeing these frozen frames during post-production brings back the real scenes from that day in the studio—everyone laughing out loud while straightening skirt pleats, helping each other wipe sweat, and swapping shoes back and forth. Those details outside the photographs are the most vivid underlying tones of this story.