[Iochi Mari cosplay] Blue Archive: Backflip daily of a sporty kitty

This time I cosplayed Iochi Mari in her Sportswear outfit from Blue Archive. The costume features an overall white-and-blue palette; to match the refreshing essence of the setting, I invested plenty of effort into styling the wig. The original character's blonde hair has prominent layers, so I thinned out the bangs and pinched out several fluffy locks with hair wax. The orange star-shaped halo above the head was assembled by hand—to reduce weight, lightweight foam board was used inside and spray-painted on the exterior, which, paired with the white cat-ear headband, created no noticeable pulling sensation on my head. The blue colored contact lenses were also chosen in a bright, vivid shade to better showcase clear, luminous eyes before the lens.

The top is a white short-sleeve T-shirt with blue contrast binding along the collar and cuffs, and the chest emblem patch was custom-ordered from a maker with quite satisfying detail and texture. To prevent the shirt from appearing overly flat on camera, I ironed it crisp and smooth before shooting. The bottoms are blue athletic shorts with yellow and white spliced striping along the sides, visually elongating leg proportions. In the first three photos, to emphasize a languid yet athletic vibe, I took off my shoes and sat on a white cylindrical pedestal wearing only knee-high White stockings. White stockings test leg shape considerably; prior to shooting, I checked meticulously for any snags, and during seated poses I minded any compression between thighs and calves to keep lines flowing and natural. In Photo 4, I put on white sneakers with black stripes and stood up for running and jumping actions—adding the shoes made the athletic feel much more complete.

Throughout the shoot, the photographer had me experiment with various poses to work around the Volleyball prop. For example, sitting as seen in Photos 1 and 2 with one hand steadying the volleyball while the other struck a playful gesture, or resting my chin on one hand. Many assume seated poses are the easiest, yet keeping the back straight while arranging the legs into an aesthetic triangular composition required continuous core engagement. The jump in Photo 4 was the most difficult: capturing the exact moment mid-air took nearly ten attempts before nailing the frame where posture was expansive and the clothing fluttered naturally. Sportswear fabrics crease easily during leaps, so after every jump, an assistant had to help rearrange both my outfit and hair.

For lighting, we utilized a softbox paired with reflectors to produce gentle, high-key illumination, bringing out skin translucency without washing out fabric details on the white garment. Since both the outfit and skin tones were quite bright, I deliberately asked the photographer to preserve subtle background shadows to keep the composition grounded.

The lively energy radiating from this set genuinely resonates with how I joke about my pet cat doing backflips—even though in reality my cat just lounges around all day. Overall, this sporty Mari styling offers tremendous room for dynamic posing, whether sitting quietly or leaping into the air, showcasing the character's sheer vitality. This was also my first time attempting such a relatively casual yet distinctively designed concept, striving to recreate that breezy lightness of sprinting across a sports court from wig textures down to every movement's leverage points. I hope these photos from different angles fully convey the crisp, refreshing aura of this outfit.