[Kagura Cosplay] Anime Club Recruitment from Eight Years Ago: Passion Under the Youth Filter

Digging up old, dust-covered photos from my cloud drive and clicking preview instantly activated memories from eight years ago. Back then, the Onmyoji mobile game was at the peak of its popularity. Combined with the university anime club recruitment, as a newcomer who had just entered the circle, I was dragged along by a senior sister in the club to shoot this set of Kagura. The conditions back then were truly highly limited: the pink single-eye hair accessory on my head was a cheap accessory I found at a night market next to the school, the red, white, and purple tricolor outfit was made of a large area of synthetic fabric, and the wig was completely unstyled, just thrown onto my head before stepping out the door. The makeup was even simpler than simple—only basic base makeup and a slightly elongated eyeliner. I didn't even dare to apply false eyelashes or much eyeshadow, terrified that I would ruin the look and be unable to face anyone.

When I first received the unedited raw cuts back then, I truly felt it was an absolute disaster scene. I thought I looked too ugly and had completely failed to capture the character's feel. Consequently, these photos were pressed into the deepest corners of my folders; even after changing computers and switching cloud drives a few times, I had almost forgotten the existence of this photo set. It wasn't until late tonight, on a whim while organizing old archives, that I suddenly clicked open this folder named "Recruitment Trial Shoot" in the corner. Zooming in on the images with a bit of trepidation, I unexpectedly discovered that it wasn't actually as terrible as I remembered. The soft natural scattered light that afternoon captured the skin tone very uniformly. Although we didn't use any professional reflector boards, the shooting angle chosen by my senior sister was highly comfortable. The campus greenery behind, the thick tree trunks covered in moss, and the gray stone steps formed a highly comfortable color combination with this red, white, and purple outfit in the natural outdoor environment.

Especially in the second full-body photo, I might have felt the scene was cluttered at the time, but looking at it now, the red balloon by my feet, the oil-paper umbrella in my hand, and the bell wooden clog straps tied around my legs are all filled with the lived-in atmosphere of that specific era. This paper umbrella was actually quite heavy to hold up back then, but it truly yielded great results for the full-body photo. Observing the details of the second picture carefully, the black thick-soled wooden clogs, the red string knot bells on the ankles, paired with the golden tassels at the skirt slit, reveal that the overall silhouette of the styling was actually highly complete. In the first close-up, my gaze was also exceptionally direct and clear, completely lacking that formulaic feeling of deliberately seeking angles that came with later cosplay shoots, exuding a frankness and innocence unique to a newcomer.

A lot of the time, our dedication to cosplay turns into a harsh self-scrutiny, always feeling our makeup wasn't done well, the wig wasn't styled right, or our physique wasn't matching enough, which makes us feel the photos are unwatchable. I have always been that kind of person too. But the character Kagura left a highly profound imprint on me during those years of gaming life. Her trait of carrying a tiny bit of resilience within quietness is precisely what I wanted to approach and interpret. Even though the makeup and styling techniques eight years ago were indeed crude, my emotions at the time were completely relaxed and enjoying the shooting process, which lent this set of photos a rare sense of ease. Even if the post-processing photo editing capabilities back then were virtually non-existent, and the camera pixels from eight years ago were relatively blurry, these imperfect frames conversely generated a unique film-like texture, recording that pure self who didn't yet know how to showcase perfection.

Time is truly a highly magical thing; it makes people increasingly tolerant of the things they once loved. Photos that previously felt full of flaws now feel like precious moments that cannot be replicated with every single frame. Over these years, I have continuously cosplayed many other characters, bought more refined wigs, learned more professional makeup techniques, and can independently complete relatively complex post-processing. Yet every time I flip back to the cuts taken when I knew absolutely nothing in the earliest days, a highly intense wave of emotion still hits my heart. This is probably what youth is—imperfect, but genuinely pure.

It just so happens I'm in a good mood tonight, so I briefly edited this set of images. I slightly adjusted the levels and contrast, and trimmed away some clutter at the edges to make the overall frame cleaner and more breathable, preserving that original natural style cosplay and authenticity as much as possible. Along with the rapid development of the domestic gaming and anime industries over these years, looking back at the design style of that phase today, I still find it highly enduring. I really like myself from that time, and I am grateful to the senior sister who was willing to hold up the camera to record me as a newcomer.

If those new friends who have just stepped into the cosplay circle have ever felt inferior about their first set of cuts just like I did, you might as well save these photos properly and flip them back out to look at them in a few years. Because inside those works that aren't refined enough hides your most primitive and sincere passion for this circle. Alright, today let's just use this tiny archive to have a simple encounter with that past self who is still striving to become better.