Cosplay Interview: YuuriK and YuuriC

It does seem that the best things do come in twos. I have had the distinct pleasure to interview YuuriK and YuuriC. These ladies are actually twin sisters that enjoy the art of cosplay together.

What really grabbed my attention was seeing their renditions of Lightning and Serah from Final Fantasy XIII. I marveled at the details they instilled in not only the costumes, but also the weapons as well.

Their eye to detail is extremely well trained as they keep to the original design of the characters. This is also evident in the their cosplay of characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Le Chevalier D'Eon.

Enough of my babbling, lets get to the interview and stunning cosplay photographs.

Please introduce yourselves, let us know where you reside and what are your ages?

Hi~!

We are twin sisters residing in Maryland, USA. Together we go by Yuurisans, Yuuri, and as individuals YuuriK (Karen) and YuuriC (Cindy). We may look younger, but we're 21 years old.

Was it a separate journey for each of you to start cosplaying or did you both want to do it at the same time?

We began attending an anime convention in 2006. We thought at first it was silly to cosplay anime characters, we were at the time more into the Japanese rock scene. We began watching more new anime around 2007 and in 2008 we decided to seriously cosplay anime characters. It was so much fun, so we continued to do this crazy hobby!

How do you decide on which characters you will Cosplay? Since you are siblings, has there ever been that, “No, I want to do ‘insert character’, you do ‘insert character’!” arguments?

Luckily, we always end up liking the same series and each of us has a certain character we like the most. Like, one of us adores Rei more than Asuka. There's no argument in choosing characters to cosplay, though we sometimes argue for who will work on props or sew certain parts.

When you worked on Lightning and Serah Farron, you had some extremely detailed cosplay and weapons. Which was more difficult to complete when designing (character or weapon)?

YuuriC: It was my first time making armor cosplay, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. For hours I stared at her armor designs from the first trailer. I then sketched out what I saw. It took me six months of on and off work to finish the whole costume. Lightning props took me a few days, but once I began on Serah's bow-blade I found it more difficult. It was probably because I was rushing and raging at the same time. But sister saved the day by helping me with the limb parts and the other details that needed to be done!

YuuriK: Serah was kind of a last minute cosplay. I wasn't planning to do Serah at all, but sis wanted me to be part of this FFXIII-2 craze. I found Serah's part two outfit quite simple. It took me only about two weeks to make. My sis was then asking for help on the bow-blade, it seemed like she was ready to give up. Serah's bow-blade has a lot of details, and my sis and I got headaches in putting it all together. The worst part for me was figuring out the Etro script on the bow-blade's limbs. I couldn't make out all of the Etro script, at the time there was no cgi renders out. The chest plate on Serah's skirt panel had Etro script as well, but I decided to add a quote (for the second and third lines) said from Zack (Crisis Core).

I saw that you both crossplayed characters from Neon Genesis Evangelion. How is it different to design for a male character instead of a female one?

YuuriK: It’s a different experience when crossplaying a male character. I had lots of fun crossplaying Kaworu, since I was able to act cool and boss around my siblings. This is my second time crossplaying and so far in my experience it’s easy to pull off. The outfits I have done for the male characters so far are simpler and don’t have to be as fitting as female characters, plus make-up is less. I’m planning to crossplay a male character next year that requires to make armor~

YuuriC: I had lots of fun crossplaying as Shinji! For the pants I went to buy boy kid's size pants, they were pretty high up my waist. I don't know how I managed to wear it! Make-up for male character is pretty easy - no false eyelashes, no blush, nude lips~ The only hard part for me is to not give a girly smile when crossplaying.

What has been the Cosplay that got the most reaction from other people when you were at a cons?

The cosplay that got the most reaction was our Rei's and Asuka's plugsuits from Evangelion 2.22. The plugsuits are one of our favorite cosplays; we just love pulling off their emotions. It's an old school anime and now with the recent movies that have come out people pretty much knows the series. We had an EVA Unit 01 with us at Otakon '11, so every step we took we were stopped for pictures.

When not cosplaying, what do you do?

We like to waste our time surfing the internet, read books, watch anime, play videogames, practice on photography, play with our kid sis, and sketch out designs for our next cosplays. Once school starts we are mostly studying because of the many science classes we take, and during our free time it's either watch anything entertaining or work on cosplays.

For any aspiring cosplayers, a little shy to take the plunge, what words of wisdom do you have for them to get started?

Everyone starts from somewhere; some cosplayer's first costume might be great or not so great in the beginning. For us, the first time we cosplayed we were shy and we didn't sew our own cosplays. As we continued to cosplay over the years we are not as shy as before and we have improved in sewing. Cosplay can be cheap if you use your creativity, look for the right cheap materials, and have motivation. Anyone can do it, if they try their best! :)

What sites do you have for our audience to visit to see more?

YuuriK ~ deviantART | YuuriC ~ deviantART | Coscom | CURE

Check them both out in Astor Cos Issue 1

Last question ~ promise: I see that you have your kid sister doing cosplay as well (Ponyo was spot on and extremely kawaii). How does she like doing cosplay with you?

She loves cosplaying with us. She's always looking at new characters she wants to cosplay. She told us that one day she'll learn how to sew so she doesn't have to ask us to make costumes for her.

Cosplaying with family is the best :D

Our Photographers:
Akiko-chan-cos | Anne Fischer | Joseph Lin (FB) | popecerebus | sleeycreator | Stephen Tang

Some Additional Cosplay Photographs
(can you figure who is cosplaying the character?)

I want to thank both YuuriK and YuuriC for taking the time to answer the questions for this interview and to the Photographers for the great photos that you get to see here today.

Want to be my next interviewed COSPLAY STAR? ~ Drop me a line a bluedrakon (at) gmail (dot) com!