Heart and Soul Cosplay: Photoshoot: Genderbent Makoto from Free!

How's it going, everyone?

Summer is going by way too fast, if you ask me. I'd love to be able to hit the lake at least once or twice before fall arrives; I will have to think of a way to make that happen. Maybe a pool would be better. Growing up, my summers from the time I could walk were spent taking swimming lessons at the local pool. As a result, I have a strong love of swimming. I swam competitively in high school for a couple years, but the atmosphere just wasn't right for me, but I still love to lap swim for exercise and for fun!

Maybe now you can imagine my excitement when a swimming anime was started airing last summer-- Free! After years of having only basketball, football, soccer, tennis anime and manga to read, I was overjoyed when they announced the swimming anime! Call me a fangirl or whatever, but I am totally obsessed. I love all the characters, but Makoto is the one I can relate to the most, despite my love for the water. So what do I do when I love a character in a series? Cosplay them, of course!

Now, if you have seen glimpses of the anime at all, you probably are wondering how I would cosplay a tall, muscular dude. That, my friends, is where I took the creative liberty of "genderbending." In all honesty, this was totally a closet cosplay. My current training suit is green and black, I had green contacts laying around, I have an adorable orca stuffed animal for the "official animal," plus some green track pants and flip-flops and I was set!

Ideally, my hair could have had a little more of a green tinge, but considering I haven't spent much time in the chlorine lately, I settled for my natural blonde hair. But paired with some cute bangs and a green ribbon, it turned out pretty good!

All in all, this was so easy and fun to do. Normally I spend a ton of time planning cosplays and photo shoots, but this one fell together so spontaneously that it was a weird feeling to me! My husband was kind enough to humor me for the impromptu photo shoot last weekend, and we had so much fun at the little lake we went to, but the water was way too frigid for any decent swimming. I hope you enjoy the photos!