Hakken: Bringing favourite anime characters to life for millions
MALAYSIANSKINI | The animation, comics and games (ACG) subculture has tended to be a niche community in the past, but with the industry burgeoning in Malaysia in recent years, more events and conventions are being held.
One of the hallmarks of the community is “cosplay” – a portmanteau of costume play – where people dress up in costumes of fictional characters.
While cosplay has often been seen as merely a hobby, 24-year-old Hakken, who prefers to go by her stage name, has broken that common perception with her booming career as a professional cosplayer and model.
With over five million followers across her social media, Hakken has made a name for herself in the ACG community worldwide for cosplaying characters from a variety of animation, comics and games.
She is well-known for t striking cosplays of “pretty boy” characters, with superb attention to detail and accuracy, not only with the costumes or make-up but also with the locations of the photoshoots and so on.
“For me, I want to bring the characters out from the animation or manga...
MALAYSIANSKINI | The animation, comics and games (ACG) subculture has tended to be a niche community in the past, but with the industry burgeoning in Malaysia in recent years, more events and conventions are being held.
One of the hallmarks of the community is “cosplay” – a portmanteau of costume play – where people dress up in costumes of fictional characters.
While cosplay has often been seen as merely a hobby, 24-year-old Hakken, who prefers to go by her stage name, has broken that common perception with her booming career as a professional cosplayer and model.
With over five million followers across her social media, Hakken has made a name for herself in the ACG community worldwide for cosplaying characters from a variety of animation, comics and games.
She is well-known for t striking cosplays of “pretty boy” characters, with superb attention to detail and accuracy, not only with the costumes or make-up but also with the locations of the photoshoots and so on.
“For me, I want to bring the characters out from the animation or manga (Japanese comics). I want to make it feel like these characters are alive, that they actually exist, and I feel like with these cosplays, I have achieved that,” Hakken told Malaysiakini in an interview recently.
Describing herself as a very “spontaneous” person, Hakken said she never expected to be able to turn her cosplay hobby into a career.
Even discovering cosplay as a hobby was the result of a happy accident, as she recalled stumbling upon cosplay videos while she was searching for videos online related to her favourite anime (Japanese animation) “Naruto”.
“It kind of hit me, wow, you can actually do that? You can actually dress up as your favourite characters, take photos and have fun?
“(My first cosplay) was Itachi from Naruto, and it was pretty bad because I had zero knowledge in cosplay (at the time),” she said.
Honing cosplay skills
More than 10 years ago, there were much fewer resources and fellow cosplayers she could refer to, so she had to figure out everything by herself.
“My first costume was basically double-taped together because my sewing skills (at the time) were just bad,” said Hakken with a laugh.
Despite that, Hakken said she had a lot of fun and enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment from completing her first cosplay.
Since then, she has worked hard to hone her craft, picking up many skills along the way, including sewing, make-up, photography, editing and so on.
“I really enjoy the process of building different skills that you need in cosplay, and I also like to travel outside to find locations for photoshoots, even the experience of the process of creating everything and putting it together and feeling the sense of accomplishment,” she said.
Though it started out as a hobby, as her popularity as a cosplayer grew and she started getting invitations to attend events and conventions, she managed to smoothly transition it into a full-time career after completing her tertiary education in film and TV production.
As for how she decides what characters to cosplay, it is simple: they are characters she liked the most.
Hakken said she has many ideas for cosplaying her favourite characters which have been put on the backburner for years, such as the iconic villain Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII.
Her favourite cosplay that she has done so far is of Bruno Bucciarati, a character from the beloved manga and anime “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”, which is set in real-world locations.
“The setting is in Italy… so I purposely flew to Italy to find those places and recreate the scenes exactly as they were in the manga or anime,” she said.
While it may seem extreme to some to fly to Europe for a cosplay photoshoot, Hakken said she pursues perfection in her cosplay because she wants her work to be timeless.
“I want to put out something that my fans and I can be proud of even after 10 years… something that I can look at and not be ashamed of after a few years,” she said.
Seeing how far she can go
Hakken recently took another step forward in her cosplay career, having signed on with Tier One Entertainment – a Southeast Asian e-sports and video gaming-oriented entertainment agency – back in March this year.
“Tier One is willing to do what is uncertain. They are willing to try different paths. So this is a great opportunity for me to work with them to explore further into this career and see what else I can do and maybe create a wider career path for me and in general,” Hakken said.
As this is such a new and niche career path, Hakken said she wants to see how far she can go.
“It is not that I set a goal for myself. Like I said, I am a very spontaneous person, I just do what I do, but at the same time, it’s… a process of continually exploring what else I can do and how far this career path can take me.
“I want to explore how far I can take my cosplay to, in terms of creativity, like what is the extent that my cosplays can go in future projects because I do not want to do the same things over and over again.
“I always want to keep refining, keep putting out better stuff,” she said.
Focus on her work, not gender
While her family were initially unsure about this cosplay hobby of hers, which has since turned into a niche career path, she said they have come to accept it.
She hopes that the wider public will also come to learn more about the ACG industry and accept it as a “new circle, new community”.
She has also since branched out from just doing cosplay, as she also does modelling and collaborations with fashion and skincare brands, among others.
Hakken, who identifies herself as an agender, is comfortable with any pronoun and only cosplays male characters, something that is often widely discussed by her fans.
She has posted on her social media several times, asking her fans not to speculate on her gender but instead, to focus on her work.
“I don’t want to be boxed into any gender in general, and I feel like masculinity and cosplaying male characters is my comfort zone. I just do what makes me comfortable and happy.
“I get why (people focus on my gender), but when it first happened, it frustrated me a little, so I had to voice it out. I just wanted people to know I am not happy with this.
“Now I feel like I just don’t care anymore, just say whatever you want,” she said.
Though Hakken has blazed a trail in the cosplay world, she is slightly hesitant about encouraging people to try it out as she admits it is a “costly” hobby.
At the same time, she notes it is much easier to get into cosplay now than it was when she first started, as there are now more resources and tutorials available online due to the growing community.
“If you feel like doing it, then just go for it. There are a lot of resources that you can access now. There are costumes online, wigs, tutorials, and everything you need to start cosplaying.
“Just don’t force yourself, and don’t do it if you cannot afford it. Take it as a casual hobby if you want,” she said.
Malaysianskini is a series on Malaysians you should know.
Previously featured:
Dancer Jeremie Gan is thriving at Singapore Ballet
Ultramarathoner Jeff Lau runs to help fight HIV/Aids
Dog wheelchairs - One man's mission to help paralysed pets
Pilot turned farmer finds 'corny' niche
Pulitzer winner Marcus Yam risks life for shots on the ground
Harpsichordist to the stars Ng Kah Ming strikes right chord
It's about creativity, not glamour, for screenwriter Yasmin Yaacob
Halal Hemp: Tengku Chanela leads the way for marijuana reforms
