Shuten Doji

The cosplay shoot: Shuten Doji

Five images gathered under the title Shuten Doji, with nanami portrayed in a bamboo grove bathed in coloured light that shifts from frame to frame. The background is always the same tangle of vertical canes, but its hue moves from vivid magenta to purple, from cold blue to deep red, while the ground remains barely readable beneath a carpet of out-of-focus points of light. The contrast between the figure, lit fully and evenly, and the saturated background keeps the character separated from the vegetation.

The costume consists of a midnight-blue bodice with red and pink inserts, gold embroidery, ribbons and cords, completed by a pendant falling over the chest, jade-green beaded bracelets, a leather strap around the thigh and a dark stocking. The purple bobbed wig with a sharp fringe and the two white horns with red tips complete the figure, along with a red flower and a golden-tasselled ornament at the temple. Long nails lacquered in red, lips in the same tone and make-up loading the eyes with purple shadow recur in every shot.

In the first two images the figure fills the whole height of the frame, in an attitude at once contained and theatrical, the body twisting slightly towards the viewer and the arms moving near the face and the back of the neck. The third is a close-up against a red ground, with an open paper umbrella behind the shoulders filling the right edge like a fan of ribs and fabric. In the last two a red cup and a large red flask come into play, held in front of the face and raised to the lips, with the gaze turned towards the camera in one case and lowered in the other. The overall palette revolves around red, purple and blue, with a few golden accents.