Shuten Doji

The cosplay shoot: Shuten Doji

Six images built around a room lined with shoji panels, the pale wooden grids serving as a recurring backdrop and filtering a cool light somewhere between lilac and blue. Onto this base a second colour is grafted, warm and reddish, arriving from the opposite side and settling on skin and fabric: the contrast between the two dominant tones runs through the whole set and holds together shots that are otherwise quite different from one another.

nanami portrays Shuten Doji. The costume alternates the deep purple of the kimono slipped off the shoulders with the black bands marking the torso, the bracers and the dark footwear, with golden details on the forehead and the red horns remaining the most recognisable element. The short cut of the dark hair and the strong makeup around the eyes keep the expression steady even when the gaze moves off frame.

The space is furnished with few elements: a table covered by a red drape with lit candles and fruit, a futon or white cloth spread on the floor, a paper umbrella leaning to one side, branches of pink blossom above and petals scattered across the floor. In some frames a glossy red sphere and a small cup appear, held at face height.

The poses shift register from one image to the next: in some the figure stays gathered on the ground, the body compact and the face turned towards the lens; in others it stretches against the sliding panel, leaning back with the legs raised; in the last it lies horizontally on the pale cloth, chin resting on the hands. The relationship with the environment is always one of direct contact — floor, drapes, wall — and none of the images isolates the figure from the background.

The palette stays compressed across three values: purple, red and the warm white of the candles, with skin acting as the intermediate tone.