Character: Yusuke Urameshi
Series: Yu Yu Hakusho
Version: Genderbent Dark Tournament
Debut: Ikkicon 2017
Yu Yu Hakusho is one of my favorite anime and if you’ve kept up with the Cosplay Flashback blogs you have probably seen me talk about it when I posted about my Keiko costume. So it’s no surprise that when Sec-C cosplay started to talk about their idea for a genderbent YYH group I said YES PLEASE.
This costume’s construction is about 90% pants as that’s about the only thing I made from scratch here. Of course I couldn’t just make a pair of drawstring pants and be done with it so I modified a wide leg trouser pattern. I chose to go this route as opposed to a gathered waist because I wanted to make sure the fit was flattering particularly around the backside. This pattern ended up lending very well to that because it had 2 darts built into the back for a “curvy” fit. I also added a gusset into the crotch because while I am not going to be running around an beating up demons it seemed very character appropriate that Yusuke would need a wide range of leg motion. I added a faux tie to the front of the pants and created a ruffle at the top to give the look of gathering without the bulk. The cuffs were gathered and have elastic to allow for just a bit of stretch. All in all these are super comfortable and look very 80’s with the exaggerated high waist. GOOD.
The other piece of this costume that required the most work was styling a wig that would stay true to the idea of Yusuke, but would have been a female hairstyle around the time and for the lady delinquent. I made the decision to keep it short because I can’t see Yusuke wanting a bunch of hair to get in the way while fighting. I ended up referencing shots of him when his hair is unstyled to get an idea of his length. In the end I went with a lot of teasing and slicking back most of the hair, or styling it to the sides and adding in some flip. There is some fringe in the front. After I had completed the styling I realized I had just created a season 2 Monica wig from Friends…
Photos: Koisplay Photography, DTJaaaam