Cosplayers Around the World Feature : Hoang Nhur Mai from Vietnam
We land on exotic Vietnam in this issue of “Cosplayers Around the World” to interview a lovely Vietnamese cosplayer, Hoàng Như Mai, who goes by the alias of Meimei Chibi. Step into her cosplay world and read about her experiences!
Meimei Chibi on joining the Otaku House Cosplay Idol contest :
“Hello Otaku House family, i’m Meimei Chibi or you can just call me Meimei. I am cosplayer from a lovely country – Vietnam. This is the first time I join a international cosplay contest, I’m so nervous but happy too. I choose Chii-chan for my entry because I love Chii so much and it is the second time I cosplay her. I want to make my Chii cosplay as good as I can >o< I love to make friend and chat chit, my favorite color is pink! Nice to meet you all ^^”
Biography
Full Name : Hoàng Như Mai
Cosplay Name : Meimei Chibi
Age : 20
Gender : Female
Country / state you are born in : Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam
Citizenship : Vietnamese
Date of Birth : May 24
Zodiac Sign : Gemini
Height : 1.55m
Rock Lee or Naruto? : Rock Lee
Fave Anime? : Chobits, Mahou Shoujo Magika Madoka, Code Geass, Doraemon, Jigoku Shoujo, Card Captor Sakura, Nana… and more >w<!
More about Meimei Chibi
1. At what age did you start cosplaying and how long have you been cosplaying?
I’ve cosplayed for 3 years (when I was 17 years old). I still remember my first cosplay character is Nana Komatsu from the Nana manga with my first cosplay group: Diamant Group.
2. What inspired you to start cosplaying?
4 years ago I came to a cosplay festival, it was the first time I had known about cosplay . It was just like a magical and happy world. You can find lots of laughs, tears, friendship everywhere…. You can become the characters that you love, can act like them for a moment… That is the wonderful thing that I have ever known. I decided to join a cosplay group and that’s how and why my cosplay began.
3. What are some difficulties you met in your cosplaying?
Most of the difficulties are making props or costume or styling the wigs for some specific characters. However, I think the most difficulty is choosing the place to make a cosplay photoshoot. In our city, there doesn’t have much proper place for cosplay, and the price for shooting at that beautiful place is very expensive…
4. What is your most memorable cosplay and why?
I think it is when me and my group made our first cosplay clip My lie to you (Vocaloid), I let my friend waited for 1 hour (oops I’m so sorry T_T”). At that time I was still kinda shy so my acting was really bad >//< , the temperature was super hot ‘because it was 12PM, everybody was so tired but we really did our best.
5. What is your next cosplay project?
It’s Madoka Kaname from Mahou Shoujo Magika Madoka anime. Actually I have a lot of plans for my next cosplay projects but I let my Madoka goes first ‘cause I’m now very crazy about her and the anime xD
6. Tell us about some memorable experiences in your costume or prop making.
Well I will never forget the first time I made the costume by myself, it’s my Setsugetsuka (Miku version) costume. Everything was so new to me, I’m very bad at drawing, so when I showed my friends my drawing on the costume (oh you don’t want to know how awful it was haha), they laughed a lot. There was no way to fix it, I had to buy another fabric and started again. This time my friend (MinG) came to help me with the drawing. She yelled at me a lot but that was fun indeed xD,
7. What are some advice you would like to give to cosplay newbies?
Enjoy the fun ♥ cosplay is a magical world, you can be Supermen, Sailor Moon or a lovely Pokémon, is it wonderful? Sometime your cosplay could be fail, but don’t worry, you could do it again and again. Just make sure that you are happy with your cosplay!
