Yipe! takes this opportunity to build one Giant Size Otaku, reflecting on the early days of anime fandom and the seemingly boundless growth of the cosplay community. Karen Dick graces us our pages with her personal story of the seminal days of anime costuming, complete with pictures of her Starblazers and Captain Harlock creations from what might be considered the dawn of Cosplay.

Then Dawn McKechnie takes us on a tour ofAnime North, Toronto’s sprawling home to cosplayers, masqueraders, ravers, lolitas, and maids alike.

España chimes in with her own take on the glory of Cosplay and anime fandom before bashing the hell out of them for being prettier and more talented than her, then Kevin sets the wayback machine to his own childhood and dredges up his formative years influenced by Kimba the White Lion, Astro Boy, and 8-Man.

I resume my unending thesis paper on anime fandom vs. general fandom in our later pages, then Mette Hedin returns to form with 10 Questions for Bay Area Cosplayer Mea.

Incendiary? Perhaps. Definitely one big damn fanzine.

YIPE! Volume 2, Issue 9, “Giant Size Otaku,” is now available for download:

• YIPE! Issue 9 (Low-Resolution PDF, 5.9M)
  (single-page format)
• YIPE! Issue 9 (High-Resolution PDF, 45.6M)
  (two-page spread format)

Volume 2 Issue 10 will soon be coming to a website near you.  This one!  If you have something to submit (or want to send a letter of comment), contact us at editors (at) yipezine.com