Carbon Costume

Doki Doki Literature Club is a freeware visual novel game.  While it initially appears to be a light-hearted dating simulator, things take a more sinister turn fairly quickly.  The four main characters of the game include Monika, Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki, all of whom vie for the attention of the male protagonist at different points of the game.  The girls all wear identical school uniforms that include a tan blazer, blue skirt, and orange vest.  You can choose which character to emulate depending on the socks and wig you pair with the rest of your costume.

Seiko Shinohara is your average sweet – if silly – school girl. It doesn’t save her from the darkening. But it does help her save the girl she loves from meeting the same heartbreaking fate. She is voiced by Miki Honda and Satomi Arai in the video games, and played by Youko Kita in the live-action movie, all of whom capture the sweet, sad nature of Seiko’s character.

For this cosplay I opted to go with Seiko’s appearance while alive. Unless you are going to a horror convention or an adults-only convention, it is probably best to opt for this version as Seiko’s appearance after her murder can be very upsetting for children and other convention attendees.

Seiko wears a pretty typical school uniform: White undershirt with a blue line across the chest (that you will have to paint on), tan v-neck pullover sweater, blue pleated skirt, and white shoes. Her uniform collar is blue with a yellow tie that she decorates with a brooch. She also has long brown hair which she wears with bangs and loops behind her ears. The style doesn’t exist on premade wigs so you will have to style the wig by hand.

As a final touch, pin your convention badge at your waist where Seiko wears her nametag!

Oz is the yellow playable character in the visual novel game Monster Prom.  Oz is established as non-binary with masculine pronouns by default (though these pronouns can be changed in-game).  Oz is made entirely of fear, which accounts for his appearance as being made of dark matter.  His school clothes include a golden yellow cardigan and dark grey pants, with a gold watch.  To create Oz’s look, you can use a black body suit and add his white eyes and eyebrows with fabric pens.  If you’re feeling particularly creative, you could craft the small black creatures (who represent individual phobias) that attach to him by using black felt, a little stuffing, and the same white fabric pens.

Bendy is the mascot of Joey Drew Studios. The studio is in fact real but a fictional version is the setting of the incredible horror-puzzle-action game Bendy and the Ink Machine. In his original form, Bendy is a classic-style cartoon with a white face and white gloves. His hair, body, and shoes are all black.

To get Bendy’s look, you only need a few select pieces. Black dress shoes with large buckles, a black bodysuit, and large white gloves make up the majority of the costume. You can get Bendy’s hair style by using a short black wig and some wig styling gel. Mime makeup will recreate the rest of his look. You can even replicate Bendy’s cartoon-style eyes by painting your eyelids with black with a white wedge so you’ll look just like Bendy when you close your eyes.

Shovel Knight is a 2-D side-scrolling game.  In this game, Plague Knight is a member of the Order of No Quarter.  As a member of the Order and a master alchemist, Plague Knight serves the Enchantress.  The Plague Knight’s costume is very similar to the familiar plague doctor popular at Halloween and as part of the steampunk aesthetic.  However, to create his green mak, you will need to set aside a little DIY time to either create one yourself using green fabric and an online tutorial or to paint a white mask to match the color of your gloves and belt.

Henry Stickmin (voice by Marcus Bromander) is the hero(?) of the Henry Stickmin series. He starts out as a petty thief. And then, whether or not he likes he, he gets swept up into espionage, grand theft, and the wider criminal underworld.

As complicated as his life is, however, his costume is very simple! A black body suit and brown shoes make up his “clothes”. A white bald cap and face makeup give you the final touches of a “stick figure” look. You can add to his basic cosplay by wearing a black top hat with a gold patch, a blue top hat with a gold H on it, a red bow tie and name tag, or a bullet belt and machete. It just depends on the ending!

Hm, red is looking kind of sus. Among Us is a multiplayer game about teamwork and betrayal. Similar to “Mafia” or “Push the Button,” one of your fellow astronauts is an impostor. As crewmate, your is to complete all your tasks, but as the impostor, your goal is to sabotage and kill everyone. Made for both mobile and desktop, the game has amassed a huge following this year, with 300,000 players per day and #1 in Simulation on the App Store. This costume requires some DIY for painting the helmet and dyeing the suit. While yellow is featured in this guide, you can swap out for the color of your choice. If you want to be an impostor, you can brandish a bloody prop knife and splatter some fake blood on the costume.

In the sixth entry into the Touhou Project game series, Flandre Scarlet is the younger daughter of Remilia Scarlet.  Considered by her sister to be dangerously unstable, Flandre has resided in the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion for nearly 500 years.  Flandre’s most distinctive feature are her multicolor crystal wings, which can be expensive as a prop, but will truly complete the costume.  If you have some DIY crafting skills, you may be able to create your own with thick craft wire and  rainbow colored crystal pendants.