Episode 8 of 2.5 Dimensional Seduction offers Ririsa a look into the branching paths her cosplaying journey might take in the future.

Ririsa has two important conversations this week that bring different outcomes into focus. She and the other club members are passionate about cosplaying. It is their entire world at this stage in their lives. Their hobbies and passions are nearly all-consuming and we as the audience see them almost exclusively through this lens. So it is interesting to have two adults present potential endpoints for such a journey and have Ririsa reflect on the outcomes—perhaps Mayuri, perhaps Nagomi.

Mayuri and Nagomi both represent endstates for cosplaying as a hobby. Mayuri had to give up cosplaying to become a working professional. Her passion was too time-consuming to maintain alongside her adult responsibilities. Perhaps more importantly, it was not socially acceptable to continue pursuing this hobby when she worked as a teacher and would want to get married. This is something all hobbyists face eventually—the same passion that often goes against the increasing pressures of limited time and social norms as one gets older. I think this is pretty relatable for most viewers, as inevitably our hobby collides with the expectations of real life and we are forced to make hard choices about how we spend our time.

Nagomi’s case is more unique. She has gone professional as a cosplayer, and that’s the dream isn’t it? Nagomi is still driven by her passions and lives for them. However, her work requires her to cosplay different characters, many of whom she knows nothing about. Nagomi is often cosplaying characters that haven’t been released to the public. Ririsa has a deep love for Liliel and only wants to cosplay Liliel. Nagomi challenges her to question whether her dedication is to cosplay as a hobby or career versus being a Liliel superfan. This is a resonant theme for me as someone who gets paid to write but doesn’t necessarily choose the topic or the schedule. Turning any hobby into something that pays the bills—whether writing or cosplaying or whatever the subject may be—makes you reflect on how much you care about that activity and whether you love it as much or in the same way as you once thought you did.

Rating:

Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

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