Cosplay. We say it all the time. I'm preparing to plow through oceans of cosplay at Anime Expo next week. The word is even known outside of geek/otaku circles now. But where did the word come from?

The word "cosplay" first appeared on a magazine called My Anime, according to Akibanana. Nobuyuki Takahashi wrote for this fine mag, and in one article back in 1983, he pulled a Japan and contracted the words "costume" and "play" into cosplay. You might have already known that. I did. But what I didn't know is that Takahashi was told "costume play" was not correct English. What? And "cosplay" is?

Well, I guess it is now! Kinda.

Mr. Cosplay himself, Nobuyuki Takahashi, shared a copy of this magazine with Akibanana. Check it out in all its vintage otaku glory. The last page even shows "how to build a Mecha suit!"