TOKYOMANGO reports that the latest trend among Cosplayers in Japan is to fake injuries, with fake bandages and fake eyepatches.

Mainichi news has more analysis of why this trend is popular, ranging from undertones of bondage, to overtones of virginity (because the bandages are white?! I’m not getting it…) But it seems to be an “I’ve been attacked, look at me!” thing, rather than a “You should have seen the other person” thing.

Each to their own, fashion-wise, of course, but this is a bit disturbing:

A female cosplayer the weekly describes only as S explains the appeal of swathing herself in bindings.

“When you’re covered in bandages, everybody pays attention to you and worries about you. They also provide a chance to start talking to guys, who’ll ask you how you hurt yourself, so the bandages are really, really good,” she tells Weekly Playboy. “One guy into the injured woman look told me that the reason he likes it is because he loves the idea of seeing a thin woman’s body wrapped in bandages because it looked kind of like bondage and made him want to protect her from harm. I think those wearing the bandages get on well with the guys who want to look after them because they don’t want them to get hurt.”

Posted by Jess McCabe on 6 December 2007, at 12:29 PM