Cosplay Crime

by Marty Chan

Shy thirteen-year-old Bree must channel her inner anime heroine to solve a crime at the Anime Expo. Bree Wong and her best friend, Alix, are so excited to be at the anime fan convention. They’re dressed as the lead characters from their favorite anime series. Bree cosplays as Red Squirrel, the redheaded detective, and can’t wait to meet Midori, the Japanese voice actor for the character. But before she gets the chance, it’s announced that Midori’s signing event has been cancelled. Bree is devastated. So when she overhears that a valuable original print of Red Squirrel belonging to Midori has been stolen, she decides to investigate and catch the thief. Maybe Bree can get a face-to-face with Midori if she recovers the stolen print. The only problem is the culprit was seen wearing a cosplay costume. Not just any costume, but one of the most popular characters at the convention. Bree must channel Red Squirrel and get to the bottom of this or lose her chance to meet her idol. What a tough nut to crack!

Genres: Mystery, Young Adult, Action

112 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2024

About the author

Raised in Morinville--a small town north of Edmonton, Alberta--Marty Chan is a playwright, radio writer, television story editor, and young adult author.

Reviews

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is targeted to middle-schoolers, so the mystery isn't all that deep. It's mostly about a little atmosphere and character building. Fun 2020s anime references.

[kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

how DARE they disrespect bugs bunny like that

(this was a dare btw)

[Theediscerning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, someone who certainly has knowledge of anime and the industry's cons has written this, but it felt a little basic at times, and to an outsider to that scene not really engaging enough. Our heroine is dressed as a squirrel (of course) at a con, and intent on seeing her favourite Japanese voice artist from her favourite anime. But she ends up far too late for the main hall session, and then the signing straight afterwards is cancelled. What knocked it on the head was the theft of the star's priceless concept art sketch – cue our girl's attempt to solve the theft and save the day.

Of course, you could also argue that it's not about anime at all, as it's really about people finding themselves. Our heroine was late because of something she dreaded – fellow fans imposing and asking her for selfies, chit-chat about costumes, and so on. Socially awkward, it's obvious she'd rather quote her show than use her own lines. Added to this is her best friend on the day, who is there as a cosplayer because she hates people mis-pronouning her, which is all very well but pronoun-mangling has no place in a book for people with reading difficulties such as this imprint. That should be bleedin' obvious – although it's the second time in two days I've seen it happen.

All told I can see this being wonderful for the right audience – someone with fan devotion to a character and perhaps the shyness to not self-present, much as our lead. If you've been to a con and know the putrid air of the gamers' room and can recognise the jumble of filming, photo-bombing and collective spirit, this will hit all the buttons. But it does definitely seem to be a lot of set-up and preamble before a knockabout bit of criminal-defeating action – proving my theory it's a love letter to anime cons first, a look at how superheroes can inspire the timid second, and a caper only third.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets the job done-- a short and specific mystery for an undiscovered teen reader the book centers around a heist of a print at an anime convention. Bree and Alix, Bree's trans best friend are cosplaying from their favorite anime with all of it's "nutty" quips. Bree's one mission is to meet her idol, the voice actor from her cosplay who will be presenting and then signing. When she misses out on getting into the panel, she waits in line to meet her yet something happens in between-- she discovers that the print that the celebrity shared on the panel was stolen in a stairwell before the signing and Bree sees this as her opportunity to figure out who took it and meet her idol.

It's quick and focused and actually quite fun related to anime and convention culture.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cosplay Crime is a light-hearted anime convention mystery that reads quick and offers plenty of fun and action for manga/anime-oriented fans who can be convinced to read a picture-less novel. The main character, Bree Wong, is a "shy thirteen-year-old who must channel her inner anime heroine to solve a crime at the anime expo" (inner flap). Her best friend, Alix, also features and offers a positive and not too overdone 2SLGBTQI+ character where the focus is more on their love for anime than their gender identity/sexuality. Cosplay could be enjoyed by older readers looking for an uncomplicated read, and its use of up-to-date manga/anime terms and characters (circa 2024ish) should keep it relevant for a few years in that regard.

[Killian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty quick and easy read. I'm cosplay/con adjacent, so while I've never experienced one many of the reference made sense based on things I've picked up from friends. The pacing was fine until it just stopped at the end - it could've benefited from a bit of falling action/resolution that it really didn't have. An easy sell for kids into anime/cons and short enough to not be too intimidating.

2.5/5

[Mercedes · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

I thought this was a fun read for new readers in the ya mystery genre. The novel will be a quick read that will keep fans of anime and cosplay entertained.

[Erica Schimmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ending felt a little abrupt, but overall a fun hi-lo read.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a bit ridiculous.

[Hayley Ord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Woah this was a whole other level of fire oh em gee #yougottaread