Easy Anime Halloween Costumes

Halloween approaches and the search for easy costumes begins. Anime is a popular subculture to get costume ideas from, so here are five easy to do anime costumes to try out for Halloween.

Light Yagami (Death Note)

Death Note is a popular anime series about a university student named Light who stumbles upon a mystical notebook with that has the ability to kill any name written on it. A current staple among conventions due to the series popularity and ease of execution, a Light Yagami costume only requires the following:
-Red necktie.
-White dress shirt.
-Brown suit jacket.
-Gray, black, or other dark colored slacks.
-Short dark brown with heavy bangs.

Simply wear the clothes in the appropriate order and manner. Then style the hair to match the description. Props to add to the costume include a red apple or a Death Note notebook easily ordered online. Now go terrorize the town writing the names of people you want dead. This author is not responsible for any people who do wind up dead after having their name written on a Death Note notebook.

Lupin the 3rd (Lupin the 3rd)

I usually wear this costume during conventions and have it associated with Traveling Valentine. Further details of my Lupin the 3rd costume are at the full article I wrote earlier using just the following:
-Dress shirt.
-Suit jacket.
-Slacks.
-Altered necktie (Sew the corner of the tie back to match Lupin's style).
-Prop Walther P38 pistol.

Slick the hair back and hold with gel and hairspray. Props to include for the gentleman thief and classic anime character include money, a suitcase of "stolen" goods, handcuffs, roses, and a hot girl to be your Fujiko eye candy. The best part of this anime Halloween costume is the numerous color combinations. Following the template, nearly any bizarre clash of colors will pull the look off such as:

-Green jacket + black shirt +yellow necktie + black trousers = First TV season or Castle of Cagliostro Lupin.
-Red jacket + blue shirt + pink necktie + lighter blue trousers = Second TV season Lupin.
-Pink jacket + black shirt + blue necktie + blue jeans = Third TV season or Legend of the Gold of Babylon Lupin.
-White jacket + blue shirt + white trousers = Secret of the Twilight Gemini Lupin.
-Red jacket + blue shirt + yellow necktie + lighter blue trousers = Most of the movies Lupin.
-Red jacket + blue shirt + yellow necktie + lighter blue trousers + large brown afro wig = Nabeshin from Excel Saga.

Ouran High School Host Club members (Ouran High School Host Club)

This is another staple of the anime conventions due to the ease of constructing and variety of characters available. This set is easy enough to dress up as in a group. Girls and guys can easily fit into the roles as well. The basics for the costume goes as follows:
-White dress shirt.
-Black slacks.
-Light blue blazer.
-Black necktie.
-Purple ribbon 1/4 inch wide and as long as the necktie.
-Ouran High School emblems.

Sew the purple ribbon lengthwise across the center of the necktie so that when the tie is worn, a vertical line of purple runs through it. Attach the emblem onto the left breast pocket of the light blue blazer. Put the clothes on in the proper order. Now determine your character based on the desired persona and/or hair:
-Stupid charismatic leader with short blond hair: Tamaki.
-Intelligent actual leader with dark hair and glasses: Kyoya.
-Tall, brutish mute with dark hair: Mori.
-Short person with short blond hair, a pink bunny, and a sweet tooth: Honey.
-A girl who does not resemble any of the above: Haruhi.

At 5'2," I was probably the shortest Mori on record. Then my Honey hit puberty so I was reassigned as Kyoya, which was a hard adjustment since I had developed my Mori mannerisms and speech patterns by then.

Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu)

Sousuke is one of my favorite anime characters. Trained since childhood as a soldier, he uses his combat training, firearms training, and killer instinct in the toughest battlefield of all: High school. His lack of civilian social skills reminds me of myself during high school, except I preferred to carry a Walther P-99. I like the summer Fumoffu uniforms because I liked Fumoffu better and the short sleeves make it less hot to wear. Sousuke simply needs the following:
-White short-sleeved dress shirt.
-Black trousers.
-Black 1/4 inch bias tape, cut into four ribbons.
-Black makeup pencil or black pen.
-Prop Glock 26 pistol.

At one inch above each sleeve, sew a ribbon of black bias tape around the sleeve. Then sew another ribbon around the sleeve about half an inch higher from the first ribbon. For Souuke's scar, draw or have someone draw an X on your left lower cheek.

Monkey D Luffy (One Piece)

Concerning pirates, One Piece sets the benchmark being one of the few pirate anime. The lead pirate Monkey D Luffy is recognizable and uses the following materials:
-Blue jeans.
-Sandals.
-Straw hat.
-Black makeup pencil or black pen.
-Plain red vest. A large red shirt may suffice with some alteration.
-Extra red fabric.

With the pencil or pen, draw a horizontal line under the left eye with a couple short vertical lines to make Luffy's scar. Roll each pant leg to the knees to make shorts. If you have a red vest, simply use that. To alter a red shirt into a vest, slit the front half of the shirt vertically and tuck some of the shirt behind itself to into the shape of a vest. Cut the sleeves. Alternatively, I made my vest out of scratch, but that is an entirely different article that is just as easily summarized as "follow the pattern instructions." Take some red fabric and wrap a ribbon around the straw hat.

Dress up and have fun.