Alexandra Keuls on Cosplay

“My idea of fun is being a part of another world—it’s about your dreams, and your nightmares too, coming to life.”

“Being a part of a story makes me feel complete.”

So says young cosplayer Alexandra Keuls. “Imagination takes in a great part of my life,” she adds. “In stories told, we tend to live in a world that’s entirely our own.”

Alex is a fan of Disney and Tim Burton and Miyazaki (“Hayao Miyazaki takes my breath away and touches my heart so deeply”), as well as of video games (“Nintendo is the only game console that I believe truly brings people together,” she says, adding that “Nbeats a nice round of Mario Party!”). She’s an online gaming enthusiast as well, having played everything from “, Lineage II, Flyff, to classic Everquest.”

Given her penchant for anime and gaming, it’s not too surprising that she got into cosplay—and it has helped her, in her words, come out of her shell. “It takes a lot of expression and confidence to build up a character. Believe me, it may not seem like a competition all the time, but it’s taken quite seriously! You’re representing a character, giving that character life, and showing it to others the way they’d want to see it as well.”

Alex is not exactly the canny extrovert one might expect, though. She’s the kind of girl who still describes herself as “shy around boys,” and who for years felt afraid to face the world. It’s hard not to feel a little protective of someone who so honestly and unabashedly believes in the worth and beauty of life, and who uses a whole lot of exclamation points, especially when describing her love for her family and friends. She grew up in the Caribbean (“I could see the ocean from my house! Sometimes whales from a distance on my way back home from school”), but has grown to love the Philippines—where her mother came from—just as much, since they moved here.

Alex sees life as “our very own book to write,” where one can depict villains and heroes, princes and princesses. “Though,” she adds, “it never hurts to imagine yourself in Alice’s shoes as she ventures into Wonderland, or Little Red Riding Hood as she faces the Wolf.” We are given choices between happy-ever-afters and alluring evils. In the end, as Alex says, “We should all be careful what we wish for.”