The recent Anime Fest was an event which many were looking forward to. It didn’t disappoint; plenty enjoyed themselves and made new friends! However, not everyone walked away with good experiences. Cosplayers in particular have been getting a lot of flak.
One male cosplayer was called out for wearing an inappropriate maid outfit. Another female cosplayer was slut-shamed by the police when she lodged a report about a stalker. Unfortunately, another case surfaced recently. A cosplayer was allegedly tricked and raped at the event by a stranger who reportedly is a repeat offender!
The allegations first popped up in Facebook group Tantan Confessions Malaysia. They were made by a netizen who claimed to be a 19-year-old girl. According to her, she had attended the event in cosplay, which was a first for her. She had apparently planned to only attend the first day, however, her plans changed when she met a Malay boy, referred to as A.
She described A as a decent person who wore glasses, was short and was of mixed heritage. The young woman added that he spoke Mandarin and had a penchant for taking photos. He’d apparently cajoled her for her contact info, but she stated she would only share it with him if they met again on the last day of the festival. “(I) never thought this would become my nightmare,” she admitted.
They met up on the last day and this time, A stated he wanted to take photos of her. He insisted to doing it in a hotel room, claiming there were too many people around and that the lighting was bad. She eventually trusted his judgement after seeing samples of his work. The two did their shooting in a nearby hotel and then A suggested taking more sexy photos. Although she had her doubts, she relaxed when A focused on taking photos and didn’t react to her undressed state.
When the shooting was done, A told her he was going to get some food and drinks for them. She didn’t suspect anything was wrong and agreed to wait for him. However, she started feeling strange after drinking the offered beverage. “My whole heart was racing, (I felt) giggly,” she stated. “(My) throat was burning, it felt like I was drunk.” She eventually passed out, without any awareness of her surroundings.
“I woke up at night, (I) wasn’t wearing anything,” she wrote. “Yes, I was (raped) by him.” She added that the sheets were stained and she found semen. As for A, he had apparently left her with no way to contact him. Although she was initially afraid to tell her parents and the police, netizens eventually convinced her to do so. She later claimed she had filed a report and stated she had supposedly discovered her photos on Mega with her Instagram account attached.
Her post caused a stir. One person claimed it was fake, stating that Mega was a cloud storage service which boasted security and privacy. They added that the anonymous posting had been done to create drama about Anime Fest. “If you were a real person, you would have started a TikTok post/Twitter too,” they wrote.
However, another user alleged that A was a repeat offender who’d started in 2017. A apparently had quite a collection of indecent photos and videos stored online. They stated that A’s IP address was somewhere in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Additionally, they had found footage being sold online for about RM150 to RM500, including in Telegram groups.
Cosplaying is a hobby many take pride and joy in. Yet, there are usually reports of incidents where entitled people take advantage of them. We sincerely hope they will be able to practice their hobby safely one day.
