We’re joined by Dr Emerald King and PhD candidate Ashley Reminga from the University of Tasmania to explore the world of cosplay. We cover the upcoming events including the cosplay competition at the video game event, Level Up Tasmania, and then some of the bigger questions around how cosplay functions as performance, identity, play and fan expression. And we tackle the biggest question: why are cat ears everywhere? From Nekomimi to global cosplay trends, we explore how a simple accessory became a powerful symbol of play, identity, and pop culture.

This episode was recorded live at Edge Radio 99.3FM studios in Hobart Tasmania, and first aired on 26 March 2026.
For more info on Media Mothership go to https://mediamothership.au/ and https://www.edgeradio.org.au/. Video episode available here: https://www.youtube.com/live/sisvi_z2_Ng

LINKS:

gender bending anime survey: https://surveys2.utas.edu.au/index.php/151748?lang=en

LevelUp Tasmania event: https://www.screen.tas.gov.au/leveluptasmania/program

and cosplay competition https://www.emeraldlking.com/levelupcosplay