Instagram Heartthrob Is Actually a Woman Cosplaying as Popular Male Characters
Hakken Ryou, a popular Malaysian cosplayer with over 1.5 million fans on Instagram alone, has been confusing fans with incredible transformations that constantly put her gender into question.
When it comes to recreating the look of popular male characters from such anime and video games as Naruto, Arknights, Demon Slayer, or Nobless, you’ll have a tough time finding someone better than Hakken. Showing a mastery of makeup and hairstyling, as well as elegant digital editing, the Malaysian cosplayer is able to pull of the look of her chose character almost to perfection. Some of her photos seem literally pulled from the source material that inspired them, so it’s no wonder that she has millions of fans around the world.
Photo: Hakken Ryou/Facebook
Most of Hakken’s fans know that she is a girl who just happens to be very good at crossing the gender barrier for her cosplay projects, but those who see her work for the first time and find out that she is actually female are genuinely shocked by this revelation.
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
“OMG A FEMALE? Omg.. I never expected that.. I tried observing her physical features and dude.. THAT HAND CANT BE A GIRL’s. Anyways, I think i was rather surprised when i met Hakken in person to get her autograph, and when she spoke.. I was confused. But HER I SHOOK HER HAND AND IT WAD LIKE WAIT.. This can’t be a girl’s hand.. XD I STILL LOVE YOU HAKKEN! XD,” one of her fans commented.
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
“Perfect guys are either taken, gay or is really female,” someone else wrote on Facebook.
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
While speculation about Hakken Ryou’s gender still abounds on social media, the truly remarkable thing about the popular cosplayer is her ability to bring such a diverse cast of characters, male or otherwise, to life. Just take a look at her Instagram and you’ll see what I mean.
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
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A post shared by Hakken 八犬 (@_hakkencoser_)
Other cosplayers have caused confusion with their gender-bending skills before. For example, Japanese “cosplay queen” Rei Dunois is actually a man, but you could never tell. The same goes for Chinese cosplayer CROME拉面猫就是星空萌. I guess you can’t trust your eyes anymore.