Dhita (ディタ)
About the character : Dhita (ディタ) and her partner Ziemma (ジーマ) are a pair of government "computers" (or in their case, androids, since they are computers made to look like humans) from the CLAMP manga and anime, CHOBITS (ちょびっツ). The pair hold the key to all of the government's information, data and secrets, with Ziemma being the storage half and Dhita being the security half. In CHOBITS, the pair were sent to check on the whereabouts of Chii (ちぃ), the mysterious computer/android that the series focuses on. Ziemma seems to be the more worldly of the pair, understanding human emotions (probably because he has all this knowledge in him), whereas Dhita seemed to be less knowledgeable, and very aggressive and quick to take action, often causing Ziemma some grief in the process.
Because of her lack of knowledge of human emotions, Dhita acts like a young tween at times, jumping straight into action at the outset of a situation without really considering the causes or seeing beyond the surface of what is happening. She is often shown frowning or scowling, or just plain irritated, even when she is together with Ziemma, though she acts like an indifferent baby to a parent when with him, relaxing. In fact, you only see one other expression on her face, and only once, at the end of the series, when Ziemma tells her that what she feels for him is actually love (she blushes!). Dhita is fiercely protective of Ziemma, which probably is partially due to the fact that she is charged with the security of the databank of government secrets (Ziemma) but probably also because she has feelings for him of which she doesn't understand yet.
Why her? : As mentioned before, I am a HUGE CLAMP fan, and CHOBITS is definitely one of those series I love a lot. In fact, my online handle comes from the main character's name, Chii. I have always thought that the Ziemma and Dhita pair was beyond cool, so when the topic came up for who to cosplay, my ex-boyfriend and I chose this pair to cosplay. We were also gearing up for our Prom Night that year, and we wanted to wear our trenchcoats for Prom. In the end my ex-boyfriend actually had to go to Japan during the time of the cosplay, leaving poor Dhita alone...
About the costume : Dhita's red on black with gold highlights costume was coloured in one of the manga's opening pages, so I was relieved to find I didn't have to imagine the colours. The black trenchcoat that she wears was far and beyond my sewing capabilities at that time, so I had it tailored, since I was going to use it for my Prom anyway. I made and attached the belts myself, out of red Fantasy Pleather, which worked well for its purpose. The gloves were store-bought and then one of them was cut to make that assymetrical look, and I wore black long socks over my sports shoes to make the really long boot effect, because I didn't want to get a pair of long boots and cut one side... *pained look* The hair was a disaster though, although on hindsight Dhita's hair is almost impossible to do without several hours of styling and cutting beforehand... O_o. Finally the shorts were modified from an old pair of pedal-pushers, and the numerous bands around my arms, legs and neck were fashioned from cloth and secured with velcro and double-sided tape.
First Appearance
Event : Fans-tasia, December 2003.
About the cosplay : As mentioned, my partner in crime was away in Japan at the time of the cosplay, so when people recognised me and asked me where Ziemma was, I would jokingly reply "He's in Japan hunting for Chii". Beyond that, it was pretty lonely cosplaying alone, which was my first taste of what cosplaying by myself would feel like, resulting in me never cosplaying alone if possible. ^_^ Although CHOBITS anime was out by then, Dhita was not a big enough character to be that easily recognisable, but it was pretty fun being recognised anyhows. It was pretty hard having to scowl for all the photos, in fact so hard I hardly did it, so I probably ended up smiling for the cameras instead, very out-of-character.
Reprisal
Event : Indigo Magazine Photoshoot, mid 2006.
About the reprisal : The Indigo Magazine Photoshoot is exactly what it sounds like, a photoshoot for a magazine called Indigo, which was a indie magazine focusing on artsy teenage topics that was slightly edgy, which pretty much described cosplay to a tee at that time. I and a bunch of friends responded to a call for cosplayers willing to cosplay and be interviewed for an article, and when I showed up, I ended up being the only cosplayer cosplaying a character NOT from Bleach, even though I DO have a Bleach costume at that time. Yeah. Sigh. But it was pretty fun reprising Dhita, getting it more accurate this time, with makeup, more properly mussed up hair, and actual black boots (which had a zip at the side so I simply unzipped one side and tucked it downwards!)!
Picture credits : Reference pictures taken from the manga and photo credits go to Indigo Magazine Singapore (now defunct).