Esdeath Cosplay

Akame ga Kill!

10 photos

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! sitting astride a white sofa arm, holding a blue-hilted rapier with the blade angled upward

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! seated with crossed legs on a white sofa, holding a silver chain out toward the camera

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! standing in the doorway of white panelled double doors with one hand on her peaked cap

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! seated on a round white pouf with a rapier laid across her knees in front of white panelled doors

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! shot from below, seated on a white pouf holding a black braided whip folded into a loop

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! sitting on the floor against a white pouf, holding a black braided whip pulled taut between her hands

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! leaning against a wall with arms folded, in white uniform and black peaked cap

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! standing by a wall and pulling a heavy silver chain taut in front of her chest

Close-up of Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! raising a fist full of silver chains, with the black peaked cap and blue hair in detail

Esdeath cosplay from Akame ga Kill! — the general in white

Esdeath is the Empire's strongest general in Akame ga Kill!: commander of the Jaegers, wielder of the ice Teigu Demon's Extract, and a villain who is unsettling precisely because she is so calm about cruelty. This gallery of ten photographs dresses her in the classic uniform and keeps almost everything around her white, so the character is carried by the costume, the props and the expression rather than by the set.

The costume

A white double-breasted uniform dress with black lapels and black buttons, a black neck scarf and black armbands, long black fingerless arm sleeves, and a belt with a cross-shaped buckle. The black peaked cap carries the white cross, a checkered band and a silver cord. Long straight light-blue hair with a blunt fringe, white thigh-high stockings with black cuffs and lacing, and white stilettos complete the look.

Props

Three props rotate through the set: a slim rapier with a blue grip, Esdeath's weapon of choice in the series; a heavy silver chain; and a black braided whip. Each one changes the pose language — the rapier is held like a general's sword, the chain is pulled, wrapped and offered toward the lens, and the whip is folded or stretched between both hands.

Studio and light

The shoot uses two corners of one white studio. The first is a gray mural of a misty forest with birds, an arched niche and a soft white sofa. The second is a wall of white panelled double doors with a round white pouf. Soft, diffused light keeps the whole set almost monochrome: white on white, with the black cap, lapels and sleeves drawing the silhouette and the blue wig as the only real color.

The ten frames

The cover frame has Esdeath on the arm of the sofa with one knee drawn up and the chain hanging from her fist. The rapier follows on the same sofa, then the chain held out toward the camera until it dissolves into blur. A frame in the doorway of the white double doors leads into the pouf series: the rapier laid across her knees, a low-angle portrait with the whip folded into a loop, and a wider floor-level frame with the whip pulled taut. The set closes back at the mural — arms folded against the wall, the chain stretched across the chest, and a waist-up close-up with the cap and the chain filling the frame.

Related galleries

More uniformed authority and villains on this site: Meiko Shiraki from Prison School with her riding crop, Yor Forger as the Thorn Princess, Shego in the emerald candlelit studio and Morrigan Aensland from Darkstalkers. For another military uniform, see Mikasa Ackerman in Survey Corps gear.