Japanese cosplayer poses with a live octopus for a photoshoot
In a show of commitment to her cosplaying craft, Japanese personality Namada put an 18 kg (39.7 pound) live octopus on herself for a recent photoshoot.
The pictures, which show her writhing around with the slippery North Pacific giant octopus, were shot in half a day by photographer Kazan Yamamoto.
While the concept seems reminiscent of famous Japanese artwork like The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife and other tentacle-centric erotica, Yamamoto told Tokyo Girls Update he wasn't trying to mimic the genre.
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Classic Japanese woodblock cut art The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife:
Posing with an octopus is as physically icky as you'd imagine. Namada said she found she couldn't wash off the octopus slime in the shower. It also shot out ink in the process, probably in a desperate bid to defend itself.
The photoshoot was also very likely traumatising to the octopus, which depends on being in water to breathe. They've been known to last on land for several minutes, aided by moisture on the skin, but it also would not have appreciated being pulled and pushed around during the process.
Namada posted a video of them releasing the octopus, while you can hear her and Yamada reacting:
The stunt could've potentially really hurt Namada. Octopuses have beaks in the mouth within the centre of their arms, and it could have bitten her, resulting in swelling and a bad reaction.
It seems she and Yamada escaped unscathed. After the photoshoot, the blogger and photographer boiled the octopus and ate it. Yup.
She also posed for several more pictures with the cooked tentacled beast.
The photos were shown during a two-day exhibition at the Tokyo Ikebukuro Gallery O last week.
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[H/T Mothership]
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
