Cosplay fans have been putting an insane level of detail into their anime and video game-based creations over the past few years. Looking at pictures from the recent World Cosplay Summit, it’s easy to forget about the simpler side of grown-ups playing dress-up. It isn’t always about putting in hundreds of man-hours to be chosen as the best craftsman in the world.

Sometimes, it’s just about a guy wanting to see his girlfriend in something he thinks looks hot.

Although it rocketed to international prominence as a term to describe fans dressing up as their favorite fictional characters, in Japan the word “cosplay” can also be used to describe a couple using costumes to help them get into the mood.

A recent Internet survey asked 209 men what kind of outfit they’d like to see their girlfriend, just once, slip into for them.

  • Ninth Place (tie): School Swimsuit – 7.7 percent

Sharing the bottom of the top ten is what’s known as the school swimsuit, the dark navy one-piece that girls wear during the swimming portion of the P.E. curriculum in Japanese schools.

  • Ninth Place (tie): Bondage Gear – 7.7 percent

Tied with the school swimsuit is the considerably less innocent choice of straight up bondage gear. No picture for this one. On the off-chance that you’ve been coming to RocketNews24 for S and M photos, we guess we owe you an apology…or should that be the other way around?

  • Eighth Place: OL Uniform – 10.1 percent

The responses weren’t all wistful throwbacks and over-the-top explicitness. One in ten guys said they’d like to see their girl dressed up like she’s ready for a day at the office, sporting the snappy skirt and vest combo of the Office Lady.

  • Seventh Place: Flight Attendant – 11 percent

Requests for girls ready to get down to business continued with flight attendant at number seven. While there seems to be plenty of leeway in what kind of hat to top the outfit with, in the Japanese mindset, a silk scarf tied around the neck is absolutely the cornerstone of this whole look.

  • Sixth Place: Maid Uniform – 12.4 percent

Yet another industrious choice was maid uniform. As Japan’s whole maid café phenomenon only started in the last 10 years or so, this choice passing up traditional favorites such as OL and flight attendant shows a sort of changing of the guard as far as male fantasies go.

  • Fifth Place: Bunny Girl – 14.8 percent

Of course, there’s plenty of real estate in the lascivious regions of the male mind, and there was no forcing the old school hit of the Bunny Girl costume, or as we more commonly call it in the west, the Playboy Bunny outfit, out of the top five. One respondent, who ironically gave his profession as being in “the creative field,” explained his preference with the following statement: “It shows a lot of cleavage, so it’s sexy.”

Truly, his words are like the sighs of young lovers, carried to the sea on a summer breeze under the full moon.

  • Fourth Place: Schoolgirl Uniform with Blazer – 16.3 percent

Honestly, we were surprised this one didn’t rank higher, considering that schoolgirl fetishism is one of Japan’s biggest exports.

It’d be easy to dismiss this selection as coming entirely from guys who regret not having been able to get a girlfriend in high school, and indeed several men did give that as their impetus. Some of them had slightly more wholesome sentiments as well, though. “My girlfriend and I met after we both graduated from college, so I’ve never seen her in her uniform” explained one 24-year-old respondent. “I’d like to see how she looked when she was a high school student.”

  • Third Place: Nurse’s Uniform – 17.7 percent

The highest-ranked professional outfit was the nurse’s uniform, checking in at number three. “There’s something exciting about it, like you’re breaking the rules,” explained one 27-year-old respondent. “I think all guys like nurse outfits,” offered another 29-year-old survey participant.

  • Second Place: Chinese-Style Dress – 18.2 percent

Finishing second was the Chinese-style dress or cheongsam. Participants who selected it sited the leg-exposing slit as their favorite design element. Some guys also seemed to be thinking with their stomachs on this one, such as the 28-year-old engineer who said, “I saw the waitresses wearing them at a Chinese restaurant I ate at, and I thought they looked really good,” proving once again that for most men, our brain is really only the third organ we go to for decision making.

  • First Place: Schoolgirl Uniform (Sailor Suit Type) – 23.4 percent

So this is why the schoolgirl uniform with blazer ranked so low; votes for it were tallied separately from the more popular sailor suit variety. In the end, the sailor-type schoolgirl outfit absolutely crushed the competition, pulling in nearly a quarter of all votes cast. Combine the votes for the two types of schoolgirl uniforms, and together they total just under 40 percent of the responses. Add in the school swimsuit’s votes, and in the end, high school-themed outfits accounted for almost half of the selections.

A 35-year-old software engineer who chose the sailor suit as his favorite put it simply: “I can’t help it. Seeing the girl you like in her uniform is the dream of all men.”

But while the study participants had no problems telling the survey administrators their favorite look, many confessed to being unsure of how to broach the decidedly delicate matter with their girlfriends. Might we suggest printing this article out and leaving the copy lying around the apartment for her to see? While you’re at it, print out a few of our other stories too. Regardless of if she agrees to wear the sailor suit or not, whether or not a woman appreciates the fine writing of RocketNews24 is the quickest and surest way to tell if she’s a keeper.

Source: Nico Video