KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 — Malaysian YouTube sensation Joyce Chu has revealed that she is actually a closet otaku who adores anime and cosplay, thus she was super glad to star in Singapore’s first cosplay-themed film, Young and Fabulous.

During the recent press conference of Young and Fabulous, the 19-year-old singer admitted that even before she joined the film, she has always been a fan of anime thanks to her brother’s influence.

"I like anime a lot. It was due to my brother’s influence because he likes watching a lot of anime like Naruto, Pokemon, Digimon, and others. Even though those anime are more catered towards boys, I ended up watching them as well,” said the singer who is well known for her song Malaysia Chabor.

(From left) Joyce Chu cosplaying alongside Aloysius Pang and Joshua Tan, in one of the scenes in the movie. — Cinema Online pic

Starring in the cosplay-themed film directed by Michael Woo and Joyce Lee, Joyce Chu said that it is like fulfilling one of her many childhood dreams.

"I never tried cosplay before because I never got the courage to do so, but I’ve always admired it. So when I received and read the script, I was super excited and couldn’t wait to try out all the outfits!” exclaimed the singer.

"Anime is something that I’ve loved since I was young, and I’m so happy that I can finally cosplay and be one of the anime characters — it’s like living one of my childhood dreams!” she added.

Coined by the Japanese, cosplay is a popular Japanese culture where participants known as cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific popular character usually from an anime or manga.

Young and Fabulous is a coming-of-age comedy about family, friends, romance and chasing one’s dream with cosplay as the backdrop.

The movie also stars Aloysius Pang, Joshua Tan, Jordan Ng, Gurmit Singh, Henry Thia, Quan Yi Fong and Jeffrey Xu. — Cinema Online