For dedicated cosplay enthusiasts, there are very few tasks that could be considered too tall an order for the perfect shot. We imagine that draping yourself with living, wriggling octopus might just be too Herculean an ordeal to tackle, but that's exactly what Japanese cosplayer, model, and food blogger Namada did with the help of photographer Kanzan Yamamoto.

The photo shoot was featured at the Numeru Namada exhibition at Tokyo Ikebukuro Gallery O, and while it featured photography of Namada in octopus themed cosplay, the real attention-getter was this series of photos showing Namada covering herself with a 18 kilogram North Pacific giant octopus. Both Namada and Yamamoto told our friends at Tokyo Girls Update that their motivation for the shoot was a fascination with octopuses and tentacles, as well as the challenge of showing off their sliminess through photographs.

Thanks to stereotypes of the more eccentric forms of Japanese pornography, many will immediately think of "tentacle porn." While this can't be confirmed 100%, there is strong reason to believe that that erotic trope originated in Shunga, or the erotic prints of early Japan. The most famous of these, of course, is Hokusai's The Dream of The Fisherman's Wife.

Yamamoto says that although he's been asked about a possible link, he wasn't particularly inspired by Shunga in putting together the photo shoot. Namada said that even showering wasn't enough to remove the slime, although it was certainly a much tougher time for the octopus. Seeing it writhing around out of water is an image we imagine makes some people uncomfortable, and perhaps raises a question of different cultural sensibilities, particularly when placed under the lens of art. Afterward, the two actually did boil and eat it, for what it's worth.

Here is Namada's official blog, as well as Yamamoto's official site.