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Real-life anime girl bats her enormous eyelashes at you

Welcome to the real-world version of the Uncanny Valley. A young Ukrainian woman explodes her eyes and cinches her waist to become a real-life anime character.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
Real life anime girl
Don't stare into her eyes too long, she may suck out your soul. Anastasiya Shpagina

In the geek world, cosplay is an art form. Sometimes it's just masks and colorful spandex. Sometimes it's elevated to a high level. Consider Anastasiya Shpagina, a 19-year-old Ukrainian whom some might call a goddess among cosplayers.

Real anime girl and real Barbie make for an unusual-looking pair. (Click to enlarge.) Anastasiya Shpagina

Shpagina is obsessed with anime. She's so obsessed, she turns herself into a real-life anime character, complete with giant eyes and a teensy body. She probably has a secret stash of Ramune, too.

Strategic application of eye makeup and costumes really make the anime look pop. There's definitely talent involved here, but the results are both fascinating and a little unsettling. The eyes are strange enough, but the miniscule waist is a bit of a head-scratcher. I hope it's as much an optical illusion as the eyes are.

In case you thought things couldn't get any weirder, there are also photos of real-life anime girl hanging out with real-life Barbie, a fellow Ukrainian woman named Valeria Lukyanova. Together, they could form the world's first Unrealistic Body Image Itty-Bitty Waist Committee.

This may be giving you some ideas for Halloween. If Shpagina can pull off the look, so can you (unless you're a 250-pound hairy guy, which might make it less believable). She shares her makeup tips on YouTube. Watch as she transforms herself into an anime Flower Fairy.

(Via WebProNews)