japanamerica: cosplay in the usa

Posted by Pazpaz10 Holland over 6 months ago

japanamerica: cosplay in the usa An estimated 105,000 fans attended this fall’s combined New York Anime Festival and Comic Con – and you couldn’t walk a meter on the convention floor without seeing or literally bumping into someone in costume. The larger North American anime conventions feature artists and voice actors from Japan and the United States as celebrity guests, screenings, panels and live performances alongside booths offering merchandise and promotional paraphernalia. But cosplay, an import from Japan that involves wearing, and often posing provocatively in, a homemade costume of your favorite character, may be the biggest draw. “It’s like total escape,” a teenager from Philadelphia said as he adjusted the collar of his costume, based on a character from Hetalia: Axis Powers, a notably popular title this year. “You can’t do this every day. And it’s really addictive.”