Nov 7, 2019

Anime Expo's Unique Cosplay Experience

This Anime Expo, we were tasked with not only finding the coolest cosplays of the weekend, but also with exploring some of the con's cosplay content. AX prides itself in being a con built for cosplayers so we wanted to highlight all the special things Anime Expo has to offer attending cosplayers. Let's take a look at Anime Expo's Unique Cosplay Experience.

Entertainment Hall

Not only are there multiple cosplay panels and workshops, and the competitive cosplay Masquerade, but the Entertainment Hall has a huge section set aside just for the benefit of cosplayers! You can find a large cosplay repair station, the largest I've ever seen at a con. It includes everything from double sided tape, hot glue guns, safety pins, and even multiple sewing machines! It's basically everything you would need to fix any wardrobe malfunctions! In the Cosplay Senpai section, you can meet your favorite cosplayers, buy prints, and take photos with them! To take your cosplay experience to the next level, there are multiple photo stages set up where you can take photos for free! You can find stages themed after an apocalyptic wasteland, classroom, school gym, bedroom, Japanese Garden, pop star stage, and more! You can even reserve them for professional photo shoots towards the end of the day when lines die down.

Anime Expo's Unique Cosplay Experience The Japanese Sakura Garden

The Japanese Sakura Garden set

Anime Expo's Unique Cosplay Experience J-Pop Idol Set

The J-Pop Idol Set

Outside of the Entertainment Hall, fans can set up cosplay meetups where cosplayers from specific shows, games, and fandoms can meet up to take pictures, videos, and even act out scenes together. Unlike other conventions, Anime Expo keeps a Google Doc of the meetup schedule on their website and even has a specific areas set aside for the meetups. There's even a map on their app telling you how to find each meetup area! The fun doesn't end there! We checked out two of AX's cosplay panels: POC in Cosplay, and Cosplay Senpai Round Table. At the POC in Cosplay panel, a panel of cosplayers of Color discussed issues they face as minorities in the cosplay community. They covered issues like discrimination in the community, Blackfacing and Brownfacing, mental health, representation, and accuracy issues.

Panels

In the Cosplay Senpai Round Table panel, invited cosplayer guests, or the Cosplay Senpai, join together in a Q&A style panel. They answered questions like "Who is your inspiration for cosplay?", "What is your favorite cosplay memory?" and even, "What is your worst cosplay wardrobe malfunction?" They gave advice for those wanting to get into cosplay and for cosplayers wanting to better their crafting skills whether it be sewing, prop building, or wig styling.

The Cosplay Senpai Round Table Panel

World Cosplay Summit Exhibit

This year, AX had the honor of hosting some of the winning cosplays from the World Cosplay Summit. This highly competitive event happens every year in Japan. The best cosplayers from all over the world travel to compete and show off their most detailed works. This exhibit showed off some of the best from Team USA! Anime Expo's Unique Cosplay Experience