Pasadena CASI have to start working on my #cosplay photo backlog for #AnimeLA18. This picture is from Saturday afternoon featuring 3 characters from #AkibaMaidWar in their Oinky Doink Café maid outfits and prop pistols. From left to right the characters are Nagomi, Zoya, and Ranko. Zoya and Ranko have visible in-character name badges, as well as light sticks as used for idol concerts
Next Friday photo for #AnimeLA18 is Himari from #MawaruPenguinDrum in her “Princess of the Crystal” form (specifically the most-dressed version of the form with the long, flowing gown). She’s holding out an apple - I believe that’s supposed to be part of the constellation of Kenji Miyazawa references in Penguindrum, but I haven’t watched the series since right around when it came out about a decade ago
Another Saturday (not Friday!) #cosplay photo from #AnimeLA18 is this #MobPsycho100 group, centered on Tumblr sexyman Reigen. To his left we have Shigeo/Mob disguised as a girl from season 1, then Teruki Hanazawa, I think - his hair and stance are too normal to be certain. To Reigen’s right are the rehabilitated Katsuya Serizawa, then Tome Kurata from the Telepathy Club at Mob’s school
Some #JoJosBizarreAdenture cosplay from #AnimeLA18 - in this case from part 3. On the right we have Dio with the full gold costume (though his heart-shaped kneepads seem a bit misaligned), including wrist and ankle bands, and the metallic gold shoes with pointed toes.
On the left is Polnareff, whose hair is like tall grass concealing a fierce beast - a plush Iggy, who we presume is chewing on Polnareff’s hair and Eric rating even now
More #JoJosBizarreAdenture cosplay from #AnimeLA18 - this is old Joseph Joestar from part 4, complete with his tall, leopard print hat. Joseph is holding busy left arm as if there’s some small, unseen object cradled in his hand - presumably the invisible baby from part 4.
The cosplayer’s badge is also showing a conspicuous out of character element: a cascade of ribbons hung from the badge, which is an #AnimeLA tradition inherited from their parent convention LosCon
More Saturday #AnimeLA18 #cosplay - pilots from #Evangelion. The characters are Mari on the left with the long rifle, Asuka in the center with the Lance of Longinus, and black-suited Rei Ayanami bottom right with the scythe. Mari and black-suited Rei are both from the Rebuild movies rather than earlier Eva installments, but their costume designs here - plug suits divided into high-cut leotards and thigh-high boots - come from model designs by Shunya Yamashita
You rarely see Shinji or Kaworu in that style of plugsuit…
Speaking of alternate character designs, I also saw this Yoru Forger (née Briar) from #SPYxFAMILY at #AnimeLA18 on Saturday. At least, I don’t remember her assassin’s outfit being depicted as something like a black latex corset with garters, but I suppose that may just come up later in the manga - Shonen Jump can be like that at times
More #AnimeLA18 cosplay: a person in a human-size Pikachu costume (like those human-size T-Rex costumes that were popular a few years ago) flanked on bit sides by Team Rocket. Or Teams Rocket I suppose - “prepare for trouble and make it double”, and all that. Directly left of Pikachu we have a Jessie wearing a face mask, then a James holding a plush Meowth. To Pikachu’s right is a Jessie crossplayer with a folding Pikachu fan and a…feather boa? And further right in shorts & sleeveless top
#AnimeLA18 cosplay from Saturday- I was in the Artist Alley when I found this #TheDisastrousLifeOfSaikiK cosplayer as the titular Saiki Kusuo, complete with a tray of the Coffee Jellies he likes so much. He’s in a waiter’s uniform instead of his usual school uniform or causal clothes - I don’t remember that look from the anime, but it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it
🖼 More from Artist Alley at #AnimeLA18 - this is Dio from #SteelBallRun, aka #JoJosBizarreAdenture part 7. I haven’t actually read this part and only know bits and pieces about it by reputation, but my understanding is that the Dio of this alternate setting does indeed get a dinosaur form (or at least part of one) whose markings spell out his name, as seen on his tail in this photo
#AnimeLA18 at the back edge of the Artist Alley area: Rei Ayanami from #Evangelion in her iconic white plugsuit. Rei is pretty similar between the TV series and the Rebuild movies, at least early on, so I don’t know if there’s any way to distinguish which instance of Eva this cosplay is modeled after. Heck, maybe the manga by series co-creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
At the south edge of the #AnimeLA18 Artist Alley there was a display section for itasha (“painful cars” if I remember the etymology). Here we have a #SPYxFAMILY cosplay group in front of the Spy x Family car: Loid Forger in his green suit on the left, Yoru Forger to his side, wearing an Anya Forger hand puppet between the two. To the right is the car (focused on large decals of Yoru), shown with additional detail from side and front in the other two photos
The Scooby gang at #AnimeLA18. No Scooby himself, though - he must be scoping out the food trucks. Left to right in the back row we have Daphne, Shaggy, Velma, and Fred. Front row features two ordinary con goers on the right and an unmasked Spider-Man on the left, so I’m assuming he was the spook for this episode and got caught in one of Fred’s traps
Here’s a #cosplay photo that seems kind of weird to me on reflection: from #MyDressUpDarling we have Wakana Gojo on the right, and Marin Kitagawa as Black Lobelia on the left. It’s the “as Black Lobelia” part that seems strange to me- the Gojo cosplayer is cosplaying a character who isn’t cosplaying, which is pretty much the norm, while the Marin cosplayer is cosplaying a character who IS cosplaying another character. Put another way, without the Gojo cosplayer, would I see the cosplayer on the
left as cosplaying Marin as Black Lobelia, or just cosplaying Black Lobelia outright? I imagine this sense of weirdness would be even more pronounced if Marin was prone to cosplaying characters closer to “real” characters from series outside her own, like Ohno from #Genshiken
Also seen at #AnimeLA18 in the Artist Alley: #KiryuCoco, formerly of #hololive. This cosplayer made sure to pose in character by flipping off the camera
Now in the area between the Dealers and Artist Alley in the #AnimeLA18 exhibit hall, we have a couple of #Trigun cosplayers. On the left we have a classic (i.e. late 90s anime) Vash the Stampede, complete with the giant red jacket, super-spikey blond hair, and oversize pistol. On the right we have the priest/killer Wolfwood toting a relatively small version of his signature cross ("relatively small" meaning it isn't as taller than he is)
At the back end of the #AnimeLA18 exhibit hall I found a group of #KimetsuNoYaiba cosplayers - specifically, a whole group of demons. In the back row starting from the left we have Daki the oiran, then Muzan himself, followed by "Mother" of the spider demon family (the one who peacefully accepted her death in the end), then Kyogai the Drum Demon. In the front row is Akaza the martial artist on the left and Enmu the hypnosis/dream demon on the right
Here's a funny thing about my #cosplay photography habits: if I see a whole bunch of cosplayers for a given show at an event, I'm actually less likely to get pictures of any of them - they seem too ubiquitous to stand out. That's why I got almost no #ChainsawMan cosplay photos at #AnimeLA18. I almost didn't get this photo of Makima holding a Pochita plushie, until I saw something very unusual and did a double-take. Can you figure out what it was? Answer in the next post
Look at how shiny her pants are. I think they're latex. I think her top is latex too. And...so is her necktie?! Who does that? And who can even survive walking around a convention - even a winter one - in a costume that unbreathable?
On my way out of the front of the exhibit hall area of #AnimeLA18 I found this #StevenUniverse group. I've watched maybe 5 episodes, so I'm guessing that these characters are (from left): Lapis Lazuli, Pearl, White Diamond, Spinel, and Pink Diamond
A final pair of #cosplay photos from Saturday at #AnimeLA18 - the black-plugsuit Ayanami from the Rebuild of #evangelion movies. Specifically, movie 4, since she's wearning her farming equpiment ove rthe plugsuit: sleeve covers, a straw hat, and a cloth holding the the hat in place. The small plushie version of herself is a nice touch
