The fan base of manga and anime has been growing in the past few years that the culture of it all is expanding and being redefined. Anime conventions are large scale operations and include a mass amount of people sporting their own interests within this realm of media fanatics.
The costumes some people have are really well made and anyone can tell that they would take a long time to create.
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| Jester from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood |
I am a self-proclaimed otaku who has gone to a couple of such conventions and I have dressed up for these as well. The huge amount of people at these events surprised me when I first visited a popular convention in Dallas, Texas called A-Kon. There are so many people dressed as different characters.
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| Cosplaying as Indiana Jones |
Some cosplays are done really well, and these people get to pose for lots of pictures. The con-goers chose to go as characters from anime, manga, movies, video games, internet memes, or basically anything within pop culture.
Its a basic free-for-all with costumes and how much time and effort are put into them. At conventions they have costume contests where you can win prizes too.
Conventions are a lot of fun to experience, but can be a culture shock to anyone not used to, for example, men in short skirts toting cat ears and a magic wand. But I digress. The cosplay culture is a vibrant place that welcomes newcomers and celebrates its veterans.
