Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest 2021 Report! Report on "Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest 2021", where changes were seen in the cosplay rules!

The "Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest 2021" was held from October 30 (Sat.) to 31 (Sun.), 2021, in the area surrounding the east exit of Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo, where cosplayers and stage performances could be enjoyed.

Due to the state of emergency declared, last year's "Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fest" was cancelled, as were the stage performances and parade. The event was held online for the first time, and a project about the runway and cosplay photography was broadcast live on Nico Nico Douga.

This year, temperature checks and alcohol disinfection as well as original masks were distributed to ticket buyers. Before the Corona Disaster, this was a major event where cosplay could be enjoyed on the roadways and in restaurants, but this year the event was held with various innovations, such as narrowing down the main venue to the rooftop of Sunshine City and the vast "Ike Sun Park," which serves as an evacuation park for disaster prevention.

Another feature of this year's event was that many cosplayers were taking measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, not only on the event side but also on an individual basis. Here is a roundup of the high quality cosplayers as well as what kind of measures they are taking to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

■Saai-san

Saa-san, who modeled for the "Social Distance Photo Session supported by Canon" on the day of the event, where participants could borrow camera equipment for free and try their hand at photography, explained that she takes basic measures, "I try to do the obvious things like wearing a mask and disinfecting with alcohol.

■Kaeru-chan

Ms. Kaeru-chan, who was participating in the general public, said, "Usually, photographers line up to take pictures of us, but this time I asked them to shorten the line and take only five pictures.

Kujo Negi

We also talked to Kujo Negi, who said, "We were conscious of the social distance, and if there were too many people, we would end the session immediately. We asked people to spend less time shooting than usual," she said, adding that they set up shooting rules to avoid density while still allowing people to enjoy themselves in a short amount of time.

■Ms. Yuria

Yuria took her temperature morning, noon, and night in preparation for the event, and she took every precaution to ensure that she was in good physical condition for the event, which she was looking forward to.

In addition, since this was the first large-scale cosplay event in a long time, there were changes in the subject matter and characters that were cosplayed.

Many people enjoyed cosplaying the online game "Genshin Impact" and the application game "Uma Musume Pretty Derby," which has been a big hit over the past two years.

■Bamu-san

Kururu Kurasaka

There were also original costumes and participants who cosplayed works that were intended to be "amasuri" (i.e., two or more people enjoying cosplay of the same work), such as "Mystery Kisses," a three-person idol group that appears in the TV anime "Odd Taxi.

Suzuno

missaco

(Interview, text, and photos by ryuko)

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