This year’s iteration of the event may have been slightly more subdued, with less numbers attending than usual due to the pandemic, but it was certainly no less impressive, thanks to the enthusiasm of the cosplayers. So there you have it - some of the best cosplayers from Day One of this year’s Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival!

▼ Jolyne Cujoh from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (Cosplayer: mi-ya.)

▼ Sangonomiya Kokomi from Genshin Impact (Cosplayer: INA) ▼ Gawr Gura from HololiveEN (Cosplayer: Peroneko) ▼ Kyouka (Halloween) from Princess Connect Re:Dive (Cosplayer: Inami Yuri) ▼ Oguri Cap from Uma Musume Pretty Derby (Cosplayer: Toramaru)

▼ Nana Daiba from Shojo Kageki Revue Starlight (Cosplayer: Kue) ▼ Morgan from Fate/Grand Order (Cosplayer: Yuzuriha Kureha) ▼ Flandre Scarlet from Touhou Koumakyou: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Cosplayer: Koimu) ▼ Artoria Caster from Fate/Grand Order (Cosplayer: Ea) ▼ Taiki Shuttle from Uma Musume Pretty Derby (Cosplayer: Amami) ▼ Michelle and Tsurumaki Kokoro from BanG_Dream! (Cosplayers: Kawasemi Sayahana and Aimu) ▼ Maki Nishikino from Love Live! School Idol Festival (Cosplayer: Kinomi) This allowed us to take some great photos of some of the country’s most creative cosplayers, so let’s take a look at some of the best from the day below! While spectators at the event were required to wear masks at all times, the cosplayers were allowed to remove their masks while posing. So, as we walked about the event space on Day One of the festival, we spied some well-known faces from franchises like Uma Musume and Fate/Grand Order, which always has a strong showing at the festival. Plus, after an extra year off from cosplay, it’s only natural that a lot of cosplayers were waiting for a chance to step out as their favourite characters again. There were definitely fewer zombies and witches at this year’s event, but we certainly weren’t complaining. Ikebukuro’s Halloween party kicked off with a bang, but one thing that surprised us when we visited was the fact that most of the cosplayers weren’t dressed up in Halloween costumes - they opted to dress up as characters from their favourite manga and anime instead. Held at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, one of Tokyo’s most popular otaku meccas, the annual cosplay celebration was sadly cancelled last year due to the pandemic, but this year, the event went ahead with coronavirus countermeasures in place, and it was held over two days from 30-31 October. One of the biggest events on the calendar for cosplayers in Japan every year is the Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Festival. These cosplaying queens waited two years to step out as their favourite manga and anime characters, and the wait was definitely worth it.

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