Cosplay bonenkai 2010 organized by Gainax

Six "Star"s from "Arakawa under the bridge"	From "Bibliotheca Mystia de Dantalian" product of Gainax which will come soon as anime.	Our team-member Star-kun is bullied by two female devils from maybe "Panty and Stocking awith Garterbelt".
Our team surrounds Simon (?) from Gurren Lagann; from left to right Heidi after forty years, Star-kun, a princess, Hatsune Miku and Kaito.	Takeda-san (right) and Akai-san (left) both in their original character	I do not know what they are doing. First thought "Death Note". But, that is probably wrong.
Goto-san and his girlfriend in his homemade uniform	"Appeal time"; small girls attract many votes in the cosplay contest which comes later.

		Yamaga-san in "Akiyama Yoshifuru" (maybe) in the TV drama series "Saka no ue no Kumo".
"Sergeant Keroro"	????? A small boy was in this cute carton box.	Three famous towers in Japan: from left to right Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Skytree and Osaka Tsutenkaku. The girl in front is a "seiyu" in the costume of "Sengoku Nadeko" from "Bakemonogatari".
"Sheryl Nome" in "Macross Frontier"	A hybrid Eva-Gurren Lagann mecha (according to Marco-san)	"Naoe Kanetsugu" is a samurai who was the main character in the NHK TV drama last year.

As in the previous years we had "Gainax Cosplay Bonenkai 2010" on 27th December. However, there were some important differences this year. First, Bonenkai was held in Shinjuku instead of usual Kichijoji. Second, the reason for this change of venue is that Gainax ends its tradition with this year’s bonenkai. It is regrettable that such a popular event has to come to an end, though year by year more people get together and enjoy the event.

Yamaga-san, President of Gainax, told me that it is high time to end Cosplay Bonenkai. People have come to enjoy cosplay without hesitancy and Gainax does not have to contribute to the promotion of cosplay any more. Of course, I understand that such an event costs a great deal. Gainax is very generous in offering not only spacious rooms in the first class hotel, but also plenty of food and drink of excellent quality. It might not be so easy to continues such an extravagance in the time of difficult economic situation.

Anyhow, as the program of Bonenkai was the same as last year, I do not want to make a lengthy explanation. I instead upload photos of cosplayers.

The most interesting cosplay was for me that of Takeda-san. Recently "Matsuko Delux", plump and arrogant gay, is popular in the Japanese media. Takeda-san trys to be "Takeda Delux" and in fact is far superior to him in his (her) gorgeous dress and elaborate make-up.

Yamaga-san made a costume of the military officer from an NHK TV drama series "Saka no ue no kumo". He reformed a highschool uniform and the field glasses are made of paper.

There were a number of colplayers of "Hatsune Miku" and "Hoshi" (star) of "Arakawa under the bridge". Hoshi cosplayers, mostly boys, got together to demonstrate their solidarity, while Miku cosplayers, exclusively girls, were not interested in such a stupid idea.

My old friend Goto-san came as usual in his handmade uniform together with a girlfriend from Germany, a member and interpreter of Connichi. She came also in a uniform made by Goto-san! He explained that the uniforms are close to the original, but with some modification so as to avoid any political complications.

I tried to comment every photo what cosplay it is. However, I am unfortunately not much familiar with animations currently popular among young people. Your comment and information are therefore highly welcome! Enjoy the most recent cosplay scene in Japan!

2010.12.31