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Cosplay of Yesteryear: Otakon 2000

From my AFA08 experience, it seems that Singaporean attendees didn't just like to take pictures of cosplayers but with them too. I certainly don't recall that being prevalent when I attended ComiKet 72. I also dug out an old photo album of my visit to Otakon 2000 to see if attendees of that Baltimore, MA convention also had a 'with' predilection; ended up scanning a few to share with my readers. In the ancient year of 2000, SNK/CAPCOM game charas were all the rage. The biggest anime were Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon...

... Final Fantasy VII. There were soooooo many Riona cosplayers. Throughout my visit between 4-6 August 2000, I saw only one Tifa cosplayer. Bless her and long live the profession of bar wenches!!

Record of Lodoss War with very cute Shiris cosplayer. No Pirotess though. And, in the fine tradition of Sailor Bubba - don't take cosplay too seriously, k? - the Subversive Sailor Scouts ran around creating general mayhem and fun. I imagine most of them are respectable family/salarymen. It's not just Facebook that brings back the unwanted memories but animu blogs too!

Revolutionary Girl Utena was also really popular with the female demographic of the anime fan population. And, oh, it does seem that there was always a healthy proportion of female fans. At least in the US.

I wonder what these cosplayers would have thought of Slayers Revolution?

At C72, cosplay that revealed a lot of skin did exist but was a relatively low proportion. But girls, often young teenagers, at Otakon were prepared to flaunt their figures includng a creative take on Pikachu and the standard outfit for Urusei Yatsura's Lum.

So what are men to cosplay if we're not the bishounen typu? There's also monsters, cabbits and Ikari Gendou.

Speaking of Mr White Gloves, the Evangelion wave had well and truly hit US shores by 2000. The very spirited Asuka cosplayer spent a good afternoon terrorising any Shinji cosplayer she managed to find. LOL And Rei clones were almost a match for the Riona army.

Ruri Hoshino was also a popular choice but it's interesting to see how the appeal of Evangelion has been kept alive and even continues to grow while most people nowadays have never even heard of Martian Successor Nadesico...

More Old Skool for the road. Saber Marionette, El Hazard: The Wanderers, Vision of Escaflowne, Serial Experiments Lain. Actually I haven't even seen Saber Marionette meself... (-_-);;

I was also surprised to discover that US anime fans were upset with censorship of their animu... I can't remember which specific anime it was about. Kite? Some guy representing 'U.S. Censor' was ceremonially beaten, sliced up, shot etc etc. Until a staff member came up to the little demonstration and said: 'As a member of Otakon Security, I have to... join in and do my duty!' *rains mock kicks on the 'U.S. Censor'* LOL

No one was arrested. Even though there was a Natsumi Tsujimoto cosplayer present at the con.

Related posts:

1. ComiKet 72 Day Two
2. Anime Festival Asia ‘08 Day Two
3. Lucky Star cosplay