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Costume customers at Anime Conji
Japanese animation fans gather and play dress-up
The annual Anime Conji convention returned to the Sheraton Mission Valley over the first weekend of June, providing fans of Japanese animation and related pop culture a chance to dress up as their favorite characters from comics, TV, film, and books.
In addition to nearly 'round-the-clock screenings, the convention also includes an art show, gaming, karaoke, Maid Café, a costume masquerade, discussion panels, a dealer's room full of rare collectibles, and opportunities to meet creators in a special section known as Artist Alley.
Anime Conji was launched in 2010 at the Doubletree Hotel San Diego in Mission Valley, later relocating to the Town and Country Resort Hotel and the Sheraton Hotel & Marina, before settling into its current host locale. The convention wasn't held in 2016 and 2017, but returned this year.
Eddie Quintero (known online as Eddiehxc) showed up dressed as Kakashi Hatake, holding his Pakkun dog from The Last: Naruto the Movie, a 2014 Japanese cartoon based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime series Naruto, produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi.
Marvel Comics cosplay included the character Deadpool (particularly popular with a second film hitting theaters), combined in a cartoon mashup with Attack on Titan (a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama) and Lady Deadpool.
Dawn Reyes was one of the many cosplayers with headgear to match their fabric and prop creations.
Despite The Walking Dead ratings dropping by over a million viewers this past season, the newer character Neegan remains more popular than ever, especially with cosplayers who have a spare baseball bat and some barbed wire laying around.
Other non-manga and non-anime cosplayers dressed as characters from Game of Thrones, such as this portrayal of Daenerys Targaryen.
The New Teen Titans began as a comic book starring the sidekicks of adult superheroes, although it's currently best known as a anime-inspired TV cartoon that includes this character known as Raven.
Captain America has always been popular with cosplayers, but even more now that the Marvel Universe films have presented this combat version of Cap's traditional red, white, and blues.
"Anime" is the Japanese term for animation, which means all forms of animated media, with over 400 anime production studios currently creating new films and TV shows. Despite comprising only a fraction of the country's domestic film market, anime is responsible for a majority of Japanese DVD sales.