We attended the huge cosplay event, acosta! in Ikebukuro – Part 1: What is acosta!?

We have covered a lot of cosplay since 1993.  From the few dozens of cosplayers at Anime America and Anime Expo way back in the early ’90s and have continued to do so 26-years later.

But one event that we have not been to, despite its amazing success is an acosta! cosplay event.  An event that brings out thousands of cospplayers and many cosplay photographers.   It serves as a way for people to share their passion for cosplay but also to be photographed.

The event provides a few backdrops but these events take place throughout Japan and you will see many people inside the event area and outside.

Its important to note that this weekend in Japan, the huge Ultra acosta! @ Ikebukuro Sunshine City will be taking place and this is a huge event that will bring TV talents, cosplayers from other countries and many booths + entertainment. These photos are not from this event but from the March 24th event.

I arrived at acosta! in Ikebukuro before 9:00 a.m. in the morning, not knowing at all how many people would be attending.   Unfortunately, I only had 2.5 hours before needing to leave to Tokyo Dome for a baseball game, possibly three hours, as long as I got to the Tokyo Dome from Ikebukuro before 1:00 p.m. [NOTE: In the first video I said, maybe it’s best if people come later, as maybe the line would be smaller, this is by means not true, as the line was still packed with even more people around 12:30 p.m., so I recommend getting in line early!]

The first thing I was greeted with was a huge line early in the morning.  One thing you will notice, unlike America, people don’t show up at an event in their costume.  People in Japan go to events with their luggage and get dressed at the event.

While the line hardly moved, I realized that while I was in one line, there is another huge line on the other side.  So, there are two huge lines of people waiting to get in.

Once you get in and pay, you receive a colored wristband and a program guide.

And as cosplayers get ready in the dressing areas or restroom areas, for photographers, once you walk in, you will see numerous backdrops. For photographers, I recommend going early because these backdrops, within an hour and once people really start coming in, just getting a place to shoot with the backdrop becomes difficult.

There is no set time of how long you can take a photo, so certain photographers may want to have a longer photoshoot with a well-known cosplayer. So, don’t hold your breath of a photoshoot taking five minutes, if you want to shoot using a certain backdrop, you’ll need to be patient and hope the cosplayers you want to take photos of, are patient as well.

It’s also a free-for-all, while many of us may not know which cosplayer are popular or famous, one lesson I learned is that if you are about to take a photo, some photographers will come and swipe your cosplayer to take their photo if you are waiting for a backdrop.  So, in some ways, you may want to improvise quickly and may have to use whatever wall is available.  It’s not ideal at all but considering the time available and how many cosplayers are at the event, time is limited unless you have a close relationship with that cosplayer or photographer.

So, what kind of backdrops are available?  At this location in Ikebukuro, there is a school setting, acosta! backdrop, brick backdrop, purple/black backdrop, sakura backdrop, white backdrop, green rug and more!  And of course, the center’s white or yellowish walls and garage gates.

Otherwise, you’ll need to improvise with whatever is available to you, white walls, convention garage walls or whatever. It’s not the best, so early morning would be great taking photos indoor, but once it gets busy, the best thing to do is probably take photos outside. This goes for both photographers and cosplayers as the place gets packed quickly.

And leaving acosta!, I was so tempted to stay because I saw even more cosplayers outdoors and better shooting conditions, but unfortunately, I had to be at Tokyo Dome within the next half hour!

We will continue with more photos from acosta! in Ikebukuro in part 2!

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