Point Zero: Redefining Otaku

13 December is the only day which you get to see cosplayers in costumes of anime dated as far back as you can remember.

Disclaimer: Don’t expect to find photos of substantial quality here; photography and Photoshop are not my specialty. I welcome any feedback (drop it in comments) in areas which I could improve for the next photo shoot. High resolution photos are available, if you manage to PM me on IRC.

3 months ago, resident blogger [z]en has a long break from serving the country while I was conscripted in for the same cause. Our roles were swapped this time round, which leave me the only blogger here to cover this year’s EOY. It was no surprise to find a larger portion of costume players dressed up as characters of older series; it’s the theme of EOY for this year anyway. It was a surprise, to me, to see a group too big to fit everyone onto the stage. The follow picture consists of only 10% of the group members.

Kudos to platoon team Baka Ninja for winning the team cosplay competition. Awesome performance and cheer, and most importantly, a solid organisation from an outsider’s point of view. Getting a big team to work together is never easy.

In second place for team competition is the pair from Kuroshitsuji. They are equally impressive during the performance, and I believe the result may have been different if there is a limit on how big a team can be.

Looking at her costume and props, it would not be hard to understand why Yuko from xxxHolic leads in the voter’s poll for best individual female cosplay.

There are not just one good female cosplayer out there. The pair from dynasty warriors were two out of the six who got “JoW Approved”. This year marks the first year of “JoW” Approved in EOY; click link for more information.

With the lack of mecha this EOY (it’s more of me not expecting to see gundam girl fighting), other cosplays took the stage of the battledome this year. Anyone want to make an intelligent guess on how long they have posed in this position for photographers?

It is a pity I never got to catch the match between Darth Vader and StormTrooper. I also missed out on CT taking out all the Terrorist and defusing the bomb in time before it blows up the whole of expo.

Displayed in the corner of some booths (put partial blame on the event rules), dollfies were also there to steal some attention from the normal cosplays. Anyone interested in anything doll-related can look forward to The Doll Affair taking place later this month.

Doujin artworks is something you cannot miss out as they are displayed near the entrance leading towards the booth. Among the artworks displayed are those participated in art competition, and artworks from Collateral Damage Studios in the picture above.

Eager to show off your artistic nature? All you need to draw is a pen, and knowing where the graffiti board is. Ran out of ideas? Take a look at the works of other artists, and work on something different and unique.

As long as you see them, you know you’re at the correct venue.