Anime Expo (AX) is an anime convention that takes place during the summer in the Los Angeles Convention Center in California; it’s the biggest anime convention in North America, with more than one hundred thousand people attending every year. With an event this big, it's not rare to see cosplayers among the excited crowd of anime fans. From professional cosplayers to just for fun cosplayers, every cosplayer shows passion for recreating their favorite anime characters to the best of their ability. Honey's anime team went to AX to check out what kind of cosplay we could see this year in America's most famous anime con. Join us below and check out what we found!
Basic Info:
| Location | Los Angeles Convention Center 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015 |
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| Length of Event | Length of event: Jul 4, 2019 – Sun, Jul 7, 2019 |
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Dragon Ball Cosplay
Honey’s Anime team found two outstanding Master Roshi at AX. They both dressed in Master Roshi's casual button shirt and sandals. Accompanying one Master Roshi was Bulma, dressed in a bunny suit. Just like in Dragon Ball, the bunny suit included a black headband with rabbit ears, a white-collar with a red bow tie, a black leotard, high heels, and cuffs.
Outside of the convention center, Honey’s team spotted a gender bender cosplay of Goku dressed in one of the most recent attires of Dragon Ball Super.
Inside the venue, we spotted a Vegeta and Yamcha in a very familiar scene. Vegeta in full Saiyan armor was mocking Yamcha, while Yamcha was recreating the death pose from when he died battling versus Saibaiman in Dragon Ball Z.
Cowboy Bebop Cosplay
Faye Valentine was spotted in the west hall browsing through the booths, perhaps looking for a new bounty?
Two Spike Spiegel were spotted at AX 2019. First, one doing Spike’s signature “bang” hand sign as shown in the episode “The Real Folk Blues (pt 2)”. The second Spike was a gender bender cosplay, posing with a plush version of Ein.
Cells At Work Cosplay
Keeping the human body healthy is a tough job, no wonder we saw so many Cells at AX2019. Complete with all-white clothing, a Cell U-1146 was found. White blood cells probably look like this at a microscopic level. The main character of Cells At Work is this white blood cell, a neutrophil tasked with making sure all blood vessels are free of foreign bacteria.
If you have damaged blood vessels, don’t worry because the Platelets are on the job. These cells help the body prevent blood clots and help stop the bleeding. No wonder there were so many of them at AX! They usually dress in a long blue shirt with khaki shorts, a white hat, and a yellow bag.
My Hero Academia Cosplay
There was no surprise finding lots of cosplay themed after My Hero Academia at AX 2019. This anime started airing in summer 2014 and since then it has been a hit title all over the world. At AX 2019 you could find cosplay of almost every character in the series.
It was common to see Himiko Toga cosplay around the event. Himiko is a villain affiliated with the League of Villains in the series and clearly, the fans love her.
Another popular character among cosplayers was Fumikage Tokoyami. Resembling a raven or crow, Dark Shadow has the ability to summon a sentient shadow and control it at will. Accompanying one Dark Shadow was Ochako Uraraka, one of the female protagonists whose quirk is named Zero Gravity. We also found a cosplayer dressed as a gender bender Izuku Midoriya, the ninth user of the One for All superpower.
Two interesting cosplays found at AX 2019 were a gender bender version of Shouta Aizawa (Eraserhead) and Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic). In BokuAka, they are superheroes and teachers; Eraserhead can nullify other superpowers and Present Mic can amplify his voice to use against foes.
Accompanied by another gender bender Deku was Ken Ishiyama, commonly known as “Cementoss”. Cementoss power allows him to manipulate cement-based materials at his will. Looking like a humanoid block of cement, the cosplayer did a great job recreating the body shape of this hero.
Another commonly seen hero among cosplayers was Katsuki Bakugo. A young man with a very short temper that is able to detonate explosives from the palm of his hands.
In the image above we can see two gender bender Shouto Todoroki wearing their interpretation of the series school uniform; this is a super kawaii reimagination of the character. Mt. Lady was also around the area as well!
Kabayashi-san chi no Maid Dragon Cosplay
Kobayashi-san might have lost her dragon maid because they were all hanging out at AX 2019.
Commonly mistaken as a cosplayer, Tooru is a female dragon that transformed herself into a human after she was saved by Kobayashi-san. She fell in love with Kobayashi so she now lives with her as her personal maid.
Tooru’s friend; Kanna, was also seen at AX, maybe trying to take her back to the dragon realm? Kanna is a young dragon from the same series, she tries to take Tooru back to the dragon realm but finds a mother figure in Kobayashi so she stays with them in the human realm.
A couple of Quetzalcoatl or ‘Lucoa’ were seen at AX. She is a dragon goddess that lost her status for being drunk and having a scandalous behavior.
Kill la Kill Cosplay
Kill la Kill being the famous show that it is, it wasn’t rare to see cosplay of various of its characters at AX this year. Several Matoi Ryuko were seen around the event wearing several different costumes the character wore in the anime. Mako, Ragyou, Mikisugi, and Satsuki were seen in a group enjoying themselves and taking pictures with fans of the show. Also, A Nonon Jakuzure was spotted wearing her tracksuit!
Other Cosplay
Final Thoughts
With the number of people that visit the event each year, it’s impossible to see every single cosplay, but it is always a wonderful experience to witness such a dedicated fan base representing their favorite anime characters. Overall, it was a great experience to meet all of these cosplayers and being able to share with the world their passion for anime.
So what was my favorite cosplay of the show? That question has haunted me for days since there were many great cosplays. In the end, I decided on the cosplay of Vegeta and Yamcha. Not only their costumes were spot on according to the actual animation, but they also created an entire space for everyone to interact with them, making their location an event on itself; that was fascinating to experience.
The cosplayers at AX2019 were fantastic, some were appealing to the eye, others had outstanding details and some were just plain funny; no matter the type of cosplay, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and that's the whole point of the event. No matter how dedicated you are to your cosplay, as long as you’re having fun it's a cosplay done right.
