The Japan Society’s acclaimed exhibit KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games is running until June 14, so if you’re anywhere near New York City, be sure to get over there for your fix of J-Pop awesomeness. Knowing how to do things right, the Japan Society kicked things off in style with–what else?–a cosplay event!
Read after the jump for an event report from our special correspondent Petrina Cheng, as well as more photos of coplaying fun!
Japan Society was the place to be on March 28, as they held their first cosplay party in honor of their latest art installment: KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games With the New York Anime Festival still months away, fans need another entertainment fix, and there’s no better place to feed the anime and manga need than at KRAZY!, which features stacks and stacks of historic manga, classic video games, a Yoko Kanno listening room, and the zen-like Anime Garden where you can see five movies side by side. (It was nothing short of sensory overload seeing Paprika, Mindgame, The Place Promised In Our Early Days, Akira, and Macross at once.)
The KRAZY! cosplay party asked cosplayers from around the NYC area to get out their best shinigami robes, cat ears, and spandex suits, and cosplayers answered in droves. Japanese pop star Reni made a guest appearance as the opening act of the KRAZY! cosplay contest, a costest with over 70 entrants and judges including USA World Cosplay Summit winners Elizabeth Licata, India Davis, and Renee Gloger. From Ion Fortuna to the many Misa Amane to an extremely cute Kirby, even the audience had a tough time judging.
The excitement and enthusiasm rubbed off on the staff as even they couldn’t resist being in costume. And when lights were dimmed and the cosplay party came to an end, people left the building with lots of photos and new friends to Facebook. But only one cosplayer, Chris Cimi, could truly describe what everyone felt, “While Japan Society and KRAZY! held an amazing event, with singing from Reni, dancing with dance team IchiP!, and costumes all around, the one thing the night was lacking was a famous bow-tie.”
