Cosplay: B-Bunkasai 2017 - Yume no Tobira

I mentioned in this blog earlier this year for a different event that Saturday events are not as popular (or does not draw as big of a crowd) as the ones on Sunday, except for one. Today's event is that exception. This event seems to have been around even before I started cosplaying, which makes it one of the oldest, if not the oldest of, Japanese events where I live. It's also yet another school event that is hosted by the school's own Japanese community. Further, I'm told that I have a family connection with the school, so I feel compelled to come year after year. It's always a spectacular event nonetheless.

In terms of my cosplay, this is also one of the events where I've exclusively cosplayed Pokémon characters, in particular Ash. This year was no different; based on previous years, I chose to cosplay Ash BW from the fifth generation. The selection was made on the consideration of varying things up this year. I once had to repeat a costume in an earlier year for this event due to strange circumstances, but I don't expect this to happen again until later, and by then I may probably have something really new. That still remains to be seen.

As for cosplay competitions, this year was fairly limited, and the participants were few as well. The only two competitions were cosplay performance and street cosplay. Even for the former, this was limited to only four entrants: three teams and a solo performance, the latter of which involves a friend that I know well. Street cosplay was the one I took part in since it was more generally open to everyone. Surprisingly, I took second place in the street cosplay competition, while my friend's solo performance beat out all the team performances for first place! Now I'm inspired to conjure up a performance for next year (next time, even) and see if I can do the same - certainly with my Pokémon cosplay.

The event itself was fairly standard, but this event has a notably more diverse set of competitions in addition to cosplay, which includes bands and dance cover groups. Competitions take place over the morning to the afternoon, while the evening is reserved for general entertainment, including guest bands, groups, and so on. In the past there were also out-of-town guest bands, but there weren't any this year, which could be considered regrettable. Perhaps next time there would be.

This year's event is themed "Yume no Tobira" (dream door), and it really was that in a sense. Certainly I'm inspired to open doors into my own dreams for later events, and I hope that they turn out as pleasant and exciting as this one.