Ultra Acosta! Cosplay Event Festival Draws 23,000 Participants

The cosplay event festival “Ultra Acosta!” was held at Ikebukuro Sunshine City in Tokyo from September 6th to 8th, and was a huge success with a total of 23,000 cosplayers and photographers participating.

On the 7th, the opening ceremony was held at the Fountain Square. Popular cosplayers and Ikebukuro cosplay PR ambassadors Momo Momo, Sumi, Chocola, and Suzu all attended. The beautiful performance by these four cosplayers, who boast a total of over 2 million followers on social media, drew loud cheers from the audience every time they struck a pose.

The four served as escorts for Toshima Ward Mayor Takagiwa Miyuki, Animate Holdings Co., Ltd. Senior Managing Director Niwa Yasuhiro, and Sunshine City Co., Ltd. Managing Director Kawakami Hironobu, who took the stage.

Mayor Takagiwa introduced the four as “the best cheering squad,” praising them, saying, “Momo and Sumi are very cool. And Chocola and Suzura are really cute. We have the strongest PR ambassadors as our cheering squad.”

The event was attended by a wide range of generations, including friends and families, with 2,500 teenagers attending, a significant increase from the 1,500 who attended Uruaco the previous year.

One of the highlights was the cosplay doujinshi sale “acosta! Marche,” where a total of 218 groups, mostly cosplayers, exhibited goods, held photo sessions, etc. Here too, there were many junior and senior high school students who came to acosta! for the first time to meet their favorite cosplayers they found on social media, with comments such as “I don’t cosplay yet, but I came to meet my favorite cosplayers,” “My favorite characters were reproduced so realistically, it was really beautiful…” and “Next time I want to try cosplay,” making this an event that is expected to raise the excitement of cosplay culture for a new generation.