Tokusatsu at FanimeCon 2014
Photography by Toubun Photography
Chatting with ‘tokubros’ online is one thing, but what happens when you put a gaggle of us in Northern California? Lots of fun! Here’s an overview of the tokusatsu presence at this year’s FanimeCon!
With tokusatsu being more of a niche fandom, I was initially skeptical about there being a large turnout. I began to follow the official Super Sentai/Kamen Rider Gathering thread on the FanimeCon forums, and was surprised by how busy it was.
I was even more surprised at the actual turnout of supporters! At least two times more people than those who were active on the forum thread appeared, making it a huge gathering! To add, there was a nice variety of series represented.
On the Super Sentai end, Kyoryuger had the largest presence. Not only were cosplayers of the main five rangers there, but several of the secondary/tertiary rangers as well!
Also exciting was the amount of ‘suited up’ rangers at the gathering! The Godfather of Sentai – AkaRed – even made a sudden appearance, resulting in a huge roar of excitement from the crowd!
Other fan favorites, such as Gokaiger, Go-Onger, Megaranger, and Jetman appeared as well.
On the Kamen Rider side, Gaim had the biggest turnout. There were so many Gaim cosplayers that a seperate Gaim gathering was held later in the day! Even though Kazuraba Kouta was a popular cosplay choice, many other characters were represented as well, making it a well balanced group.
Following Gaim’s popularity was Kamen Rider W – another fan favorite! There were several cosplayers of the series’ main Riders and side characters.
Veteran Kamen Rider Super-1 appeared too, much to the joy of attendees. There were also the New Kamen Rider NEXT, Kamen Rider BLACK, and Hyper Kabuto in suit.
Finally, there were also GARO cosplayers! Wearing costumes from the Yami wo Terasu Mono series of GARO, it was truly exciting to see a series that’s not a part of the “Big 3” tokusatsu giants as a part of the gathering!
The dealers room also had its share of tokusatsu merchandise, from Belts/Drivers to figurines and everything in between! While handsomely priced, the array of items available was surprising.
All in all, FanimeCon did prove itself to cater to the tokusatsu fandom a bit, which was very comforting. I look forward to going to the next FanimeCon and seeing what fun its tokusatsu gathering brings!