Japan’s Most Famous Cosplayer Draws Thousands of Fans with Sword Art Online Look

Comic book conventions in North America offer some of the most packed crowds, but it’s still nowhere near the draw of some of the largest comic conventions in the world such as the annual Comiket event in Japan where thousands gather to not only sell their own books, but enjoy the looks of several cosplay artists who tend to go all out. But this year fans were looking to see one cosplay artist in particular as Enako (who you can find on Twitter here), who is commonly known as the number one cosplayer in Japan, drew thousands of fans to her as she sported a fun take on Sword Art Online‘s Sinon.

Enako is so popular with fans in Japan that she reportedly earns over ten million a day (about $91,000 USD). If that number’s hard to believe, there’s a pretty stark visual example as fans flocked to Twitter to share the massive crowd circling around the artist during the convention. Here’s an example of just how wild it can get:

It seems like a great camera is absolutely a necessity in order to photograph Enako as one of these events as she’s often surrounded by what they dub as the “Enako Ring.” Comiket 97 in particular had fans estimated that there were over 2,000 individuals eager to take a photo of her in the Sinon outfit. Luckily for everyone not in the ring, and not in Japan, Enako took to Twitter to thank fans for the support with a close up look at her cosplay!

Cosplay continues to be one of the most impressive forms of artistry in the anime fandom as not only does it take crafting the costume itself, but donning it and essentially modelling for hours on end as appreciative fans take photos. But artists like Enako prove that it indeed can be a fruitful endeavor, and fans are willing to stand in a thousand strong huddle to support.

Sword Art Online was originally created by Reki Kawahara with illustrations provided by abec for ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko line in 2009. The series follows a boy named Kirito after he and thousands of gamers get trapped in a virtual reality video game known as Sword Art Online. The gamers must band together to defeat the game’s final level to escape, but Kirito and his guild learn there is more behind their prison than they were originally told. Following several light novel releases, video game entries, spin-offs, feature films, and anime seasons, Sword Art Online will be returning this April with the final phase of its biggest undertaking yet, Sword Art Online: Alicization.

via SoraNews24