Cosplay was arguably birthed at Star Trek conventions, where Trekkies posed as Starfleet officers, Klingons, and Vulcans alike to display their fandom. It was taken to a competitive level in Japan and spread itself worldwide through anime conventions. The hobby latched on in America in the early nineties, but skyrocketed with the domestication of the Internet. Dedicated cosplayers create online personas and profiles on forums to display their various fashion innovations, using materials from sheer linen to duct tape to altered Armani suits.

For the past three years, I have been touring anime conventions with attendance numbering anywhere from a few hundred to over twenty-four thousand. One of my recurring roles as a convention guest is to host a quintessential event: the cosplay masquerade. The largest event I ever hosted was at Anime Boston this past spring. Initial performance submission was so massive that the lead coordinator filtered all entries just to narrow down to forty performances that would fill the three-hour time block. Convention attendees waited outside the main events hall for hours beforehand, hoping for a spot in a room that fits five-thousand, or the spillover room that accommodated another thousand using state-of-the-art video equipment. The convention itself boasted a new record high of attendance of nearly seventeen thousand, despite being held during Easter weekend and competing for its audience with the Penny Arcade Expo East, the largest video game convention on the East Coast to date, which was held the weekend before at the same convention center. It seems neither recession nor religious holiday can deter us nerds.

Cosplay is rapidly blossoming under the public eye in New York, because while the anime industry is evolving from DVDs to streaming websites like Crunchyroll and Hulu, convention attendance (and with it, cosplay exposure) is on the rise. Interest in cosplay has taken hold of a younger, more ravenous generation of anime fans, and with new anime series coming over every season from Japan, the fans are increasing their efforts to respond. The New York Anime Festival, held each fall at the Jacob Javits Center, saw its attendance increase dramatically in its first three years. Between 2007 and 2008, Reed Exhibitions reported attendance swelling from fifteen to eighteen thousand, and for its third straight year, attendance capped just above twenty-one thousand. The event has such immense interest behind it that now corporate sponsorship has moved in to reward the elite cosplayers. At their headlining competitive cosplay event, the winning team is handed a free trip to Japan, which is quite impressive compared to a dollar store trophy and a boxed set of Hayao Miyazaki DVD’s.

New York’s dense population and entertainment industry help stoke the flames of cosplay awareness and provide the perfect environment. Just by Bryant Park is the largest Japanese bookstore, Kinokuniya, spanning three floors, the top one dedicated to Japanese comic books and art books from anime. Other stores such as Image Anime by Penn Station, often hold holiday competitions and offer prizes, which only encourage fans to come out of the woodwork to present costumes they have worked on for as long as three years. These constant events are pulling together a community regularly enough that the experienced can now mentor and encourage the newer fans, not to mention trade off cosplay war stories. Cosplayers now gather for regular public outings in places like Central Park and karaoke bars just to meet up in and show off their newest costume designs. Some go for realism, some for sight-gags like “cross-playing” (dressing as a character of the opposite gender), but all have a great time doing it.

Events like the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival (a.k.a. Sakura Matsuri) at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Japan Society may be elevating the public’s knowledge of cosplay as serious business. Only two weeks after the Fashion Show at the Botanic Garden, another major cosplay event has been scheduled: a competition at the Japan Society, right nearby the United Nations building.

As I prepare to host and present the participants, I see someone standing off in the stage wings: a young girl, fifteen at most, wearing her first cosplay. Even with the eight-foot Styrofoam sword slung over her back, she is shaking noticeably. She’s worried the audience will notice her wig’s ponytails are too short, or the crude stitching around her foam armguards. Moments ago, she approached me backstage and asked to be pulled from the masquerade due to her stage fright. I asked her what her character would do in the face of fear; since she is dressed as a demon-slayer, she might as well play the part. Her eyes grow in reassurance and realization, almost to the Bambi-eyed ratio of the comic book character she portrays. I wink from the podium and announce her name as she steps into the light confidently: a new cosplayer is born. And the tradition goes on.

This year's festival featured an encouraging amount of pop culture. Granted, there were definitely many very interesting demonstrations of traditional Japanese art, theatre, and more, but there was also an entire field in the park dedicated to anime and manga. Uncle Yo performed on the Osborne Garden, the New York Anime Festival maintained a booth (helmed, of course, by Peter Tatara), and there were even some booths for Del Rey Manga, Abby Denson, and Misako Rocks. Later in the evening, the festival even featured performances from J-pop artists.

The Gardens were filled with all types, from old Japanese couples to local Brooklynites to teenage otaku. One group of the latter seemed to be really reaping the benefits of the Japanese "high culture" at the event, as the girls had attended Origami, and "Gypsy Rock" demonstrations in addition to the anime events, of which one girl thought there were far too few.

As that attendee pointed out, the Festival is nothing like going to a real anime con, where there are dealers everywhere and panels going on all day, but the Sakura Matsuri is a great time for anybody in the area who enjoys small conventions. Not only does the festival have some fun (if limited) pop culture activities, but it also has a plethora of other Japanese culture activities and a beautiful, beautiful venue.

I absolutely cannot stress that enough – the blooming flowers, lush, green trees (of many, many different varieties), and of course, incredible lines of cherry blossom trees are a feast to the senses that easily beat out the dank concrete and glass halls of a convention center. As long as you're not a stereotypical otaku who will burn in sunlight (I know there are some of you...), the beauty of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens merged with the pop culture fun of what amounts to a very small NYAF should be an absolute blast.

And for only $12 a day – half that for students – who could possibly pass up such a wonderful opportunity to witness nature and culture in perfect harmony?

Filling the hallways of this rather spacious store were what must have been at least 200 teenage and adult Death Note fans, decked out in cosplay and anime paraphernalia. Standing in that sea of people, it was hard not to notice that the landscape of anime in New York City was beginning to change. The "greatest city in the world" just might be coming into its own within this Japanese world of ours.

To get a better idea of how this Big Apple Anime Explosion is panning out, I spoke with John Fuller, Store Manager at Kinokuniya, and Peter Tatara, Conference Manager for the New York Anime Festival and organizer of the Death Note event.

Kinokuniya has been around since the 1970's, and yet Mr. Fuller feels that they have not exactly been driving the explosion. Instead they were "dragged into it kicking and screaming" by overwhelming consumer demand. The store also seemed to pick just the right spot in New York City's little anime world, not altogether intentionally. "This is where a lot of things were already beginning to happen," explains Fuller, regarding nearby comicbook stores and Asian cafes. Not only that, but Kinokuniya is "on 6th Avenue...across from Bryant Park...right here in the middle of everything!" That's a helpful thing for a store leading the revolution of a medium.

Even more pivotal to the Big Apple Anime Explosion is New York Anime Festival's Conference Manager, Peter Tatara (pictured at right). This longtime anime fan cut his otaku teeth on Vampire Hunter D, and since has dedicated himself to bringing anime to as many fans as possible. When the Big Apple Anime Fest sputtered out three years ago and New York Comic Con started up two years later, Peter and his associates knew they had to bring a new convention to anime fans in the area - the New York Anime Festival (NYAF).

"All of these events at Kinokuniya are part of [NYAF]," explains Peter. "The Anime Festival is three days a year, but I don't want to say 'see you next year.' I want to make an event every month or two months for fans to get together." While the New York Anime Festival has been the most prominent leader in the Anime Explosion, Peter says that this newfound interest "just sort of happened because of groups like New York Anime Festival, ImaginAsian, and Kinokuniya having anime on our minds and feeding off of each other."

Mr. Tatara has never heard of any other conventions trying a revolutionary system like this, but he feels that "now is a time when everyone is realizing that anime is a gateway to Japanese culture. I'd love to see other cons do this." When asked about anime's growing mainstream penetration, Mr. Tatara noted "stuff like Death Note, Bleach, Naruto, and Pokemon that have entered the mainstream mind. It's great to see 200 people showing up for a Death Note day!"

The New York Anime Festival isn't the only convention working to expand anime's popularity in the New York City area. AnimeNEXT recently spun off MangaNEXT, so that now the New Jersey convention maintains a year-round presence. Coupled with NYAF's plans, Kinokuniya's courting of American otaku, and anime/manga expansion at theaters and comicbook shops like IFC and Midtown Comics, New York anime fans have a lot of activities open to them on any given weekend.

To help speed along the growing explosion, Tatara and Reed Exhibitions are in the process of launching NewYorkAnimeFans.com, a comprehensive year-round calendar documenting all of those anime events in New York City. Nevertheless, according to Peter this explosion isn't just about large groups bringing anime into the limelight. "What's most important for anime right now is having a passion. That's what links Kinokuniya to the New York Anime Festival to the fans. It's something we're all passionate about."