A cosplay enthusiast waits at the premiere of the movie “Warcraft” in Hollywood, California U.S., June 6, 2016. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

A participant wearing a cosplay costume attends the Japan Expo in Marseille, France, February 22, 2019. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

Attendees engage in cosplay and wearing costumes during WonderCon 2016 Day 2 at Los Angeles Convention Center on March 25, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Sweden's Henrik Pilerud, inside the Totoro costume, and his team member Victoria Christensen (R) pose during an interview with AFP ahead of a rehearsal before the world cosplay championship 2024 during the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

The eighth annual Nipponbashi Street Festa stamped Osaka March 20, 2012 (Nipponbashi is Osaka’s geek district – much like Akihabara is for Tokyo). Cosplayers turned up in colourful outfits, dressing as characters from their favourite manga, anime, and video games. The street was closed to cars, and otaku flooded the streets, snapping pics, cosplaying, and hanging out.

Two girls in cosplay dresses walk in the street in Beijing on March 27, 2017. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

Cosplay fans attend the Animation Comic Games (ACG) Culture Festival in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, May 28, 2017. The festival kicked off on Saturday, attracting lots of cosplay fans. (Photo by Liu Xiao/Xinhua)

A participant wearing his cosplay featuring a character from an animation gets his government contact tracing QR code in the “LeaveHomeSafe” COVID-19 mobile app scanned at Ani-Com and Games exhibition in Hong Kong, Friday, July 29, 2022. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)