Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, and a broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role-playing in venues apart from the stage. Any entity that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Favorite sources include anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, television series, rock music performances, video games and in some cases original characters. The term is composed of the two aforementioned counterparts – costume and role play.
Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first weekend of July, spanning the course of four days. Anime Expo is regularly hosted at the Los Angeles Convention Center but has also been held in other cities such as Anaheim, San Jose, New York, and Tokyo.
An anime convention is a fan convention with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Anime conventions are commonly multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Anime conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which studios, distributors, and publishers represent their anime related releases. They also take place in multiple different countries, such as Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain.
Fan Expo Canada is an annual speculative fiction fan convention held in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded as the Canadian National Comic Book Expo in 1995 by Hobby Star Marketing Inc. It includes distinctly branded sections, including GX and SFX, and formerly CNAnime. It is a four-day event typically held the weekend before Labour Day during the summer at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC).
The New York Comic Con is an annual New York City fan convention dedicated to Western comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, cosplay, toys, movies, and television. It was first held in 2006. With an attendance of 200,000 in 2022, it is North America's most attended fan convention.
Toronto Comicon is an annual comic book and pop culture convention held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre since 2001. It is owned and operated by Informa's Fan Expo HQ.
Otakuthon is Canada's largest anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University. The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid-June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2023, was held on August 11–13, 2023 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. As of 2023, Otakuthon surpassed Toronto's Anime North to become Canada's largest Anime convention.
Toronto, Canada's Festival of Fear is an annual multigenre fan convention that runs as part of Fan Expo Canada. It was founded as the Canadian National Horror Expo in 2004 by Rue Morgue Magazine and Hobby Star Marketing Inc. It is traditionally a three-day event typically held the weekend before Labour Day during the summer in Toronto, Canada, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Since 2011 it has become a four-day-long event.
Central Canada Comic Con (C4) was an annual fan convention held in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The MCM London Comic Con is a speculative fiction fan convention held in the London Borough of Newham twice yearly since 2002, usually on the last weekend in May and October. The convention mainly focuses on video games, sci-fi, cosplay and popular media from the United Kingdom, United States, Japan, South Korea, France, Italy and elsewhere.
L.A. Comic Con is a three-day multi-genre convention held annually in downtown Los Angeles, California. L.A. Comic Con is one of the largest independent conventions in the United States and encompasses several categories, including comic, horror, sci-fi, anime, gaming, and pop culture, with a particular focus on the local Los Angeles community.
The Middle East Film & Comic Con is a speculative fiction convention held annually in the United Arab Emirates.
The Ottawa Comiccon is a fan convention with a focus on comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and games. It is a spin-off of the Montreal Comiccon. It was launched in 2012. The event features comic books, toys, games, science-fiction, horror, anime, non-sport cards, and collectibles. It is held at the EY Centre convention center in Ottawa, taking place in May and lasting three days. The organizers of the Ottawa Comiccon primarily come from the Montreal Comiccon organization.
Calgary Expo, known in full as the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, is an annual fan convention held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels, or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activities and panels, with a larger number of attendees participating in cosplay than most other types of fan conventions. Comic book conventions are also used as a vehicle for industry, in which publishers, distributors, and retailers represent their comic-related releases. Comic book conventions may be considered derivatives of science-fiction conventions, which began in the late 1930s.
AnimeCon (Netherlands) is a yearly Dutch anime convention. The festival is officially called Anime year of edition but is called AnimeCon by visitors. AnimeCon is a non-profit organization organized by the J-POP Foundation (Dutch: Stichting Promotie Japanse Popcultuur).
Crunchyroll Expo (CRX) is an annual three-day anime convention held during August/September at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California over Labor Day weekend. The convention is organized by anime licensor Crunchyroll and LeftField Media.
Comic Con Liverpool is a fan convention held twice a year in the city of Liverpool, United Kingdom attracting 44,000+ attendees across two large venues situated along the Liverpool waterfront, that celebrates films, popular culture, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
Comic Con Scotland is a fan convention held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland that celebrates films, cult television, video gaming, anime, cosplay and comic books which is organised by UK Events company Monopoly Events.
