Many visitors want to be photographed with Barragan, “King of Evil Souls” from the manga “Bleach”, he looks so convincingly real. The cosplayer who embodies Barragan has been on the scene for a year. He made his costume himself. He formed the skull under which he hides his face from foam rubber and the plasticine-like “Foamplay,” then shaded the mask with paint. I wonder if it’s hot under the mask and cape. “Yes, but we’re adjusting to the fact that we’ll be sweating.” Barragan’s companions are dressed as Giselle and Kai’Sa. Giselle comes from the same manga as Barragan, and Kai’Sa is a character from the video game “League of Legends.” The two have been cosplaying for eight years, the community has a strong presence in the net world, and they have also made friends through forums and social media. Through Corona, the cosplay community “exploded,” they say. “Everyone was in isolation and needed a hobby.” “Giselle” actually works at Thalia and has also noticed in the work environment that anime is increasingly in demand.

Exchange is important

The actress of Xie Lian, a character in the series “Heaven Official’s Blessing,” has been attending conventions, events where anime and manga fans meet, for four years. Today she wears a long white robe and a brown long-hair wig. She bought the costume because sometimes the fabric is so expensive that it’s not worth sewing herself. She travels from Mannheim every day for the three-day festival, “the 9-euro ticket makes it cheaper than a hotel.” Her personal highlight at the Main Matsuri is the exchange with other cosplayers. Especially with people from the same series or video game, it’s easy to get into conversation. She finds it all the nicer to be able to meet “offline” again.

D.Va is a heroine from the video game “Overwatch”. Already at the age of 13, her now nineteen-year-old actress watched anime and discovered conventions for herself. She has always liked dressing up, which is why she started cosplaying last year. Before that, the costumes were too expensive for her, because you usually embody a different character every day of a convention. The exchange with other cosplayers is also important to her, and she also notices the special food, because “some Japanese dishes are rarely found elsewhere in Germany”.

Samurais are also represented at the Main Matsuri. The Japanese sword dance group “Ideal” has come all the way from Tokyo for their performance. The performance is a mixture of dance and fighting with the sword, accentuated by collective shouting. The movements of the four actors are light-footed and graceful, the sword strokes powerful. After the performance, the audience is invited to join in. The sword is imitated with a piece of paper rolled lengthwise, the sword strokes performed on stage. Afterwards, five chosen people present what they have learned on stage. Veronika is the first to enter the stage. The young woman is handed the sword of a samurai and performs a sequence of blows with her counterpart. The samurai standing next to her guides her, and the two communicate via body language. Successfully, Veronika brings the samurai she is fighting to his knees. The successors also succeed with flying colors.

While you can marvel at the samurai again only on Sunday at noon, a cosplay contest will take place Saturday afternoon. This will be followed by various dance performances and a magic show. On Sunday, the last day of the festival, dance performances and a cosplay show are also on the program, in addition to the samurai performance. Admission to the Matsuri Festival ends at 9:45 p.m. on Saturday and 5:45 p.m. on Sunday.