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2020 Kigurumi Chronicle

This volume records events, works and publications from this year. Announcements and completed events are identified separately.

Verified chronology

January 27 and February 27: a planned FGO kigurumi appearance is cancelled

Fate/Grand Order's official AnimeJapan 2020 page listed "cosplayers / kigurumi" among the booth activities planned for March 21–22 at Tokyo Big Sight.1 This is direct kigurumi evidence rather than an inference from a general convention.

On February 27, AnimeJapan cancelled the event in response to the spread of COVID-19, the government's request to refrain from large events, and participant safety concerns. FGO added a same-day notice confirming the booth cancellation.21 The record is therefore "announced, then cancelled," not an appearance that took place.

AnimeJapan's planned Cosplayers World had changing rooms, a cloakroom, official photo backgrounds, and a costume-making program.3 Their loss matters to full-head performers who depend heavily on transport, changing, rest, and photography space.

July 1 and August 1–2: WCS moves fully online

The WCS 2020 Online site opened July 1. The opening ceremony ran August 1 from 12:00 to 13:00, followed by a 24-hour online program from 20:00 on August 1 to 20:00 on August 2.4

The participation page invited people to join work- or theme-based Zoom cosplay gatherings from home, use virtual backgrounds, and potentially appear in the official broadcast. It required guardian permission for minors and warned that recorded images could later be used on websites, television, newspapers, pamphlets, and advertising.5

Sources

  1. Fate/Grand Order, “AnimeJapan 2020 Exhibition Information,” https://news.fate-go.jp/2020/aj2020/ ↩↩

  2. AnimeJapan, “Cancellation of AnimeJapan 2020 / Family Anime Festa 2020,” https://www.anime-japan.jp/2020/news/#10045 ↩

  3. AnimeJapan, “Cosplayers World,” https://www.anime-japan.jp/2020/main/cosplay/ ↩

  4. World Cosplay Summit, “WORLD COSPLAY SUMMIT 2020 ONLINE,” https://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/2020/en/ ↩

  5. World Cosplay Summit, “Entry & Online Gathering Venue Information,” https://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/2020/en/plan/ ↩