Taiwanese Cosplayers Appear in their Droves, Show All-Out Passion for Hatsune Miku

Ever since Japan started its whole Cool Japan kick, it’s been pushing manga and anime to a world-wide audience like never before. Near the forefront of it all is the software program turned pop icon, Vocaloid, with Hatsune Miku stealing most of the spotlight. Just last week, more than 20 real-life Mikus gathered together at a park in Kaohsiung, Taiwan! It was a truly magnificent spectacle, perhaps the highlight of our year thus far.

On Saturday, April 6, Kaohsiung played host to a doujin (fan goods) selling event called Comic World in Taiwan, which also served as a venue for cosplayers to come and strut their stuff among other fans. Though the event’s actual selling booths were all located within a gymnasium, cosplayers were under no such spatial restrictions and were free to wander the adjacent park as freely as any regularly-dressed member of the public. You can imagine the shocked expressions worn by of some of the unsuspecting park visitors, who planned for nothing more than a peaceful stroll down the open, winding paths but were surprisingly met with a circus’s worth of dressed-up anime fanatics!

Cosplayers came to the event and dressed to show their support for a number of different anime, manga, and game series. However, within the rainbow sea of spiky wigs and crazy costumes, the teal-colored pigtails of Hatsune Miku dominated over all else. No matter where you looked, there was always another Miku in sight.

At one point in the day, there was a call to assemble, and like a well-trained army, Hatsune Mikus came from all corners of the event and fell seamlessly into picture perfect formation! Or in other words, they got together and posed for some nice group shots. Photographers came and went in a steady stream, eager to capture the group on film. At the peak of the gathering, there were 15 Miku cosplayers gathered, but we know from further exploration of the event that there were at least five others present, bringing the total count to 20 or more!

What’s really impressive is that even with so many Mikus in attendance, barely any of them were duplicate variations! We saw the original Miku, Pink Nurse Miku, Snow Miku, Strawberry White Kimono Miku, Cherry Blossom Miku, and so many more! The only version that we really saw repeated was a one wearing a deep blue yukata (summer kimono), aptly referred to as Yukata Miku. Our best guess is that the adorable, little twin buns on either side of her head made her a popular pick on the grounds of cuteness.

In the end, we’ve really got to hand it to these girls and their dedication to Miku and the art of cosplay. The weather that day was a sweltering mess, and yet by the cheerful looks on these cosplayers’ faces and their overall willingness to stand outside and pose for hours on end, you’d think they were perfectly comfortable! Then again, compared to the passion for Miku that burns within each of them, the weather must have felt like a breeze.

Mikus! Assemble!