Now in its 13th year, the Den Den Town event is one of the biggest otaku gatherings in central Japan.

While Tokyo’s Akihabara is the worldwide center of otaku passion, anime and video games are big enough parts of the Japanese pop culture landscape that fans assemble in other parts of the country as well. One such congregation occurs every spring in the neighborhood of Osaka called Den Den Town, when the streets are closed down for the annual Nippombashi Street Festa cosplay extravaganza.

This year, the 13th iteration of the event was held on March 19, where for three hours cosplayers and fans flooded the pavement to mix, mingle, pose, and photograph.

While traditionalists may dismiss the business model as turning digital entertainment into a cheap, shallow, and entirely disposable commodity, free-to-play mobile games still inspired some impressive outfits. In addition to the Shadowverse swordswoman and winged creature above, Fate/Grand Order, a free-to-play offshoot of the Fate multimedia series, had a strong showing.

https://twitter.com/akagikuro/status/844183018830946305

▼ This dedicated cosplayer was accompanied by a team of four assistants who helped him recreate the iconic Gate of Babylon magical assault.

▼ A sharp-dressed spellcaster from mobile game Granblue Fantasy

https://twitter.com/165_ponu/status/844195541151961089

Characters from full-priced console games were also represented, though, such as Persona 5’s Anne…

…and Metal Gear Solid’s Raiden.

https://twitter.com/exlo123456789/status/844040175932100609

Even foreign-produced games got some love, like with this cosplay of D. Va from Overwatch.

https://twitter.com/makimelo_1005/status/843715999782199296

On the anime side of things, one of the biggest hits among otaku during the current TV season has been anthropomorphic moe-fest Kemono Friends, which meant cosplayers dressed as series mascot Serval…

https://twitter.com/monico_PC/status/843798857527918592

…and the surprisingly scantily dressed Emperor Penguin.

https://twitter.com/cute_petrarca/status/843733314129154048

Another popular choice from the recent crop of new anime: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.

https://twitter.com/Yuumeln/status/843821634486075393

▼ A faithful recreation of Gintama’s Kagura, who wouldn’t look out of place in the upcoming live-action adaptation…

https://twitter.com/Hcyak3110/status/844031680620855301

▼ …and a gender-switched version of the titular series star.

https://twitter.com/fallenangel0710/status/843279259946766336

▼ A dynamic duo from My Hero Academia

https://twitter.com/B_Planet39/status/844144931723657216

Even anime fans from the animal kingdom got in on the fun, such as this pair of kitties dressed as San and Ashitaka from Studio Ghibli classic Princess Mononoke…

▼ Not cosplaying as Totoro’s Catbus seems like sort of a wasted opportunity, though.

https://twitter.com/you___rainy/status/843377367389110272

…and this pack of pooches dressed as Attack on Titan’s Survey Corps, complete with miniature Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear.

But before you go declaring cute little pets doing anime cosplay to be the most Japanese thing since sailor suit Pikachu, consider this other contender: Godzilla doing an otaku-style ota-gei dance.

https://twitter.com/yuyu_extremists/status/843315901009022979

Street Festa really is a world unto itself, but with such colorful and creative participants as the ones seen here, it’s a world that we’re happy exists.

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s pretty sure this is the first time he’s ever used the words “sexy penguin” in a professional capacity.