Hardcore Love Live! fan celebrates birthday of his pick for best girl by wearing a merchandise mountain that’s big enough for eleven people.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been more than three years since the last piece of anime content for the original Love Live! series. The idol anime aired its last TV episode in 2014, and its theatrical follow-up played in theaters in the summer of 2015.

Nevertheless, Love Live! remains extremely popular and relevant, thanks to the fans’ enthusiasm in latching onto the characters like they’re real-life aspiring idol singers. So on Sunday, Love Livers (as the series hard-core fans are called) with a soft spot for Nico Yazawa took a moment to celebrate, since July 22 is the character’s birthday, according to her official profile.

Some shared fan art…

…while others tweeted cosplay snapshots…

https://twitter.com/summimachine/status/1020941775022612480

…or photos of their Nico merchandise collections.

But remember, this is Love Live! we’re talking about here. While the franchise has recently been associated with inter-prefecture criminal activity and romantic frustrations, it’s also famously the series that inspired the concept of “otaku armor,” which blends merchandise collecting and cosplay by turning all those pins, plushies, straps, and pillowcases into an outfit itself, and Japanese Twitter user @_x_Nico_ has created perhaps the most impressive set of Love Live! lamellar that the world has ever seen in honor of Nico’s birthday.

▼ “Full armor.”

https://twitter.com/_x_Nico_/status/1017974613488254976

You might have to zoom in to see them, but if you look closely, you can just make out a pair of feet sticking out from under the middle of the eleven columns of anime idol paraphernalia. Even amongst such a dedicated fanbase as the Love Livers, this is some next-level otakuism, earning the Nico fan comments including:

“Looking at that gives me goosebumps of terror.”
“He’s a one-man otaku battalion.”
“Otaku really are scarier than gangsters or mobsters.”
“Looks like a video game boss”
“I bet he could turn himself into a merchandise shop just by standing in place.”

However, as is always the case when choosing your wardrobe, it’s important to consider whether or not your outfit is appropriate for the location in which you’ll be spending the day. Such bulky attire definitely isn’t going to be welcome inside most buildings, even ones that are hosting Love Live! events, and so you’ll notice that @_x_Nico_’s photo was taken outside. Considering how incredibly hot Japan is right now, that’s some serious dedication, and we’re guessing fans who insist that the series’ best girl is actually Hanayo, Umi, or Maki are glad those characters were born in cooler times of the year.

Source: Twitter/@_x_Nico via Otakomu

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s wondering whee the dozen or so Ranma 1/2 pins he used to have on his travel tote bag went.