Joseph Luster
September 17, 2020 
Halloween is the perfect time for an explosion of cosplay, but unfortunately this year’s Halloween Cosplay Fes in Ikebukuro was not meant to be. Thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the October 31 – November 1 event has been canceled for 2020.
The Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fes first kicked off in 2014, and has since become one of Japan’s largest outdoor cosplay events. It hit its most impressive numbers ever during last year’s event, which pulled in 123,000 visitors, with 21,000 of them being cosplayers.
In place of the event, the organizers will host Ikebukuro Halloween Cosplay Fes ONLINE Cosplay Big Thanks Festival, an online-only affair that will stream on Nico Nico Live on October 31 starting at 5:00pm Japan Time (1:00am PT). The COSPLAYER OF THE YEAR 2021 contest to decide the best cosplayers was also scheduled to be held at the Halloween festival, but it will now be exclusively broadcast on Nico Nico.
Source: Official website via Crunchyroll
