Kenya cosplay fans pack Nairobi manga convention

Thousands of anime and manga fans attended the latest Otamatsuri convention in Nairobi this weekend, as cosplay grows in Kenya despite the cost and difficulty of finding costume materials.

The event, one of the largest of its kind in Africa, drew costumes inspired by titles including “One Piece” and “Naruto”. Organiser Jotham Micah, co-founder of Movie Jabber, said more than 4,000 people attended.

Some fans rely on improvised materials. Julius Mokaya, a building caretaker who has twice won the event's costume competition, said he cannot afford to import expensive outfits and instead uses cardboard and other material recovered from recycling bins.

Mokaya spent months designing this year's costume, based on Enjin from the manga “Gachiakuta”. He said the story's message was that “trash and things thrown out aren't really bad”.

This year's winner, 24-year-old Yvonne Chockey, dressed as Angewomon, an angel character from a Japanese franchise. She said she used heated PVC pipes for the frame of eight large white wings and cut each feather by hand.

Micah said anime and manga had crossed cultural borders. “It gives you life. It gives you inspiration,” he said.