Disney’s Anime Connection: Hayao Miyazaki

Kiki's Delivery Service cosplayer at Anime Boston 2009

Why yes, the advent of anime con season has got me a little more anime-obsessed than usual! So it’s not surprising that this week’s Jentasmic! at StudiosCentral encourages Disney fans to explore the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Disney has released several Miyazaki films, including production of the English dub tracks, providing a real service to those of us who frequently introduce others (especially families) to anime.

Disney and Star Wars Cosplay at ConnectiCon 2009

Most of the cosplay at ConnectiCon is either anime or gaming characters, but since it’s a multi-genre conference, all sorts of characters show up! Here are a few Disney costumes I spotted last weekend at the Hartford Convention Center (and captured with my sub-optimal camera phone, unfortunately).

Alice in Wonderland, with the Cheshire Cat

Tink and Peter, woot!

The 501st Legion Connecticut Garrison! I was lucky enough to interview a representative; watch for this on the Those Darn Cats podcast in coming weeks.

Carl Fredricksen, from Pixar's Up. After I took his picture, he gave me a balloon. ❤

The ultimate nerd showdown!!!

Prince Ali, fabulous he

Kiki, from Kiki's Delivery Service (an ever-popular costume for sure)

Maleficent, evil incarnate, seems strangely out of place against the backdrop of Convention Center striped carpet

Disney Cosplay Pictures from Anime Boston 2008

Is this not the most amazing Davy Jones costume you’ve ever seen? Well, outside of Industrial Light and Magic, that is? This guy was in the shopping mall right outside Anime Boston, flocked of course by the paparazzi.

There aren’t too many people cosplaying Disney characters at anime conventions . . . after all, they are anime conventions, dedicated to Japanese animation. But there are usually a few. For some reason, there are usually too many Jack Sparrows, and I quickly lose count. There’s always a bunch of Kingdom Hearts cosplayers, probably far more than I would recognize as I haven’t played the game myself. I was particularly impressed by this woman’s costume , though, especially since it was a player-created character. I also saw a few women dressed as Snow White or Sleeping Beauty . . . but only caught a snapshot of the cosplayer pictured here.

There’s always a few Miyazaki characters too, and some of these folks are familiar to Disney fans, since Disney distributes Miyazaki’s films in the United States. There were a few people dressed up as Totoro this year, but my favorite Miyazaki cosplay at AB08 was this young woman, cosplaying the main character from Kiki’s Delivery Service. (And I must say, she looked way cuter as Kiki than I did when I cosplayed that character in 2004!)

It’s definitely been brought to my attention that Disney fans think it’s pretty weird that some of us anime fans dress up as our favorite characters. Um, people, about those glass houses? I do believe that plenty of Disney costumes come in grown-up sizes . . . and I do believe they get bought. We anime fans just don’t feel the need to confine our dress-up time to Halloween.

And hey, while I’m posting pictures . . . I now have rock-solid, photographic evidence that there’s at least one person in the world who listens to MouseGuest Weekly, and who is neither related to me nor on the show themself! Here’s the picture of our MouseGuest Micro-Meet. Thanks for coming to meet up with us, Chris!