CharaPa!: Akihabara comes to Roppongi for the night

25.10.2009 by Patrick W. Galbraith

Just down the street from Roppongi Hills a line of men is standing in front of club alife. It is four in the afternoon, but many of them are nonetheless have donned colorful costumes in preparation for the inaugural CharaPa!, or Character Party.

According to the official website, CharaPa! (pronounced Kara-pa) is “a stylish cosplay event celebrating Japanese anime culture.” Staff, guests and members of the audience costume as their favorite characters and revel in their mutual love of anime. Tickets were 4,000 yen. Doors opened at 4 pm with merchandise sales and DJs playing anime songs and opening animation clips. The walls of the club were plastered with anime posters. However, surprisingly few of the 100 or so people in attendance were in costume.

The audience was mostly men from Akihabara and they were in Roppongi following their idols. They lined up to shake hands with Team Junjo and buy pictures of maid idols @gumi (both groups are from @home café in Akihabara). Concerts began at 6 pm, and the crowd burst into otagei, or the otaku art of dancing and singing to energize the idol and audience. Colored jumpsuits, spandex and wigs were the uniform among the men crowding in front of the stage to writhe and howl in a semi-coordinated manner.

“They got even crazier than I had imagined, and I thank them for it,” said idol singer, model and actress Tokito Ami, 22. The bespectacled beauty cosplayed as the green-haired idol Hatsune Miku for the occasion.

Tokito, who often appears on stage in Akihabara, added that this was her first time performing in a club, and in the fashionable Roppongi area no less.

“A long time ago otaku were isolated,” she mused, “but now otaku is kind of a genre. I think it is a great thing that I have entered into that genre.”

Aside from performances by Tokito, @gumi and Team Junjo, stand-up comedy acts included Kyabetsu Kakuninchuu, Hurricanes and Wakai Osamu, who cosplays as the protagonist of seminal anime Mobile Suit Gundam and mimics his voice. Another highlight was a talk between Nagashima Jienotsu Yuichiro, a male kickboxer who cosplays as female anime characters, and Horie Takafumi, the former CEO of Live Door. “Horiemon,” as fans call him, celebrated his birthday onstage with maids from @gumi and cosplaying members of Team Junjo.

Organizers are hoping for another round of concerts in Roppongi next year. Those who can’t wait can rest assured that similar events are just a short train ride to Akihabara.