All photos in this article were taken by Faith Orcino (@pitangawang on Twitter and Instagram)

Many cosplayers braved the August heat to enter into the Los Angeles Tanabata Festival cosplay contest.

The Tanabata Festival, according to the event’s website, started from the Chinese story of the stars Vega (Hikoboshi) and Altair (Orihime) and how the couple can only meet on the seventh day of the seventh month due to a deal with Orihime’s angry celestial father. While the main day of the myth was July 7th, it was normal for the celebration of the two’s reunion to be different days between July and August.

2019 marked the 11th year for the LA event and a big crowd headed towards the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) to check out what organizers planned for the day. One of the highlights was the cosplay contest that brought local participants and spectating otakus.

The runner-up of the contest was the second Himiko Toga (Entry #16) and the Ashitaka cosplayer took the top prize. Both won a special AX merchandise package while the winner also received a 4-Day badge to next year’s AX.

For more information on the LA Tanabata Festival, check out their website. We have also a photo gallery of other portions of the event that happened that Sunday.

Anime Expo will be starting its badge sales on August 16th. Organizers released an article about it and how they will not be having their Black Friday/Cyber Monday specials. Read more and register to take part in the sale on their website.