Just one of the many Otakus you might see today (5 photos)

The Sault Cosplay Picnic is today and as one of the members of their organizing committee Jen Grezel said she’s seen how positive it is having a place for like-minded ‘Otakus’.

Otaku is a Japanese word used to define those who are obsessed with pop culture and Grezel said it defines many who attend the Cosplay Picnic.

Cosplay, derived from “costume play”, is the practice of dressing up in costumes as fictional characters, especially those from video games and Japanese animation (of anime).

Grezel, 28, is a self-defined Otaku and someone who has been into video games and anime since she was a child.

Her house is full of shelves of video games and anime posters and in her basement is a whole room devoted to making character costumes.

She’ll usually make costumes from her favorite anime, video games, and shows including characters from the anime Fairy Tail, the children’s show Adventure Time, and the Final Fantasy video game series.

“People usually choose their costumes based on a personal liking of the character or the aesthetic,” she said.

As a cosplayer who sometimes makes her own customes from scratch, Grezel has gotten into sewing, thermoplastics, beads and jewellery, making wireframe objects, and just a host of other arts and crafts.

This year, Grezel is dressing up as a ‘cat-bat’ character from the Final Fantasy video game series called a ‘Moogle’.

She it put it together from cat ears she bought from famous cosplayer Yaya Han, a custom made Styrofoam antenna, a dress she had in the closet, and cardboard wings she was piecing together the night before.

She said it’s a ‘Gijinka’ style costume - a personified version of a non-human creature.

“I just think Moogles are really cute,” she said.

 Grezel said that since the Sault Cosplay Picnic started five years ago, she’s seen it really have a positive effect on those in the local cosplay community.

“You can fully be yourself. It’s great to have a place where you can go up to likeminded people who share an interest in similar activities,” said Grezel.

Grezel said that often people into cosplay are shy and it doesn’t help that sometimes the city seems “a bit backwards” when it comes to accepting this unique subculture.

A good example of that, she said, was when some non-cosplayers crashed the picnic last year and started calling all the cosplayers names and one person even kicked a beach ball at someone’s head.

“It was the only time it happened. Usually people just walk by and look,” she said.

Grezel said that the picnic welcomes everyone who wants to enjoy the subculture and there is often both Japanese and Western-themed costumes at the event.

She said that the local cosplay community has about 200-300 members and events like the picnic usually bring out around 100 people.

This year the picnic is being held at Bellevue Park and she said that it will be extra fun because Pokémon Go just came out and there are tons of Pokéstops there.

“A lot of people are going to be walking around, it should be really good,” she said.

The 2016 Sault Cosplay Picnic is on from 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. near the stage area of Bellevue Park.