[Komeiji Satori cosplay] Convention Photos: Recreating the Authentic Fanon Atmosphere Through Details

Deciding to do a Komeiji Satori cosplay for this character was mainly because I was drawn to the complex visual elements in the fanon interpretations. The production cycle for this costume was quite long, with all the focus on that huge red eye decoration on the chest and the colored tubes wrapped around the body.

The photos were taken live at the Fan Content Festival convention venue, with photography by Teacher danta. The lighting conditions at conventions are always quite complex, with high ceilings and highly chaotic overhead light positions. To emphasize the mysterious nature of the character setting from Touhou Project, the photographer specially brought some red fill lights. The red eye floating in the air in the photos, along with the spreading orange light trails next to it, were achieved through local on-site lighting combined with post-processing atmospheric overlays.

The fabric of the costume itself uses relatively lightweight chiffon and organza, with extensive pleating to allow the skirt hem to be fluffy while maintaining a certain drape. The splicing ratio of pink and blue was adjusted several times, finally settling on placing blue at the center of the upper body and waist, paired with large pink ruffled sleeves and a pink skirt hem to balance the colors visually. The yellow hairpin on top and the yellow heart-shaped accessory on the chest served as accents to brighten the overall look. To allow the tubes to drape naturally along the shoulders without looking messy, fine iron wires were actually embedded inside, which beautifully maintained the direction of the tubes without collapsing when shooting standing poses while holding up the skirt.

During the shoot, because the venue was crowded and many visitors were passing by, the photographer and I mostly chose low-angle shots or half-body close-ups for camera positioning. The first image with the floating eye is a low-angle shot, which helps avoid the crowds and uses the ceiling lights to create bokeh. There are also a few standing full-body photos, mainly to showcase the overall tailoring of this dress. The convention venue is quite large; when shooting the sitting pose, the background happened to be a black curtain left from booth construction, and under the light contrast, it perfectly highlighted the layers of the skirt hem and the delicate texture of the white leg warmers.

The wig color is a pale pinkish-purple, and the layers of the bangs were trimmed to hang down slightly to cover the eyes a bit, reinforcing the character's sense of detachment. To match this slightly dark-styled setting, the overall makeup avoided overly bright colors, focusing instead on the contours of the eye makeup, with the pupils and eyeliner elongated to make the gaze look more focused. The contact lenses chosen were a light-colored enlarging style, which, combined with the shimmer applied under the eyes with blush, made the overall contours look more three-dimensional. When the frontal light is insufficient, the reflection on the cheeks adds texture to the image.

By the later stages of the shoot, the physical exertion was indeed quite high, as moving around the convention in an outfit that is tightly wrapped and features many bulky decorations is not very convenient. Fortunately, Teacher danta's shooting efficiency was very high, quickly capturing satisfying angles and expressions. I had practiced poses in front of the mirror at home a few times, such as lifting the skirt hem, cupping my face, and looking down with closed eyes, which allowed me to blend into the character's atmosphere relatively naturally during the actual shoot. I hope to convey that observer-like trait from the original work to everyone through these convention photos in this Anime cosplay project.