The best anime costumes we saw at Arizona Matsuri 2025

Thousands of Valley residents gathered at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix on Saturday and Sunday for Arizona Matsuri, the annual celebration of Japanese culture.

Among the colorfully dressed crowd at the two-day event — which featured a wide variety of vendors, artisans and performers — were dozens of local cosplayers dressed as characters from anime, manga and video games.

Phoenix’s Yuhki Kanetani, a comedian and anime fan known as “Uncle Yuhki” who has hosted Arizona Matsuri’s annual cosplay contest since 2003, says interest in wearing anime-inspired costuming at the event has grown “substantially” over the past two decades.

"Cosplay was just starting to be popularized around when we (first) did the costume contest," Kanetani says. "At the time, one of the anime vendor booths wanted to have all these cosplayers be represented. So we did the contest and it stuck." Kanetani says cosplay and anime are often considered niche interests compared to other aspects of Japanese culture.

“(Arizona) Matsuri has been very gracious to us in giving us this opportunity because it’s quite a standout event compared to the rest of the culture,” Kanetani says. “And sometimes people think of (anime and cosplay) as almost counterculture because it can be a little bit out there and not as poised and graceful as other parts of Japanese culture.”

Kanetani says that turnout for Arizona Matsuri's cosplay contest has increased as interest in anime has exploded in recent years. "It's amazing how much anime is coming into American culture and I couldn't feel better about it," he says. "Back in the day, I used to have to try and fill an hour with playing games like 'Simon Says' onstage. But now, I'm racing to try and get all of our contestants through. Just last year, I think we had 30-odd contestants. This (year), it was like over 40. So it gets bigger every year."

And the quality of the costumes showcased during Arizona Matsuri's cosplay contest, held on both days of the festival, has become even more spectacular.

"That's the other thing, too," Kanetani says. "The more people who (participate), the tougher it's become to pick a winner."

Here's a look at the best anime-inspired cosplay we saw at Arizona Matsuri 2025.