That is a photo I never thought I would take.
This year, 2 to 4 May marked the return of Osaka Comic Con, an annual event that brings major talents from the world of cinema, TV, music, and comic books together under one roof. I was able to head down on the final day of the event to get an eyeful of everything going on.
This first stage event of the day featured Emily Rudd and Mackenyu Maeda who play Nami and Zoro in the Netflix live-action adaptation of One Piece. The two shared their thoughts about playing such iconic characters, and Rudd was shocked to hear that some Japanese fans were reluctant to approach her because they hadn’t seen the Netflix show, telling them that they could come say hello anytime. Meanwhile, Mackenyu was oozing with charm and even had grown men screaming out, “I love you, Zoro!”
This was also a very special stage show because everyone there, including the staff and members of the press, was attempting to set a Guinness World Record for the most people to wear straw hats in the same place.
To do this, everyone in the theater had to wear a straw hat for one minute.
After the minute was up, the Guinness rep returned backstage to tally the hats, Rudd and Mackenyu posed for some photographs and were joined by a surprise guest, Jacob Gibson, who plays Usopp on Netflix’s One Piece.
The three actors then took some time to fire off some signed T-shirts into the audience.
At the end of the show, the Guinness representative tallied the hats and confirmed that we all smashed the previous record of 797 with 897 people in straw hats, which I guess makes me an official Guinness World Record holder of sorts?
Later on in the day, Daniel Logan, who played the young Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones, took to the stage, accompanied by his gigantic friend/bodyguard Tim and NMB48 member Kurumi Mikamo.
Logan shared a heartwarming story about the recent Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, where the lineup to get autographs from Hayden Christensen was so long, they had to give refunds and turn away scores of people. Feeling bad for them, Logan offered to meet and do autographs with those people for free, adding that he’s aware of how hard Japanese people work every day and wants to make sure they can enjoy their precious free time.
Logan was then joined on stage by “The Gathering” of the top Star Wars cosplayers at the event.
After that, Logan and Tim fired off some autographed T-shirts. At some points, Tim put down the cannon and opted to use his arm, which is also a cannon.
In between stage shows, there was a lot to see and do around the convention. Both Japanese and American artists had booths out to talk to fans and sell works, including a booth with Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski. I rather liked the official Ghostbusters booth, where you could do the Venkman psychic challenge. I got one out of three right, which I thought was pretty decent.
An R2 unit was scooting around here and there.
There were also lots of movie memorabilia set up, such as original costumes and props.
I learned that a near-mint Duke Nukem 3D goes for 280,000 yen (US$2,000).
And, of course, there were shops a plenty, like the Grogu store for all your baby Yoda needs.
Also, every once in a while, I would hear someone shout out “Gachapin desu!” followed by a flurry of camera shutters and cheers. It was clear that both Gachapin and Mukku were elite celebrities at this Comic Con.
At the end of the day, it was time for the Grand Finale, where all of the stars that appeared for these three days came out to take the final bow and say thanks. There were quite a few big names at this year’s Osaka Comic Con, including…
▼ NMB48
▼ Daniel Logan, Edward Furlong of Terminator 2 and Pecker fame, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, and C.B. Cebulski
▼ Christina Ricci, who has aged maybe 10 years in the 34 years since The Addams Family came out
▼ Hugh Dancy…
▼ Followed by his Hannibal co-star, Mads Mikkelsen
▼ The indomitable Nicolas Cage
▼ And last but certainly not least, Gachapin and Mukku!
I have to say, seeing Gachapin, Mukku, Nicolas Cage, and Mads Mikkelsen all lined up like that was one of the more surreal experiences of my life.
▼ Cage seemed like he was unsure what to make of the dinosaur and monster standing before him.
Then it was time for some more T-shirt cannons and tossing of giant caps into the crowd.
▼ Mikkelsen even knows how to be cool while shooting a T-shirt cannon.
Finally, Osaka Comic Con 2025 was brought to a close with an explosion of golden ribbons. I’m surprised I could get a clear shot as the ribbon cannons were right next to me and really startling.
With that, it was time for everyone to go home.
The celebrity guests bid farewell to the audience and each other.
It’ll be interesting to see who shows up for next year’s Osaka Comic Con, but before that, we’ll take a look at the other stars of this event — the cosplayers — in a future article.
Photos © SoraNews24
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