Our story
2026
Planning is now in full swing. This is the first event I'm organizing completely on my own. I have so many ideas and didn't know where to put them.
I had no clue how to build a social media following for an event, how to reach a target audience, or what's too much or too little.
But now, at the end of July 2026, I can say with certainty that it worked. And I'm really looking forward to "CrossBeats"—and to seeing everyone again.
2020
Together with three other participants, we wanted to organize a Halloween version of the 2019 meeting for 2020. However, then came Corona, and under the restrictions, it was no longer really feasible. Therefore, we had to cancel it.
2025
Finally, “Let's Connect” took place, with many new faces and many familiar ones from 2019, which I was personally very happy about. A lot of activities and goodies had been prepared – and it was all a first for us as a team.
At the end of the meeting, many participants made it clear on the spot that they wanted to come back next year. Others simply asked if we would do it again, so we took our time deciding.
Finally, we decided to make 2026 a reality.
2024
Just when I thought hardly anyone remembered it anymore, I met Rea, Nica, and Soyaa at aniMUC. Rea and Nica told me they still fondly remembered the Enstars meetup, the conversations we had, the fun photoshoots, and all the experiences we shared. Soyaa, who had heard about the meetup, said she would have loved to be part of something like it as well.
The three of them told me they would love to see a similar event happen again.
Following this, Nica and I (Kido) founded Cosplay no Kizuna and started planning new fan meetups – beginning with our first joint project: Ensemble Stars × Project Sekai, under the motto “Let’s Connect.”
2019
I (Kido) was originally a participant in an Ensemble Stars cosplay meetup, organized by Helen/Starry (now an artist at conventions) and Lisa.
At first, we thought we would only put together one or two units and then choose a convention that we could all attend as a group. However, the group grew very quickly, and before long, we had cosplayers for almost every character.
It turned out to be nearly impossible to find a convention that everyone could attend and where a large part of the group didn’t already have other plans.
That’s when I came up with an idea to make sure the meetup could happen after all: we would find our own venue with accommodation.
I then created this website, and we started looking for even more participants. At that point, our goal had grown too – now we wanted to bring all the characters together.
To be continued...
