Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII laughs at a wide Osaka street crossing with trucks and the Tsutenkaku tower behind.

Tifa Lockhart Cosplay — Osaka Street Shoot, Photo 3

Final Fantasy VII

Photo 3 of 10

A wide road crossing in Osaka, box trucks passing behind, the Tsutenkaku tower standing in the background — and Tifa Lockhart laughing mid-frame with a gloved hand raised to shade her eyes. It is the least posed photograph in the set and one of the strongest.

Everything in the environment is working against the subject here: traffic, overhead cables, grey sky, a wide empty foreground. The costume wins anyway because it is the only saturated thing in view — the white cropped tank and the red boots against a street of concrete and metal.

Candid frames are unusual in game cosplay, where the default is a fight stance. This one shows the side of the character that runs the 7th Heaven bar and jokes with Avalanche, and it is the register that most of this Osaka set is shot in.

All Tifa Lockhart photos

More from the Tifa Lockhart photoshoot

Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII stands among glowing kushikatsu signs on a Shinsekai street in Osaka. Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII leans against a sticker-plastered shutter in a covered Osaka back alley. Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII leans forward laughing under the black arch of a Shinsekai shopping street. Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII smiles over her shoulder in an Osaka arcade hung with red paper lanterns.