Shopping Guide
Cosplay originated in Japan. The word was born from the Japanese pronunciation of the English phrase “costume play,” and was then shortened to simply “cosplay.” By now, cosplay has come to express a pop culture shared by the whole world, where fans can dress up as they like and enjoy the world of anime or games through cosplay. The world’s biggest event for cosplay is none other than World Cosplay Summit.
The World Cosplay Summit 2013 championship was held at Oasis 21 in Nagoya on Aug. 3. With more than 20 participating countries, this was the 11th time the event was held, and it is continuing to grow in scale.
At the opening parade held at noon prior to the championship, the 40 chosen cosplayers from 20 nations paraded on a red carpet. During the whole duration of the parade, the crowd of people holding their cameras trying to take a peek at the participants never ceased.
Then came the main performance. According to the criterions for deciding the winner, not only the level of perfection of costumes, but the 2 ½ minute performance also plays a great part in judgement. For that reason, there were teams who, seeking flexibility, put the importance on being nimble, and also teams who faced the crowd in outfits so dazzling that the audience couldn’t take their eyes off the stage; the hall was heated with the audience’s enthusiasm.
The winner of this year’s championship full of veterans was...the Italian team! The costumes they worked on for four years, Mazinkaiser and the Great Darkness General, are more a than 2 meters tall and weighed about 30 kilograms. Nonetheless, they performed an agile and flashy battle on stage and heated up the audience. Everyone present agreed that they deserved to win.
World Cosplay Summit 2013 ended with a big parade in which all cosplayers could participate whether they participated in the championship or not. On Aug. 4, the day following the championship, there were almost 1,000 people at Osu Kannon, the starting point of the parade, putting a splendid end to World Cosplay Summit 2013.
Those of you who are even the slightest bit interested in cosplay, go and give it a try. You might be able to participate in next year’s World Cosplay Summit as the representative of your country!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
