World Cosplay Summit

World Cosplay Summit
Status	Active
Venue	Oasis 21
Location	Higashi-ku, Nagoya
Country	Japan
First held	2005
Attendance	12,000 in 2008
Official website	http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/wcs/e/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

2008 World Cosplay Summit

The World Cosplay Summit (世界コスプレサミット, Sekai Kosupure Samitto^?), also known as WCS, is an annual international cosplay event that promotes friendly international exchange through Japanese pop culture.^[2]^[3] The event is hosted by TV Aichi and held in Nagoya, Japan. Since 2005 the event has held a cosplay contest, the World Cosplay Championship, thus the preliminary contests for the championship have been held in the respective countries of the participants. Because of the keen attention from abroad, as of 2008, three ministries of Japan give support to the event; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT), and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Since 2005, the event is held over a two day period; the Cosplayer Parade is on the first day and the Cosplay Championship is on the second day.

[edit] History

Expo Dome, the venue for the 2005 Cosplay Championship.

Oasis 21, current venue for the Cosplay Championship.

The first WCS was held in 2003 to increase the international popularity of Japanese anime and manga through cosplayers,^[4] and to brighten up Expo 2005 in Nagoya.^[5] The event has grown year by year and has come to include 13 countries with 28 cosplayers and encompasses events like the Osu Cosplay Parade and World Cosplay Championship.

[edit] 2003

The first event was held on October 12 at Rose Court Hotel in Nagoya. 5 cosplayers were invited from Germany, France and Italy, Events included a panel-discussion, photograph session, and mixer event. TV Aichi, the host of the WCS, covered the anime and manga circumstances of Frankfurt (Germany), Paris (France) and Rome (Italy), and produced a documentary of the event, "International Common Language" (MANGAは世界の共通語^?). The program was broadcast on November 24.

[edit] 2004

Held on August 1 at Ōsu shopping area in Naka-ku, Nagoya. 8 cosplayers were invited from Germany, France, Italy and the United States. The year marked the introduction of the Osu Cosplayer Parade, featuring about 100 paticipants.

[edit] 2005

The event took two locations: the Cosplayer Parade was held at Osu on July 31 and the Cosplay Championship was held at Expo Dome on August 7 during Expo 2005. 40 people per seven country participate to the first Cosplay Championship, and the contest was won by Italy.^[6] A purpose of the event was to brighten up Expo 2005 in Nagoya therefore host organizer of the Expo (the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition) supported the WCS in 2005.

[edit] 2006

The venue for the Cosplay Championship was moved to Oasis 21 in Higashi-ku, Nagoya. 9 countries competed (Italy, German, France, Spain, China, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan.) with a total of 22 total cosplayers participating. The WCS gained the support of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT). Over 5000 people attended the Cosplay Championship stage event.
TV Aichi broadcast another TV documentary special, "World Cosplay Summit 2006: New Challengers".

[edit] 2007

The venue for the Cosplay Championship at Oasis 21 in Higashi-ku, Nagoya. 12 countries took part with a total of 28 participating cosplayers from around the world. About 10,000 people attended the Cosplay Championship.
That evening, "World Cosplay Summit 2007: Giza-suge yatsura ga yattekita Z!"(World Cosplay Summit 2007: The Super Cool Have Arrived!) was televised.
The event became a part of the 2007 "Visit Japan" campaign of the MLIT.

There was a problem with the weather this year.

[edit] 2008

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) began to support the event. About 300 cosplayers participated in the parade.
13 countries with a total of 28 representative cosplayers performed in the Championship in front of 12,000 visitors.
TV Aichi broadcast a TV documentary special "World Cosplay Summit 2008 - Everyone's Heroes get together!".

[edit] 2009

In April 2009, a "World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee" was created to support the development and expansion of WCS. The Osu Parade has grown to 500 people. 30 representative Cosplayers from 15 countries performed in the Championship in front of 12,000 visitors. The first international symposium support event was held at Nagoya University where "OUTWARD MINDED: Worldwide Impact of Cosplay and Interpretations in Japan" was discussed.

[edit] 2010

A new 50 points bonus category was added to judging.

The 17th country that will be participating in World cosplay summit is Malaysia. ^[7]

[edit] World Cosplay Championship: Rules and Regulations

In 2008, performance by cosplayers, the Grand Champion of the year.

[edit] Regulations

Regulations of the preliminaries for each country are decided by the event in which the respective preliminaries takes place. The following are participation regulations of the World Cosplay Summit finals in Japan ^[8]^[9]

[edit] Participant Regulations

1. Each country is be represented by a team of two cosplayers. The team must be in costumes from the same series.

2. The costumes must be from a Japanese anime, manga or video game.

Doujinshi and unique characters from live action movies based on anime or manga are not permitted. (i.e.: Dragonball Evolution, etc.)
When doing a costume from a game, the character must be recognizably Japanese. (i.e. A Disney or Star Wars character - even though the game may be made in Japan - is not allowed).
With permission from the event in which the preliminaries takes place, cosplayers may audition with costumes from Shueisha. However, the costumes must be changed for the performance and promotional activities in the finals.

3. Cosplay costumes are to be hand-made.

It is permissible for family and friends to help with costumes, but it is preferable for costumes to be hand-made by the contestants.

4. Prospective entrants must be able to travel to Japan for about one week from the end of July to early August for the World Cosplay Summit Championship.

5. Participating minors must have consent of a guardian.

6. Contestants must participate in a positive manner in order to ensure the success of the World Cosplay Summit.

7. Legal Documents (i.e. passport application, official documentation, etc...) must be prepared and submitted as quickly as possible at the request of the WCS sponsor (TV Aichi).

8. Media such as TV programs, internet homepages, newspapers, magazines, etc., may use photos and images of the preliminary contests prior to the World Cosplay Summit. On these occasions, compensation will not be furnished.

9. All image rights in all media exposure, such as news from TV programs and other assorted media involved with the World Cosplay Summit, promotional activities in print media as well as events and performances, and announcements of the Cosplay Summit both prior and during the event, will be attributed to TV Aichi.

10. After the World Cosplay Summit, images, photographs, footage, programs broadcast, internet homepages and DVDs etc. of the contestants will come under the jurisdiction of TV Aichi. Compensation will not be furnished for such images used by the media.

[edit] Preparation: Rules and Warnings

1. A minimum of three costumes must be bought to Japan: one for the parade, one for the championship, and one for media appearances.

2. In the Cosplay Championship, the costumes of the characters must be from the same Japanese manga or anime or video game.

It is not necessary to coordinate costumes for the parade.

3. Equipment and props for the Cosplay Championship performance are limited to those of a size that 2 representative cosplayers and 1 organizer are able to carry on their own at one time to the venue. Extra equipment may be shipped at the cost of the cosplayer.

Entrants are required to bear the cost of any overweight luggage charges when shipping costumes and other items. Note it is more economical to send them to Japan by air or ship beforehand.

4. It is not permitted to directly copy original drawings or logos to your equipment or props.

5. Up to 3 people may prepare the performance backstage.

6. Prerecorded music and sound must be provided for the performance.

[edit] Judging

The Championship judges are a panel of guest judges with 10 audience members.^[10]

[edit] Judging Criteria

Points are award based on three major criteria. A fourth bonus criteria was added in 2010.

1. Performance (100 points) - Production of performance, creativity of elements and entertainment.

conception/creativity of the skit (30 points)
preparation (20 points)
performing skills (20 points)
entertainment (30 points)

2. Costumes (100 points) - Workmanship, how faithful the costumes are to the original characters

3. Faithfulness to Story (50 points) - How faithful the performance is to the story of the original work and characters

The Bonus Criteria is a chance for up to 50 points to be added or deducted from each performance.
Positive points (10 points each):

WOW factor
Costume Choice for stage
Stage props
General audience catering
Portfolio

Negative points (10 points each):

Costume dysfunction on stage
Poor stage use
Audio quality
Emotion visibility
Attitude

[edit] List of Guest Judges

Year	Judges
2005	Leiji Matsumoto Hironobu Kageyama Ippongi Bang Akifumi Takayanagi (TV Aichi) Shin Nagai (Tokyo Mode Gakuin)
2006	Go Nagai Hiroshi Kitadani Essai Ushijima (Cosplay critic) Yuji Tokita (MOFA)
2007	Monkey Punch Ichirou Mizuki Essai Ushijima (Cosplay critic) Yuji Tokita (MOFA) Ken Nagata (MLIT)
2008	Yumiko Igarashi Rica Matsumoto 10 general judge
2009	Tōru Furuya Go Nagai Ichirou Mizuki Hamada Britney
2010	Tōru Furuya Hironobu Kageyama Himeka Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Sengoku Basara) Nobuyuki Takahashi (Inventor of the word cosplay)
2011	Tōru Furuya JAM Project (Hironobu Kageyama, Masaaki Endo, Hiroshi Kitadani, Masami Okui and Yoshiki Fukuyama) Takaaki Kitani (President, Bushiroad) Inui Tatsumi (Site admin of Cure) Masaaki Nagase (Editor-in-chief, Tokai Walker)

[edit] Attending Countries

Participating countries to the World Cosplay Summit (as of 2011)

Japan, host country of the World Cosplay Summit

Attending countries in bold indicate first attendance for that year:

Year	#	Attending countries	Guest commentator/s	Date	Venue
2003	4	Germany, France, Italy, Japan	–	October 12	Rose Court Hotel
2004	5	Germany, France, Italy, Japan, United States	–	August 1	Ōsu shopping area
2005	7	China (PRC), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, United States	Tōru Furuya Tomoe Shinohara	July 31	Ōsu shopping area
2005	7		Tōru Furuya Tomoe Shinohara	August 7	Expo Dome
2006	9	Brazil, China (PRC), United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Thailand	Tōru Furuya	August 5	Ōsu shopping area
2006	9		Tōru Furuya	August 6	Oasis 21
2007	12	Brazil, United States Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand	Tōru Furuya Shoko Nakagawa	August 4	Ōsu shopping area
2007	12		Tōru Furuya Shoko Nakagawa	August 5	Oasis 21
2008	13	Brazil, China (PRC), Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United States^[3]	Tōru Furuya Natsuki Katō	August 2	Ōsu shopping area
2008	13		Tōru Furuya Natsuki Katō	August 3	Oasis 21
2009	15	Australia, Brazil, China (PRC), Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United States^[3]	–	August 1	Ōsu shopping area
2009	15		–	August 2	Oasis 21
2010	15	Australia, Brazil, China (PRC), Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United States	–	July 31	Ōsu shopping area
2010	15		–	August 1	Oasis 21
2011	17	Australia, Brazil, China (PRC), Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United States	–	August 6	Ōsu shopping area
2011	17		–	August 7	Oasis 21

Notable absents include:

All of these nations have large and talented pools of cosplayers able to compete and rival with those from the leading countries and the rest of the world. Participation of these countries is expected to occur in upcoming years as the WCS welcomes more contestants.

[edit] Results

Year		Runner-up
2005 ¹^, ²	Giorgia Vecchini Francesca Dani Emilia FATA LIVIA	–	–	Nakamura-han
2006 ³	Maurício Somenzari L Olivas (Mah Psylocke) Mônica Somenzari L Olivas (Kawaii Aeris)		Mariko Cyoko	Goldi Aoisakuya
2007	Damien Ratte Isabelle Jeudy		Kikiwan Naoki Shigure	Linaloe Rodriguez Rivera(Linamoon) Alejandra Rodriguez Rivera(Yunnale)
2008	Jéssica Moreira Rocha Campos (Pandy) Gabriel Niemietz Braz (Hyoga)		Zhao Chin Zhang Li	Yui Mino
2009	YuRi RiE		Bereniç Serrano Vidal (Piruletosa) Laura Fernández Ramos (Madoka)	Elizabeth Licata (fatwetdog) India Davis (Dia)
2010	Luca Buzzi Giancarlo Di Pierro		Gabrielle Christine Valerio Gabriel Niemietz Braz (Hyoga)	Orawan Aggavinate (Alexis Seiz) Patawikron Uttisen (Por_CCM)
2011	Maurício Somenzari Leite Olivas Mônica Somenzari Leite Olivas		Marika Roncon Daniela Maiorana	Tessa Beattie Jessica L. Allie