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. In 2012 the WCS was incorporated as a company and until that year was organized by the events division of TV Aichi. It is supported by city organizations, businesses and the WCS student volunteer organization 'Omotenashi'. The parade and championship are held in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan with several related events being held in the Kanto, Kansai and Tokai areas. A cosplay stage performance competition called the 'Cosplay Championship' was first held at Aichi Expo in 2005 and selection of national representatives for the event comes from preliminary and regional rounds held at partnering anime/manga events the respective countries of the participants. With keen interest in Japanese youth culture from abroad, as of 2008 three ministries of the Japanese government have given 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). Japanese embassy representatives often attend preliminaries at events in different countries as well. The WCS has grown from a weekend event in 2003 and is currently held over a one-week period where the representatives visit different parts of Japan, including Akihabara, Kyoto and Sendai, in promotion of Japanese youth culture and its ability to connect internationally. The parade and championship have been held on the Saturday and Sunday of the first weekend of August since 2006.
History
The first WCS was held in 2003 to highlight the international popularity of Japanese anime and manga through cosplay, and to brighten up Expo 2005 in Nagoya. The event has grown year by year and has come to include 20 countries with 40 cosplay representatives and encompasses several events including the Osu Cosplay Parade and Cosplay Championship.
2003-2012: The first 10 years
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. An event review dealing with the contemporary situation of anime and manga in Frankfurt (Germany), Paris (France) and Rome (Italy) was produced called "International Common Language" (MANGAã¯ä¸–ç•Œã®å…±é€šèªž). The program was broadcast on November 24.
2004
Held on August 1 at ÅŒsu shopping district in Naka-ku, Nagoya. 8 cosplayers were invited from Germany, France, Italy and the United States. This year marked the introduction of the Osu Cosplay Parade, which featured about 100 participants.
2005
In 2005 the WCS transferred from an invitational based system to a system where preliminaries events were held around the world to select cosplay participants. This was also the first year to hold the Cosplay Championship. Single and group teams came to represent each country with 4 cosplayers from each nation. Along with supporting activities the event took place in 2 main locations: the Cosplayer Parade was held in Osu on July 31 and the Cosplay Championship was held at the Expo Dome on August 7 during Expo 2005. 40 people from seven countries participated in the first Cosplay Championship, France won the group category, Italy won the individual category and the overall contest winner was Italy. The initial goal of the event was to bring a part of Japanese youth culture to Expo 2005 and the event enjoyed the support of the Expo organizing committee â€" the Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition.
2006
The next year the event moved to the venue for the Cosplay Championship to where it is currently held (as of 2013) at Oasis 21 in Sakae, Nagoya. 9 countries competed (Italy, Germany, France, Spain, China, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, and Japan.) with a total of 22 cosplayers participated.
This year the WCS gained the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT). Over 5,000 people attended the Cosplay Championship stage event and several thousand more attended the Cosplay Parade.
TV Aichi broadcast another TV documentary special, "World Cosplay Summit 2006: New Challengers".
2007
The venue for the Cosplay Championship at Oasis 21 in Higashi-ku, Nagoya. Denmark, Mexico and South Korea joined the event this year to bring the number of participation nations to 12 with a total of 28 participating cosplayers. About 10,000 people attended the Cosplay Championship.
On the evening of the championship, "World Cosplay Summit 2007: Giza-suge yatsura ga yattekita Z!"(World Cosplay Summit 2007: The Super Cool Have Arrived!) was televised. This year the event became a part of the 2007 "Visit Japan" campaign of the MLIT.
2008
With growing recognition of the global economic benefits of Japan's Otaku culture 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!"
2009
In April 2009, the "World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee" was created to support the development and expansion of the WCS. The Osu Parade has grown to 500 people and 30 representative cosplayers from 15 countries performed in the Cosplay Championship in front of 12,000 visitors.
The first international symposium was held at Nagoya University entitled "Outward Minded: Worldwide Impact of Cosplay and Interpretations in Japan".
2010
The symposium was moved to the Mode Gakuen Spiral Towers.
2011
This year the Netherlands and Malaysia joined the participating nations to bring the total to 17.
This was the first year that the 'Special Tour' was held. After the last day of activities all cosplay representatives and organizers went on a tour of the Central Japan region staying that evening at a traditional hot springs hotel in the Chita Peninsula area.
2012
This year the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Russia joined the event. Being the 10th anniversary of the WCS, the event was spread out over 12 days. Official visits were paid to Gifu, Mie, Tottori and Aichi Prefectural offices and there were 2 parades held, one in Ichinomiya during the Tanabata Festival and the annual parade in Osu, Nagoya. The order of the parade and championship were switched with the championship held on the Saturday and the parade on Sunday. This was also the first year that countries and regions could participate under Observer Status and with Hong Kong and Taiwan taking part in this manner the total number of participating countries came to 22.
2013
Vietnam and the Philippines joined as Observer Nations this year bringing the number of participating countries and regions to 24. The event has been held with the help of local and international volunteers since 2009 however this year saw the beginning of the 'Omotenashi' student volunteer group. This was the first year of the event as an independent company after 10 years where it was organized through the Events Department of Aichi TV.
2014
Portugal have been selected to join, Also Kuwait joins the WCS as the first nation from the Middle East, Which brings the total number of participating nations/regions to 26.
2015
With the inclusion of Canada and Sweden as Observer Nations, the number of participating nations/regions now total 28.
World Cosplay Championship rules and regulations
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
Participant regulations (for WCS 2012)
1. Each country will be represented by one team of two cosplayers.
2. The costumes must be from Japanese anime, manga, video games and tokusatsu.
- Dojinshi and unique characters from live actor 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. not a Disney or Star Wars character even though the game may be made in Japan.)
3. Cosplay costumes are to be hand-made.
- It is permissible for family and friends to help with costumes, but the contestants should be actively involved in the construction process.
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. (Rules may vary depending on the preliminary rules in different countries)
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.
Preparation: rules and considerations
1. A minimum of three costumes must be brought 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, anime, video game or tokusatsu series.
- It is not necessary to coordinate costumes for the parade or otherwise.
3. All equipment, costumes and props for the Cosplay Championship performance are limited to a maximum weight of 40 kilograms combined for both performers.
4. All large props set on stage before the Cosplay Championship performance begins are limited to a maximum weight of 10 kilograms. Prop dimensions are limited to 2100 millimeters in height, 2100 millimeters in width and 900 millimeters in depth.
5. All large props set on stage are limited to a maximum of 3 items. Dimensions of hand held props carried onto the stage must be relayed to WCS head office in written form and accompanied by photographs.
6. It is not permitted to directly copy original drawings or logos to your equipment or props.
7. You are required to bear the cost of any overweight luggage charges when shipping costumes and other items. It is not possible to send them to Japan by air or ship beforehand.
8. Please prepare your own music for your performance. A performance sheet stating what you will perform is to be submitted in advance. The use of voice actors voices from original works in your music is prohibited.
9. Please send the documents and sound file at latest one month before the date of the Cosplay Championship.
Judging
The Championship judges are a panel of usually 5 guest judges from the anime, manga and cosplay community.
Judging criteria
Each judge of the cosplay championship can award 10 points for costume, 10 points for performance, and 5 points for faithfulness to the original work, for a maximum total of 25 points.
1. Performance (10 points): level of performance, inventiveness, entertainment.
2. Costume (10 points): design, faithfulness to the original characters costume.
3. Fidelity to Original (5 points): level of faithfulness of the performance towards the original story and characters.
List of guest judges
Attending countries
Attending countries in bold indicate first attendance for that year:
-  Portugal and  Kuwait confirmed to be participating at WCS 2014
-  Canada and  Sweden announced as Observer Nations for WCS 2015
Results
- ^1 Group Champion: Â France (Pauline Mesa, Laurence Guermond Wendy Roeltgen)
- ^2 Individual Champion: Giorgia Vecchini
- ^3 3rd: Â Italy (Alessandro Leuti, Alessia de Magistris)
Partner organizations or events
The following organizations have held the preliminary contests to select the representative of the country for the Cosplay championship since 2005.
- Animania
- Editora JBC / Festival do Japão
- Otakuthon
- Howell International Trade Fair Ltd.
- J-Popcon
- Animexx / Connichi
- Cosplay Finland Tour/ Tracon
- Japan Expo
- ROMICS
- Nipponbashi Street Festa (Osaka)
- Samsung Everland/ Wonder Cosplay Festival
- Expo-TNT
- Cosfest
- FICOMIC / Salón del Manga (es:Ficomic / es:Salón del Manga de Barcelona)
- Comic Con Stockholm
- Negibose Thailand / Oishi Group
- Anime Central
- Hinode
- Hyper Japan
- Indonesia Cosplay Grand Prix
- Anime Alliance Philippines
- Iberanime (2014)
- PLAMO Q8 Con (2014)
Former partner organizations or events
- Hangzhou True Design Company Ltd. (2005â€"2007)
- Epitanime (2005)
- Anime Expo (2004, 2005)
- Cosplay Festa in Tokyo Dome City (Tokyo, 2006â€"2008)
- Layered XTRM at Osaka Castle Bandshell (Osaka, 2007)
- Cosplayers JAM Revolution (Osaka, 2008)
- New York Anime Festival (2008, 2009)
- FanimeCon (2010)
- AM2 (2011)
- Katsucon (2012)
See also
- Cosplay
- Anime convention
- List of anime conventions
References
External links
- Official World Cosplay Summit website -
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