Last Sunday I made it just in time to catch the World Cosplay Summit 2009 final competition in Nagoya! I heard that there was a parade at Osu and a red carpet walk for the finalists on Saturday and before I arrived on Sunday there was a karaoke session with people doing otagei! The WCS took place in this futuristic space called Oasis 21 which is right in the middle of a park with a huge glass canopy jutting out. It's a great event space I must say, you can cosplay in the semi-indoor environment without caring about the rain or the scorching sun. I took some pictures selectively, check it out:

Those were my favourite ones~ After that I went back to the hotel to settle some stuff before coming back to Oasis 21 just in time for the competition. As it gets darker, the Oasis lights up and it kind of reminds me of a spaceship!

I climbed up the platform for the press peeps and had a great view of the show~

My camera died after a few videos >< Ranka-chan was the only picture I got from my camera.. let me find some more later ^^;

After the finalists all went on stage, SKE performed their latest single and then Aniki came on to perform Mazinger Z songs while the judges tally the scores. I wished the whole JAM project was there...

I'm sorry there's no pictures after Ranka but fret not because I got my iphone and there's a private party at Sunshine Sakae after the show where I can get photos of the layers close up! ^^

I was so excited to see shogoki!! The costume was amazingly done and its hands move like a real mecha!

my friend who's the editor of Cosmode.. you can just tell when a costume is from COSPA!

The Hagaren brothers should have won the brothers award.. this was a great costume!

Korea was very professional, I would give them a consolation prize!

Thai was the best for me, they should have won first prize! Imagine two cute girls suddenly transformed into two heavy metal oyaji! Then halfway through the jamming a life-size figure of Mio appeared and Cayage girls started playing!! I just had to tell them how much they deserved to win.. chop mak mak!

France should have been second or third. They took the mahou shojo theme on another level by performing a magic show in mahou shojo cosplay!!

The story was a little flat but the costumes were great.. love the lights.

Japanese layers

Two Ikemen from China won the crowd with acrobatic tricks and smooth dance moves. It was entertaining but the outfit seemed quite effortless and I don't sense so much the love for the character itself.

They couldn't stop posing!

Now it's time for a serious evaluation of the event... there was just too many problems about WCS and I was shocked that they have been doing this for years! Here are my issues:

1. Judging

The judging system should be transparent. No one knows how the finalists were selected nor scored. For fairness, the same system should also be used at each country to select the finalists for WCS. Do people get to vote and what percentage of votes do they count? I think the cosplayers who came to watch the event should also be given the chance to vote too. If it is a "World" Cosplay Summit then judges should also come from various parts of the world too.

2. MC

The reporters from TV Aichi were obviously clueless about anime and/or characters cosplayed and the very least they could do is do their homework and research about them beforehand. They should have gotten seiyus to be the hosts instead, otherwise it is like watching soccer with a sports commentator who doesn't know how to play soccer. It is really annoying when MCs fail to make an obvious reaction or comment to the cosplayers when it is called for because they were unable to appreciate.

3. Copyrights

No images from the anime were used but even so, you need to have the copyright mark to acknowledge the creators for the hard work they have put in creating the anime or game. In fact, they should have gotten the permission and used the anime's images and logos to promote the anime / game. There should have been a short description of what the anime / game is about as some works can be rather old and foriegn even to the Japanese themselves.

4. Prize

There was only first, second, third prize and a "Brothers prize" from the sponsor Brother. There should have been prizes for various categories like for costume, performance and even consolation prizes. All the cosplayers who made it to WCS were winners in their own country so they all deserve an award!

5. Logistics

During the show, there were plenty of empty seats and the event appeared rather dead because the main floor was surrounded by barricades and everyone else had to watch from the outskirts or from the top of the Oasis. Why can't the crowd be allowed to enter the seating area when they all came to watch and support the finalists? It is already the final show of the event and the barricades should be taken down to allow more people to enter.

6. Japan should not participate

It was a great shock when Japan was announced as the winner for various reasons. The obvious being that Japan is the host country and simply being on a different level the standards should be different. It is unfair for Japan to participate in the first place and even if they did deserve to win, there should have been two winning teams, Japan and another country!

Unfortunately, my friends who were at the WCS all agree that Thai should have won followed by Spain and France. FYI, Spain got second and USA got third prize, you can find more info on the official WCS website. I'm not sure if there will be a WCS next year but I hope the issues get resolved somehow...