WHAT’S WCS?

What kind of event is the World Cosplay Summit
World Cosplay Summit(WCS) is an event “Cosplayers” who love Japanese pop culture such as anime, manga and games gather and create new forms of international and cultural exchange.Every year, cosplayers from around the world gather in Nagoya City and Aichi Prefecture to deepen exchanges. Many companies, local governments, ministries, and overseas diplomatic establishments support WCS.

*Cosplay is the act of dressing up as a character from a manga, anime, or game.
*Cosplayers are the people who dress up as a character from manga, anime, game.

Fundamental principles of the WCS “Cosplaysummitism”

1st principle: [An ever-evolving pop culture festival]
The World Cosplay Summit is a pop culture festival centred around a world competition gathering cosplayers who love works of Japanese manga, anime or videogames, and it shall evolve adopting the changes in the times.

2nd principle: [A bridge to world peace]
The pop culture dealt with at the World Cosplay Summit is a means of communication for the entire humanity and is an important tool for the formation of personality. The World Cosplay Summit has the mission to provide a space of communication, whether physical or online, to all the people who love pop culture, and the purpose to become a bridge to world peace by fostering friendship that can overcome any borders and barriers of race, culture, language or customs.

–3rd principle: [Respect to creators and contribution to cultural development]
Cosplay is a manifestation of respect and admiration towards an original work, as well as the essential human feeling of identification with that work. All the people involved in the World Cosplay Summit pay a deep respect to all creators, and wish to protect this place of expression together with them, and contributing to cultural development by doing so.

History of the WCS

2003 TheﬁrstWCSwasheldinOctober2003.
2004 Osuholdstheﬁrstparadetoallowtheparticipationofgeneralcosplayers.
2005 WorldCosplayChampionshipheldat Expo2005inAichi,Japan.
2006 TheMinistryofForeignAffairsandthe MinistryofLand,Infrastructure,Transport andTourismsupporttheWCS.
2007 Mexico,SouthKoreaandDenmark joinedintheWCS.
2008 Three-hundredpeoplegatheredfor “Osucosplayparade”.
2009 The firstNishikiStreetRedCarpetParade washeld.
2010 Settinganalltimehigh,89,800people attendedthechampionship.
2011 Brazilachievestheir3rdchampionship
2012 20nationsparticipatedinWCS’s10th anniversary.
2013 CreationofWCS“Omotenashi”Student ExecutiveCommittee.
2014 Morethan200,000peopleattendedat OASIS21in2days
2015 CollaborationeventswithLagunaTen BoschandMuseumMeiji-mura.
2016 ThetotalamountofjoiningCountries & Regionswasbroughtupto30.
2017 WCSmarked15thanniversary.Nagoya citydeclared”CosplayHostTown”.
2018 SouthAfricajoinedWCS,andaallficecontinentsparticipatedWCS.
2019 WCSinTOKYO”washeldatTokyoDomeCity.
2020 Thefirstonlineeventwasheld,duetotheeffectofthecovid19pandemic.
2021 The event resumed in the city of Nagoya and was a hybrid with the online event World Cosplay Championship Video Division.
2022 Cosplay Summit’s Eve Festival was held on August 5th (Friday), the first day of the event, holding both a red carpet ceremony and a cosplay event.
2023 With the reclassification of the coronavirus and the lifting of associated restrictions, the scale of the “World Cosplay Championship” has returned to its pre-pandemic size.

WORLD COSPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

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World Cosplay Championship is a contest to determine the best cosplay performance team in the world. It is the core event of WCS. Teams that win the official qualifying rounds held by organizers in countries and regions that have formed partnerships with the WCS will advance to the finals in Nagoya. The representative cosplayers from each country/region are invited to participate as guests at various pop culture events and are introduced in the media, so it can be said that participation in the WCS finals is a real challenge for cosplayers to reach the top. The representative cosplayers are called “WCS Alumni” and are often involved with WCS related events even after they have represented their country.

Event venues

OASIS21

A public/commercial complex located in the center of Nagoya City and is one of the main venues for WCS. “Space ship Aqua” is illuminated at night and is a popular photo spot throughout the year.
During WCS, many people come to enjoy the events on the special stage and to take cosplay photos.

Hisaya-odori Park

A new urban park that will opened in 2020, integrating commercial facilities and a park. It spans the TV Tower area and the north area of Hisaya-odori Park in Nagoya, and is another main venue for the WCS along with Oasis 21.

“Cosplay parade” from OSU SHOPPING STREET

The birthplace of WCS, “Cosplay parade” starting from Osu Kannon is one of the WCS’s signature events, with more than 1,000 people participating each year. As a satellite venue and strolling area, some stores welcome cosplayers by allowing cosplayers to enter.(No parade in 2020 and 2021)
*The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19.