Around 1,500 cosplayers from all over the world paraded down the arcade of Osu Local Shopping District in the city on the final day as always of the World Cosplay Summit on August 6. This year marked the 15th World Cosplay Summit, and cosplayers from 35 countries and regions smiled and showed off their incredible transformations into heroes and heroines of popular anime and manga. A huge number of fans flocked to Osu Kannon temple and the surrounding streets with cameras in hand to capture the whimsical scenery of the district, despite this year’s record heat of 35.2 degrees.
Team China won its first World Cosplay Summit championship with an impressive Blood: The Last Vampire performance. Mexico, which took the top slot in 2015, came in second, while Japan, which won in 2012 and 2009, was third. To date, both Italy and Brazil have been crowned the World Cosplay champs three times, but neither made it into the top three this year.
The World Cosplay Summit (Sekai Kosupure Samitto), also known as WCS, is an annual international cosplay event that promotes friendly international exchange through Japanese pop culture.
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.
