WHAT'S WCS?

- What kind of event is the World Cosplay Summit -

WCS is an event where "cosplayer" who love Japanese pop culture such as anime, manga, and games gather to create a new form of international and cultural exchange. Cosplayers from all over the world gather in Nagoya City and Aichi Prefecture every year to deepen their exchange. One of the features of this system is that it receives support from local governments, governments, and diplomatic missions overseas.

*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.

World Cosplay Summit Official Theme Song

- Theme Song titile「We Can Start!!」 -

The official theme song of the World Cosplay Summit "We Can Start!" sung by Toru Furuya, the chairman of the World Cosplay Championship judging committee.
song lyrics/writing：田代智一 / Tomokazu Tashiro
Arrangement：やしきしん / Yashikishin
Singer：古谷徹 / Toru Furuya

OASIS 21

OASIS 21 Venue

The special stage

Many people enjoy cosplaying.

Many people enjoy cosplaying.

Exhibits from a variety of companies

Exhibits from a variety of companies

One of the main venues of WCS in East district, Nagoya. Complex multi-level park with the theme of "Space ship Aqua" the symbol of the park is lit up at night and is a popular photo spot both in Japan and abroad throughout the year. During the celebration of World Cosplay Summit, a lot of people visit for the stage events and photo shooting.

OSU COSPLAY PARADE

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

OSU COSPLAY PARADE in 2019

One of the famous event of WCS. More than 1000 cosplayers, including country/regional representatives and general cosplayers, parade through the Osu Shopping District, the birthplace of WCS.

WORLD COSPLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

The World Cosplay Championship is a competition to decide the best cosplay performance team in the world in that year. The final round is held on the last day of WCS. "World Cosplay Championship" started in WCS 2005, competition to determine the best cosplayer in the world of that year. To visit Nagoya, Japan as representatives, all participants have to win through preliminary round organized by national and regional organizers who have partnerships with WCS. The representative cosplayers are called " WCS Alumni" from the following year, and they participate in events related to WCS as guests and are introduced on cosplay media, so participation in the WCS main competition can be said to be a gateway to success for cosplayers.

Basic rules of the tournament

・One team of two cosplayers will represent each country and region.
・Judging by the total point of character evaluation for evaluating the costume and stage evaluation for evaluating the performance content. (※Part of regulation changed for this year)
・Each team must submit materials that explain the process of making costumes.
・Stage duration should not exceed 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
・The total weight of costumes and props used on the stage should not exceed 40 kilograms for the team. (※No weight limitation for this year)
・The video, music and sound used on the stage must be produced by each team. (※Part of regulation changed for this year)

COUNTRY & REGIONS

HISTORY OF WCS

2003

The first WCS was held in October 2003.

2004

Osu holds the first parade to allow the participation of general cosplayers.

2005

World Cosplay Championship held at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan.

2006

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism support the WCS.

2007

Mexico, South Korea and Denmark joined and in total 12 countries joined WCS.

2008

Three-hundred people gathered for “ Osu cosplay parade”.

2009

The first Nishiki Street Red Carpet Parade was held. The event host changed to World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee.

2010

Setting an all time high, 89,800 people attended the championship.

2011

Brazil achieves their 3rd championship

2012

20 nations participated in WCS’s 10th anniversary. WCS Inc. joined the World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee.

2013

Creation of WCS“ Omotenashi” Student Executive Committee. The WCS executive committee became an organization of 9 associations by Aichi prefecture and the Chunichi Shimbun’s join.

2014

More than 200,000 people attended at OASIS21 in 2 days

2015

Collaboration events with Laguna Ten Bosch and Museum Meiji-mura.

2016

The total amount of joining Countries & Regions was brought up to 30. More than 300,000 people attended the event.

2017

WCS marked 15th anniversary. Nagoya city declared "Cosplay Host Town".

2018

South Africa joined WCS,and all five continents participated WCS.

2019

"WCS in TOKYO" was held at Tokyo Dome City,

2020

The first online event was held, due to the effect of the covid19 pandemic.

PAST WINNERS / HISTORY of CHAMPIONS

2005

ITALY

「DEVILMAN」

Giorgia Vecchini
Francesca Dani
Emilia Fata Livia

2006

BRAZIL

「Angel Sanctuary」

Maurício Somenzari L Olivas
Mônica Somenzari L Olivas

2007

FRANCE

「Alichino」

Damien Ratte
Isabelle Jeudy

2008

BRAZIL

「Burst Angel」

Jéssica Moreira Rocha Campos
Gabriel Niemietz Braz

2009

JAPAN

「SENGOKU-BASARA」

YuRi
RiE

2010

ITALY

「The Legend of Zelda」

Luca Buzzi
Giancarlo Di Pierro

2011

BRAZIL

「FINAL FANTASY XII」

Maurício Somenzari L Olivas
Mônica Somenzari L Olivas

2012

JAPAN

「Hakuoki」

Yukari shimotsuki
Kaito

2013

ITALY

「Mazinger Z」

Andrea Vesnaver
Massimo Barbera

2014

RUSSIA

「The Legend of Zelda」

Nek (Neko-tin)
Nichi

2015

MEXICO

「The Legend of Zelda」

Juan Carlos
Shema Arroyo

2016

INDONESIA

「Trinity Blood」

Rian CYD
Frea Mai

2017

CHINA

「BLOOD THE LAST VAMPIRE」

Xu Xue
Ten Ten

2018

MEXICO

「Street Fighter」

Banana Luis
Banana Ed

2019

AUSTRALIA

「Monster Hunter:World」

K
A.K.WIRRU

2020

Not held

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TRAILER

Please check out & watch the original video trailer of the World Cosplay Summit that is released every year.

PAMPHLET (With translation in English.)

Click here to download the yearly brochure.
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2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016