Hi all,

We will get to the next installment of tidbits but first I would like to introduce you to the location of the final event this year. Last year as some may remember the event was held on the Expo Dome stage at the 2005 Aichi Expo Site. This year too the championship will be held at one of the best locations in Nagoya. Right in the middle of Sakae in Oasis 21! For those who are not familiar with the site I have supplied a photo below:

(Credits:Xylocopal)

The event location will be directly under the Floating Lake near the TV Tower. (I don't think it is really called the Floating Lake, that is a name that I arbitrarily gave to it. It is a floating lake though!) It will be a great place to have it and will allow lots of people, cosplayers and non-cosplayers alike to enjoy the event.

Now, on to the Tidbits!

Since the clips were the part of a blog I will start with the first one at the bottom. Remember to click on the video play symbols that look like this:

Click on the link here to start viewing!

1.) The first one from the bottom is of the 2nd Annual Chinese International Anime Fair round in China. The clip starts by showing scenery around Hangzou (near Shanghai) where the fair was held from April 28th to May 3rd. There are scenes from inside the fair and then things moved on to the preliminary competition. There was music, dancing and some well choreographed sword fighting.! It looked like the crowd enjoyed the performances.

2.) This video is pretty unique. On the 30th there was a special stage event held with cosplayers from Japan, Korea and China. The first images are of the team from Japan, then Korea then there was a special performance by a female cosplayer from Japan who is gaining popularity in China. Last but not least was the China team. As you can see the crowd was taking a lot of pictures; everyone had their cameras out! After that there was a mixer event for all of the cosplayers. Just goes to show how cosplay can bring people together!

3.)  The next clip is of the preliminary selection round which took place on the 1st and 2nd of May. You can see scenes of people getting ready and then the groups took to the stage. 51 teams in total, all selected from 4 regional sub-preliminary competitions. You could imagine how tough a job the judges must have had in selecting the winners. The final announcement was saved for the next day to be held at a Hangzou TV station studio.

4.) and 5.) (There seems to have been a mistake with the video clips this will be fixed by next week, sorry!) This is the final performances and announcement of the winners. It looks like there was a lot of energy put into it with special dancers, lights, smoke and confetti. Each team had their supporters cheering them on and the winners were announced: Yu Shihao and Ni Jyatin. Congratulations!

That's it for this installment, I will have one more set of tidbits for you before the big event starts next week!

Ed