There are a number of web sites now where you can host your own videos and quite a few have been made by fans or participants of the World Cosplay Summit or the preliminary events. Go to your favorite site and search for "WCS" or "World Cosplay Summit" and a number of them should come up. I will introduce a few of them that I found here in this blog entry. If anyone has any additional information about these videos, comments or has a video that they would like to present you can do by adding a comment to this blog entry!

1) This is a gem of a find here of the very first World Cosplay Summit 2003 posted by the Italian representative that year: Sonia. Things have changed a lot since then when there were only 5 representatives from 3 countries besides Japan. The video starts out with the cosplayers strolling through the (relatively empty) traditional Osu shopping district observing and taking part in a number of events. (In 2006 police were needed at the head of the parade and along the route to create a path through the crowd) 2003 was the only year where there was a Summit style question and discussion session that came before a photo session with fans of cosplay was held. After that are shots of the representatives in Kyoto riding rickshaws and classic footage of another event that happened only in 2003, everyone getting dressed up in truly traditional Japanese cosplay: Geisha. The video ends with an interview with Sonia including a cute out take. The video is over 10 minutes but it gives you a good look at the beginnings of the event. Thanks Sonia! Check the video out here!

2) This video is actually a super cool photo album with great background music put together by one of the Brazillian representatives MahPsylocke. It documents the arrival of the brother sister duo and starts with shots of Narita, a sumo wrestler, Tokyo and Akihabara. The photos continue to the bullet train ride to Nagoya, the Cosplay Parade and then the Cosplay Championship. There are some great shots of the floating lake which was ABOVE the stage for the event and then the pictures turn to video of the representatives super relaxed backstage chanting "bisnaga, bisnaga". (A common term used by the cosplayers this year, its meaning is a mystery to all including myself. If someone could enlighten us, I for one would sleep easier ;)  lol) The video footage continues with preformances of the teams and the brazillian win. It ends off with an awesome thank you to all of the fellow contestants and some others as well. Big Smile!
This one if for the bisnagas, great skill in putting that together Mauricio! Watch the photo album/video here!

3) Here is a video clip posted by mikinomi from a popular morning news show "Asa-zuba!" It starts with the press conference held in Akihabara with interviews from the teams from France and China. It goes on to show some of the preliminary rounds in from various countries and then the Championship itself. The news broadcast ends off with an interview with one of the heads from the "Cultural Exchange Department" at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He talks a little about the significance of cosplay and the event. Only in Japan would you find a government official seriously talking about cosplay on one of the countries top news shows! Watch the video here!

Again if anyone wants to add a link to another video or has any info about the videos, please do leave a comment!

Ed