We are on the eve of the big event but I want to get the interview from the Denmark team out to you. I will give you the entire interview so it is a little long but its got some good stories so enjoy!

Question: WCS 2008 is coming up, what is the current overall state of your preparations?

We have been working on our act a lot recently, and we have finally finished it. The costumes have been altered a bit here and there, just to make them look even better.
At the moment we are finishing our parade and interview costumes. The costumes are not finished yet, so we are very busy making them. I (Liuwina) haven’t had much time to make the costumes because I work full time, just to be able to keep my head above water money wise.

Even though there are some things not yet finished, we are both more than ready to go to Japan!

Q: What manga and anime you like, why do you like those titles? What are your favorite characters and why?

Liuwina: There are so many great anime and manga, I just don’t know how to choose, so I will just list some that comes to mind: Sailor Moon, Wedding Peach, Full Moon wo Sagashite, Tsubasa chronicle, DearS, Chobits, Tokyo Mew Mew, Love Hina, Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, Death Note, Marmalade Boy, Candy Candy, Kodocha, Tenshi Na konamaiki, Pita ten, Ranma ½, Inu Yasha, Karen, Missile Happy, Fruits Basket, Hellsing, One Piece, DN Angel, Jubei-chan, Kage kara mamoru, Cutey Honey Flash and the list just continues. But my all time favorite manga is Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon! I love this manga! Takeuchi Naoko-san is my favorite mangaka! She makes such wonderful stories! And Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon is my favorite character of all because she reminds me so much of myself ^__^ I love cosplaying Usagi/Sailor Moon, because I feel one with this character. I can relate to how she is a hopeless romantic, and she is so clumsy. I like the way she just LOVES cookies, and also, how much she is willing to do for her loved ones. Usagi is like my alter ego.

Risa: There are so many great anime and manga that I like, so I’ll just mention a few.
I like D. N. Angel, Okane ga nai, Neon genesis evangelion, Tokyo Mew Mew, Gravitation, Loveless, Chobits, X/1999 and the list goes on.
I like those titles, because the characters have their own special traits and personalities. And they make the series fun to read and/or watch.
I really don’t know what my favorite character is. It really depends much on my mood. But one of my all time favorites is Dark aka Daisuke from D.N. Angel. Daisuke is fun and cute, and I can relate to his clumsiness, because it reminds me of myself on a bad day. When Daisuke transforms into Dark, he is a more raw type, and you can really imagine him kicking ass on his opponents, while smiling stylishly and then nonchalantly leaves. I think he’s funny to read about and because the two characters are so different from each other. I think they fit really well with each other and I like the transformations.

Q: What was your criteria in choosing your costumes, either the ones for the championship or otherwise?

The reason why we chose Tsubasa Chronicle, is because it has such wonderful costumes! CLAMP are brilliant in making wonderful outfits in their stories. I found some wonderful artworks on the Internet and in the end decided on the outfits we thought were perfect. Normally when I (Liuwina) choose a character to cosplay, it’s a character that I feel I can relate to. It’s important for me to be able to feel “at home” when I’m in character.

Q: Could you tell me what your performance at J-Popcon was like?
We had only 2 weeks to finish our costumes, so everything was very stressful. We finished everything just an hour before we had to go on stage, and upon arrival, Risa tripped over something made out of iron, and her foot was badly injured. She was in great pain during the show, but she did everything she could, so no one would notice. During the show, Liuwina was supposed to move backwards and go down a few steps off the scene, but she miscalculated and just fell off the stage! Some people in the audience even thought it was part of the show!
Anyways, Liuwina thought, the show must go on, and just went back up on stage! Nothing should stop us from doing our best in this show. And when they announced that we were the winners…It was just amazing!

Q: How was the reaction of your family when you won the competition?
Risa: my parents congratulated me at first, but then they forbade me to go to Japan, and I got so angry with them, and we fought over it for a couple of weeks, until my mother finally gave in and let me go to Japan. Ever since then they have been very supportive of this trip. The rest of my family is very proud of me winning.

Liuwina: My parents were really happy for me, especially my mother, who always helps out with the costume making. Everyone in my family was very proud and happy about the victory. Everyone thinks it was so fantastic that we won this, especially because they know it’s a dream come true for me to win DCS and go to WCS.

Q: What do you find fascinating about Japan?
Japan has just always been very fascinating in every aspect; the language, the traditions, the modern technology, the culture, and last but not least the popular culture. Gothic Lolita styled clothes, anime and manga. I (Liuwina) really want to go on a working holiday in Japan, because I study Japanese at the Danish university, though at the moment I’m taking a break from my studies, because I have some financial problems.

Q: What do you hope or expect to find once you have arrived in Japan?
We don’t really expect to find anything special, we are just hoping to come to Japan and have a hell of a good time. We want to go see as much as we can while we are there. After the WCS is over we are going on a tour around Japan, to see all the great tourist attractions. We are going to Nikko, and we have heard that there is a summer festival in Nikko at the time we arrive. So it is just going to be great!

We are of course also going to visit the shopping districts in Tokyo, to shop for anime/manga, clothes and cool collectors’ items.

Q: Do you like Japanese food? If so, what do you like?
Liuwina: Japanese foods are great! I love Teriyaki chicken, sushi, nigiri, okonomiyaki, udon, and nikuman! I can’t wait to eat all the delicious Japanese food!! There is so much I want to taste!
Risa: I’m a vegetarian, but I do eat fish, so I do like some kinds of sushi and I also like noodles.

Q: Could you please provide a comment to your present and future fans and readers of this blog?
We can’t wait to go to Japan and give you the best show ever. It feels so great to know that there are so many out there who is going to watch us participate. I just hope that you guys will cheer for us.

Minna Ganbarimashou!