According to the order of presentations some teams went to Nagoya City Hall and Aichi Prefectural Office while others went to Centrair Airport. The concept of the airport has been changing a little over recent years in Japan, Centrair was built for the Aichi Expo in 2005 and has a hot spring bath, a wedding ceremony hall and have both Italian and Japanese theme areas. I went with the group that went to the airport, below is a shot of everyone in the morning.

We arrived around 3 pm and kind of went through a back entrance to get to the changing rooms. An hour and a half later everyone was ready to go and we headed up to the stage, here is a picture of Nadia leading the group dressed in a costume from Trinity Blood.

We arrived upstairs at the stage, here is a shot of everyone before going on stage.

Each team went up on stage one at a time, did a pose in the center and went to a position at the back of the stage. Here is team Brazil posing, Gabriel is dressed up as Ken from Street Fighter and Jessica is dressed as Pandora from Saint Seiya.

The stage was fairly quick, we let everyone know that the Parade was on Saturday and the Championship on Sunday and off we went. The cosplayers got changed and back to the bus to get to the championship stage rehersals.

We got back around 6:30 and the first 6 groups had already started their rehearsals and were just about finished so things worked out well. These pics including the ones on the Japanese blog will give you a little idea of what the performances will look like.

First up in the second half and 8th overall was USA.Their performance had some powerful dancing and it was light hearted, the crowd should get into it.

Next we had China, a flowing dance performance with movable screen backgrounds.

After that was Germany a lighter presentation with dancing, props and a story progression.

11th overall is Singapore, their performance involved a love storyline and they change during the performance.

The 5th performance in the second half of performances is Brazil with an action packed 3 minute presentation with a robot and lots of guns.

Next up was Italy with a 2 part presentation with a dance, a fight and impressive background props.

Last up was Team Tokyo Japan who's walk through was difficult to make out as the 2 crawled around a lot. They will be doing "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" and one of the pair is an Ohmu.

The evening finished late around 10 pm with a run through of how the event will be closed. Where prizes will be awarded and where to receive them, a fun run off stage into the crowd a return and a bow were all run through.

For pictures of the first half of rehearsals check the Japanese blog!

With 52 blog entries yesterday you are getting around 3 or 4 blog entries an hour, keep an eye out for your favorite cosplayers and leave a comment! I will do my best to post journals of each event but being right in the heat of the action I will have little time especially at the parade today and the championship tomorrow to provide live updates.

Also keep an eye on the video feed on the top page, the final championship should be uploaded 4 or 5 am Japan time. Right now you can see some great unedited video of the cosplayers from each country. Take a look now, they may be edited in the near future!

With a powerful performance Brazil came out on top of WCS 2008.

Here are all countries that received awards:

Winner: Team Brazil
Runner-up: Team China
Brother Award: Team Japan (Osaka)

Go through the Japanese blog there are many many great shots backstage and from the stage side. This will give you a different view from any other video that you can find. I have a bunch of pictures too and will post journals of each event when I get a chance in the next couple days. We have a couple things going on today and then we are pretty well wrapped up for the main event this year.

Make sure to check out all of the new video on the WCS top page too, DJ Kissy stayed up until 5 in the morning to put it all together. It still needs some editing but you can see each teams performance, the awards ceremony and the finale.

Sorry I haven't been able to keep you posted as you deserve, I think next year we will need to have a dedicated English blogger during the busiest times in the event so we can get you the information as it happens. Keep checking back as we have preliminaries around the world all year round and I will get you information on each one as they happen as well as information on anime, manga and cosplay in Japan today.

This entry is a compilation of shots before the parade on August 2nd.

Here are all the teams on the bus as we headed over to the parade location in Osu.

Team Korea

Team Tokyo

Team Thailand

Team Singapore

Team Spain

Team China

Team Italy

Team Osaka

Team Mexico

Team France

Team USA

Team Germany

Team Brazil

We took the bus by the TVA office near Osu and there was already almost 300 cosplayers waiting for everyone to arrive and start the parade. The bus continued on and everyone got out at the Osu Kannon Temple grounds. The international cosplayers led the procession and the Japan cosplayers completed the line.

Taking a closer look...there is a team missing! I took these pictures while we were waiting for Team Denmark and when they arrived we were off and I was busy with other things. Sorry Denmark! (>,<;)

This is a compilation entry with pictures from beginning to end of the Parade on August 2nd.

Once we were lined up we had to get moving quickly because cameramen and the curious gathered around pretty quickly as you can see:

We got going and the heat was unbearable, the international cosplayers were wearing relatively light costumes but some of the Japanese cosplayers were wearing full body suits and big armor, unbelievable. Here is a shot of the parade as everyone was walking:

Here is a shot from the front of the line as the German team held the front sign:

I like the look on Ri-san's face in behind team Germany, it looks like he lost his mommy. Haha! There were 3 points along the parade where photographers were allowed to set up stools to stand on and get a better shot of the parade, most shots you see in news articles are shot from this angle. Here is a shot of how things looked from the cosplayers perspective.

The parade continued and the cosplayers had a chance to rest and get some liquids at an inner area of the temple. After the break everyone lined up and went through the temple itself to get to the front steps for more photos and then it was off to a short stage performance.

There were a couple of interviews and a chance to take some photos before the cosplayers were back in the bus. Everything took about 2 hours but felt longer in the sweltering heat.

Here is a shot of Zhao and April on their way to Hanami on the evening after the Parade. They skipped a dinner to go see the fireworks in Nagaragawa but its probably worth it considering it was their first time to Japan. It looks like April who is on the right is wearing an authentic yukata, where Zhao on the left is wearing perhaps a cosplay outfit considering its hang. Hanami is always a great time especially if you are dressed up.

This is a journal entry with some of the pictures that I took on August 3rd before the championship.

Above is Team Spain, they were first to come down to the lobby at around 3 pm and got a lot of media attention during that time.

This is Team France in the hotel lobby, those wings were very spiky.

Here is Ingrid from Team Mexico. The wings on her costume were very elegant and had great form but were very heavy for her. At the end of the championship she was laying on a bench with deep welts from the shoulders straps and could hardly move from the pain. Oh what we do for cosplay!

We moved outside on our way to the Oasis 21 venue. Here is a shot of Team Germany.

This is the Brazil team, I like the way Gabriel is posing with his fuchsia bag. Of course he wasn't wearing his full suit yet, he had that waiting for him backstage at the venue.

Here is Italy, you can see Martinas massive claw, it was funny to see her walking around with her claw without her costume at the hotel.

This is Team Korea looking muscular.

Team Singapore in all their splendor.

Team Thailand were well prepared for their Digimon battle.

Here is Team USA with their robots.

It was an easy 200 meter walk to the Oasis 21 venue, very appreciated considering the intense 37 degree super humid weather.

This is a photo compilation journal entry of the evening of August 3rd.

Here is Team France looking relaxed after their presentation.

This is a shot of how most of the 2 hours were spent for everyone, gathered around the monitor television watching the other performances and cheering along with the audience.

I love this picture of Tersa from Team Mexico, she is sprawled out across the ground after her performance dead tired in the heat. She still managed a smile and a half pose.

Here is an image of Team USA I believe which was taken after they finished their presentation.

Here is Germany as everyone was lining up for the finale on stage. You can see their floating ball between their hands.

This is the China team just before getting back up on stage.

Here is a lucky last minute picture some of the cosplayers got to take with actress/model and guest commentator Natsuki Kato.

Georgia has making the trip out to Japan every year for the World Cosplay Summit event on top of other events she has attended around the world. This time she was actually taking part in a documentary film so was busy most of the time but was able to meet up with everyone during the Parade and Championship as seen in the picture below.

The Finale this year was a little more complex than in previous years. The first half and second half of all presentations split into 2 groups and entered on either side of the stage the pairs positioned with one crouching in front and the other standing behind.

Then the awards were announced, you can see video of the Judge's Announcement on the WCS 2008 top page, click on the appropriate link among the tabs on the left of the video box. Here is another picture I took of the Brazil teams win from the side stage area.

After that some of the judges and guest commentators made some speeches and the cosplayers were called off the stage towards a large open area in the middle of the spectators floor. It was like a catwalk right in the middle and after posing at the top of the stairs the teams came down into the area to wave and interact with the crowd. Then everyone went back up on the stage and took a final bow. You can see an edited version of the Ending among the videos on the WCS 2008 top page.

Isabelle and Damien were back this year reporting on the event for No Life a French media outlet. I caught up with them at the seperate press area after the grand finale was finished.

Above is Damien working the video camera.

Isabelle was on top of some scaffolding taking pictures from up top.

The press area was located behind where the audience was sitting and while the stage crew were actively taking down the stage scaffolding and lighting the interviews continued.

Here is Team China with their translator answering a question.

This is Team Brazil with their translator ducking between them. It looks like Gabriel is ducking down in his partial suit.

That about wraps it up for WCS 2008, thanks to those who have taken the time to read the entries.

Coming up very soon however are the WCS 2009 preliminaries for Spain, Germany and the United States. Look for information on that right here!

The big event only finished last week but with preliminaries taking place all year around preparations for next year are already happening. For Japan the biggest activity is getting the new web page prepared, that should be up in a couple months or so. For preliminaries first up on August 23rd - 24th we have Animania in Sydney deciding the representative for Australia, new participating country in WCS 2009! In fact Australia has been preparing since March of this year with regional rounds in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane already completed.

Beyond that there is Connichi in Germany on September 12th-14th and the New York Anime Festival determining the USA representative 2 weeks after that from September 26th-28th. I got you a few interviews from representatives last year, I will try to get interviews and even more information for you in the following year leading up to WCS 2009.

Above is a poster for the WCS preliminaries in Germany next month. In the picture you can see the Germany 2008 representatives Anna and Katharina at the top and team Italy 2008 - Nadia and Martina - on the left. At the bottom is I Hwa from Singapore and Kikiwan from Tokyo, both from this years event again. Thanks for the image Puka!

WCS 2008 finished a couple of weeks ago but participants from past and present are still in Japan and many showed up for a dinner hosted by Cosplay.com in Tokyo last Friday night. Here are pictures of some familiar faces:

Here is Goldie, master mobile suit builder and Tokyo representative for WCS 2006, here is a blog entry from a couple years ago where he is putting on his suit and posing. (go to last page in link for profile)

On the right is Georgia, Individual Competition winner for WCS 2005 and Roberto posing with a lost jacket that they were reunited with. (Sorry, link only in Japanese)

Above are the winning team from WCS 2006 Mauricio and Monica from Brazil. (go to last page in link for profile)

Here is Francesca from the Italy group team for WCS 2005 and Paulo. (scroll down in link for pictures, sorry, only Japanese)

Above is Nadia, half of the WCS 2008 team from Italy.

Here is Pol, translator extrordinaire for the WCS event belting out a tune at karaoke after dinner. Winners of WCS 2007, team France and the pair representing Osaka for WCS 2008 were also present but I didn't get any pictures, sorry :(

Most people at the get together the night before were in Tokyo for Comiket and related cosplay events such as TFT and TOC. I went to Comiket 74 the next day to get a feel for 150,000 plus otaku at the Tokyo Big Site.

I didn't feel like lining up all night so I got down in the early afternoon and got in without any trouble. I went straight to the cosplay area there was a bit of a slowdown with a line of people snaking into the area.

There were plenty of cosplayers doing there thing.

and hoards of fans taking pictures.

I ran into some WCS alumni, here is Barbara, Japan Web representatives from 2006.

Nearby was Georgia who I met up with the night before. She was dressed lightly to survive the oppressive heat.

The others had come and gone or would be attending another day and were presently at TFT or TOC. I wanted to check out the comics so I moved inside as it started raining slightly. Of course Comiket's origins lie in Dojinshi, as you can see in the picture above the booths sprawled across the floor. Although a lot if Doujinshi is of a sexual nature, it is considered the grassroots of Japanese manga and gave birth to the likes of Yun Kouga, Monkey Punch and the Clamp series.

Literally hundreds of pictures from this years event have been uploaded to the WCS homepage. They are split up according to the day they were taken from July 29th when teams started arriving in Tokyo until when teams were heading out on August 5th. There are some excellent pictures of the Parade on the 2nd and Championship on the 3rd, check em' out!

Last weekend USA representatives for 2008 Sonnya and Renee were a part of Cosplay Day at Kinokuniya Bookstore in New York. Along with others on the panel they answered questions about cosplay and Japan in general.

They arrived at around 2:30pm and things went from 3-5pm. They answered questions for about an hour and a half to a packed house. Well, from the sounds of it the Kinokuniya Manga/Art level isn't that big so 50+ people makes for a full house. Sounds like a good time as lots were dressed up in cosplay.

Sonnya dressed up as Mikuru from Haruhi and Renee went as Renee. :D It was actually Sonnya's birthday too and since she is a big Spiderman fan, they surprised her with a Spiderman cake.

Looks delicious! They finished off the afternoon with an interview from Samurai Beat Radio, if you google Samurai Beat Radio you can find a bunch of related articles from the event with other pictures too. Thanks to Leonard for the pictures and Anna, Sonnya and Renee for the info. Sounds like it was a good time!

Not more than 3 weeks after WCS 2008 finished we have the first representatives for 2009. I don't have any names for you now but they performed Full Metal Alchemist and there are some decent pictures of them and the other participants in the cosplay.com Australia forum under the title "World Cosplay Summit 2008".

There was a write up on Animania event and the Australian preliminaries in the WCS news reel. It is winter in Sydney now so the weather was a little chilly but there were some pretty passionate performances according to the TVA staff who were down there, you can see pictures of most of the teams uploaded onto the Japanese version blog.

5 teams performed in the regional round on Saturday and 3 teams moved on to join 4 other teams in the final on Sunday. More information on the pair coming up in their profile and Australian preliminary report!

Katherine Lee and Gabriella Lowgren will be the representatives for Australia at WCS 2009, their initial profile has been updated already. There is a picture there now but expect more to be updated soon.

You can also find videos of the various performances in Sydney last weekend on YouTube, dancingmalteser and moonblader have put together fine collections of videos, check them out!