After a great amount of interest and some spectacular performances the US Representatives have been chosen, they are Katheryn(Rynn) and Krystal(Sumikins) with a performance of Fushigi Yuugi!

Their performance included several twist for the brief three minutes and the audience could feel their characters emotions through their expression. The costumes were well thought out and constructed with 14 meters of chiffon and 7 color layers reenacting their characters to a very high level. The judges deliberation was difficult as the top groups were marked very closely. Here is the run through of all performers, their characters and the performance title:

1st Place
Kathryn Griffin (Rynn) - Miaka Yuuki from Fushigi Yuugi
Krystal Stoner (Sumikins) - Yui Hongo from Fushigi Yuugi

2nd Place
Suzanne Beaudoin (SparklePipsi) - Oruha from CLAMP’s Clover
Jennifer Rose Dupray (Miaka-chan) - Suu from CLAMP’s Clover

3rd Place
Melissa Hoppe (WindoftheStars) - Zhen Ji from Dynasty Warriors 6
Vanessa Grundy - Diao Chan from Dynasty Warriors 6

4th Place
Li Kovacs (PikminLink) - Link from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Slade Hashimoto (Ryuichi) - Skull Kid from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

5th Place
Emily Roos - Dracula from Hellsing
Haley Holmes - Seras Victoria from Hellsing

6th Place
Cinthya Ramirez - Athena/Pandora from Saint Seiya
Edgar Mayoral - Dokho from Saint Seiya

7th Place
Juan Carlos Henriquez (Kasou) - Order-Sol from Guilty Gear XX
Christopher Johnston (Sozoku Reed) - Ki Kiske from Guilty Gear XX

8th Place
Deena Sadeli - Fai D Flourite from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Sharon Peng - Yuui from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

9th Place
Samantha Reinert (Michi) - Haruka Amami from THE IDOLM@STER
Kimberly Gruenke (Kie) - Chihaya Kisaragi from THE IDOLM@STER

10th Place
Angelia Karnes - Mira from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord
Sarah Evans - King Leo from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord

11th Place
Monica Alvarez - Izumi Tachibana from Kujibiki Unbalance
Amber Chavez - Kasumi Kisaragi from Kujibiki Unbalance

Congratulations to the winners and I hope that the other teams try out next year. I was very happy to be at the preliminary this year and want to thank judges for taking time out of their busy schedule and FanimeCon for their support. Seeing everyone's performances, taking pictures and talking with everyone afterward brought me a happiness that I cannot express in words. Looking forward to seeing Team USA in Tokyo over the summer!

The event is over and I have just got back to Japan. With all the stage preparations and planning I didn't have much time to keep you up to date so I will add some posts in the coming days. Here is a shot of the beautiful convention center:

FanimeCon has plenty of space outside for cosplayers to mill about, form gatherings and take pictures. Palm trees provided a unique backdrop for peoples photos.

As one of the largest anime/manga events in the US FanimeCon had a lot going on. The event has been held since 1994 and with around 15,000 guests in 2009 it is one of the top 10 anime conventions in North America. I took a look around and have a lot of pictures for you. I will split them in 2 posts, this one will be event related pictures and the next will be a random sample of outstanding cosplayers.

The event space was divided in large convention halls with the dealer room holding a vast assortment of anime, manga and related goods to choose from. Above are some guests checking out anime titles.

There was a great amount of manga titles in English and a few in Japanese.

A number of stalls sold figures, they had their wares stacked impressively high providing a feast for the eyes.

Another of the convention halls was dedicated to fan artists who similarly displayed walls of impressive drawings and paintings.

There was a giant hall dedicated solely to games and they had networked computer games...

human chess matches and...

a number of arcade games lined up for people to try out. This is a shot of a variation of Dance Dance Revolution which not only responds to your foot steps but also recognizes your hand movements. There were a group of people around the game dancing para para along with the music.

In the main area outside the convention halls on the second floor there was a stage that hosted a variety of events including rap performances and fashion shows. Here is a karaoke singing event presented by a group of maids.

The cosplay masquerade was held in a completely separate theater complex across the street from the convention hall. It was a massive space that must have housed a passionate audience of I would guess 2000 or so cosplay fans. The picture does not do the performances justice, they were truly spectacular and the show ran for almost 3 hours.

I am surprised at how few pictures I ended up taking, the memories remain strong but of course its hard to capture everything. There were so many more things that I didn't even get to see, suffice it to say that this was only a small portion of the convention and there was plenty more to see and do.

I took some pictures of cosplayers who I passed that had some great costumes, I will add the pictures in this post, enjoy!

Almost 4 years of writing the WCS blog on my own has been an enjoyable yet at times lonely stretch. I would like to introduce you to a friend who will be helping out with the blog: Lucy Glasspool. She is attending Nagoya University as a visiting research student doing her doctorate at SOAS University in England. Her research interests lie in character images and their differing interpretations through genres and gender. She will be posting to the WCS blog so please welcome her with a comment below!

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With the Summit less than two months away, I thought I'd go local in Nagoya and take a look at some of the pop culture-related sites of interest.

First up is the Nagoya branch of well-known second-hand manga store Mandarake. It has online shops in both Japanese and English (http://www.mandarake.co.jp/), but delving through the delights of one of the actual stores is an experience in itself, because they have so much more than just manga (I've spent an easy three hours in there before). The building is in the main shopping area of Osu, easily accessible from both Osu Kannon and Kamimaezu subway stations, and is open from 12:00 to 20:00.

Nagoya's Mandarake, while not as big as other stores in the chain, has 3 large floors of actual shop, which are divided into sections for (supposedly) easy searching, though I always do a good bit of rooting around before I actually find what I want; then again, that's half the fun, and you never know when you'll come across a hidden gem. The 1st floor has vintage comics, shounen manga, trading cards and games, with some pretty ancient titles for nostalgia-lovers. It also has some vintage figures.

Up the escalator to Floor 2, you'll find thousands of toys and figures, Japanese and Western, crammed onto shelves that reach up to the ceiling, and collectors can spend many a happy hour here amid the chaos (there are a few Super Dollfie here too, and some clothes and wigs, although the range is fairly basic – for a better selection, check out Nagoya's own Volks Showroom). This floor is also the home of the anime DVDs and CDs.

Up again to the 3rd floor (my personal favourite) for the cosplay, doujinshi, shoujo and boys-love manga and idol goods. The cosplay section has some of the more popular costumes, wigs, and a few Lolita clothes from brands like Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty. This floor's main attraction, though, is the doujinshi section, from every series imaginable, at an average price of 400-600 yen. The room is divided into those aimed at girls, and those at guys, so that in late afternoon and weekends the 3rd floor is crammed with avid shoppers completely divided by sex (a female friend and I wandered over into the guys' shelves once, and managed to terrify some poor browsers, for whom the appearance of two foreign girls on their sacred turf seemed to be a bit of a shock!).

The shelves of Mandarake are many, the aisles are narrow and fairly confusing, and during busy periods people will tread on your feet – but it's worth it to finally locate that long-sought-after item you just couldn't find on the net, or stumble across something you just suddenly have to buy. And Mandarake also has special sales and events in its 4th floor space, including the Cosplay Dance Party, and sessions where cosplayers can pose with props and have their pictures taken by Mandarake's photographers for 1000 yen.

More to come soon,
Lucy

Next up from me is another Nagoya attraction: asian ball-jointed dolls. These resin dolls are often known better as Super Dollfie, which is actually the name of the most well-known Japanese brand, from the anime and mecha figure makers Volks. You can find fans of these dolls from all ages and walks of life, including those interested in other Japanese subcultures like anime, games and visual-kei music.

The modern BJD market started up around 1999, and while Volks was the premier maker for a long time, there are now dozens of companies around Asia. BJDs run from under 20cm to over 70cm tall, and one of their most attractive points is that they not only have articulated, fully poseable joints, but that there are literally hundreds of different face moulds, which can either be decorated by the manufacturer, or customised by the buyer, so you can be sure your doll will be unique. Lots of people have their dolls cosplay particular musicians or film and anime characters, from Sephiroth to Naruto.

There are many doll owners in Nagoya, and regular meet-ups between friends and larger groups to exchange clothes, take photos and walk around the city. Nagoya also has its own branch of Volks, makers of the Super Dollfie line, which is worth checking out not only for the BJDs and accessories but also the many other figures Volks makes.

The Nagoya Volks Showroom can be slightly hard to find (I got lost for about an hour when I went there to buy my first doll). It's fairly near Osu, taking about 10 minutes on foot from Kamimaezu station. The Showroom is on the second floor above an optician, and is hard to spot from the street, and is open from 11:00-20:00. If you're interested in taking a look, here are the official directions:
http://www.volks.co.jp/en/volks/sr/nagoya.html

Once inside, you'll be surrounded by stacks of mechs and figures. The Super Dollfie are in an area of their own; there's usually a display of dolls with limited edition costumes or customisations to look at. Then there are several moulds of heads and bodies you can buy right there (for more popular or rare moulds, you'll need to order them in), as well as a large range of wigs, eyes, clothes and other accessories, including furniture such as gothic chairs and sofas.
The staff are very friendly if you show your interest; I went eight months between visits, but they still remembered me and what doll I had bought there. Nagoya also has special events every year where you can buy limited-edition dolls and accessories, and many people meet up with their dolls.

This is the doll I bought from the Nagoya store; he's a fairly common mould, but because each one is fully customisable, from colouring to hair to eyes, no two are the same. I can't deny that it's a fairly pricey hobby, ranging from a couple of hundred dollars for the smaller dolls to thousands for rarer, larger models. Having only intended to get two, I eventually caved in and now have six; but not only is it very satisfying to customise the dolls and create their costumes, I've also met a lot of great people and been to many places in Japan and back home in England that I would probably never have seen.

If you're interested and feel like learning more, check out Den Of Angels, the biggest English-language BJD forum:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums

After a spring filled with rescheduled events due to civil unrest the Thai preliminaries were finally held.

Orawan and Patawicoon performed as Cloud and Shin-Bahamut from Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.
Congratulations!

The China preliminaries were held this year with the sponsorship of China Joy at the Japan Industry Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010. The World Cosplay Summit event itself was created as a stage competition that was focused on leaving lasting impressions at the Aichi Expo 2005 in Japan 5 years ago. In this way the event is maintaining its roots by holding a stage presentation in the Expo this year.

The winners this year are Wang Lin and Lee Hou who performed as Musashibou Benkei and Minamoto no Kurou Yoshitsune from the PS2 game "In a Distant Time 3".

See you in a month!