WORLD COSPLAY SUMMIT 2006

Speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso

《 6:00 pm The World Cosplay Summit 2006 Cosplay Championship begins 》

World Cosplay Summit ikimaaaaasu!
This year the World Cosplay Championship opened with Toru Furuta’s famous line! The hosts were Kentaro Ochiai (nickname: Ochiken) and Aichi TV announcer Mika Nakayama. And as guest commentator for the event, Toru Furuya joined them on stage.

Next to appear on stage were the judges, Go Nagai, Hiroshi Kitadani, and Essai Ushijima. In order to bestow the Foreign Minister’s Prize upon the winner, Yuji Tokita from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan rushed in from offstage to join the other 3 judges.

What everyone had been waiting for, the championship to decide the world's number one cosplayer got underway.
Entry Number 1
The Italian team of Alessandro and Alexia, as "Night" and "March Hare" from the Manga "Arms".

The half year's work put into the armor was the highlight. On this day the temperature reached a sweltering 38.2 degrees! Sweat was pouring from Alessandro's armor. They recited their lines in Japanese and the performance received high marks.

Entry Number 2
The Singaporean team of Julia and Ferlyn, as Luchia and Hanon from the animation "Pichi Pichi Pitch".
The audience was enthralled when they were asked in Japanese, "Are you hot?" They sang and danced to the "Pichi Pichi Pitch" theme song which led to a unique hip hop twist making for a very cute show.

Entry Number 3
Japan Team A (Tokyo), Goldie and Aoi Sakuya, as Strike Freedom Gundam and Kira Yamato from the animation "Gundam Seed Destiny".

The Gundam was over 3 meters tall! Kira Yamato changed costume halfway through the show, and finally Gundam blew smoke in the performance, (actually, it was air-conditioner cleaning spray… industrial sized!!) it was awesome!

Entry Number 4
The German team of Daniela and Tanya as the characters "Shou Kyou" and "Son Shou Kou" from the game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
A thrilling performance that had some comic touches, it had both a cute and a cool character showing each other their set poses in turn. The team was meticulous in their attention to detail.

Entry Number 5
The Chinese team of Yushin Hao and Ni Jatin as the characters of "Cloud Strife" and "Tiffa Lockhart" from the game FF VII - Advent Children.

This performance was breathtaking! They expressed things from the view of the world of Final Fantasy VII, and together created an aura of the way the game's characters really are. At the end the audience was surprise as red confetti showered down around them.

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