The approaching cosplay parade (August 4 (Sat)) will be held as usual in collaboration with this year’s Osu festival. The cosplay parade will feature representative cosplayers from 12 countries. Why don’t you march with us?

Details of last year’s parade can be found here.

This is a contest whereby 14 teams of cosplayers from 12 countries engage in performances to become the number one cosplay team!

Toru Furuya

Japan’s premier male voice actor who has performed in many famous Japanese anime such as ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ (playing Amuro Rei), ‘The Star of the Giant’ (playing Hoshi Hyuma), ‘Dragon Ball’ (playing Yamucha) and the ‘Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon’ series (playing Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask) etc. He has supported the Cosplay Summit since 2004, and is an indelible fixture at the World Cosplay Summit.

Shoko Nakagawa

A multi-talented idol who is an actress, voice actress, illustrator, and singer. Her pet name is Shokotan. The number of people who access her ‘Shokotan blog’ has exploded, and it is updated with blistering frequency. She is famous for her love of anime, manga, anime songs, and cosplay. She is also known as a singer of anime songs. In her debut, she reached number 3 on the Oricon Singles Chart (July 9) with the opening song ‘Blue sky days‘ from the anime ‘Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann’.

Monkey Punch

1957: In Tokyo. While working at a publishing company, he was a volunteer manga artist for a fanzine. At first he introduced his manga by loaning them out.
1965: Made his debut as a manga artist with the 4-frame ‘nonsense’ (humorous) manga, ‘Playboy School’.
1966: With the pen name that he now uses, published mainly universal action manga that were largely in the western and SF genres.
1967: From a small company, launched the series ‘Weekly manga action’ and ‘Lupin III　’at the same time and in the same magazine.
1971:’Lupin III’ was launched as a TV anime series.
1981: Won the Inkpot Prize at the San Diego Comic Convention.
2001: Won the Gold Medal Prize at Romics, the Rome Comic Festival. 　　
2001: Assumed the Presidency of the inaugural Digital Manga Association.
2004: AMD Lifetime Achievement Award　
2005: Ended his tenure at the Department of Multimedia Studies at Tokyo University of Technology.
Currently works in computer graphics manga production and is Professor in the Department of Media and Arts at Otemae Univeristy.

Ichiro Mizuki

Beginning in 1971 with the theme song to ‘Ryu, the Primitive Boy’, ‘Mazinger Z’, ‘Babel II’, and ‘Our Barom I’, he has continued to sing a number of anime and SFX songs. Known as the king of the anime song world, he has over 1000 songs in his repertoire, and is popularly known as ‘older brother’. In 1999, he set a record for a live performance of 1000 songs in 24 hours. He made history with the most number of songs in a solo live performance in Japan.
In 2003 he took up an offer from the charismatic DJ, Dimitri From Paris, and they collaborated on ‘My Mazinger Z (Black version, 2003)’, and ‘Everyone wants to be a cat (2005)’, widening his appeal far beyond the domestic Japanese market.
In 2004 the theme song ‘Zebraman’s song’ in the movie ‘Zebraman’ became popular. In 2007, after he sang the ending theme song ‘Tao’ of the ‘Power Rangers’, he sang the main theme song of the ‘super squadron series’.
He’s been making children’s dreams and wishes come true for more than 30 years. Spreading the treasure that is anime songs throughout the world, he’ll accede to the next generation, continuing new challenges.

Essai Ushijima

Columnist and critic. Started doing cosplay when he was a junior high school student. Beginning with the comic market, he has had a key role in the management of many cosplay events. He has written many books and columns on cosplay. He has spoken systematically on this and is without equal; he is known worldwide.

On the day, many spectators will come to Oasis 21.
When doing cosplay or taking photos inside Oasis 21, we ask that you follow the directions of the staff and do not cause problems for spectators. If you fail to follow the rules, we regret to say that you will be removed from the venue. We kindly ask for your understanding and cooperation.