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Osu Cosplay Parade Report -
August 2nd (Sat) The weather was perfect!
This day had finally come around! Osu cosplay parade…..
After waiting and waiting the World Cosplay Summit 2008 was finally beginning!
From the morning there was a heat wave—it was over 30 degrees! Despite the heat, many cosplayers gathered from the morning onwards outside TV Aichi’s headquarters.2:00 p.m.
Before signing up their names, cosplayers were buzzing around the company office building; there were more cosplayers than the changing rooms could handle. I was really impressed by everyone’s fighting spirit. Every year, changing rooms are prepared in TV Aichi’s headquarters; this time the women’s changing area was in Daiko-in Temple, which is a little south of TV Aichi.
(Many thanks to all at Daiko-in Temple!!)3:00 p.m.
After changing, all the cosplayers gathered once again in front of TV Aichi’s headquarters. They took photos of each other, and were interviewed by the media; they were already wrapped up in a kind of extraordinary enthusiasm. Right, off to the start of the parade in Osu Kannon!Representative cosplayers from the various participating countries finished changing into their costumes and boarded a bus bound for Osu Kannon. A long line of regular cosplayers going from TV Aichi toward Osu Kannon jumped right out at me as I looked out of the moving bus! The atmosphere on the bus was really buzzing for these cosplayers who, after coming to Japan, saw this many cosplayers for the first time.
4:00 p.m.
Finally: the Osu Kannon parade started just as the tension reached boiling point!The representative cosplayers’ costumes were as below:
Salviani Laura/ Soul Calibur II (Talim)
France
Auclair Cecile/ Soul Calibur II (Xianghua)
Seung-Yong Kong/D.Gray-man (Allen Walker)
Korea
Kyeuong-Min Kong/D.Gray-man (Yu Kanda)
Yui/ Code Geass:Lelouch of the Rebellion (Lelouch)
Japan(Osaka)
Mino/ Code Geass:Lelouch of the Rebellion (Suzaku)
Liuwina Haeklund/Sailor Moon Sailor Stars (Sailor Saturn)
Denmark
Lisa Hvidberg/Sailor Moon Sailor Stars (Sailor Uranus)
Julaluk Lohanawakul/Guilty Gear XX #Reload (Baiken)
Thailand
Jittraporn Distaprom/Guilty Gear XX #Reload (Ino)
Tersa Garcia Hernandez/Heavenly Breakthrough Gurren Lagann (Adiane)
Mexico
Ingrid Alin Nava/Heavenly Breakthrough Gurren Lagann (Yoko)
Maria Pérez Tomás/Ah! My Goddess (Belldandy)
Spain
Nicolás Cabrerizo García/Ah! My Goddess (Keiichi Morisato)
Zhao Chin/Petshop of Horrors (Suzaku)
China
Zhang Li/Final Fantasy X2 (Ren)
Sonnya Paz/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Small Lady)
USA
Renee Gloger/Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Helios)
Annie Fischinger/Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach (Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach)
Germany
Katharina Wehrmann/Moetan (Arisu)
Goh I Hwa/VOCALOID (Hatsune Mik)
Singapore
Gerald Tham/VOCALOID (Kaito)
Jessica Moreira Rocha Campos/Resident Evil 4 (Ada Wong)
Brazil
Gabriel Niemietz Braz/Street Fighter (Kobushi [fist])
Nadia Baiardi/ARIA (Akari Mizunashi)
Italy
Martina Arnaldi/ARIA (Alicia Florence)
Kikiwan/The Idolmaster (Yukiho Hagiwara)Japan(Tokyo)
Naoki Shigure/VOCALOID (Kagamine Rin)The parade had a record-setting 300 people taking part!
A number of people from abroad stood out, and the parade itself was over 100m long! Every year there are more and more spectators! The number of media outlets had also increased, and Osu’s commercial area was just amazing to see.The parade, which started in front of Osu Kannon, went from: Nioumon Dori → Higashi Nioumon Dori → Banshouji Dori → Osu Kannon Dori and took about 1 hour to reach the goal, Osu Kannon.
In the grounds, after forming a line on the stairs and having a commemorative photo taken, everyone went to the mini-stage. They really made people want to see the following day’s championship.
Please check the photo gallery to see the parade and stage!!
Thank you very much to everyone in Osu Kannon for their support every year, and to all of you who took part in the extremely hot weather!
The following day was the championship which decided the world’s number one cosplayers!
Osu Cosplay Parade