December 4, 2009

Update: Spanish Preliminary Round Report

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Spain

The last weekend of October is usually time for the Spanish Preliminary Round in the WCS calendar. This year was not an exception, and thus the stage set at the sports center in L'Hospitalet held a new edition of the biggest cosplay event in Spain on October 31.

Even though the contest took place right on Halloween eve, it was not a dark and eerie day at all. Instead, weather was exceptionally fine with unusually high temperatures. A perfect day to enjoy a nice outdoor photoshoot before the contest.

As always, the WCS qualifying round happened to be one of the biggest attractions in the Salón del Manga, and well more than one hour before the actual beginning of the show the venue was already full to its maximum capacity; more than 800 people filling up the court and a few dozens more who were not lucky enough to get in but still tried to follow the show from outside, through the glass walls of the pavilion.

The audience was eager to see the performances, but there was a little surprise in store before the contest: YuRi and RiE, Japanese representatives and winners of WCS2009, had made use of their prize -the right to visit any city holding a WCS qualifying round- to make a round trip through Helsinki and Barcelona, and there they offered a special performance: a 13 minute long dance and singing show of Macross Frontier medley, dressed up as Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome from the homonymous series.

While the audience cheered YuRi and RiE enthusiastically after their special performance, the hosts of the show proceeded to introduce the members of the jury:

• Mr. Naoki Yokobayashi, head of cultural affairs section of the Embassy of Japan in Spain
• Mr. Takamasa Sakurai, content media producer and member of the advisory board on anime diplomacy of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Mr. Josep Abril, fashion designer of Armand Basi, and head of the fashion section of Foment de les Arts Decoratives
• Ms. Alessandra Moura, CEO of Portal Japón travel agency and website
• Ms. Bereniç Serrano, Spanish representative at WCS2009
• Mr. Pol Roca, TV Aichi representative

Once the members of the jury had been introduced, it was the time to let the show begin. No less than 33 couples were ready to fight for the right to represent Spain at the next World Cosplay Summit. But what would their 'weapons' be?

Unlike other editions, when a certain trend could be easily noticed, and thus were dubbed 'the year of the wings' or 'the year of swords and spears' to name a few, this time the choice of themes and costumes was more varied and there was a bit of everything. It would just be worth to mention the ubiquity of LED lights present in many costumes and accessories such as swords or wings. In the recent months LED lights have become cheaper, and an affordable way of adding an eye-catching element to many cosplays.

This year was also marked by the fact that almost half of the performances were based either on videogames or other multimedia franchises that had originally appeared in the form of a videogame. This could be a proof of the thriving popularity of videogames in Spain, or due to the fact that game-inspired cosplay allows for more complex and appealing costumes and stage props.

As usual, the winning performance of the previous year seemed to become a source of ideas for many cosplayers, and thus a number of large-sized props and backdrop panels passed through the stage. Among them were the typical cloth panels used to conceal a costume change, or some fairground puppet theaters, as well as others such as a royal throne or even what pretended to be a piano.

However the (literally) biggest surprises of this edition consisted of a couple of dragons taken straight from the Monster Hunter games -one which had more than a thousand hand-made scales on its body and another one made of cardboard which was about 6m long, 2m tall- and a real-size Tachikoma from the Ghost in the Shell series. Those gigantic characters were so big that they could hardly move on the stage, but they caused a deep impression on the audience.

Since there was a bit of everything this year, perhaps the best way of listing the performances would be to group them according to their subject. To begin with romance, there were a couple of entries based on Romeo and Juliet, a manga which seems to be a popular choice for cosplayers worldwide.

Action manga was represented by performances such as those of Fate/stay night, Trinity Blood or Ghost in the Shell. Cosplay based on CLAMP characters is also a very recurrent sight in these contests, so a few performances based on Clover, Chobits or xxxHolic were among the most cheered by the audience. Also notable was a performance featuring Sherry and Brago from Zatch Bell!, complete with a set of surprisingly faithful props.

Other more obscure manga titles, not so much known by the mainstream public but nevertheless popular within the otaku circles were present too, with examples such as Black Butler or Hetalia: Axis Powers.

But as stated above, the overall impression was that videogames had taken over the place. Interestingly enough, a great number of game-related performances were based on RPGs: the cute fairies of Odin Sphere, the exotic beauty of Suikoden V costumes or the cheerful girls of Sakura Wars (both in kimono and battle suits), to name a few of them. Although fewer than in previous years, there were also a handful of battle scenes inspired by popular fighting games such as Sands of Destruction or the Soulcalibur series. Not to forget the splendorous wings of Angemon of Digimon Adventure, a classical of any cosplay event.

However, the most acclaimed performance of the evening was the one presented by Narcís Fer and Vanessa Figueras, who brought up an action-packed stage of Ghost in the Shell, dressed up as Motoko Kusanagi and the Hadaly containing the Puppet Master. By means of a clever use of props and backdrops, the couple brought to life some of the most memorable moments in the anime: the appearance of the real-sized Tachikoma chasing the runaway Hadaly, the effect of the 'thermo-optical camouflage' or the climactic sequence where Motoko finally manages to catch the Hadaly and scrap it down with her gun. A system of detachable pieces that represented the damage caused by every shoot, allowed the cosplayers to achieve a great realism. Both the audience and the members of the jury were absolutely delighted with this performance, so it won the first prize with no contestation. Not only for the inventiveness with which Narcís and Vanessa had constructed their props and special effects, but also for the sheer domain of stage they had demonstrated. WCS is as much about as performance as it is about costumes, so with such a couple we can expect to see Spain faring as well next year as it did in the last championship.

A second prize was awarded to Mireya Alcaina and Núria Correa, which had made an excellent performance based on videogame Suikoden V, and also a third prize went to Garazi Oar and Maitane Santiago, which had shown their ability with magic tricks dressed up in wonderful costumes of Yûko and Himawari of xxxHolic.

Once the results were known, the bunch of fellow cosplayers hurried to congratulate the lucky winners. Everyone was satisfied with the choice of Spanish representatives, and wanted to give them their best wishes. Narcís and Vanessa were completely overwhelmed, and kept saying that they did not have the intention to win, that they were only trying their chances. But at the same time they were already thinking of what BIG surprises they could prepare to leave the audience in Nagoya with their mouth wide open.

We expect to be able to offer you an in-depth interview with Narcís and Vanessa soon, so please keep checking this site for updated information on WCS2010 Spanish representatives.