Our friends over at New York Anime Festival have been working long and hard to bring the World Cosplay Summit back to the United States in a bid for USA to compete against countries such as Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico, and Japan in Nagoya, Japan. The World Cosplay Summit began in the fall of 2003. Born from the concept that cosplayers play a leading role in introducing Japanese manga and animation to people around the world, the event wanted to bring international cosplayers “home” to Japan to showcase their costumes and skill. The event is held annually, with preliminary competitions taking place around the world - and the Championships taking place each summer in Japan. Each year, judges include creators of some of Japan’s most iconic anime and manga, and past judges have included Leiji Matsumoto, Go Nagai, and Monkey Punch. In 2007, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Thailand and Japan all participated in the World Cosplay Summit. The winners of Anime Insider and World Cosplay Summit Masquerade crowned at the New York Anime Festial will fly to Japan to serve as Team USA in the 2008 Championships. What an amazing opportunity for cosplayers to go out to Japan to where it all began and to showcase their creations to the masses. Good luck to all those competing and let’s go Team USA!
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