Event Report: The world’s largest cosplay festival fully resurrected! “World Cosplay Summit 2023”

World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee

Cosplayers from 33 countries/regions gathered! The Grand Champion was the UK team! 3-day attendance reached 226,600

The World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee (Chairman: Tokumaru Oguri) overcame the COVID pandemic and held the world’s largest cosplay festival “World Cosplay Summit 2023” from August 4 (Fri) to August 6 (Sun) at Oasis 21, Hisaya-odori Park, Aichi Arts Center and other venues centered around Nagoya City’s Sakae area. The 3-day attendance reached 226,600 people.

The “World Cosplay Championship 2023” to decide the world’s best cosplay was held on August 5 (Sat) at Aichi Arts Center (Higashi Ward, Nagoya City). The Grand Champion was the UK team!!

The UK representative team (Kurūdo, Tsīpo) cosplaying as “Magi” won the championship. The Latvia representative team (Sayochu, Sībā) cosplaying “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” came in 2nd place, and the Mexico representative team (Chris, Lorraine) cosplaying “Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-” took 3rd place.

Voice actor Tōru Furukawa served as head judge, with popular “Dragon Quest” series creator Yuji Horii and last year’s championship winners participating as judges. The World Cosplay Championship has been held since 2005, with teams of two cosplayers from countries and regions around the world dressing up as characters from Japanese anime, manga, games, and tokusatsu works to compete on criteria like costume completion and performance.

On August 4 (Fri), Nagoya University of Arts held the pre-event Red Carpet Ceremony. Country/region representative cosplayers along with the Governor of Aichi Prefecture and Mayor of Nagoya City walked the red carpet.

At the pre-event on the 4th held at Oasis 21, over 100 Nagoya University of Arts Faculty of Art Department of Fine Arts students performed anime/game music, with country/region representative cosplayers, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura, Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura and other guest attendees walking the red carpet ceremony. The Nagoya University of Arts students who performed the ceremony music were dressed in Attack on Titan Survey Corps cosplay.

Scenes from the opening stage at Oasis 21, cosplay stages with general attendee participation, booths by exhibiting companies.

With cries of “Cosplay Everywhere!”, the opening stages on the first day and second day were held by Governor Omura and Mayor Kawamura respectively. At the Oasis 21 special stage, various programs themed around cosplay were held. The cosplay runway and performance stages with participation from general attendees saw record levels, with over 400 people participating.

On August 6 (Sun), the event was held in Osu Shopping Street, the origin point of cosplay parades. About 800 general cosplayers participated in the cosplay parade at Osu Kannon along with country-representative cosplayers.

The World Cosplay Summit Grand Finale was held at Oasis 21 on the final day, August 6 (Sun).

Country/region representative cosplayers who finished the intense competition at the World Cosplay Championship the previous day appeared with smiles.

Head judge of the World Cosplay Championship Tōru Furukawa appeared. On behalf of the organizers, he gave closing remarks to conclude the event.

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“After 4 long years, we’ve finally regained this sight. Everyone did great work. We can finally meet again. For this sight, we persevered 3 years, continuing to hold the event while downscaling. But reaching here wasn’t just due to our efforts as event organizers – I think it’s thanks to all of your voices wanting the event held and the tireless creative passion of cosplayers.

In 2023 the World Cosplay Summit welcomed participation from 33 countries and regions. Colombia, Latvia, and Egypt participated for the first time. On the other hand, some countries were unable to continue holding events due to the impact of COVID. There were also countries that were forced not to participate due to political circumstances.

The World Cosplay Summit has continued growing for 20 years. And from here, this place will expand further and further, along with the depth of passion for works. Meanwhile, cosplay has gone beyond the realm of hobby to become a creative activity condensing all kinds of creativity and technology from various fields. To support this culture and develop it further, we feel an urgent need to build an ecosystem that doesn’t forget gratitude and respect towards original works and publications, giving back profits.

We want to make a world where people of any skill level, race, or culture can enjoy cosplay. Wishing for “Cosplay Everywhere” to spread further. The World Cosplay Summit, here we go!!️

The next World Cosplay Summit 2024 is scheduled to be held in August 2024. Please see the official World Cosplay Summit website below for details.”

What is the “World Cosplay Summit”, held in Japan, the holy land of cosplay:

The World Cosplay Summit is a pop culture festival centering around cosplay that started in 2003, bringing together cosplayers from around the world dressed as characters from manga, anime, games, tokusatsu, and more.

【Event Name】 World Cosplay Summit 2023
【Date】 August 4 (Fri) – August 6 (Sun), 2023
【Venue】 Oasis 21, Hisaya-odori Park, Aichi Arts Center, Osu Shopping Street, Furarié Otsu-dori Garden
【Organizer】 World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya City, Nagoya Convention & Visitors Bureau, Chubu Centrair International Airport, Osu Shopping Street Alliance, Japan Times, TV Aichi, WCS Co., Ltd.)
【Official Site・SNS】
Official Site: https://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cosplay_summit
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WORLDCOSPLAYSUMMIT
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldcosplaysummit/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldCosplaySummit

【Official Sponsor】