The Hsinchu County government is planning to hold a national cosplay competition to select contestants to represent Taiwan at the nation’s inaugural World Cosplay Summit later this year.
The national event will consist of several competitions in different categories, the winners of which will travel to Nagoya, Japan, to represent Taiwan at the world-level summit in August.
This year’s world summit will be the first time Taiwanese will have a shot at becoming the cosplay world champions, following the nation’s admission into the summit after a rigorous two-year membership approval process.
Photo: Wang Chun-chieh, Taipei Times
The national competition is to take place during the Taiwan Super cosplay Festival in Hsinchu next weekend. The county is hosting the festival as part of its “Taiwan Comics Dream Park” project and the event is to be held at venues in the cities and towns located alongside Hsinchu’s Neiwan (內灣) Mountain Railroad.
Cosplay is a popular hobby among young Taiwanese and involves practitioners, known as “cosers,” dressing up as their favorite characters from cartoons, comic books and science-fiction or fantasy movies.
In recent years, large cosplay events have been organized in conjunction with comic book fairs in major cities, generating big crowds and booming merchandise sales.
Taiwan Cosplay Promotion Association chairman Chen Hung-ming (陳宏名) said that several international coser stars from Japan, South Korea and elsewhere are to attend various events at the Hsinchu festival.
“At most cosplay events, play-acting is kept to a minimum, but at the national competition, the rules will be different. Contestants will be required to sign up as a duo and must present their characters through an interaction lasting 2 minutes and 30 seconds,” Chen said.
He added that a panel of judges will score the cosers based on stage presence, costume and make-up, role play, fluency of action and entertainment effect, among other things.
The first stage of the competition will be preliminary rounds held at a local level, after which 60 pairs of contestants will advance to the national finals.
The winners of the final round will receive financial support to attend the World Cosplay Summit in Japan.
On Saturday, a cosplay parade featuring many colorful fantasy characters is to be held in front of the Neiwan Railway Station in Hsinchu, Chen said.
On May 10, a romantic cosplay party is to be held at the county’s Hohsing (合興) Railway Station and a day later, the festival’s main event and the national finals will be held at the Hsinchu County Culture Bureau’s Art Exhibition Hall in Jhubei City (竹北), he added.
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