WORLD COSPLAY SUMMIT

The World Cosplay Summit (or WCS) is a pop culture festival centred around a global competition that cosplayers who love works of Japanese manga, anime or videogames.

The event started in 2003 and has grown to be the largest cosplay competition in the world, with cosplayers travelling to Nagoya City in Japan (the spiritual home of cosplay) for the WCS Championship event in August each year.

A WCS competition has three main differences to a standard cosplay competition:

1. Contestants take part as a team of two people – solo contestants are not allowed
2. The costumes the teams create must be of characters of Japanese origin i.e. from Japanese manga (comic books), anime (cartoons), computer games, or some other pop culture source.
3. Teams must not only create their own costumes but also perform a 2 and a half minute skit performance done in front of a live audience. The skit can include audio visual elements. The skit will not only showcase the team’s costume skills but also their acting and stage abilities as well.

The WCS South African Regional Qualifier event is taking place during Comic Con Cape Town, on Sunday April 28^th. Cosplayers from around the country will battle it out for the honour of becoming Team South Africa for this year’s WCS event.

The team that wins the WCS South African Regional Qualifier will win a trip (including economy flight and accommodation) to Japan in August, 2024 to compete as Team South Africa in the global WCS Championship event. They will spend a week there, participating in red carpet events, cultural tours and programs, as well as competing against the best cosplayers in the world for the title of World Champion.

Cosplayers can express interest in participating in the Qualifier event by registering here: ENTRY FORM 

Not at all! Teams from around the world compete in their own languages, with Japanese subtitles added to their screen elements when they compete in Japan.

South Africa was first invited to participate in WCS in 2018, and has the honour of being the first country in Africa to be so invited. Since then, South Africa as sent three teams compete in the WCS Championship event in 2018, 2019, and 2023, with Covid affecting the intervening years. Cosplayers representing South Africa have made friends with other cosplayers from countries around the world, and have gone on to be invited to other convention events as guests in their own right.

The primary focus of WCS is to use cosplay as a bridge for international and cultural exchange by fostering friendship that can overcome any borders and barriers of race, culture, language or customs. With teams having to create costumes from Japanese pop culture, it receives great support from Japanese companies and diplomatic embassies around the world.

• Entry Form – Submit your expression of interest/entry form by 14 April 2024
• Costume Construction Report – Submit this portfolio to info@wcssouthafrica.co.za by 21 April 2024
• Submit your Music and Video File links  to info@wcssouthafrica.co.za by 21 April 2024 
• Payment for Team’s Entry due by  21 April 2024  – PLEASE REMEMBER TO USE WCS (YOUR TEAM NAME) AS REFERENCE
• Rehearsals – You have to be available to attend the Rehearsals on Saturday, 27 April 2024 
• Stage Finals – Stage Finals will take place on Sunday, 28 April 2024 

View the FULL RULEBOOK here: WCS-2024-Ruleset-V-24.01.19.pdf (comicconafrica.co.za)

Payment for entry into the WCS South African Regional Championship is R250 per team. Payment can be made to the following account:

Bank: FNB

Account Type: Cheque

Account Number: 629 171 962 49

Account Name: GeekXP Promotions (Pty) Ltd

Reference: please use the code WCS followed by your team name 

e.g. “WCS SACosplay”

* Please note: only EFT payments will be accepted, strictly no cash deposits. Failure to make payment by EFT may result in your booking not being secured. Please mail proof of payment to info@wcssouthafrica.co.za

There are limited changing rooms in Cosplay Central which can be found on the Ground Level, CTICC 2 in Hall 5.

If you require further clarification after reading all the RULES, REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES outlined in this document, please contact WCS South Africa via these official contact means only:

WCS South Africa Email – info@wcssouthafrica.co.za

• When contacting WCS South Africa, please write the words ‘Rule Query’ in the subject. Describe the rule/s you have questions about, including their dot point number and page number, in the body of your email. If you contact WCS South Africa without fully reading the RULES, REQUIREMENTS & GUIDELINES outlined in this document, you will be directed to do so.