Manar Elbaz

ABU DHABI: Cosplayers Mars and Outlaw will be representing the United Arab Emirates at the upcoming World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in Nagoya this August. 

During the Middle East Film & Comic Con (MEFCC) event on Saturday, three teams competed in the annual cosplay competition for a spot at the global competition. 

Considered one of the most prestigious competitions in the world and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, WCS is an annual event that celebrates Japanese manga and anime throughout the art of cosplay. 

Each country in WCS is presented by a team of two people, and the team must create a handmade costume of a Japanese anime or manga. This is the fourth year that MEFCC has hosted the WCS qualifications. This year, the team won for their Dragon Ball Z costume. 

Prior to the WCS qualifications, cosplayers also competed in local contests for best performance and best craftsmanship costume. 

The judges included one Japanese judge named Emiko Yoshida, who told Arab News Japan that she was impressed by the quality of the cosplays. “Compared to last year, the level has increased,” she said. “Everyone has really improved.”

She shared that cosplayers in the UAE come across as extremely professional due to how expressive they are. “There were so many expressions in those performances. They were properly conveying emotions,” she told Arab News Japan.

“In amateur contests, they tend to be so focused on doing their best that they neglect their performances. The cosplayers here have overcome that. They have mastered acting and dancing well. They should be proud of themselves,” she added.

While the UAE cosplayers have reached this level, there has never been an Arab winner in the history of WCS. The Japanese competition also hosts the Cosplay Cup annually in Riyadh, which has never witnessed an Arab winner either.  

Yoshida believes that with this level, there will eventually be an Arab winner “The amount of effort they put into it, you can really see it on stage. It was really amazing,” she shared. 

Yoshida encourages the cosplayers to participate in the WCS qualifications next year. “I hope that there will be more participants and that more people will come to see it. I want them to see what I saw and feel the excitement of all those amazing performances,” she told Arab News Japan.  

“There were times when I was really drawn in, I forgot how to breathe. I realized (then) the power of performances. It really directly hits you. You can watch a lot of things online, but there’s something about being physically present that is irreplaceable,” she added. 

WCS will be held this year from August 2 to 4. The UAE team can be found on Instagram @outlawcosplay and @mars_cossplay.