Follow Singapore Immigration and Singapore Life: Recently, the annual Anime Festival Asia was held in Singapore, attracting anime fans from all over the world who gathered to celebrate this grand animation event. On November 11th, local time, as part of the festival celebrations, the Anime Festival Asia cosplay competition was held, and the champions were crowned.
As the birthplace of anime, Asia has a large number of fans who love anime and are passionate about cosplay. Every year, various cosplay competitions take place across Asia, with the Anime Festival Asia in Singapore being one of the most notable.
At the competition venue, one could see a wide variety of anime characters with exquisite costumes and vivid expressions, all fully prepared and constantly interacting with fans. Shawn, the organizer of the festival, stated that although cosplay originated in Japan, it is now more popular and has higher participation in Singapore. "I see many cosplay costumes that are the result of the entire family's participation. Mothers are responsible for sewing the clothes, and fathers are responsible for collecting props from various places. I think this situation rarely happens in Japan. Although anime originated in Japan, traditional cosplay is still seen as something quite eccentric there. However, in Asian countries like Singapore, people are more accepting of cosplay; in fact, cosplay is a relatively positive and uplifting activity," said a middle school student anime fan during an interview.
In cosplay performances and competitions, costumes are undoubtedly the highlight of the entire event. Cosplay judge Clive Lee stated that the costumes and the expressiveness of the performers are key for judges to select outstanding contestants. "I think costumes are very important for cosplay. The reason cosplay is popular is because of the costumes. Combined with performance and technique, it brings the characters to life. Therefore, I feel that costumes and technique complement each other. An exquisite costume must be supported by superior technique."
The championship of this year's cosplay competition was won by two contestants from Indonesia. They dressed as the hero Raiden and the antagonist from "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance" and engaged in a fierce battle. The complex application of various techniques in their story won the favor of the judges, ultimately earning them a prize of $560 and round-trip air tickets to Japan.
