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NEWS: World Cosplay Summit Ends in Aichi


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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:30 pm Reply with quote
True, but I thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery, especially when it helps things get done.

Well, assuming that you don't have actual proof behind your theory, I will venture my guess and say that Ikeda-san holds her creation in a higher regard and would prefer that her work not be copied.

Of course, I don't know anything about Ikeda-san, either.
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Abarenbo Shogun



Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1573
PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 4:06 am Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
so what would Japan have gain by favoring Italy anyways? were they paid?


I heard the Japanese Auto Market has recently turned towards ownership of Ferraris as a "Status Symbol."

Goodbye Porsche 9XX, Hello Ferrari F50!!
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SalarymanJoe



Joined: 03 Feb 2005
Posts: 468
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:45 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Quote:
Rose of Versailles creator Riyoko Ikeda has expressed her disapproval of people cosplaying as her characters on more than one occasion.


This is the part of the article which had me scratching my head. If you create something which is popular enough to be cosplayed, why would you disapprove of good, dedicated cosplayers of your creation?


Perhaps, like I have, for the number of good cosplayers I've seen, there has been a massivly exponential number of bad to poor cosplayers. If you see something that is meant as flattery done poorly, it can be taken as insult. There is also the possibility that Ikeda simply does not want her work imitated in this fashion.

penguintruth wrote:
Doesn't make any sense, and even if the creator did disapprove, that shouldn't stop anyone from cosplaying as those characters or even competing in contests as those characters.

Has she ever explained why?


Granted, all of this from me is only conjecture. There could be any number of reasons. From what I've personally seen, many creators are flattered by cosplay of thier characters, especially by enthusiasts (rather than paid models). However, as each individual is different, so too are thier feelings on people imitating thier work.

I would say that if Ikeda-san does not want people cosplaying as characters for Versailles no Bara (or any of her other works), it should be something respected.
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Aggrocragg



Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:01 pm Reply with quote
Wait, I've seen this before...

I'm having recollections of a certain GTO ep where the beauty contest is rigged against Tomoko because the favorite model is employed by the same agency that runs the beauty contest.

The fans end up revolting against the magazine since the conspiracy is unmasked. Foreboding, anyone?
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Sydney2K



Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 218
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 3:40 am Reply with quote
One of the things that has certainly changed in western cosplay (some might say ruined it) is the fact that it's no longer the costume that is important, it's the cosplayer. Not focusing on the costume, but on who wears it. This leads to the regrettable phenomenon of idolisation, that we rank a cosplayer not on how good their costume is, but on how pretty/how cute/how sexy she is.

I have always had a problem with the WCS, but it's only now that I've heard how corrupted it is. But it was never a competition for how good costumes were, only a beauty parade. Despite there being many good male cosplayers around the world, the only cosplayers selected up to this year were female (and the male that I know of being a part of a group.) I think the whole fault is with the organisers, not the cosplayers. Some rumours say that the Italians knew that they were going to win. Even if they did, what could they do about it? Walk out? Boycott the competition? People who do that have to be very strong willed and full of conviction. They're human; they probably didn't know what they could do.

I have heard ideas of setting up a much more fairer international competition. My response to this is, why bother? Cosplay is never about the competition. Why do we want to raise ire by favouring one country or another. Putting up valuable prizes only leads to jealousy and covetness. Trying to revise the rules will not help, it is the whole idea of the competition that is at fault.

Widya Santoso
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2251
Location: Online Terminal
PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:41 am Reply with quote
Then what would you suggest be done to rectify this problem? It's not like we can take out cosplay from convention culture entirely.

The problems I see are human in nature, so it will take humans to fix them.

(Incidentally, this is another reason why I don't like walk-ons.)
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Sydney2K



Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 218
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:35 am Reply with quote
I don't think it can be rectified- the idea of idolisation has become pretty entrenched. There are hundreds of personal cosplay pages in North America. Of course, the vast majority of them are by people who love their pastime and want to show others. But there are many who use their sites as personal promotion sites, and falling for the trap of believing themselves important because they are popular. And people are going to be attracted to these cosplayers like bees to a honeypot because they are pretty, or they're sexy. Cosplay culture is cursed by the notion that cosplayers have to be young, cute/sexy and accessable.

No one said they have to take the cosplay out of conventions- it's as ingrained as the anime music videos, or doujinshi in Japan. What it will take is a culture change- and not just by cosplayers but from all fans. There must be an acceptance that there will be people who want to cosplay but aren't the right body shape, the right age, or the right sex, but they can be just as creative and skilled in making costumes.

Cosplay should be- must be- a democratic pastime. Everyone should be free to take it on. Circuses like the WCS only promote and exploit that cosplay should only be for pretty young girls.

Another problem is the idea of prizes. When expensive or cash prizes come into any competition, it becomes very serious- almost dog eat dog competition. People will become even more stringent on what they perceive to be the best cosplay- and as you say, people are people. People will have different criteria. The only way you can have impartial judging is to have proof of someone's expertise. You have to have rules that everyone understands, and that are enforced. These were things that appear not to have existed with the WCS. Rules that appear to have been made up on the run, favouritism by the judges or by the company behind the WCS. The solution? Get rid of valuable prizes. Give someone recognition of merit, but not something that makes someone envious. (Mind you, even a token of merit can be a focus of envy.)

Do I have all the answers? I doubt it. But I have been in cosplay fandom long enough to feel that what I have to contribute has some merit and is worthy of discussion.

Widya Santoso
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Italy's WCSTeam



Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:47 pm Reply with quote
It's very sad to see a good news site like your publishing a flawed article like this, in which the number and type of errors alone show it has been written without sources' verification at the very lowest level.

To start with, the Italian group team was not selected as group winners as stated in the article, the prize having been awarded to the French group.
The truth is three prizes were awarded:
Best individual - Giorgia Vecchini with Silene from Devilman costume
Best group - French group with Tokyo Mew Mew costumes
Best team (individual + group) - Italy
It's not a small mistake, and it shows the poor quality of the article alone.

The complaints by the other teams about the unfairness of the contest is their personal opinion and is not factual, while it is reported as such.
The truth is as long as TV Aichi was concerned, each team has been given exactly the same amount of time with the press.
The Italian Team has been followed by a TV troupe which did not belong to the TV Aichi, but to another TV to which TV Aichi was selling the event.
They had nothing to do with WCS organization and they chose to follow us just because they liked us, because we were lively and much more outgoing than the other teams and for no other reason.

The Italian team did not include any professional designer.
In fact, no professional cosplayer exists in Italy.
And moreover, the rules for the WCS, which can be find here http://www.tv-aichi.co.jp/cosplay2005/regulation/index.html do not forbid professional designer or cosplayer as stated in the article.
You could easily find the source, but you chose to believe what the American individual representative said on this post on cosplay.com http://forums.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=1142211&postcount=45 without verifying it.
That's a real shame.

The article says we were pre-selected as winners, but no evidence of this can be found anywhere.
There indeed is an anonymous post on the TV Aichi blog saying so, but there's another anonymous post saying it is not so.
Thus, these must be regarded to as rumors, and we refuse to believe this is the kind of news site that relies on rumors to write news.
The truth is we can provide video evidence the audience liked our costumes and performances much more than the other teams', cheering and wowing at us like they did for no one else.

As for Francesca Dani entry in the Italian Team, we must say we are happy of it, but we have to strongly point out she is not, she has never been and she'll never be an "official model" of Cure as stated in the article.
Francesca is just a member of the Cure community.
Anybody can sign to the Cure's community.
Francesca just happens to be popular and to be in the highest ranking of the community, but this could happen to anyone.
Being at the top of their ranking, Cure got the chance to interview her and to show her to her fans while she was in Japan.
This has nothing to do with being official model and such.
If Cure made money out of this, we don't know, but Francesca has not been paid and would have refused to be.

If you want to learn more about our point of view of the contest, please refer to the following articles we wrote on cosplay.com
http://forums.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=1145177&postcount=292 http://forums.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=1145177&postcount=293 http://forums.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=1145177&postcount=294 http://forums.cosplay.com/showpost.php?p=1146305&postcount=375

All in all,this article is just a bunch of rumors (which have never
been published by the source you refer to) for which no evidence is given (and it couldn't be since there are not) mixed with factual things to make the story believable.
As such we request immediate rectification of the article, since the current one puts our team in a bad light, casting the shameful doubt we cheated by taking an unequal advantage.
We have worked hard for our victory, tuning every small particular to their best and we won't allow anyone suspect we cheated.

Regards

The Italian WCS Team
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:22 pm Reply with quote
Italy's WCSTeam wrote:

Stuff


Thanks for offering your side of the story, but that's what it is, your side of the story.

We'll look in to it but as of right now I see no need to retract the story simply because you disagree with the portrayal of events, especially in light of how many people (including a member of one of the other teams) can confirm the details of this story.

If a retraction has to be made then we will, but this matter does require further investigation. All I ask is that you be patient.
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Italy's WCSTeam



Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:58 am Reply with quote
Zac wrote:
Thanks for offering your side of the story, but that's what it is, your side of the story.


Thank you for your reply.
It's sad we didn't have any to our email.

Anyway, we must point out this is not our side of the story.
We have evidence, while members of the other teams have only opinion.
We have posted here evidence.
It's not our "side of the story" who won what.
It's not our "side of the story" no professional cosplayer exists in Italy.
It's not our "side of the story" the regulation we linked.
It's not our "side of the story" the FACT the TV troupe was not TV Aichi's.
It's not our "side of the story" the FACT Francesca Dani is not a model for Cure.
It's not our "side of the story" that Mainichi Shinbun just reported the news of the contest having been held and prizes having been awarded with none of the article's conjecture.

We will be patient, but it's not that we just disagree, we feel your article just reports rumors as facts and damages our images as legitimate winners.
And after all you too have to agree that the article has been written hearing only one side of the story and without the needed further investigation.
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