Italy Wins World Cosplay Summit 2010

The World Cosplay Summit 2010 finals took place in Nagoya, Japan this past Sunday with representatives from 15 countries and an audience of about 15,000. This year's grand prize winners were the representatives from Italy, Luca Buzzi and Giancarlo di Pierro, cosplaying as Link and Ganondorf from the Legend of Zelda video game franchise. The pair performed a three-minute action skit for the attendees.

Thailand's Orawan Aggavinate and Patawikorn Uttisen dressed as the protagonist Cloud Strife and summon monster Bahamut SIN from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and won the special Brother Award for outstanding costume. Thailand and Brazil were both runners-up in the main competition. This year's judges included voice actor Tohru Furuya, anime singer and JAM Project member Hironobu Kageyama, and Canadian anime theme song singer HIMEKA.

The World Cosplay Summit was launched in 2003 with four participating countries. Since then, it has expanded to 15 participating countries: Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States. This year's win marks Italy's second; the country took the grand prize in 2005, and was a runner-up in 2006. The last three years' grand prize winners were Japan (2009), Brazil (2008), and France (2007).

Update: Video footage of the World Cosplay Summit parade, which went through the Osu Shopping Center in Nagoya, has been streamed by a onlooker on YouTube. The parade also attracted cosplayers not participating in the competition, including one that demonstrates what Konami's Loveplus virtual girlfriend simulator would look like in real life.