ASIA VOCALOID FESTA in Fukuoka Event Report（2/5）

The Asia Vocaloid Cosplay Championship!

Preliminary contests were held in six countries and regions in Asia, and eight groups consisting of fourteen cosplayers made it through to the finals. There were great expectations among the many who made their way to the venue to see the VOCALOID cosplayers performing their dances and songs as they battled it out for the No1 title. In this report we bring you the performances of the contestants from each country or region. And who will take out the title?

Star studded judging panel

The judging panel included Inui Tatsumi, the manager of the cosplay community site "cure", Nico Nico Douga event producer Abe-chan, popular cosplayers KANAME&KIPI and J-POP culture pioneer Sakurai Takamasa. KIPI got a rousing welcome when she appeared in cosplay as the newly released Korean VOCALOID "SeeU". The glamorous lineup of judges scored the contestants on three areas: the cosplay quality, performance level, and their love of VOCALOID. The contestant with the highest score takes away the crown of Asia’s top cosplayer. There was standing room only at the venue showing the high level of interest and excitement.

Performers bring the venue to life

The order that contestants would perform was decided at the exchange event held the previous day: 1 Korea’s representative; 2 VOCALOID Festa special contestant; 3 Taiwan’s representative; 4 Thailand’s representative; 5 China’s representative; 6 Fukuoka’s representative; 7 Japan’s representative; 8 Hong Kong’s representative. The opening act from Korea, Rikert & Caruto pair performed a Hatsune Miku medley. In fact, Cult, who was performing as Hatsune Miku was actually a boy! Did anybody realize this? Next was the Ueda and Haruno pair who won their spot in the VOCALOID Festa 03 contest. The audience got into their singing and dancing the popular Kagamine Family song “Gekokujo (Kan)”. The third contestants from Taiwan were the NENEKO & MISA pair. They performed a cute dance of the PSP game Project DIVA 2nd called “Colorful x Melody”.

●Miku's costume and the electric guitar and leeks used as props had LED lights attached. This made Rikert & Caruto stand out.

●Ueda (Kagamine Ren) and Haruno (Kagamine Rin) gave an outstanding original performance with flip charts appearing with the lyrics.

●Colorful x Melody view of the world expressed by NENEKO (Hatsune Miku) and Misa (Kagamine Rin)

Thai contestant Aim sang and danced the song "Romeo and Cinderella." Her fantastic voice and sharp dance really got the crowd's attention. The Chinese contestant pair of Wan Wan & Mizutani Rei sang "World is Mine" (Mizutani Rei) and "Double Rariatto" (Wan Wan), both famous Miku and Ruka songs to dance to. They finished their performance with "PoPiPo" which really got the audience going.

●Aim appeared in the Hatsune Miku Sapporo Snow Festival "Yuki Miku" version costume.

●Wan Wan (Megurine Luka) and Mizutani Rei (Hatsune Miku) in their top quality custom tailored costumes.

The Fukuoka contestants NORANEKO and ROU pair appeared in stylish costumes and upped the voltage with their performance of Megurine Luka’s hit "Luka Luka★Night Fever." Japan’s representative SZU performed Kagamine Ren’s hit "SPICE!", showing her sharp dance and sexy voice. The contest was capped off with Hong Kong’s representative Saki&Miyabi. Their tight combination singing and dancing "Romeo and Cinderella" drew applause from the audience.

●NORANEKO (Kamui Gakupo) & ROU (Kagamine Ren) created a happy aura with their dance.

●-SZU-’s (Kagamine Ren) took off her boys school uniform to reveal a sexy dance performance.

●Saki’s (Hatsune Miku) sexy costume was a detailed replication and caught the eye of many.

Difficult decision for the judges – Who will be crowned Asia’s number 1?

Due to the fact that the contestants won their way through domestic preliminaries, the quality of the performers was extremely high, and both first and runner up tied on an equal number of votes and the contest had to go to a deciding “dance-off”. That just shows how difficult the judge’s job was. Nevertheless, Japan’s -SZU- was named runner up. “There was no time to prepare for the dance-off so I just did my best. I tried to seduce the audience with eros (lol)”.

But Asia’s number 1 crown went to Aim-chan. Despite being only 14 years old she gave an amazing performance. “I worked hard to make it to this contest and I would like to thank all of those who helped me on the way”. Her Thai style greeting brought applause from the audience.
“The Asia VOCALOID Cosplay Championship”　was a great way to showcase just how popular it is in Asia. VOCALOID has been a catalyst for people from different countries to cross boarders and make new friends. It just goes to show the potential that J Pop culture has. It was and awesome day when the VOCALOID craze hit Fukuoka.
(right)Aim-chan from Thailand raises her winning trophy.
text：yoshida

VOCALOID is a registered trademark of the YAMAHA Co., Ltd.
“Hatsune Miku”“Kagamine Rin”“Kagamine Ren”“Megurine Luka” “MEIKO”“KAITO”are registered trademarks of CRYPTON FUTURE MEDIA INC.
“GACKPOID”“Kamui Gakupo”are registered trademarks of INTERNET CO., LTD.
“SeeU”are registered trademarks of SBS ARTECH.