A half-year-old subway angel, a blue-haired doll in a Japanese school uniform or an as-yet-hard-to-describe superhero with impressive armor and a sword - such passers-by will remind you in the center of Vilnius on Saturday that St. The most colorful part of the "nowJapan" festival - the "Cosplay" contest - is taking place in St. Catherine's Church. Every year more numerous, brighter, more interesting, it confirms that this world-famous pop culture phenomenon is gaining ground in Lithuania as well, and the creation of costumes for characters in manga, anime, fantasy films, books, computer games goes beyond simple self-expression - it becomes a way of life or even a profession.
If such a colorful carnival of heroes that are not immediately recognizable to everyone confuses at first - nothing surprising. A few years ago, fashion professional Robertas Kalinkinas experienced the same thing. Invited to judge the nowJapan Cosplay contest, the famous designer initially felt strange and even slightly shocked, until he realized how much time and effort his participants needed to create an idea, sew clothes, collect accessories, and finally make weapons, armor and other ammunition, began to look at it as a cultural event, an artistic movement. "After evaluating and understanding everything, I began to admire this strange niche phenomenon endlessly. How much imagination is needed to collect all the materials needed for the construction of the costumes in the hardware stores, to figure out how to make weapons that resemble the real thing! Those people are not only creative - they are also very brave and active, they dare to go on stage with their costumes, organize performances, and even learn to communicate like their copied heroes. It's all so beautiful and positive!" - said Robert Kalinkinas, who will happily judge the competition again this year.
Cosplay, which is admired by the popular designer and more and more Lithuanians, appeared in Japan primarily as a hobby or a highlight of parties for people who like to dress up as fascinated heroes. A good three decades ago, the phenomenon became popular in the world, its beginning is associated with thematic gatherings of fans of the fantasy genre in the United States, at one of which the Japanese journalist Nobuyuki Takahashi, who visited Los Angeles and introduced the term "Cosplay", which means "costume game" in English.
Uniting thousands abroad, this phenomenon attracts more and more enthusiasts in Lithuania. This year, in the exceptionally cozy St. About 70 of them will appear on the stage of St. Catherine's Church: some will sing, dance, and present after preparation mini etudes, others will simply show off their unique costumes and be judged in a different category based on strict criteria. A great prize awaits the winner - for the second year, he will go to the European "Cosplay" competition in London - a kind of "Eurovision" of this genre.
One of the most famous in Lithuania cosplayers Agota Gudelytė, who embodied Aloy from the computer game "Horizon Zero Dawn" last year and became the winner of the "nowJapan" competition, has already participated and won various prizes not only at "EuroCosplay" in London. In such events, according to her, Lithuanians perform really well, and after returning home, they start creating costumes more and more often, not only before the competition. "A lot of people here already know what Cosplay is, but there are also some who don't, so I usually introduce myself as a designer or someone who works in the field of costume creation. Yes, it became my profession", Agota introduces herself. Growing up in an artistic family, her grandfathers folk artists always encouraged her to create, she learned that many things in life can be made with her own hands. Instead, a poster she once found on the street inviting her to "Cosplay" immediately got her and her friend interested: "Let's try it?" - "Let's try it!" You don't even need to design a costume yourself to have a really fun contest where a lot of people with the same interests gather in one place. You can rent it or buy it from a craftsman like me and just go there for fun. In Lithuania, in Poland and in some other countries, Cosplay today usually means a presentation of one's work, a competition, and in the United Kingdom or JAV - just a fun mask party," says Agota. Cosplay contests have stirred up a lot of talent and encouraged more than just costume creation. After that, some decided to turn to acting, others to engage in scenography, lighting, and voice acting.
"It is fun and useful for the participants event, and a wonderful celebration for the audience. Be sure to take your children to it. Will you be surprised? You will see. Watch their reactions as well as your own," smiled Robert Kalinkin, a regular evaluator of the superhero convention.
"nowJapan" Cosplay, which has attracted guests from Latvia and Ireland this year, will be held on September 14. 13 p.m. St. Catherine's Church. At the same time, in the courtyard of the Lithuanian Theater, Music and Cinema Museum, other "nowJapan" Big Weekends will be held events from art exhibitions, cooking workshops to presentations on the topics of art and food culture, zen monk sutras, games and other Japanese attractions.
