Naruto, Warcraft, Saint Seiya, Claymore, One Piece, and even the domestic animation Kuiba—one after another, these exciting anime cosplay groups took the stage, showcasing self-made, highly realistic props and makeup, along with all kinds of dazzling POSES, igniting waves of cheers from countless anime fans in front of the super grand stage at the main exhibition area of Hangzhou Xiubo Park during the anime festival.

Cosplay is not just about simply imitating a character’s appearance and actions; more importantly, the cosplayer needs to vividly bring the character and anime plot to life. It’s not enough to just look like the character—you have to capture their spirit as well, in order to win unanimous approval from the picky judges and audience. Anime fans have sharp eyes and are not easily fooled. Performing live on stage is even more demanding than acting in movies or TV shows—there’s no director shouting “CUT” for a retake; it’s a one-shot deal.

After two rounds of selection two months ago, every cosplay group that made it to today’s finals at the Xiubo Park anime festival is truly the elite of the elite. To prepare for the championship prize—which includes an iPad 3 and other awards, with a total value of nearly 100,000 yuan—each contestant is raring to go, making active preparations.

“Why aren’t Morris Lincoln and Sophie here yet? Don’t tell me they’re going to bail at a time like this! Or is there something fishy going on between them?” In the backstage area among the competing teams, a Tauren cosplayer carrying a prop double-bladed battle axe grumbled to himself while staring at his phone.

“In just one more hour, it’ll be our turn. Didn’t we agree to gather here as soon as the competition started? We’ve already checked in, so why aren’t they here yet? This is a big show being broadcast live on TV! Todd Denton, hurry up and talk to the host—ask them to move us to a later slot. If Morris Lincoln and Sophie are both late, all our preparations will be for nothing. With just the few of us, we’ll make a real spectacle of ourselves.” A dwarf, holding an outrageously large-caliber musket, complained while gulping down bottled water. On closer look, he was a short, chubby young man, no taller than 1.5 meters, and standing next to the nearly two-meter-tall Tauren, the contrast in height really played to their natural advantages.

“All right, all right, Todd Denton, Qian D, you two stop moving around or your makeup will get messed up again. I’ll go talk to the host. You two keep calling Morris Lincoln and Sophie until you get through. This performance has to succeed—failure is not an option.” The group’s makeup artist quickly took out her kit to touch up the Tauren with the double-bladed axe and the dwarf with the musket.

Section 11: Take the Stage! Knights!

Right now, the weather is hot, and the backstage air conditioning is barely working. With foundation and other makeup covering their skin, it’s even more stuffy and suffocating. Cosplayers’ sweat can easily ruin their makeup, and without a dedicated makeup artist on hand, they’d probably end up looking like a mess before even getting on stage. Any group that made it to the finals wouldn’t make such a rookie mistake. Only after the competition ends do the makeup artists use professional removers to clean off the makeup from the performers.

“Hehe… If they don’t show up, then it’ll be my stage—the sinister evil mage’s stage! Oh man, that would be such a huge upset. I can already imagine the audience’s eyes popping out all over the place. Wahaha, I’m just too evil.” An evil mage, dressed in a black hooded cloak and brandishing a white bone skull staff, let out a wicked laugh. Good thing this was backstage—if he did that on the street, he’d probably scare a three-year-old kid to tears.

This villain cosplayer immediately drew a round of eye rolls from those around him. In cosplay performances, villain roles are basically cannon fodder—strong at first, but quickly taken down by the heroes. That’s almost a rule, and it’s rare for villains to win in the end. After all, the idea that evil never triumphs over good fits the mainstream values.

“Hey! Sister Sophie, oh my, my lady, I finally got through to your phone! You’re still using an iPhone 4? What a lousy signal, lousy phone! We’re all freaking out here—it’s almost our turn! Hey, Miles Lincoln is with you, right? Great! That guy’s phone has been off this whole time—what’s he doing? You two sure know how to make an entrance! Hurry up, hurry up! We’re just waiting on you! Okay, okay, thirty minutes—fine, I’ll tell the organizers to move us back one slot.” The Tauren with the battle axe shouted into his phone, exasperated, and after hanging up, finally let out a long sigh of relief. He turned to the dwarf, the evil mage, the makeup artist, and the others and said, “All right, all right, we finally got in touch with them. Sister Sophie overslept and ran into Miles Lincoln on the way—they’re on their way now and will be here in half an hour. Whew, what a relief.” He wiped the sweat from his brow, clearly having been stressed out before.

Just as he wiped his sweat, the makeup artist shrieked, “Todd Denton, you idiot, you messed up your makeup again! If you keep this up, I’ll turn you into a caveman!” The makeup artist’s scream nearly scared the soul out of Todd Denton, the Tauren cosplayer. Her high-pitched voice could rival a siren’s deadly wail.

“Shenzhan group, is everyone here? You’re up after the next group!” The backstage director called out, holding the newly updated schedule. He called out the team leader’s name, but of course, the leader was late at this very moment.

“They’ll be here soon! Everyone will be here soon!” Todd Denton and the others were practically counting down the seconds, waiting for their teammates to arrive. Just a minute ago, they’d confirmed again—Sophie and Miles Lincoln, the two stragglers, had just arrived outside the main venue.