Many young people spent Sunday afternoon immersing themselves in fantastical figures, from long-running Japanese 'superhero team' Super Sentai to Captain America, a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, at a cosplay competition in Ho Chi Minh City.

The costume role-play or cosplay contest, named Super Hero The Champion Season 1, was organized at the Cultural Center in District 5, for the Winter Convention - an annual three-day anime convention and one of the largest of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City. 

Winter Convention, also known as WinterCon, was first held in the southern metropolis in December 2011, counting 4,000 visitors. 

Ever since, WinterCon has been held every December, with visitor numbers having grown quickly beyond 10,000 in 2013. 

This year, the organizers expected 12,000 visitors to join the event.

The youthful participants donned fantastical costumes inspired by a variety of fictional characters, from U.S. style uniforms to fairy dresses in Chinese romantic novels.

The main characters of Japanese manga and anime were popular sources of cosplay costumes, if not the most popular, while gaming was also a source of inspiration at the convention.

“The superhero cosplay competition is of international stature, with elaborately invested costumes, contributing to building a professional cosplayer community,” said Nghi To, a member of the organizing board.

Outshining more than 20 other contestants, Nguyen The Quan, a graphic designer who cosplayed Batman, won the first prize of the cosplay competition.

“I am very passionate about cosplay. It took me nearly two months to finish the Batman costume and to practice performing [for the contest],” Quan said.

Nguyen Anh Duc, a student from the Hanoi-based Academy of Policy and Development, won the second prize for his costume of Captain America.

At Sunday’s competition, Nghi To, who is also a producer, revealed that he is working on the first historical superhero film project in Vietnam, with a goal of evoking the love of Vietnamese history among elementary and middle school students.

According to To, the project will be carried out in three to seven years and is currently in the stage of preparing costumes. 

A participant dons a cosplay costume at the Super Hero The Champion Season 1 in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, December 27, 2020. Photo: Phuong Nam / Tuoi Tre

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