Interview with the German representatives

How do you feel about the upcoming ECG Finals?

Chiko: Surprisingly I'm totally fine. Not nervous or stressed or anything. I would say I'm kind of relaxed right now. But maybe it’s the calm before the storm. With the start of the year I will also start with my final cosplay. There is a lot to do, but I'm really looking forward to Japan Expo, ECG and all the other participants. We were at Japan Expo 2015 and 2017 watching the ECG finals in the audience. Now we will be on the other side and hope to entertain the audience the same as the representatives in the last years.

Shiroku: To be honest I'm already pretty nervous (laugh). I started working on my costume and on the performance about 2 months ago and hope everything will work out as planned. I still can't believe we will have the honor of representing Germany and am really looking forward to the finals. I’m also super excited to meet all the other talented finalists of the other countries and can't wait to see their wonderful costumes and performances (I really hope we can see them from backstage!). As Chiko mentioned we already watched the Finals in the previous years and I'm sure it will be a great experience to be part of this amazing show.

Why did you decide to make this character for the selections?

Chiko: I hope Shiroku knows the answer, because I totally forgot. I'm so sorry. I kind of remember it was something like an impulsive decision in Japan 2016, after the WCS finals. Was it like this? I'm not sure.

Shiroku: Yes, I remember it. Because it's my fault. The Japanese summer was hot, and we were still full of feels due to our participation at the World Cosplay Summit. We were so eager to start our next project and to compete again. In Japan fabrics are cheap and the choice is very good. You can find fabrics for Idol costumes like in every store. I'm really a huge fan of Love Live and we already had tons of outfits we wanted to make. So, it was the perfect chance to go fabric shopping. For me it was also very important to try out a new style of performance and to portrait a character I love. So, we decided to go for something cute and sparkly.

Which part of your costume are you the proudest of?

Chiko: The skirt, definitely the skirt. I'm totally in love with it. It's fluffy and puffy. We bought the shiny fabric in Japan and they look fantastic in the dress. It really gives these circuses feeling. The little triangle applications were some kind of annoying, but I really like the outcome.

Shiroku: I also really like the skirt, because it is super fluffy and puffy. Although attaching the rhinestones took like forever. I also like my hat. It is made from scratch and I'm super happy how it turned out. All the small details are made out of different materials, with which I have never worked before. I'm proud that it looks decent and I didn’t lose my hand…

Can you give us a hint about what you plan to do for the Finals?

Chiko & Shiroku: We want to reveal our costumes with a quiz. So, we want to keep it secret for the moment. But we can tell you it´s from something which is pretty popular right now. We hope everyone can enjoy our costumes and performance!

Follow:

• Shiroku on www.facebook.com/Shiroku.de
• Chiko on www.facebook.com/ChibiChikoChan
• The photographer Meermiau on worldcosplay.net/member/meermiau