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Cosplay fans treated to spectacular showcase at MARS Anime and Comic Convention
(Kaieteur News) – Cosplay fans were given a treat last weekend when the MARS Anime and Comic Convention hosted its annual event at the Princess Ramada in Providence.
The event was hosted by Sōzō’s Enterprise and the Caribbean Cosplay Summit featured a spectacular showcase of anime culture, bringing together fans, creators, and cosplayers. The convention included various activities, workshops, panels, gaming areas, and vendors
These costumes copped first and second place at the MARS cosplay competition.
Hundreds of anime lovers swarmed the venue’s event to indulge in their favourite cosplay activities. Those who attended left the convention filled with fun memories certain to last a lifetime; a few even left with notable prizes.
This year the winners of the Cosplay competition were 1st place Jeremiah James – Five Nights at Freddy – $120,000 cash prize 2nd Place Kalyca Fraser- Howls Moving Castle- $60,000 cash prize.
According to George Jacobs who cofounded Sōzō’s Enterprise, with his wife, Marissa, “MARS has been continuously growing and improving of the past four years getting bigger and better.”
He noted “with every year that passes by with a visible increase of attendees from 1500 to close to 3000 in attendance and over 40 vendors grounded in the Anime and pop culture community.”
“Our most popular event, the cosplay competition has come a far way with just having 10 participants to having over 35 participants signing up it has become one of the attendees favourite parts of MARS. It truly allows persons to express themselves through their creativity.”
Jacobs explained that the platform has blossomed from just being an event to being a safe haven, a community for persons who love and enjoy the anime and pop culture community.
Some of the cosplayers at the Mars event.
An anime fan, himself, Jacobs said MARS was created because he and his wife were interested in experiencing a convention as large as the renowned comic con that happens all over the world.
“We [wanted]to create a space where persons who would experience the weird looks or the taunts of being weird or a nerd or geek just because we’re passionate about stuff like games, anime, manga, duel monsters ,” he said.
“The word Sōzō’s is Japanese for creation. We chose this because it connected with our vision of having anime and pop culture related merchandise born from the creative mind of my fellow co-founder Marissa Jacobs,” Jacobs added.
Reminiscent of how the event came to be, the Sōzō’s Enterprise cofounder started as just a vision became a reality in August 2022 when they hosted Guyana’s 1st Anime and Comic Convention.
“At the time, Marissa and I were studying at the Aeronautical Engineering School; we took our savings and even borrowed funding from family to make this event possible. We had various challenges from trying to plan an event whilst working and studying, securing vendors which at the time were not bountiful, dealing with dishonest and unreliable suppliers and the list goes on. After dealing with all that, on 20th August, 2022 MARS anime and comic convention was launched and we had an amazing turn out of over 600 attendees and over 30 vendors all of which are grounded in the anime and pop culture community…it keeps getting bigger”
Today, he said that the MARS team also grew larger with the addition of their advisor Shomari Williams who has helped with the continuous growth of not only MARS but with the cosplay community.
According to Jacobs MARS also affected the local culture and economy.
“After the launch of MARS in 2022, popularity and appearances of businesses focusing on anime and pop culture related merchandise grew exponentially as persons realized how large the anime and pop culture community in Guyana is,” Jacobs explained.
He continued “Over the years we have had a lot of vendors but we have had some vendors that have been onboard with MARS since the beginning, some of these are Bad monkey Merch, Darcy’s Knick Knacks, lunar gift shop, Mischief Merch, Lynaes Fibers, Kustom Box just to name a few.”
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