WCS 2008 - Meet Jessie, the "misterious Fuu" from Team USA

Written by Remy

Friday, 28 March 2008

She won the preliminaries for World Cosplay Summit, but isn't going to Japan, at least not to compete in Nagoya. Meet Jessie, the third member of the american team for WCS 2008.

In all countries participating in WCS around the world there are being held preliminaries for 2008 international finals, which should happen this August in Japan. In all these preliminaries cosplayers compete in duos, and the best team from each country classifies to the finals.

In the United States however, the competition ended up having a format that is different from the other countries, and teams with more than two people were allowed to enter the preliminaries. But as the japanese finals only allow teams with two people, american groups with more than this number had to choose their representatives for the finals before getting on the stage, since only two people of the winning team were going to Japan.

We already talked about this matter before, in our interviews with Sonnya Paz and Renee Gloger, US representatives for WCS 2008 and also with Peter Tatara, New York Anime Festival's manager. NYAF is the convention holding the preliminaries in the US. As we saw back then, Sonnya and Renee won the preliminaries and were choosen as Team USA, to represent the US in Japan.

This time Cosplayers.net interviewed Jessie, the "misterious third member" of the american Team on the preliminaries. Read the full interview and discover a talented and experienced cosplayer, besides a first class photographer.

Cosplayers.net: First of all, could you please introduce yourself to our readers, and tell us a little bit about your occupations and hobbies?

Jessie: Hi, my name is Jessie. I'm 22 and I live in New York, USA. My cosplay name is AnimeAngel. I do a lot of things, but my current passion is
photography. I love taking pictures a lot.

Cosnet: For how long have you been cosplaying and how did you start?

Jessie: I started cosplaying in 1999. My first costume was Sailor Mercury. My
dad told me that for my birthday he would buy the materials for me to
make my own costume (my birthday is on Halloween) since I was obsessed
with Sailor Moon and none of the costumes at the store impressed me. A
few months later, my uncle asked me to attend a convention with him to
help him with his Boba Fett costume. He dressed me up as a Padowan so
that I wouldn't be without a costume. It all went from there.

Cosnet: How did you happen to join Sonnya and Renee on their performance for the WCS preliminary?

Jessie: To clarify, Sonnya and Renee are the only two that competed in the WCS. I was only there so that they had all three Magic Knight Rayearth girls and not just two. I was aware from the very beginning that I wasn't competing in the contest.

Cosnet: The US was the only contry allowing groups with more than two people to compete in the WCS. Do you see this as an advantage, a drawback or that it didn't affect the quality of the performances? Do you think that groups with more than two people allow for a more elaborated performance?

Jessie: As stated in the earlier question, they were the only two that competed in the WSC, I was there for the Masquerade skit. I think the only drawback was that it wasn't clarified, so a lot of people were VERY confused.

Cosnet: You knew beforehand that, if your team won the preliminary, you were not going to Japan with them and I assume you were prepared for that. But did your feelings changed somehow when you actually won? How did you feel at that moment?

Jessie: No, not at all. I don't think I'm good enough at all the compete in the WCS, the right two girls are going. I was very proud of them. I'm still really proud of them and I can't wait to see them perform in Japan.

Cosnet: Do you plan to participate in next year's preliminary, but this time "for real"?

Jessie: Haha, no. I'll leave that to the people who are much better than me.

Cosnet: Now that Sonnya and Renee are finishing their preparatives for going to Japan, don't you think about going as well? You know, there's always a chance that they may need a "misterious Fuu" for their performance on the last minute.

Jessie: I do plan on going with them. I will be there to help them rehearse, do their make-up and take pictures. Not to mention be a cheerleader!

Cosnet: Again I would like to thank you very much for this interview, and say that we really appreciate you taking the time to respond it.

Jessie: Thank you for this opportunity. I don't usually do interviews, but yours really peaked my interest. I didn't think that many people cared about Mysterious Fuu! Haha.

Besides working on her cosplays and travelling to Japan with her friends, Jessie's also currently working on her own website, where she will show her photographies.