Philippine cosplayers Jin Joson and AC Hernandez won a special award at the 2021 World Cosplay Summit in Japan.

The event, held virtually from August 7 to 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had cosplaying pairs representing 30 countries submitting video skits for their presentations, rather than attending the show in person and performing there.

The Philippine team won an award for best costume making, which was presented by Japanese technology company Brother Industries.

In a Facebook post acknowledging the win, Jin meanwhile said it was “such an honor just to be the first to bring our beloved Naruto to the WCS stage and to get the kind of comments that we did from the judges and the viewers, BUT on top of that we get a major award for the Philippines (presented by Toru Furuya!) and plant our flag on the list of awardees for a historic first time!”

Furuya is a Japanese voice actor whose body of work includes Yamcha in Dragon Ball, Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, and Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam.

You can watch the Philippine team’s entry to WCS 2021 below:

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Jin and AC said in a video introducing themselves at WCS 2021 that they chose the characters Naruto and Jiraiya from the anime Naruto, as these characters helped shape their cosplay journey.

AC added Jiraiya was his first cosplay ever when he started out.

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The World Cosplay Summit page also tweeted the pair’s victory:

Team Germany, meanwhile, won first place in the WCS 2021 Video Championship. – Rappler.com