" Our main objective is to promote art in all its different" Biebe Natso head of NAJ

Interview: We all were fans of Anime Stars at one point of time in our life. But there are some young boys and girls out there. Who are big fans of the Anime stars that, they make a costume for their own self and pay tribute to their great heroes? I came across Nagaland Anime Junkies group where these young people organized a show for Anime fans out there in Nagaland-Kohima, India .So, that they could showcase their talents to the world. I recently get in touch with head Biebe Natso of the group to know more about them….

First of all, tell us something about NAJ

Biebe Natso: NAJ stands for Nagaland Anime Junkies, we are a group of people who are very enthusiastic about all anime, manga, and art related stuff. We host cosplay events and interactive anime meets for people who share our passion. We do not limit our events to anime fans alone, though, we are open to all fandom and we find great joy in sharing and learning from them.

When did you realize Nagaland have huge fans of Animation ?

Biebe Natso: Animation has always had a huge fanbase in Nagaland, but because of the lack of DVD's, Manga and internet source (back in the 90's) we had very limited access to it. It wasn’t until 2011, when NAJ was launched as an anime fan page on facebook, that we noticed that we had a very big anime fan following in Nagaland. We had no idea we shared an interest with so many people.

NAJ has hosted three shows successfully if I’m not wrong? How is the response so far from Anime Fans?

Biebe Natso: Yes, we have hosted 3 major cosplay events in Nagaland so far. Our 4^th Annual NAJ Cosfest is scheduled to be held this year on the 9^th and 10^th of July in Kohima at The Heritage. With each passing year, the responses from the fans are getting better and better. We have seen a huge rise in the number of cosplayers, we have people coming over from all over the state and from other states to attend the fest. Our last cosplay event recorded the attendance of over 7000 people. We have more and more anime, movie, game, comics, cosplay and art enthusiasts attending the fest each year.

You guy future Goals & Wish

Biebe Natso: Our main objective is to promote art in all its different forms. We are hoping that one day we will be able to create opportunities for young people to share their talents with the rest of the world by incorporating modern foreign cultures with our rich Naga culture and history. We put a lot of effort and hard work into what we do at NAJ and we love it, we want to share that with everyone. We want to create opportunities where people can do what they love and make a career out of it as well as contribute to the society through their talent. We still have a long way to go to achieve all our goals but every step forward is taking us a little closer to it and we hope that we’ll get there soon.

Any plan of hosting an event on Animation out of Nagaland in future?

Biebe Natso: We would love to do something like that someday. We don’t have any immediate plans to do so but it is definitely on our to-do list.

Some of the participants I have seen has brilliantly recreated themselves same as that of Anime stars? Tells us the process of choosing a winner.

Biebe Natso: With each passing event, the cosplays are getting better and better. This makes it really hard for us to choose a winner sometimes. We judge the cosplays on 3 criteria:

l. cosplay detail (costume detailing, hair, and makeup)

ll. role play

lll. Creativity

Any messages to NJA Fans

Biebe Natso: Message to all the NAJ fans: A big shout out to all our awesome nakamas, thank you for all the support and love you have shown us over the years. All the positive responses and good vibes that you guys send us to motivate us to do better each and every year. We will always do what we love to do and bring you the best of what we can. We also want to remind everyone that it is never too late or never too lame to pick up your passion and do what you love to do, and we want you to be the best at it. We hope that you’ll keep supporting us and always be the awesome people that you are.

Love and regards,

NAJ Team.

[Note: This Interview was taken by Editor in Chief of the Magazine, we thank Biebe Natso for giving time for the interview]

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