Young people with WYD back-packs and scarves are in the same square as youth dressed in black and with make-up that makes them look like Japanese cartoon characters. Two different youth souls coexist peering at each other with curiosity, asking questions of each other but without intermingling, each group absorbed in their own activities and commitments: this is another thing that is happening in the German towns that are hosting the dioceses twinning activities. At Aachen (Aquisgrana), a group of 175 young French people from the diocese of Paris fill the streets and squares challenging the indifference of the many tourists who are visiting the artistic wonders of the Carolingian town. Between a visit to the Cathedral and a stroll through the city streets, the French youth take time to rest on the lawns. Two Parisian sisters attending a WYD for the first time, Claire Marie and Caroline Bono, both students, and aged 18 and 17, are enthusiastic about German efficiency and the welcome they have received: "Everything is so well organized, and the families are very kind to us". A few metres away, a group of boys and girls wearing extravagant black clothing, with tattoos, red roses and heavy make-up, are doing the very same things but with contents that are undoubtedly different. "There are about forty of us says Katrin Seidal, a German employee aged 24. We are here to participate in a convention on manga/souls. We get to know each other, we talk, draw and dress like our favourite characters". Indeed, this recent phenomenon that started in Japan called "Cosplay", and which has now spread to the U.S., France, Germany, Spain and Italy, consists in walking through city streets dressed up like Japanese cartoon characters.
