Last week, I visited Cebu for the fourth time to witness Otakufest 2020. It’s their 13th year holding the said event, and the second time that they will do so at SM Seaside City Cebu’s Maze Garden.

I’ve thought long and hard if I’m supposed to push through with my fourth Cebu trip, and it turned to be like any Cebu trip I had in the past: It’s wild! It’s been a fun weekend spending time in the Queen City of the South.

Otakufest 2020 has been held successfully amid perhaps the worst of predicaments, filling in a lot of activities for all otaku in Cebu.

Hikarin / DD Tenka Meet and Greet

I started the day going to the meet and greet for this year’s international guests Hikarin and DD Tenka.

Some of the highlights of the meet and greet are questions about their skincare routine, their cosplans and the like. Thanks to the Otakufest team, we secured fast talks with them the following day, so stay tuned as I will release it on YouTube and Facebook soon.

Cosplay Propsmaking Workshop

It’s been 10 years since I put my foot into the cosplay community, but I have yet to learn how to craft props. This is where the cosplay props workshop of Team Class S and King Rusydi comes in. Joining them is Class S’ mentor and 2018 WCSPH Alumni Sergio Sta. Ana (you should probably know him by now).

I stayed for around 30 minutes, but I brought with me two things:

1. There are two cuts we can use to slice the EVA foam, which I can perfect through practice; and
2. I can actually make props if I wanted to. Even if my output didn’t fulfill my expectations, as long as your mentor appreciates it, all is well.

Artist Alley

Otakufest has a lively art alley featuring a lot of art, stickers, ships and of course memes.

I went to Kei Cyanyan‘s booth just to see this Mio Honda meme sticker that I can’t stop laughing. If I remember correctly, I bought other stickers except for this one because it deserves to be in the hands of much worthy iM@S memers.

https://www.facebook.com/keicyanyanart/posts/2704086173047265

Aidoru Community in Cebu

Even with me becoming oshi-less in the MNL48 community, I still find myself being in the same place as other MNLoves (I said I’d graduate from the fandom but where am I again?).

I believe I told all of you about Ai Natsumi on this space before, so let’s go fast forward: Ai met her fellow MNLoves, and it was a really nice experience seeing fellow MNLoves talk about their oshi. Hats off to Skip Goat and Cebu MNLoves for being such a good sport.

I have been saying this to myself: Set aside and let the new fans enjoy the fandom. I’m happy with that decision, as (1) I honestly felt irrelevant to the topic of MNL48 nowadays, and (2) we need one less pessimist in this group.

I mean, I can talk at length about MNL48 on my podcast for the long-time fans, but at the same time I want to leave it to the newer fans to learn more about the group they are idolizing.

Pastel Mix

Otakufest and the World Cosplay Summit Philippines have been inseparable since the first Central Visayas Qualifiers in 2017. As with last year, WCSPH brings in its ambassador, Davao-based performance group Pastel Mix, to the Otakufest stage.

They always have Walküre (Macross Delta) in their musical repertoire, but did you know that they did dress up as the group in Davao almost two years ago?

Odd stuff

Otakufest is not complete without memes and the memers who are propagating it. While we are recording our next two podcasts at the Unity Productions booth, I saw the KEK flag being flown around the area.

That, and some more weird stuff. There’s even some guys who are implying to tell everyone to take a bath before going to conventions.

Also imagine a walking life-sized AXE spray coming to you to “Purify the Filth,” which then makes you question yourself if you took a bath.

Luckily, the heavy winds balances the hot temperature of the venue – remember that it’s called Seaside City for a reason.

Final thoughts

What I noticed in going to a lot of events (that eventually I became part of the industry soon enough) is that the visitors make the event most of the time.

Events are platforms for people to meet each other, and those people make the most of their time to have a wonderful experience, no matter what happens.

In the case of Otakufest, the organizers had a few scratches to soldier on while they proceed with the show, and eventually, things fell into place. The environment is not that hot, just that windy; but overall, it’s a fair-weather weekend for us all.

Going back to what I said earlier, my second Otakufest experience is as great as last year’s, and I plan to keep going there should another opportunity comes.

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I have a series of photos to cap off this post-event report. There are more photos on Facebook – including my proudest shots of more cosplayers. You definitely should see it.

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Upcoming Otakufest 2020 Content

• Please do subscribe to the Podcast as we will be releasing the two-part Otakufest 2020 special for the month of March, with Max Maquiling of Unity Productions alongside Gary Montejo and Serena Moon.
• As I mentioned earlier, stand by for our quick fast talk with King Rusydi, Hikarin and DD Tenka on YouTube and Facebook soon.
• Team Zero is the Central Visayas representative to the 2020 World Cosplay Summit Philippines qualifiers, after participating in the competition for the third time. I’ll write a separate story on this once all the finalists from all qualifier legs are selected.

Thank you Otakufest for having keepsakes. as one of your media partners once more.

Otakufest 2020 Media Team: Jay Agonoy / Gary Montejo / Serena Moon

Recently, Netflix got the rights to release 21 Studio Ghibli films in most territories. Speaking of Ghibli, what’s the next event to have that kind of theme? Cebu’s Otakufest.

I am returning to Cebu for the fourth time to witness this year’s Otakufest, happening at the Maze Garden of SM Seaside City Cebu on the weekend of February 23-24, 2020.

Previously, the venue is stated to be held at UP Cebu in Lahug, but due to the recent outbreak and scare of COVID-2019, the Otakufest team made big leaps to proceed with holding the event.

https://www.facebook.com/ofest/videos/955281604870899/

Amenities

Otakufest are among the events that show what pop culture is in the VisMin region, and that includes merch and art fairs from various brands and personalities:

Merchants

Artist Alley

Otakufest’s artist alley is divided into three sets, which are included in the following links below:

Activities

As with last year, Otakufest is filled with a lot of activities to the brim. Here’s what’s in store for everyone:

Cosplay

As you guys know, I’m more excited with how Cebu amps up its cosplay game, especially that last year’s World Cosplay Summit Philippine team hailed from the Queen City of the South.

Since we are talking about this year’s Otakufest theme, they added in a Studio Ghibli Cosplay Competition. I’m already expecting Howl’s Moving Castle to move.

Sing/Dance

Sing and Dance competitions are a staple of every event like Otakufest, so please cheer for your bets, okay?

Others

Last year’s winner of the Spicy Noodle challenge told everyone after he got the title: “Was it spicy?” The question is: Will he join again and prove that the noodles are still not spicy until now, or will someone beat him this time?

All that I thought of regarding these activities is the Spicy Noodle Challenge. Seriously.

Guests

This year’s set of local and international guests will grace Cebu’s rising otaku community.

Cosplay Guests

This made me felt that the golden time of Cebu cosplay is already up, and I just don’t realize it – look, guest cosplayers!

Performers

Cebu’s anime community remembers the Summoning Eru video that popped up last year, and this year, the band behind it will sing that song at the Otakufest stage!

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I’m more than happy to see Cebu’s otaku community once again. See you at Otakufest 2020!

For more information, head on over to this FAQ thread on their Facebook page.

keepsakes. is a media partner for Otakufest 2020.

As of writing, the anime adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece has 876 episodes since its initial broadcast on October 20, 1999.

That’s 19 seasons altogether. This series does not stop airing weekly for almost 20 years, and it still continues to bring joy to its fans.

With that in mind, the second day of Otakufest 2019 at SM Seaside City Cebu (February 24, 2019) has been declared as “One Piece Day,” gathering cosplayers from around Cebu and nearby areas to participate.

During the day, they are positioned at the Mountain Wing side of the Seaside Tower, which is the sweet spot for fellow One Piece cosplayers to converge. There, they are welcomed by the One Piece Pirates of Cebu.

Aside from the chit-chat and the photo-taking, the pirates are actually selecting worthy fellows based on what they know about One Piece as well as how they show they portray themselves.

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It’s nighttime. Everyone’s gathered on stage.

Welcoming the audience is One Piece fan, cosplayer, and game streamer Miles (Mais) Semblante. Showing herself as Monkey D. Luffy, she shares how she grew up being a fan of the series on stage.

Everyone’s lined up. The mic’s ready. It’s time to test how they know the series they love. They only have five seconds.

Cosplayers are asked questions related to the character they chose to portray. Some got the answers correctly, some failed, and some missed the time to answer.

In the end, nine was asked to step forward. These are the ones that the pirates have picked. Each of them gets a prize.

Of course, Gold Roger is still in his ever-iconic kneeling position — even here. In three or so contexts, One Piece the series begins with him. The Golden Age of Pirates. Monkey D. Luffy’s search for himself. The opening sequence before we hear Hiroshi Kitadani belt out the iconic theme song “We Are!”.

In the end, it was a day to be remembered for fans of the series in Cebu.

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Speaking of One Piece Day, I’m not sure if this was set in line with the series’ 20th anniversary since it first aired in Japan or it’s part of the activities for the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) in the Philippines.

Last year, One Piece has teamed up with the Summit to hold the One Piece Cosplay King Grand Prix this year.

This is great news for competing and non-competing cosplayers, as it gives them a chance to be the One Piece character they like the most, and (most importantly) opens the door for Shueisha-published titles to be used as concepts for this year’s World Cosplay Championship. I may not have worded this right but this is as far as I understood.

Moving back to the Grand Prix, the rules for the online contest are posted on their website, and you have to be registered on WCS’ Cosplayers.global service to join. Twenty cosplayers will be sent to Nagoya for the finals.

#CEBUkeepsakes2019 features my first visit to Cebu’s Otakufest plus a visit to the recently-opened Moe Moe Kyun Restaurant

To cap off my journey in Cebu from February 23 to 25, 2019, I’m making this post to share to you the content I produced:

Podcasts

We’ll start with the podcasts as these are the first ones that I processed (also probably the fastest):

This may not count as Otakufest content but this marked my second trip to Cebu City. I’m with Serena of The Lily Cat in the airport when we recorded this episode.

Gary Montejo joins us in this two-part post-event series to describe the whole event — and in line with my tradition to make this podcast the most immersive casual podcast around, we started recording from the taxi queue all the way to Jollibee at Super Metro Besak.

Videos

After Otakufest, me, Serena and cosplayer/FX makeup artist Chey Adamson met at Moe Moe Kyun Restaurant for lunch. It’s as if we are the Buena manoguests for that day, just a few days short of their grand opening.

I produced two videos from this restaurant: A feature on the restaurant itself and a feature on Chey.

As for the features inside Otakufest, I got to talk to Joemar Ansiso of Atomik Jelly, Cebu’s latest independent comic anthology.

Now, what I’ve just shown to you this time is a product of a prepared concept and the skills I learned editing videos. This one was done just through one phone camera — the Redmi 6A. Having applied the skills I learned in the past, I’m much more confident to conceptualize videos like this.

Of course, there’s a supercut where I show what I did in the past two days — and look, I also sought to ask.

Stories

By far I’ve written four stories (mostly about Otakufest but I’m looking forward to writing about the newly-opened Moe Moe Kyun Restaurant too):

• Team Class S, Team Zero to represent Cebu for World Cosplay Summit Philippines 2019 Nationals
• Davao’s Team Weapon and Mask Destruction to represent the Philippines at Pop Culture Hiroshima 2019
• “One Piece” Day 2019 for fans in Cebu