Tag: Manila City

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PGF Summer Assembly 2019, Anime Explosion R3 to be held on the last weekend of April

Manila and Pasay folks, get ready!

The last weekend of April still has lots of things in store for us — just look at these two events which will be held on the same weekend.

Pinoy Gaming Festival 2019 Summer Assembly

April 26 to 28, 2019 — Music Hall, SM Mall of Asia

This year, Globe Telecom and Cyberzone will be co-presenters to bring out more summer gaming goodness at the event. It will be a 3-day weekend filled with games, activities and sizzling hot esports action courtesy of Playbook Esports, plus some surprise goodies from our event partners. And to continue the long tradition, PGF Summer Assembly 2019 will be a FREE ADMISSION event.

This year’s Summer Gaming Getaway will also feature more fighting games as our event co-presenter, Cyberzone, will be hosting a series of Esports tournaments featuring TEKKEN 7, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. Aside from the tournaments, fans and attendees will also be able to test their Fighting Game skills with friends and family as the Cyberzone booth will also be hosting various free play sessions all throughout the day.

Lupon ng WomboxCombo will be having a Dota 2 Challenge where lucky players can form a team and challenge the awesome talents of Lupon. Those who shall emerge as winners will receive cool prizes. Logitech and Zowie will showcase their latest gaming gear at the event and fans can try those out and even meet some of the well-known influencers where they could even have some friendly competitions. Bacchus and Honey Lemon will also be serving some refreshments to cool off the summer heat.

And for the first time, Neo Geo World Tour Season 2 will be having its series of King of Fighters ’98 and King of Fighters XIV tournaments at PGF where the winners will have a spot at the Global Finals later this year. (Press Release — emphases mine)

The last PGF event I attended was the one at Trinoma last year — and to think that they were able to secure the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall as its next stop, I think they were catching up on the south guys who missed last year’s activities simply because it was held north of Manila.

Anime Explosion R3

April 27, 2019 — Ever Manila Plaza, Recto, Manila

Anime Explosion Reborn R3 is the 3rd Season of an event inspired by the early rise of conventions and anime fandom in the Philippines during the 90s. The title was lifted from an event called Anime Explosion in the early 2000 and is now given rebirth by Naruto Cosplayers PH (NCPH) and Red Cloud Interactive.

Ever Manila Plaza in CM Recto Manila will host Anime Explosion Reborn for the third time on April 27, 2019. It will surely be something to experience and join.

[…] Cosplay Competition for Anime Explosion R3 focuses on the character of anime and Japanese based animated shows from the early onset of Anime up to the late 90s. You can cosplay as a character form over 50 titles including Hunter X Hunter, Pokemon, Doraemon, Princess Mononoke, Astroboy, Ghost Fighter, Samurai X and more.

The event also presents a Singing Competition which also encourages participants to pick songs from a list of over 50 old-school anime. We will surely hear the anime that we have loved across the ages and perhaps love a song that we have yet to hear.

For those who do not have cosplays of old-school anime, you can also join in the Open Category. (Press Release — emphases mine)

One of my friends asked me if this was the same Anime Explosion that was held in Ortigas way way way back, and I hope you get the answer form the info you’ve just read.

You can also get your Pinoy Otaku Festival 2019: Asobu tickets in advance on the said event (keepsakes. is a POF 2019 media partner).

You probably won’t be seeing me around as I have a Rotary District 3800 Training Assembly in Cavite to attend to; but nevertheless, happy weekend to all!

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Chinese (Lunar) New Year in Binondo Manila 2019

What Binondo looks like in the start of the Lunar New Year? – Lunar New Year in Binondo Manila 2019

Kiong Hee Huat Tsai! February 05, 2019 marks the start of the Lunar New Year (most of us know that it’s being celebrated by the Chinese, but it’s also being celebrated in Korea as Seollal, so I’ll start with that).

In the Philippines, this day has been declared a Special Non-Working Holiday, which means I get to have a day off from work and tag along my friend and online media colleague Christian Mack’s journey into Binondo, which is the oldest Chinatown in the world, having been established in 1594 (16th century).

We met at Lucky Chinatown Mall, and along with his correspondents Keileen, Veronica and Estrella, we went straight to Ongpin. I’ve passed Ongpin before in my first field task, which was to assist in a major project which toured the media to different places.

Among the sights I saw along the way, I think that one keepsake I remember the most in this journey is when we just got off the mall and into the streets.

We can’t help but be amazed with the dragon and lion dancers, but in Binondo, these kids have a lion and dragon dance of their own. I say to myself, I think they’re following the footsteps of the experienced ones.

Having been through Ongpin for half a day, I’ve seen how dragon and lion dancers do their work of keeping bad luck away as per Chinese tradition:

  • They dance.
  • They ask the spectators to move away from them as possible, because
  • They will fire a Judas belt and dance around it to complete the sequence.
  • Everybody cheers.

This may be oversimplification in my part but I’ve seen three of these sequences done in the course of the trip.

Adding to the attractions in the area are street performers doing a variety of things: They either are formed as a band playing festive drums, or they burst fire from their mouths (as far as I understood, kerosene is involved — and it was hot, no joke).

Having experienced Singapore (sans its Chinatown as it was really out of my way during my itinerary there), I now see a foreign yet still familiar feeling in Manila’s Chinatown. The signage, the façade of the buildings there, it was as if I went back.

Well, the primary objective of the trip is to do a photo walk, and so we did. There’s this one store that sells lanterns — they have so many that it was we had fun taking photos of it. A few photographers even joined the fray and also took photos.

When I think of tikoy (glutinous rice cake — like Japan’s mochi), I define it in two ways: The ready-to-slice-and-wrapped-in-egg type; and the filled-and-rolled type that I prefer because all I have to do is to eat it.

Along the way I saw these toys scattered in the sidewalk, ready for scavengers to dig in to see if they can find the toy they want. This is something to me.

As we finished crossing the two gates of Chinatown, I was welcomed by a crowd taking photos of cosplayers — and here I was, expecting a cosplay photo shoot only to see one. I wasted no time taking this a few photos.

Now back to signages — like every vaporwave fanatic, I get nostalgic with signage especially at night. For now, these photos I took during the day should suffice.

Binondo at night was much wilder — aside from the crowds of people wanting to see the dragon and lion dancers, cars and other vehicles are also coming in slowly — and I mean slowly.

When we got out of Ongpin finally — and safely — we had our dinner, and off we go back again to point A.

As we finally got back to Lucky Chinatown, the lanterns in the area are lit up brightly. This calls for a few photos to be captured.

To cap off this photo walk, I’m thankful to Sir Mack for inviting me to join them do this Lunar New Year photo walk, which has been an annual tradition for them.

Finally, I was able to write and post something special on this journal.

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Enter the Tiger’s Den: Meiwaku MNL 2018

Inside Meiwaku MNL, Manila’s latest anikura

It was the afternoon of Sunday, the 25th of March.

The sun has set.

I sought for the Tiger’s Den.

It somehow took me a while to get my way there — even if I am somehow familiar with the place, it took me a wrong time to drop off to face the jungle that is called the “Wrong Way.”

Moments passed, I was able to enter the cave — Asian Social Institute.

In it are two paths. I went inside the one which has more height than the latter.

Alas, I didn’t hear any sound.

I went back to the mouth of the cave to see a familiar known by the name of Titus Timus.

One wrong path after another, I finally stumbled upon the Senden — an aptly-named place fit for a den like this.

I entered the Senden, and lo, I saw different species of tigers. Even the Anchan Primus, that one kind of wolf, was well-blended in the ambush.

It was then I let go of my human form — and I faced my inner tiger.

So I say, “iettaiga.”

So yeah I made that story up. Here’s the thing: If you’re quite offended with that story alone, I do not — I vehemently not — recommend you to continue with this. Hope you enjoy this story.

Having been into the community for like five years or so, I have been through a lot of experiences myself — prior to Meiwaku MNL, I am enjoying anison (anime song) concerts for years. That includes the chants, which I learned by imitating others.

(For context, watch the history of the MIX, the introductory chant that is now known all over Japan and the rest of the world — including the Philippines.)

I got in around 6pm, in which they are about to introduce the next DJ — a secret one. The DJ plays tunes which are very, very, VERY familiar to me.

Consolation Presents.

Rolling in the Nexus.

It’s Real Yo.

I am not mistaken — those are mashups uploaded on YouTube.

I verified with the staff my suspicions, and I was right. The secret DJ is indeed very familiar to me, that I shook hands with him after the whole ordeal. He’s not updating on his Twitter, but he has tracks uploaded from three months ago.

To me, this secret DJ that they got is among my inspirations. I still have that Audacity project on file, and hopefully I this experience make me touch it again.

From anisongs to novelties such as Kung Fu Fighting and even PPAP, Meiwaku MNL is filled with varieties.

…but I was not ready for these:

  • Having a pail as a Beyblade battle stage as Sayoko Takayama’s “Only One Second” plays.
  • OG iM@S Ps stopping everything and paying respects for Chihaya Kisaragi as “Yakusoku” plays. It was then I fully learned the Creed of the Ps who watched the first THE iDOLM@STER anime series.
  • The thing some did when fripSide’s “White Forces” was playing is a secret and I shall not divulge it. (But you know, I hinted vaguely so yeah.)

I dream of being in Japan’s famed Mogra anisong club (anikura), but when DareDemo PH stated their intent to have their anikura, I didn’t think twice. Sign me up, fam!

I am very sure this will not be the last of these, as the event concluded with a resounding success. Look, even if we are around 50 inside, I look forward to a day when I can see more than a hundred people sharing one voice with me in a drop of silence, uttering — shouting — only one thing:

Iettaiga.

On a side note: While DareDemo PH has their own photo documentation, I still decide to bring my camera with me and take these photos despite the fact that camera flash irritates people. Wow me, you are living up the “Meiwaku” in Meiwaku MNL with that one.