Tag: Ozine Fest

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Otaku Expo Reload 2017

It’s been two weeks since I was at Megamall but it felt like I left the place for a long time as I go from one event to another throughout that time. Now that the events are over, it’s time to treat myself to Otaku Expo Reload 2017 at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 1 and 2.

After a few personal commitments, I went inside late (around 5:00pm) and did a quick tour of the event first — after that, I realized that there were a far few cosplayers on that day (which means I have less photos to show all of you), but the good thing about this is that the organizer Otakuzine Anime Magazinecontinues its partnership with TokuSpirits to bring in the event’s nostalgia feel.

The guests Ryousuke Kaizu (or Kazunori Inaba), Kei Shindachiya, Ei Hamura, Michiko Makino, Toshihide Wakamatsu and Kenta Sato, from various tokusatsu series of ye olde times, were present to meet their fans (and they even same to their respective series’ theme songs, which is great). I was able to shake hands with some of the guests just after they performed on stage.

I’ve told this to Otakuzine GM and IRL godfather Dennis Uy and I will say it again — they and TokuSpirits should continue their partnership.

(Just this morning I learned that this will no longer happen — Kaizu posted his concerns, to which Dennis replied. All that I had to ask to myself is “Why?”)

“Look, Aki — which of us do you think this dress will fit?” Prior to entering the Expo, I saw cosplayers donning Eriri and Utaha at Hall 3, in which I thought of the concept where Aki will be embarrassed once he sees this take. It turned out pretty good — even I will be embarrassed to pick among Eriri and Utaha (I’m with Kato though).

Aside from taking photos of Cosplayers, I tried going to the Ragnarok-themed Kafra Cafe and got myself a hot drink. I got my first experience in an eating contest there; good times. (More of these on the video if you haven’t watched it.)

After the Event

  1. Astolfo, being the trending character of the Fate/ series by this quarter so far, had had his fans done damage online — most especially in Google search results. I’ve been told by comrade Nero that this is a work of one of his students when he was an instructor.
  2. I joined comrade Naru and her long-time comrade at Hoshimaru located at the SM Megamall Food Court. Around Php150 can get you a full curry katsu meal with drinks; the curry‘s spice is not mild, yet it is much delicious than the katsu. Nice curry is nice.

Other Photos

Also, see you at #iBlog13 at the UP College of Law this September 2. I will be discussing why fellow bloggers should go beyond the blog itself.

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Photos from Otaku Expo 2017

Kicking off Otakuzine Anime Magazine’s (Ozine) events for 2017 is the annual Otaku Expo that’s held at the Megatrade Halls 2 and 3 of SM Megamall in the weekend of February 4 to 5. I checked out the first day, and here’s a briefer for everyone.

I have a brief yet important info for everyone observing the local manga industry: I was informed by the one who’s manning the PSICOM booth at the Expo that the publisher stopped printing copies of Filipino editions of the Attack on Titan and Fairy Tail manga licensed from Kodansha since November 2016.

Considering that I no longer see updates on the development of this project when I last checked VIVA PSICOM’s Facebook last December, I got a bit frustrated.

On the other hand, I was able to get the 100th issue of Ozine at Php50. I regard this issue as a collectors’ item especially since it’s the 100th one.

As for the ever-notorious tarp auction that everyone loves to hate, the hosts mentioned that these tarps you see are drawn by local artists. Thank goodness, Ozine.

I find this one a bit funny — I usually take two shots (for each pose) in a span of milliseconds to make sure that I get a better picture, but there’s this instance where the first cosplayer blinks on the first try and the second one in the the following take; so I asked for a final retake.

I’m really dependent on lights, and Megamall has its good set of lighting spaces in case photographers forgot to bring one for themselves. These two photos above are testament on how me (and probably them) were at the mercy of these fixtures.

If you’re going to ask me about my trip to the event, pretty much nothing major happened. The fun’s on Day 2, but I chose to attend Day 1 instead, so good on you if you’re there on the last day.

[Top-left] Local cover band Asterysk and [Top-right, bottom] the participants of the Pizza Eating Contest.

Here’s what you’ve been waiting for before we cap off: Cosplay photos. Enjoy.

Bonus shot: There’s a LEGO sale at Hall 1 when things were happening, mostly featuring items of different designs up to 80% off.