We asked you: Do you want Seiyuu meet-and-greets in the Philippines?

We are continuing our set of what is now the “We Asked You” segment on the site with this one that was held at Oh-no! Manga Octo-Con 2.

As I have told you before in our list of 15 Japanese Voice Actors we would like to meet and greet with in the Philippines, there is a growing trend of Japanese artists coming to Manila for meet-and-greet sessions, and we would like to continue the trend.

History states that Ozine Fest 2013 have hinted at bringing here a Japanese voice actor by next year with their move to SMX Manila, and they even promised it before at Otaku Expo sometime in the last two quarters of 2012.

“We would like to have these kinds of meetups here”, and apparently we’re not just the ones saying this.

In a survey conducted around the afternoon of Sunday, October 20, outside Megatrade Hall 3 of SM Megamall; with 17 respondents (the target was supposed to be 20) and an estimated two to three percent (2–3%) error rate, here are the results.

The Basics

Most of the respondents are Cosplayers (9 respondents, 53%) and the rest are 47% (8 respondents), and majority of the respondents are aged 17.

The Questions

  • Q1. Are you aware of Japanese Voice Actors (Seiyuu)? Sixteen (16) out of seventeen people in this survey said yes.
  • Q2. Can you give at give at east three seiyuu you can remember the most? Nine (9) respondents provided at least three as instructed, while six (6) gave less than three, and one gave more than three voice actors that they can remember the most.
  • Q3. Where do you get the latest news about them? Most of them (11 respondents) said they get it online (Google, Facebook, Sankaku Complex, Anime News Network), while the rest get it from either friends or magazines (like Otakuzine). Two of them said they get it from other people, and two of them answered none.
  • Q4. Are you interested in having them here in the country? All of the respondents said Yes, with answers ranging from “80% interested”, “of course” and one even said “Hell Yeah”.

I’m also surprised that Aya Hirano is the voice actress most respondents remember the most, followed by Rie Kugimiya, Daisuke Ono and Nana Mizuki.

If we are to base our decision from this short survey alone, the organizers should make their first moves in getting a voice actor in the country, regardless if it’s on major or minor events. As soon as possible, if you may.

With all of that said, we affirm our request for Japanese voice actors to have meet-and-greets here in the country. We here at Deremoe will be monitoring, waiting and hoping for any organizer in the country to get connections with voice talent agencies in Japan by the next four to five years — and we hope you’re with us as well.

Bow Ditama in the Philippines 2013

Note (September 21, 2021): This feature is originally published on Deremoe in October 2013. In commemoration of the ending of KissxSis manga, I’ve updated this story heavily, but I make sure the context is somehow the same. Enjoy reading!

Bow Ditama in the Philippines: Entrance

We are fortunate to have a mangaka to reach our shores. The Japan Artist Talks presented by UART Comic Creators Lab in partnership with Great Toys Online at Cosplay Mania 2013, features manga artist Bow Ditama, the mind behind MahoromaticKiss x Sis and Fight Ippatsu! Juuden -chan!!.

The event has four segments: “Talk live,” “Talk with the artist,” the “Lucky Draw” and the Autograph Session. The artist behind Kill me Baby, Kaduho, was supposed to join him but is unable to attend the said talk due to personal reasons.

Bow Ditama’s Beginnings

The first part of the talk is about Bow Ditama-sensei’s beginnings — he got his first published work in Dolphin Comics in 1994; but before that, he made doujinshi (independent works) way back the 90’s, when he was 21 years old.

In his childhood, he spends time on reading manga and playing soccer (he’s in defense), but he prefers reading manga more — and as he remember, the first manga he has read was Doraemon. We’ve had guests from Japan say that (include Starmarie and Joe Inoue), which made me a bit curious about the said manga’s popularity and influence. After all, we happen to know the robot cat first when we saw him on local TV.

The most impressive manga he has read is comedy manga Patalliro!, which almost made the audience go nuts.

Moving on to his steps on becoming a pro manga artist, he also mentioned that he first aspired to become an animator — he has even worked in the said industry as well — and knowing the hardships of being in the anime industry, he decides to proceed making manga, since he’s confident that he will be able to do it well.

The journey to be a pro mangaka went well for Bow Ditama-sensei, as he has connections in the manga industry. It took him three to four years to be one. He added that there are manga artists who can debut in just a year, or in 10 years’ time, so we can say that he made it in a short span of time.

When asked what did he felt after he had his work published, he responded that he feels embarrassed; because his work will be seen by the manga-reading audience.

Kiss x Sis

We then proceed on talking about his work Kiss x Sis, and this time we had a publisher by the name of Nishii-san with him.

Kiss x Sis started with a story, and the character concept that will fit it. From what we have heard, bow Ditama-sensei visualized the “sister character” in this work.

He revealed that Kiss x Sis was supposed to be a one-shot manga at first. He also mentioned a thing or two about fanservice and the sexy character image embedded in the series — he’ll add it if it really fits, otherwise he’ll pull it off. Ecchi is in-demand, he said. “Everyone likes ecchi, right?”

In case of Juden-chan and Mahoromatic, does he visualize characters that can be Cosplayed? Bow Ditama-sensei said yes — and just to let you know, we’ve had a Cosplayer donning Juden-chan joining the audience.

Bow Ditama in the Philippines: A Juden-chan cosplayer joins the queue.

So, what was his technique as a pro manga artist? He starts practice by creating a character and drawing it. He pointed out his most important thing as a professional manga artist — “we need to make moves to reach our dreams,” he said.

Lastly, he asked for the support of the audience — “[…] please support him more and more from now on,” the host said.

Q&A with Bow Ditama-sensei:

The second part of the talk was the most amusing part of the program — the “Talk with the Artist” segment is a Q&A session where the audience can ask questions. Here’s a summary of what has been asked:

  • Do you still improve your skills? Aside from reading more manga, he has to practice to compare his other works in order to see the mistakes he needs to correct.
  • Are there any tips in being a mangaka? “There are differences in Japan and the Philippines, but if you don’t strive to move, nothing will happen.”
  • Are you satisfied with the anime adaptation of Kiss x Sis? Yes.
  • If you are given a chance to write another series, what genre would it be? He has a variety of genres, but he’s thinking of what it would be next — and actually, he has another project to do.
  • He gets inspired by watching movies.
  • His current favorite work is Akina. We’re not sure if that’s an anime character, an anime series or a manga though, but they mentioned its author so it should be available in Japan.
  • His favorite genre is Romantic Comedy (Rom-Com, or Love-Come if you prefer).
  • Is the English release for Kiss x Sis possible? Even if he wants to, it’s in the publisher’s discretion. He was asked if there will be an American release (through VizSeven Seas, etc.) but the question was misunderstood a bit, thinking that if there would be a Philippine release of the said manga. The publisher’s answer is this: “If they want to have Kiss x Sis in the Philippines, please do action.”
  • Will there be a second release of the Kiss x Sis manga? We’ve only understand some parts of the answer, but Bow Ditama-sensei mentioned that Juden-chan will end soon.
  • Special techniques? Why there are no nipples in the breasts of the characters? This is as far as yours truly can remember during that time — The emcees actually showed examples to him so he can answer the question well, and he said that it’s in what way the artist draws.
  • What an aspiring mangaka should focus from the start? Make something that will appeal to the Japanese market. Knowing the Japanese language is a plus.
  • What’s his opinion in doujins of his works? It’s okay for him, but it will depend on the publisher if they will be chased.

A souvenir from manga artist Bow Ditama's visit to the Philippines

The last two parts are the Lucky Draw and the Autograph Session, wherein they gave away boxes of Beef Curry from Japan. We can say that it’s in powder form, but we are not really sure about that. Either way, it’s beef curry, and I’m sure that Al would love to have that.

They also gave away manga drawing kits, but the luckiest one has been given a free art commission on the spot, by Bow Ditama-sensei himself. The autograph session, he writes the names of the audiences in Katakana, which makes the experience much more memorable.

Shortly before the event ended, we approached Mr. Malvin Lim of Great Toys Online about the session. Notice that what was supposed to be the 1PM session was moved into a joint session by 3PM, and almost two-thirds of the meeting room were occupied. He told us that this could affect the succeeding talks that they might do in the future, but I see a silver lining amid all these.

We’ve asked an attendee by the name of Moonlight Bomber Benedict Villariaza before the start of the program on what he feels about the said event, and he’s happy with it, giving hopes that this trend of inviting Japanese artists will continue.

I share his sentiments, noting that among all the guests in Cosplay Mania 2013, Bow Ditama-sensei and cosplayer Goldy are the most anticipated guests during Cosplay Mania in 2013.

We thank Mr. Malvin Lim of GreatToysOnline.com and the guys at UART Comic Creators Lab for having this worthwhile occasion. We hope that we will have another set of Japan Artist Talks soon.

Cosplay Ranking System: Not just for bragging rights?

Days ago, Cosplay.ph announced the creation of their Cosplay Ranking System, in which the participants in Cosplay.ph-organized masquerades will be ranked according to their skill and experience.

In this post, Deremoe will observe the developments in regards to this new system that is said to be based on international guidelines from its announcement to its formal launch and implementation at the 6th Philippine Cosplay Convention this March at Robinsons Place Manila.

CRS in the community’s perspective

The objective of CRS is to motivate those who are new to the Cosplay community to enjoy it. Unfortunately, the announcement was welcomed with negative reactions and skepticism — bad reactions from the community sprouted throughout the next few days. These include reactions from Mike Abundo, a staunch detractor of the organization.

“First, they trademark the art, then they mark the artists.”

Mike Abundo, on a comment posted at Deremoe’s Facebook page.

Aside from Abundo’s comments, a Facebook user brought up the issue, saying:

[…] Let’s say a really awesome cosplayer (like me, ahahaha /gets shot) hasn’t joined a contest before nor registered. Thus, he/she would get dumped into the beginner rank. Wouldn’t he/she be an overkill, which would defeat the purpose of giving newbs a chance to win?

SnowfallSlasher, on her personal Facebook.

CRS in the organizers’ perspective

In regards to the announcement, Deremoe was able to speak with the head of Cosplay.ph, Pablo Bairan.

Q: When this system is being planned, what is the organization’s mindset when they started creating it?
Bairan: The goal of the CRS is to help group cosplayers of the same caliber together, and to encourage beginners to try their hand at competitions without the fear of not getting a prize or recognition for their efforts simply because the field of competition is dominated by more experienced cosplayers. Beginners will also be able to climb through the ranks, providing them extra motivation and giving them the drive to improve their Cosplay skills without being overshadowed by much more experienced competitors.

Q: Aside from implementing the system in events organized by Cosplay.ph, is there any chance that it will be implemented in events outside Cosplay.ph’s reach?
Bairan: There is accreditation for events outside those of Cosplay.ph, although we would first have to study the competition first to ensure that the standards are up to par with other CRS Contests. We will never impose this accreditation on other events, however.

Q: What do you think of the system five years from now?
Bairan: In the next five years, there will likely be a more even distribution of Beginners, Intermediate and Veteran competitors. Likely, there will be competitions for all 3 Ranks in the same event with the appropriate prizes and recognition based on each Rank. Competition will be fiercer in the higher ranks and more casual in the lower ranks. Veteran rank Cosplayers will also tend to help out Beginner Cosplayers more also since they will not be competing with them in the same contest.

CRS in contrast to International Guidelines

As stated earlier, this is said to be based on the guidelines set up by the International Costumers Guild, with the similar aim of providing fair play — but in contrast to the CRS, they have a clause, as writen:

There is no committee or organization that tracks all costumers’ wins for placement purposes. It’s not practical or even possible. There are just too many competitions happening around the world. An entrant’s placement in any division is based on a combination of the honor system and the discretion of the Masquerade director.

ICG Guidelines: Ensuring Fair Competition, http://www.costume.org/documents/fairness.html, visited 11 February 2013

Is the best yet to come?

With the start of the Cosplay Ranking System, will the Cosplay community be better, or it will go to its dark ages as being predicted by some people? In my honest opinion, this might spark arrogance among Cosplayers, and it might lead to arguments for bragging rights. On a second thought, this can motivate newcomers to be competitive. Either way, we are still unsure of what will happen next — and we’ll wait for updates from our end and document it for you, that’s for sure.

On the Otaku Expo, the Community and the SM Megamall Incident.

(Originally published at Deremoe on January 28, 2013.)

I was doing my work when this happened — two guys in plain white shirts wrecked a stall inside The SM (Department) Store at the building B of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong. What gives? Otaku Expo is ongoing at the Megatrade Hall 1, as previously covered by yours truly. What’s the relation of the incident to the event? It happened on the same day — and everyone was all locked up in their respective places for safety — shutters were pulled down, and nobody was allowed to get out of the place. Panic ensues.

Then there were news that people in costume were involved in the heist. Without any hesitation, the one/s who handle/s local radio station DZMM’s Twitter account tweeted it, saying that Cosplayers played a role in the said heist — just because they spoke to a girl who must be traumatized. They must’ve deleted it, but most of us got it in screenshots. Good job, guys. The community has been slapped again because of your carelessness. I can’t help but to lash out on you, mainstream media. But yes, I shall thank one of your comrades for correcting you, that these Cosplayers were innocent and those who are in plain white shirts are the culprits.

Nevertheless, it won’t change the minds of those who first saw your tweets. Now, because of what you did, what might happen to our community now that the news has been spread, with added exaggeration?

First, those parents of the attendees of Otaku Expo who was terribly worried for their safety would tell these guys to stop going and/or stop Cosplaying because they was injected by the thought that some Cosplayers are bloody criminals in disguise, which is not true — and if we found out that one of us are criminals, we’ll go beat him up like an angry mob because he has tainted the happy vibes of the community with his/her selfish manners, which is what happens when someone gets featured on Gamertotoy.com (a blog about the communities’ negative sides) for his bad deeds.

You can’t simply change your parent’s perspectives when they see these things, and I’m afraid that they might think that you are rebelling against them if you still proceed — tl;dr it’s inevitable that you’ll get into arguments.

Second, the event gets cancelled (which already happened, in the case of Otaku Expo 2013’s day 2 cancellation) or postponed to a later date until the ruckus gets erased from the memories of those who saw these happening and move on from it. Less events for the next two quarters, perhaps?

Third, what else — the community is in a negative light once more, and I believe that we have no PR officers to correct these disasters aside from ourselves, although we can’t please everybody, it seems.

On the suspects, why the bloody hell do you have to schedule your heist with our event? Maybe some of us are scared, but I still think of an angry mob of vigilantes that will hunt you, so to say. Nothing else follows, so take a wild guess.

On the security, for goodness sakes please mind the places in the body where people can hide guns without you noticing it. Better yet, make a bloody plea to the mall management to buy security scanners. It’s worth it, I tell you.

For those guys at the hardware where the hammer was bought, especially to the cashier clerk, let me guess — you can be a witness to the case. Ask the police to guard you at all costs. Don’t die yet for me — and perhaps us.

On another perspective, we can think of this as a coincidence, or an unfortunate incident that is beyond our control, and I am just thinking from a totally conservative side and just move on. We are simply not aware that this will happen, and we can do nothing about it but to suffer the consequences we are given in this kind of situation.

So, I have said too much about this incident that might change the people’s perspective on the community once more. This will mark another exciting year in the community of anime fans, convention-goers and cosplayers alike.

Experiment: Anti-Harrassment Policies at Anime Conventions

Good day, fellow earthlings. It is inevitable that at every convention in your neck of the woods, you might see a person harrassing someone without the victim knowing it. These mostly consists of pervographers pointing their lens on some girl’s butt or chest, perverts holding such parts without the victim’s consent, etc.

These does not only happen to our neck of the woods, but also in other countries. An article published at LA Weekly addressed this issue and with it included specific examples of people getting harrassed inside the four corners of the convention hall.

As I have read through the article, I followed one Aussie cosplayer responsible for making a guide on how not to be a creep inside cons, I visited the sites exhibited (one of them is a bit awful to read) and I stumbled upon this thing called the Con Anti-Harrassment Project. That’s the time when I got an idea that might help attendees like me feel secure — ask the organizers if they have implemented an Anti-Harrassment Policy in their guidelines.

Just a few hours ago, I already sent an email to the CAHP to include three major conventions in their database: TOYCON, Cosplay Mania and Ozine Fest as an action of participation to this endeavor. I also sent emails to the organizers of the aforementioned events inquiring about their Anti-Harrassment Policies. Not to mention that I will send an email to our affiliate Anime Alliance, which is actually helping our country to have a representation in the World Cosplay Summit, as of this writing.

Now, what’s the quick gist of having this policy:

  1. Pervographers should be warned.
  2. Perverts should be warned.
  3. Pervographers and Perverts shouldn’t be inside the event premises.
  4. Attendees (regardless if they are Cosplayers or not) should feel safe, and be safe. If the event has security policies, they can add this one to their rules

We attendees would like to have fun — and with this policy at hand, I aim for a fun experience inside the event.