Pinoy Otaku Festival returns this year—and so I return to Supernova(liches) to moderate a panel discussion.
This annual event starts again this year, and this edition will focus on Environmental Advocacy. Shizen, a Japanese word describing (human) nature, is the theme for this year’s edition, focusing on the ways fans like us can do to give back to nature.
Organizer Red Cloud Interactive will host a series of activities including a Low-Cost Cosplay Competition which will challenge the talent and resourcefulness of participating cosplayers. In addition, staple activities such as Cosplay Championship League, Your Cosplay Sounds Familiar, Karaoke Battle Royale, and Chibi Cosplay Show will also be held during the weekend.
Pinoy Otaku Festival 2023 also has a wide variety of guest line-ups for this year including AWIE, YARA PH, Lia Bear, Prince De Guzman, Stacy Phan, Ponponmy, Ariel Villasanta, Raymond Gorospe, and more.
Yours truly will be there on Sunday, May 21. Activities on that day include an Aidoru (Idol) Concert featuring Pepper Keibu, Blitz Hasegawa, PiPaPosse, Chie Kurosaki, FESTA, Shazu姫, Cess, Rainbow Signal, Poly-V, Radiant, Mju:z Kiss, Neko✩Fire, and Ivy Musume. A panel discussion to be moderated by yours truly will also be held on the said day.
Tickets are available on-site and on Ticket2Me for Php150 per day and Php450 for 3 days. A limited-quantity VIP Pass worth Php1,500 is also available, which includes an event-exclusive POF t-shirt and Event ID plus access to one special guest Meet-and-Greet session among other perks.
POF 2023 will be held at Robinsons Novaliches Trade Hall on the weekend of May 19-21, 2023. Event partners include Glico Philippines, 13th Line Collectibles, Toy Shogun, ADA Straws and Bayanihan para sa Kalikasan Movement.
Red Cloud Interactive, co-organizer of the Pinoy Otaku Festival series, will be organizing the Online Pop Culture Convention for a Better Normal on August 22, 2020, Saturday.
This is a volunteer-fundraising activity for the benefit of Greenpeace Philippines’ Better Normal campaign and the Aksyon Kalikasan organization.
Red Cloud and Naruto Cosplayers Philippines has been applying its corporate social responsibility by creating a fusion of cosplay events which champions social causes, and this online event adds to its roster.
Cosplay during the Pandemic and Beyond
I will be moderating an online panel discussion on “Cosplay During the Pandemic and Beyond” at 1:30pm featuring copslayers Dranzer Dice, Ross Diong, Ashley Misaki and Takeru Arino.
Among the topics that we will discuss are the following:
What’s the state of Cosplay in the Philippines in this New Normal?
Will Cosplay as a social hobby continue to stay social?
Where do Cosplayers go from here?
Other Activities
Aside from the panel discussion which I will moderate, there are other activities in store for everyone:
At 11:00am, GreekSilverHero will host “Content Creation for a Better Normal” together with Miss Universe Philippines – Muntinlupa City 2020 Maricres Valdez Castro and other panelists.
At 12:15pm, the Pinoy Cosplay Podcast will discuss the Rise of Online Cosplay and Pop Culture Events.
After moderating my panel, I’ll check out the next segment, “Pop Culture Music for a Better Normal” hosted by Team OKE Gakuen at 3:00pm.
Last but not the least, Prince de Guzman will teach us “How to Prevent Creative Blockage” by 4:30pm.
To cap off the program, there will be a “Flex Your Quarantine Cosplay” activity from 6:00pm onwards where registered cosplayers will be showing off their cosplays (the way I see it, either trials or actual).
To know more about the Online Pop Culture Convention for a Better Normal, visit the Facebook event page. As a fund-raiser, you donate before you can view the event. Donation details are listed in the event page.
I’ll be moderating two panels at the Pinoy Otaku Festival this Saturday – Panels are for 30 minutes, part of the afternoon session
Hi guys! Long time no post again.
I know I have a busy week — I was so busy that the only thing I can do is to share stuff on Facebook. We just had another event and I think they are done with the egress.
This Saturday (June 2), I will be at the Fairview Terraces mall for the Pinoy Otaku Festival 2018. Last year, I went there to be a panelist, now I’m going to moderate two panels.
The first panel scheduled will be on the select kinds of media in which we consume our content and how it goes well (or otherwise) with each other.
You all know Bryner Melendez as one of the heads of Fate/Philippines, Hiro Tan. Ayan, face reveal na, tsong. The rest I have yet to get acquainted with.
The second panel I am set to moderate is related to this year’s POF theme of “Ai (Love),” so that means there must be a panel about love. Couples. Sweethearts. You know, the heart-rending side of it.
I’m planning to have these panels released either as a podcast or as a video series, whichever works with my time (take note, ToyCon is set to be held a few days after this and I’ll be needing a lot of stored energy for that three-day event as a staff.)
That was me last year, joining a panel discussion on Cosplay Issues. This year will have its own set of panelists, and they are so familiar to me (cue Kenny rogers’ “Through the Years”).
These are some of the things I do pro bono, as long as it does not overlap in my current work. I’m happy to be part of this, and I shall give these discussions my #wildest. See you there!
Last weekend, I went to another (sorta) out-of-town visit and checked out the Pinoy Otaku Festival at the Ayala Malls Fairview Terraces in Quezon City. I’ve experienced many two-hour trips to Bulacan, to Alabang, to SMX Manila and other faraway places; and I’m pretty sure I’m getting used to these kinds of trips (I hope).
Fairview Terraces is the Ayala Mall for the people residing in the Novaliches area. I had to speak this out: In just a few walks away you’re either at SM City Fairview or Robinsons Novaliches. I also think these three malls have a hierarchy of target markets, but that’s another story altogether.
Organized by Naruto Cosplayers Philippines (NCPH) and Red Cloud Interactive, the POF had been held three times prior to this. I’ve been part of the POF before: My first one was at Starmall Alabang’s Starland Theme Park in 2014, where I was able to talk to “Voltron Girl” Belldandy Grimarez.
Discussions
For that whole weekend, I took part in the festival as a panelist for two segments and as a moderator for a panel discussion. On this part, I will be sharing to you the bits and pieces of what has been discussed there.
On Cosplay
Q: Why there are more karaoke contestants than cosplay contestants? A: The same people will be there winning again — what’s the point?
Moments after, I saw myself agreeing to join the cosplay panel alongside cosplayers Taicho Diolata, Ryan Simbul and Jennylyn Castro. I was the non-cosplayer panelist there who said that things did not change — there’s still conflicts in the community, regardless of who is/are the ringleaders of the pack.
Cases in point, I’ve seen GamerTotoy, been part of a rant group on Facebook, talked to JejeCostplayers PH, and now we see the rise and fall of Cosplay Confessions. (Lo, the thing about some cosplayers not being faithful to the character they’re donning has gone overseas, and that’s another long story).
During Day 1, there were more karaoke contestants than cosplay contestants. In the case of Ryan and I, we agree that the same people who are committed to competitions win. I have been saying that those who are committed give others a chance so as not to discourage them (this does happen in a few events, thankfully).
I wasn’t supposed to be present in the Anime Genres panel but I guess David got me there as a moderator as I was also in the audience area.
As with my scheduled panel, it got shuffled, so we’re missing two panelists, only to be filled up by current NCPH President and fellow blogger Ranne, plus the cosplayer that I remember by the name of Cross.
Way to go, guys: My colleagues from the late Deremoe were monitoring me as well — Mikki was present in the audience while the ever-sarcastic Solidad was sarcastically poking fun on Twitter. Never change, Al.
This panel was interesting. If I wasn’t moderating it, my goodness, every genre aside from Yaoi and Harem would have been left out.
There’s more to anime than just Yaoi, Yuri, or even Harem that I missed to mention; and as a self-proclaimed connoisseur of cute girls doing cute things, I hope that I gave my respects to the genre I like the most, even by just mentioning them.
“‘Yung LoveLive! (school idol project) po ba kasama sa Yuri?”
There was this one guy who asked, “Yung LoveLive! (school idol project) po ba kasama sa Yuri?” (Is LoveLive! also Yuri?) It depends on whose ship you’re sailing to, I said as I ask who he is shipping to.
Then he dropped NozoEli and KanaMari. Of course they are Yuri-rific, sinong niloloko ko (who am I kidding)?
Well, some were against discussing the topic especially in a mall, so I try my best to exercise restraint amid the guys who have been saying “Boku no Pico.” Of course you do not recommend that to a first-timer, you hardcore bastards; please exercise some restraint, we have conservatives watching us. (Also, we had a jolly good fun there, nevertheless I can make memes out of that if I wanted to).
Eastern, Western and Local Fandom
Finally, it’s time for the real panel where I’m supposed to be, Carlo and Michael are present, and we have Arya from Kawangis Komiks joining in. I prepared for this, mamen.
We basically aired our grievances against today’s local pop culture in front of more or less a hundred people, plus the visiting mall goers who may have no idea of what’s happening there.
Q: What happened to the country’s pop culture? How did we get low? A: Certain groups of people decided to fixate what the masses wanted in terms of entertainment.
There I learned about bits and pieces about our local pop culture: From how Liwayway destroyed the competition altogether, to the current state of pop culture who has its fate decided by a few people. I’m an anime fanatic; and while I can’t deny that I have a colonial mindset, I have my justifications.
On a positive light, we mentioned the likes of RPG Metanoia, Dayo and Saving Sally. Half an hour is not enough to air our grievances, so a part two should be in the works.
Michael is cooking up a search for the next Pinoy superhero, in which I have to see myself where it will go through.
Aside from the Panel Discussions, a lot of activities happened during the two-day event, and these photos should describe the gist of it.
Now, cosplayers: Here are the photos of your cosplays that I took during the weekend event.
Also check out the photos from O-Kun Fiesta 3 as part of AniZone’s coverage on their Facebook page. (I helped in taking photos there).
