Jay Agonoy

Brief Profile

Jay has written feature stories for websites such as The Reimaru Files and Rappler, as well as moderated select panel discussions on the local anime and idol cultures. Currently, he heads the industry news website VTuber NewsDrop, founded in 2022.

Full Profile

Being an anime/cosplay fan, I share stories from within our community. This started with Deremoe in 2010 and continues with keepsakes. in 2016. I am an active visitor of Japanese pop culture events in the country, going in as far as Cebu, Davao, Baguio, and (at one time) Singapore to understand each of its communities.

My rare participation in campus activities is supplemented by my internships over at three media outlets, namely Manila Standard, the Philippine Presidential Broadcast Service, and Rappler.

Participants and speakers of iBlog9 (2017).

I also applied and qualified for speaking engagements at the Philippine Blogging Summit (iBlog) twice. My first was “Avoiding Information Redundancy” (2013) and “Sharing Beyond Your Blog” (2017). My recent talks are about VTubers: “Communicating with the Media as a VTuber” (2024) and “VTuber Security” (2023).

I’ve also attended the 15th International Conference on Japanese Studies hosted by the Ateneo de Manila University, as well as the 1st De La Salle University Communication Conference, both held in 2015.

My first international panel talk was held at Kurocon Online Vol. 2, titled “Case Studies on YouTube-based Anime Distribution Model in Southeast Asia.”

I’ve been invited as a guest judge and panel moderator for Naruto Cosplayers Philippines’ events, among which are the Pinoy Otaku Festival and Otaku Musika Festival.

I have a brief writing stint with Back2Gaming.com, sharing my anime reviews with them under a pseudonym. In my free time, I also got to participate in the The Reimaru Files‘ RFTalk series, leading to a dedicated series called “Events Circuit Preview.”

Prior to keepsakes., I also produced side-projects including Anicredits (ready-to-copy credits for anime series), LIA (a mapping project which indicates the places where municipal ordinances are posted), and KOYAJ (featuring mashups of select anime tracks available for playback on Soundcloud). Anicredits and LIA are archived on GitHub.

Jay (in sky blue) is inducted as a member of the Rotary Club of Mutya ng Pasig, District 3800. (2016)

As a Rotarian for close to 8 years, I have provided visual materials for the Rotary Club of Mutya ng Pasig, and eventually became its club president (Rotary Year 2022-2023, Imagine Rotary) until I left the civic service organization in early 2024.

In addition, I had practiced amateur radio and participated in a few group meetings over the air (HAM calls) for a brief period of time.

My interests range from the Internet, photography, videography, branding, data privacy, podcasting, smooth jazz, lite rock, and vaporwave.

Appearances and Contributions

More stories are listed on Muck Rack. Other presentations are posted on my SpeakerDeck.