Story & photos By Sabrina Kathryn Anonas
THE sun rose from the east, and to this convention of characters from the Land of the Rising Sun, hordes of young people arrived.
And were they charmed.
Mostly young consumers armed with cameras, food, water, costumes and cash were wowed by characters in the convention of cosplay, a portmanteau of the words “costume play.”
Called kosupure in Japanese, these conventions immersed fans in Japanese culture. There were Japanese traditional games like shateki (a shooting game), daruma-otoshi (using a small hammer to hit colored pieces), wanage (a ring toss game) and kendama (catching a ball in the cups and on the spike). Winners in these games were given prizes with oo-kun (mascot) themes. Oo-kun plushies were also awarded to winners of a trivia game on anime. Winners in the kendama got a set of headphones.
There was also a race wherein participants balanced a marshmallow on chopsticks gripped between their lips and passed on to fellow racers. A game also challenged participants to use only face muscles to move a cookie toward their mouths. A soda-drinking contest also challenged a pair to sip the other’s bottle using two connected straws.
Fans were also taught paper crane origami, which some hung on twigs of a life-size cherry blossom tree prop. Some tried their hand in writing names in kanji, while others took selfies at the booth of Fairy Tail, a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima.
Of course there were Japanese food like takoyaki, taiyaki and beef dish served in bento boxes.
The convention’s highlight was the cosplay contest. The first day’s was the single division cosplayers composed of Orly Denzon as Nobunaga from Hunter x Hunter, Kharen Mendoza as Kurapika also from Hunter x Hunter, Mary Grace Abacia as Nakagawa Kanon from The World God Only Knows, Mary Victoria Meneses as Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail, and Izaiah Luke Buelos as Hitsugaya Toshiro from Bleach.
Abacia won in third place, Buelos was second place and Meneses won first place.
There were also performances by Cosplay Queen of the Philippines Alodia Gosiengfiao, Junior New System and Gonzo. Some lucky fans also got to meet and greet Gosiengfiao and Gonzo in between the performances and other activities on stage by submitting their names to the meet and greet raffle.
Speaking of cosplayers, another thing fans look forward to in cosplay conventions is to take pictures beside their favorite characters brought to life by the cosplayers.
Of course, booths sold animé merchandise ranging from accessories, clothes, colored contact lenses, collectibles and toys.
At the end of the convention, one would come out both happy and crying like a baby. On one hand, it was great to see one’s favorite animé characters in the flesh. On the other hand, due to the booth’s enticing merchandise, one is left broke.
And yet it’s not enough, which brings the need to go to another cosplay convention.
Image credits: Sabrina Kathryn Anonas