CON REVIEW: Pinoy Otaku Festival 2019 [05-17 to 19-2019]

Finally it's the final part of my POF highlights and this time I'm going to tackle the last year's edition with the theme of "Asobi," or play in Japanese!

The con had moved to its new venue, Robinson's Novaliches, and for the first time that it'd be a three-day con than a two-day one. The activities were still the same with the exception of the battle of the bands and the two-sub karacons from the 2018 edition, but adding a new sub karacon which was the Ultimate Karaoke Royale.

In terms of my cos lineups, it was east meets west this time as I cosplayed Rio Kuroki and the 13th Doctor, who were also both debuted from the past year, for the weekend session only. 

The 2019 edition marked the 3rd time that I joined the YCSF, this time singing the KiraKira PreCure A La Mode opening theme, and my 1st KRB appearance with AKB48's "Heavy Rotation" in a brilliant friendly contest with my mates in Team OKE.

Not only myself, my elder brother was one of the panelists about the local idol scene and speaking of idols, Ivy! Musume, CH4U, JAPH Dolls and Aidoru Sozai made their own oozing numbers the now 3-day POF. Though a bit lost about the exact venue but overall it was a very nice change of view as well considering the more spacious way and a twincool experience!

As of this moment, I'm still cleaning my backlogs from last year, so it'll be taking time before finally posting my POF 2019 vlog so please bear with the WIPs.

And that concludes my Pinoy Otaku Festival experience highlights! Hope that you've been taking back into the past and how the con itself expands over the years. Till then, see you all in POF 2021! 😊

Photos © Jeff Cao, Team OKE Gakuen, Francisco Mendoza, Goki

CON REVIEW: Pinoy Otaku Festival 2018 [06-02 to 03-2018]

Hooray, hooray! Welcome to my Pinoy Otaku Festival highlights part 3 and let's take a trip down memory lane of its 2018 edition entitled "Ai," or love in Japanese!

Speaking of themes, it was also my first time that an old and a new cosplay to be lined up at the same time in the same con and these were Reina Kousaka (Hibike! Euphonium) and Nishikata (Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san), plus my personal lineup theme would be the school setting coz it was a week before the new academic year began in PH at the time so I chose this.

Like the previous year, the con had more new activities including workshops, the Cosplay Championship League, the battle of the bands and the subs of its karacon - the Japanese translated and the Tagalized Star contests - aside from the YCSF.

Besides the Darling in the FRANXX appreciation rally, this marked the 1st time for Colony Drop Cosplay made their Asian con tour although it was also the 2nd time for Ms. Lorelei anyway, and they had a panel.

The 2nd day of POF also coincided with the MNL48 First Generation Fan Meet and I wasn't able to attend the latter due to sked conflicts, but my elder nii-san became my proxy for it.

Speaking of karacons again, I sang "Shinkyou Projector" by Chika Anzai aka Reina K.'s seiyuu for the YCSF and did a Filipino-translated rendition of "Himitsu Dolls," the ending theme of the Strawberry Panic! anime series originally performed by Mai Nakahara and Yui Horie. I won the latter as the champion of the Tagalized Star karacon and gosh, I just couldn't believe that I finally had another token for the first time in 2 years (until I bagged another one, this time in Coslandia, more than a year later as the 2nd runner up)! 😭❤ Super unexpected but that more than 3 month preps were really worth the wait.

Tearjerkers aside, POF 2018 had a whooping 7000+ attendees which was a 3k more than the previous year. But considering the space and other circumstances, the organizers had decided to move in a more spacious venue beginning in 2019. Nevertheless, it was another blast despite various flaws. If you want to take a look on the 2018 edition, check out my vlogs posted on my page.

POF 2018 Day 1 Vlog 

POF 2018 Day 2 Vlog

And that's a wrap for part 3 of my POF highlights! Tomorrow is the finale part, so better watch out for it. 😊

Photos © Ecko Dizon, Aya Ran Fujimiya, NCPH

CON REVIEW: Pinoy Otaku Festival 2017 [05-20 to 21-2017]

Welcome to the 2nd part of my Pinoy Otaku Festival highlights and today I'm gonna share my experiences about its 2017 edition, also with the title "Danketsu." It was also the con that had some firsts since I first attended in the previous year:

- first to debuted two new cosplays in a con (Haruhi Fujioka and Kobayashi)

- first to attend both days

- first to have and attract more new friends

- among the firsts to join its first Your Cosplay Sounds Familiar karacon

In addition that POF made its new venue in Fairview Terraces for that year and 2018, it had the biggest number of attendees since its first inception in 2011, roughly more than 3000 of them, and it had newest activities including the Your Cosplay Sounds Familiar contest.

I didn't expect not only for the number of attendees nor the new activities but also some peeps had quickly recognized both of my Haruhi-kun and Kobayashi cosplays and yep, I sang "Sakura Kiss" by Chieco Kawada for YCSF and made an unexpected intermission dance to the tune of fhana's "Aozora no Rhapsody" performed by my boi Bien for the actual karacon. Didn't expect the crowd aura but I really enjoy it, I won them out after all on both contests. 😁

Overall it was a blast and in case you missed it and curious about the con, you can check my 2-pt vlog about POF 2017 on my FB page.

POF 2017 Day 1 Vlog

POF 2017 Day 2 Vlog

And that was the 2nd part of my POF experience!

Photos © Fred Itachi, Goki

CON REVIEW: Pinoy Otaku Festival 2016 [05-26 to 27-2016]

My lone 2016 POF lineup

Since Pinoy Otaku Festival got postponed till next year, I'm going to share my experiences in the con for the past four years since I first attended. So here I go!

My first POF was in 2016, then entitled AniMay Weekend, and I was only attended the 1st day and cosplaying as Yui Nanase in her summer outfit. It was also the first time that I joined the karaoke contest as well as gained new friends for the first time, including Ms. Lorelei Hutchings of Colony Drop Cosplay and Hiro Saeki-san and I had to say they were awesome lads and geek nerds like most of my mates, and my first stint to join a cosplay contest there. 😊 Surely it was toughie but hey, I had a lot of fun despite the venue's quite far from my place.

Speaking of karacons, I sang "KIRA KIRA" by the J-pop group Every Little Thing which was part of the Go! Princess PreCure movie soundtrack. Didn't took the trophy, but I just performed it for fun alongside some of my mates from Team OKE Gakuen. Overall it was fun amid the flaws, I say.

And that's the 1st part of my POF experiences. Next report, POF 2017. 😃

Photos © Cospray, Goki.