Cosplay conventions have been highly popularized in the Philippines for quite some time now. Japan’s influence on our country has also long been apparent from the multitude of animes that have been featured on our television channels within the past several years (or even decades, maybe). I remember the first ever cosplay convention I have ever attended was at around year 2008 or so, but up until now, Japanese culture still continues fascinate me and still remains as a strong influence on my art and fashion.
The Otaku Magazine Festival (a.k.a. Ozine Fest) is one of the biggest cosplay conventions that has been held in the Philippines for quite some time now. For this particular event, it was scheduled to run from April 25 until April 27, 2014 at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. I attended it with my sister on the last day, which was on April 27.
One factor my sister and I overlooked on the day itself was that cosplay conventions were no longer the same as before (say, about seven to eight years ago) where it was not as difficult to get a ticket. So, on the day itself, we were faced with one of the longest lines we have ever seen! The line stretched to almost halfway around the building! We decided to take a stroll around the mall first, since the Mall of Asia was adjacent to the convention center anyway. Well, we didn’t want to end up lining up for tickets under the scorching sun! Especially because it has been particularly hot this summer in the Philippines.
When we got back to the convention center, the line was gone, and we noticed the guard by the door shouting that there were no more tickets available. But, being the determined anime fans that we are (and since we went all the way for this event!), we took a chance by going through the main entrance to see if there was still a chance to get a ticket if we went past the crowd, and straight to the ticket booth.
Upon entering the lobby, we felt a surge of excitement as we saw several cosplayers strolling around. I actually am not very updated with some anime nowadays, since I was pretty busy for an entire year with my thesis. But I hope you will enjoy the photos and will be able to identify at least some (or most) of these characters. Here are some photos I was able to take just from the lobby itself:
Ice King as the Winter Soldier? haha!
This cosplay made me so happy. Hooray for 8bit!
From cosplay group, JAMAKHUNS
It was so crowded even going up the escalator!
Some cosplayers lining up to get up the escalator
He’s from Kuroko no Basuke, I think?
It’s Nyan Cat! Meow!
This was the crowd at the second floor. We had the squeeze in between groups of people just to get where we wanted to! Such a crazy day!
This was the entrance to the convention proper.
So, after getting past the crowd at the lobby and the second floor, we finally managed to get inside the ante-room which was pretty much a big empty air-conditioned room where all the cosplayers stayed to mingle, relax, and have photo ops. The big room adjacent to the ante-room was the events room itself, where all the booths and the stage were placed. Here are some photos of cosplayers I spotted in the ante-room:
This was my favorite cosplay, just because I am such a One Piece fan! I found this dynamic trio so hilarious! Bon Clay! haha! I love Mr. 3’s hair-do as well!
I believe this is from Metal Gear Solid? (Correct me if I am wrong!)
And, of course, no cosplay convention would ever be complete without some Shingeki no Kyojin cosplay!
I actually just snapped a photo of this sign just because I found it so funny, and probably because it reminded me of the meme, ‘Doge,’ so I just HAD TO take a photo of it! haha!
Once inside the convention events room itself, we were greeted by many booths that were selling a lot of Japan-influenced items. It was if those booths brought me to a short trip to Japan itself! I was especially excited about this part of the day, since the store that I usually buy my hair dye from had a booth up for this event, so I was very much excited to visit them to restock on some hair products! Apart from that, I was very much ecstatic to see all the kawaii and harajuku/gyaru-influenced makeup items, since I have also been very into that lately!
I just HAD TO take a picture of this because CAT BUS, and not to mention, TOTORO!
There were also some pretty cool live-sketching booths!
We passed by the stage and saw my sister’s friend, Adz, hosting the Auctioning event! haha! What a coincidence! I think they’re auctioning off a tarpaulin with a character from Kuroko no Basuke on it.
We went for a second round again to look at the booths so we could make the most out of the money we spent on our tickets, even we were already pretty tired!
THIS, I found so hilarious! Only Dr. Who fans will understand why I took this photo! hahaha! (Clue: “Moisturize me!”) LOL.
More kawaii stuff! Hello again, Mr. Totoro!
BMO!
There was also a Maid Cafe at the event, and it’s actually something I’ve been hearing about for quite some time now. My sister and I actually wanted to try out the Butler Cafe, which was present in previous events, but for some reason, they didn’t have it for this event. For the Maid Cafe, we just wanted to try it out for kicks, since, well, there’s always room for new experiences, right? Anyway, the line was pretty long, so we decided to scrap the idea.
Of course, no convention would be complete without some action figures, and other collectibles up for display! I especially loved this baby pink llama/alpaca (I wasn’t sure which one it was), just because it’s so girly! haha!
Kuroko no Basuke!
After feeling pretty much satisfied with our experience with the event, we decided to take our leave. Upon exiting to the ante-room, we managed to see some new cosplays, so we took some snapshots before officially leaving, just to completely make full use of the day.
Dragon Ball!
Well, there you have it! It was a very long and tiring day, but it was very much worth it! Nowadays, it’s not very often that my sisters and I are able to go to events like this, so it was a pretty good experience to kind of reminisce on all of the things we were able to experience in past cosplay conventions we were able to attend, as well as tying up those experiences to our experience now with this most recent cosplay event. This event just made me want to visit Japan even more! (sadness.) Anyway, I am looking forward to attending even more events like this! Hope you guys were also able to somewhat (virtually) join in on the experience!
Lovely photos! I wanted to do cosplay but it's a bit of an expensive hobby. It's Always nice to watch though. 🙂
xx
Thank you very much! Yeah, it can be a bit costly, but it still seems very fun! 😀 Thanks for dropping by!
thank you for featuring my cosgroup Vocaloid heheh ! were the ones who cosplayed doctors and nurses ! hehe thank you
the name of our cosgroup is JAMAKHUNS thank you again
http://www.facebook.com/jamakhuns
Waaaa. You boni-yah. You inunahan mo ko XD Ahahaha.
UNNIE! Thank you for posting our pictures 🙂
Oh, really?? That's awesome! 😀 And, you're welcome! It's wonderful that you were able to stumble upon your photos on my blog! Thank you so much for dropping by! 🙂 I'll update the caption, so I can link the photos to you guys! Cheers! ♥
You're welcome, dear! I'll link you guys back! 🙂