Popular Japanese cosplayer Reika has announced through her Facebook page that she will no longer be a guest cosplayer for Cosplay Mania ’15 to be held this October.
Here is her full statement, as translated from Japanese:
I apologize for declining the invitation as guest cosplayer for this year.
Personally, this was thoroughly thought of before I came to this decision.
“Should I still participate? Am I just making money out of this?” That was what I felt from the previous year.
The communication among the staff members this year was entirely in English. In the past, they have been constantly communicating with me in Japanese. That was one of the factors I have taken into consideration before making this decision.
From the start of this year, there has already been a language barrier. The negotiations drifted to a point where I have decided that I could not fully trust the staff members.
I very much regret to announce my decision not to participate this year.
As of this moment, there is not a single event in which I have decided alone. I ask for your understanding in this very regrettable circumstance.
I find it hard to express my thoughts in any language other than Japanese, so I insist in only doing so in Japanese.
Reika has been a guest cosplayer for Cosplay Mania for the past three years. Prior to this announcement, she was part of the initial line-up of guests for Cosplay Mania ’15, along with Kaname, Hana, Baozi and Ladybeard.
Cosplay.PH, the organizer of Cosplay Mania, has issued this statement in response:
Earlier this month, we announced our first lineup of Guests for Cosplay Mania ’15 including Reika. Like all our confirmed guests, we made every effort to accommodate Reika’s requests, unfortunately she decided that, for personal reasons, she would not be able to attend Cosplay Mania this year. We would like to assure everyone that Kaname, Hana, Baozi and Ladybeard will still be going to Cosplay Mania this year and that we will also announce more guests in the near future.
The Cosplay Mania staff makes every effort to ensure that the guests are treated well and enjoy their stay in our event in order to create a fun and vibrant atmosphere for everyone. We look forward to another amazing event on October 3-4, 2015 at the SMX Convention Center Manila in Pasay City so please check our official event news and announcements for more updates.
SOURCES: Reika and Cosplay Mania on Facebook
Translation of Reika’s statement was provided by JM Santos Reyes.
