Event Report

As they say in the entertainment industry, "The show must go on." The balmy and rainy weather, coinciding with the sudden cancellation of three cosplay guests on the day before the event, has not stopped Primetrade Asia, Inc. to hold The Best of Anime 2019 held from August 30 to September 1.

Despite the continuous downpour that hammered Metro Manila during the weekend, pop-culture fans continued to flock to the SMX Convention Center Manila in Pasay City for the 17th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention.

The 16th installment of The Philippines Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention (TOYCON PH) happened just a couple of weeks ago, dubbed as "Toycon '17 × Pop! Life Fan Experience", the popular pop-culture event has undeniably hit success, where it brought toys, collectibles, games, movies, anime and cosplay fans together.

Hallo Hallo executive gets candid on their first event, reveals plans for Proposed CJ Mall complex, Upcoming Shops.

What's the first thing that comes to mind whenever Japan is mentioned? You'd be forgiven for giving answers like anime, manga, cosplay, J-pop and the like, but Japan has so much more cultural and economic treasures to offer. Although travelling to Japan is certainly the best way it experience it all, Hallo Hallo Alliance offered a solution that's much closer to home: the Cool Japan Festival 2015.

Thirty-six thousand. That is the total number of tickets bought for Cosplay Mania 15. Thirty-six thousand people went to the booths, bought merchandises, witnessed the crowning of the country's representative to Anime Festival Asia 2015's regional cosplay tilt, and, yelled & cheered for Ladybeard and Pile's first-ever Manila gig.

At around 30 minutes past 7, the crowd started chanting, "Eir Ruru!" and "Eir Aoi!" The crowd continued to shout in anticipation, then after a few moments, she went on stage with microphone in tow and belted her first song in her setlist. It was her first time in the country, but judging from the reaction of the boisterous crowd that filled the BoA Concert Hall at the front end of the SMX Convention Center - Manila, it could have been mistaken for a comeback concert.

In the Japanese pop-culture multiverse, the Tokusatsu fandom is probably one of the most underrated, if not the most under-served fandom. Sure, we may have been bitten one way or another by the Tokusatsu bug because of the shows that were aired in the old terrestrial networks in the '90's, but some of us have drifted from the Tokusatsu fandom into our main anime fandoms. But one thing is sure about the fandom: they have a loyal following.

Just to be clear, I will not claim that I am a part of any Tokusatsu or Sentai fandom as the most recent tokusatsu show that I have seen is Masked Rider Hibiki, which was aired on TV5's highly-popular AniMEGA block a couple of years ago, but the most memorable for me is Masked Rider Black in the 90s.

As we finally entered the doors of the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre located in the Western end of the City-state, we really never expected what AFA 2014 would offer.