WHOEVER said dressing up in your favorite character—fictional or otherwise—is only suitable on Halloween, clearly has been missing out on all the fun.
On its 10th year, Otakufest 2018 brought fans together last Feb. 24 at the Cebu Business Park.
Organized by Otakufest Events Management, crowds gathered at the event and joined in on the fun. More than that, majority of the goers were dressed in their favorite characters making it a more colorful and diverse convention with attendees in costumes inspired by characters from movies, television shows and video games from different genres.
A variety of signature Otakufest activities were in play: Asian Pop Dance Competition, Japanese Singing Contest, Original Character Design Competition and DotA 2 Competition. Special guests included Japanese vocal and dance group bless4, and famous cosplayers Eki Holic, Vincent Estapon, Yuegene Fay and Kaizoku Ellie.
The cosplay competition also brought to Cebu City the World Cosplay Summit (WCS) Central and Eastern Visayas Regional Qualifiers where entries must be in pairs with costumes made by themselves, among other qualifications. The Grand Champion will be sent to the finals in Manila for a chance to represent The Philippines for the World Cosplay Summit 2018 at Nagoya, Japan.
Exhibits showcasing food, collectibles and other merchandise were on full display not to mention the Artist Alley were artists got to present their works inspired by popular culture like anime and manga.
Year after year, Otakufest remains to be one of the city’s most awaited events. It could be the crowd, the activities, the crowd bringing characters to life—fans are already looking forward to the next one.