March 30, 2015 – Manila, Philippines
The CNPH Team witnessed the comeback of
one of the most-anticipated conventions held by university students – Tamashii
Convention (Tamacon). The theme for this year is a fusion of the traditional
and popular Japanese culture to the Filipino market.
March is the season of graduation and
summer vacation for us Filipinos and having this event as a month-ender for
Japanese culture fans is a good way of de-stressing after long days in school
or work. Most of the cosplayers also adhered to the event’s theme as they
donned their yukatas while trying out the activities in the Matsuri booths and
roaming around the premises.
Just like the other conventions, most of
the activities lined up for the day are pretty common such as the band
performances, mini games, individual and group cosplay competition, and sponsor
segments. What made Tamacon stand out from the rest though are the Sports Anime
Café, Jpop Idol Contest (unlike the usual anime karaoke contests), the Japanese
Culture Talk and the Street and Kawaii Snapshots fashion shows.
In terms of convenience, the payment
method for the tickets came in two forms: online and via meet-up at their
booth.
Nihon Kenkyuu Kai, De La Salle University’s
anime organization is the one behind the success of this event. The “No Ticket,
No Entry” policy and crowd control were well-implemented. Considering that the
venue was small, almost everyone whom we chatted with was still pleased with
how the convention turned out.
Here are some of the pictures of the
cosplayers that we met during the said event:
“I actually wasn’t able to see the Kabe-Don booth since I found it hard to roam inside the convention area due to space restrictions. As I’ve heard, there was also a gold fish scooping booth and a wishing tree. It was a very well organized event and I really liked that they implemented the “No ticket, no entry policy”, it made the convention area less crowded by filtering people who didn’t have tickets. Tamashii Con also had a baggage counter which gave the cosplayers the comfort of roaming around the convention without worrying about their cosplay stuff.” – Aire
"Honestly, I was expecting the activity
booths to have a Japanese feel to it in terms of decorations. I also hoped that they rented out bigger halls but considering that there are other events in SMX, I think it's understandable. Some of my expectations weren’t
met but at least I had a fun experience in terms of meeting people.
Congratulations to Nihon Kenkyuu Kai for a job well done!" – Xien
Photographer and Contributor: Aire Xie
Article: Xien