FanFes Online 2020: The Philippines’ First Online Cosplay Convention

Missed attending anime conventions? Being cooped up at home in the light of the recent pandemic can be quite dull at times but this time, there is no stopping Cosplay.ph bringing the convention to all anime enthusiasts. Thus, Cosplay.ph presents the very first online cosplay convention in the Philippines – FanFes Online 2020!

FanFes Online 2020 is an online anime convention that ran between July 31, 11 am and August 2, 11pm. The organizers of this event utilized various social media platforms, such as Discord, Zoom, YouTube and Facebook, to make the fun convention experience accessible to everyone in the safety of their own homes. All you had to do was register!

Once you registered, you’d have received an email that forwarded you to a Discord link where you could access the virtual convention. There, you had the chance to interact with your fellow anime fans in the lobby channel of the Main Atrium category on Discord. You could also check out the virtual exhibits, artist, lifestyle and collectibles stalls.

In the Exhibit or Blockbuster Hall, there were three categories to check out! First, was the Fuwa Fuwa bread exhibit where they featured the various flavors of their bread products and creatively promoted them to the con-goers. Up next were our very own Manga Planet, and futekiya, who had prepared their own exhibit as well. Both had promoted their latest and most popular manga releases which the con-goers gladly checked out. futekiya also featured special messages and illustrations from independent creators such as Nacolat, Ayu Amane, Hana, Kobuchi and Tachibana. They also featured an exclusive drawing session by Haruko Kumota on August 1, 12mn to 11:59 pm in celebration of Yaoi Day.

Business was also bustling for the artists and merchants as they featured and promoted their merch and opened their commissions for the con-goers to go crazy about. Most of the accepted payment methods were online.

It was on August 1 that most of the festivities and stage activities of the convention were held.  By 5 pm, the Freedom Hall, emcees, guests and con-goers were given the chance to interact with each other via Zoom. There was also a livestream on social media for people online to watch everyone having fun.

By 8 pm, the stage activities of the FanFes Online 2020 were officially open; people who registered at Zoom were able to participate in the activities, and the event was also live on YouTube, where everyone could watch for free. The event opened with the lively greetings and shout outs from the trio of emcees hosting the event: Envy, Naru, and Kenkoy. Envy cosplayed as Akira from Persona 5, Naru as Sango from InuYusha, and Kenkoy as various anime characters like Luffy, Naruto, and Sanji.

After the opening, the program then proceeded to the first game which was Guess the Sketch. There, with Kuya Jay preceding the game, two contestants from the online con-goers were chosen to guess the sketches of anime characters drawn by three artists, Creachivity, Toknee, and Hikari Inori. The first one to gain 3 points won the game.

Next up was the Cosplay High 5 Challenge wherein the top ten cosplayers contend to win the Grand Prize.  The Top 10 were as follows (in no particular order): Ki, Haru, Inagi Trese, Gibs, Geneva, Dawn Scarlet, Yanne, Emily, and Dukesa. They were featured in a 30-minute video skit with them cosplaying and ending with a high-five. From that, the polls were opened for people to vote for their favored cosplayer.

While waiting for the polls to pile in, FanFes Online featured Hino Fujiwara, the 2018 J-Pop Anime singing Contest Grand Winner, in their JAM Cover Artist segment. She appeared while cosplaying as Ram (from Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World) and she happily talked to the emcees, who asked her various questions regarding her career and achievements. They also featured a video of her grand performance of “Groovy!” from Cardcaptor Sakura.

After that, Aimu Sora, a famous male Japanese virtual YouTuber, was featured in 10 Questions. There, they asked him questions about his online content and who he’d like to feature next on his videos. Aimu Sora was pretty charming and excitable.

Then the event proceeded with the first segment of Cosplay Auction Online, lead by Ms. Jewel Wong. There, various merchandise such as key chains, handkerchiefs, and Nendoroids were set up for auction for the con-goers.

After the first auction, the event proceeded with another game, which is the “Saibu Showdown” where two of the chosen con-goers battle it out with their anime knowledge. The questions were about anime in general and whoever gains the most points won the game.

The event then showed another JAM Cover Artist segment featuring NIGHT Shifters, a group of dance performers consisting of Leah, Riah, and Johana. There, the emcees got the chance to interview Leah Casiano, one of the members about their group. The segment also featured a video of their dance performance “Gokuraku Joudo”.

The 10 Questions segment briefly returned again with Hiroto Kuramasu, the voice behind Aimu Sora, to be followed by another segment of Cosplay Auction Online.

Finally, the winners of the Cosplay High 5 Challenge were announced with Emily in third place with her cute Alluka/Nanika Zoldyck cosplay, Dukesa in second place as the beautiful Princess Serenity and Geneva at first place with her amazing Exusiai from Arknights cosplay.

After that, the emcees had some heart-to-heart talks with everyone during these pandemic times and urged them to stay safe as always. The stage activities ended with a heartfelt message in support of the frontliners of the COVID pandemic and performing a song entitled “Heroes Too” featuring organizers and performers of the FanFes Online 2020 in honor of them.

All in all, FanFes Online 2020 is a huge hit and success. Hopefully, we’ll have more events like these in the future!

About Manga Planet: Read manga, support artists

In 2012, Manga Planet started as a joint project between Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. and FANTASISTA, INC. to research and explore the ways manga is read throughout the world. Aiming to bring new manga to fans from all over the world and support artists and the industry, Manga Planet pushes for affordability and access to manga through a subscription-based service.

Readers who subscribe to Manga Planet and pay a flat monthly fee of $6.99 will have access to our expanding library of English-language manga. By the end of 2020, subscribers will have unlimited access to at least 500 titles. To subscribe, please go to read.mangaplanet.com and create an account. More information is in our Guide.