UP AME Monogatari: Continuing 11 Years of the Story

Posted on November 19th, 2011 by chylle

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Celebrating 11 years upon its conception, the University of the Philippines’ Anime and Manga Enthusiasts (UP AME) held their 11th year anniversary fair at the World Center Manila East Pavilion Tent. Being one of the first and major student organized events held yearly, UP AME has since been synonymous to being a big con, a major fair, and an educational portal with aims and objectives targeted to the general populace to broaden their understanding with this particular culture from Japan.

As with continuing culture of the AME Fair, each year of their organization’s anniversary holds a fair that continues to expand with its ever-growing following of visitors from different parts of the country. In these years, several themes has played a central host to these fairs from Harajuku fashion, Japanese school fairs (gakuensai), and many more; and for this year, their theme was about Japanese folklore and stories – hence AME Monogatari. With this event being held at their biggest venue yet, the World Center Manila tent, the crowd and the booths fit snuggly just right. With thousands of attending people to meet and experience the traditional Japanese styled event area, the booths were lined up just like festivals in Japan.

Setting up the foundation for a more traditional approach, these were reflected in the booths as such ring tosses, shrine visits, and a fortune booth (omikuji). Other recreational AME staples, such as the sumo booth and darts, are also present and making players flustered with fun. Food stalls are also welcome for those who want a taste of an onigiri (rice ball with a filling) or other Japanese delicacies such as the daifuku, mochi, dango and many more. One can also enjoy eating at a ryoriten styled restaurant with ghosts waiting to serve you Japanese cuisine. And if time permits, the ghost waiters can even provide some nice folklore trivia!

With the festivities in the air, the hall was bustling with color as several booths had their own activities ranging from selling wares and merchandise to having engaging activities with the crowd. Other events that were a crowd favorite were the demonstrations and workshops. The people were able to see live demonstrations on Kendo as well as a brief run-down of its culture, rules, and mechanics. Special guests were invited like Aki Tani who taught the crowd how to properly wear a Yukata (Japanese summer kimono) and the art of kimekomi style doll making. Other creative workshops include cleaning and maintenance of your figure collection by Team Oniichan.

To say that the event was just ‘nice’ is terribly an understatement with so much to see and play around. The event’s wide walkways made crowd traffic very manageable and the open grass area in front helped ease the premises with idle people. Inside, the staff were very efficient with controlling the flow of people, especially for bottleneck points. Although half expecting a parade of ghosts and ghouls, the number of cosplaying people were more than enough enjoyment. Too bad the Nurarihyon cosplayers were not leading the march.

The stage’s full line of events kept the crowd watching with the bands in between to keep them electrified. This is one of the times I can testify that the amount of people in the crowd is not so bad when they can cheer openly may it be good or something unpleasant, as long as it is awesome, they WILL cheer for it – loudly. Together with the contests such as the karaoke and the cosplay contests, the it kept the crowd very energetic. With a strong following of people, the story will surely go on for many more years to come.

From Inside Ruby Knight’s Armor

I arrived at the convention rather late, around 2pm since I went from a morning class. As soon as I arrived, I reported for duty at the Otakultura booth. After the regular greetings with fellow members (I met the usual bunch – Prawnt, Anonybear, Shinoda, The Mistress, Chylle, Colocoy and Pandasal), I proceeded to change in my costume and take pictures of the event. In my opinion, this year’s AME made up for last year. If you recall, many were disappointed at last year’s overcrowding issue due to the large number of convention attendees. AME 2010 was held alongside two large events in SMX, thus the crowding. This year, they moved it to World Trade Center Manila – far larger than an SMX event hall; although a low point I see would be the venue’s accessibility. Going there is a breeze, but going home from there is rather difficult.

Here’s something I wanted to share with you all. This is the second UP AME convention I’ve ever attended. I managed to attend Ame no Jidai last 2009, and coincidentally it almost had the same theme as this year’s. UP AME 2009 (held at A.Venue Hall in Makati) had a Sengoku-period theme, whilst this year’s had a Japanese folklore theme. Going back, some of the event highlights were the individual and group cosplay competitions, and the karaoke competition. I saw the Space Sheriffs once more (Gavan, Sharivan, Shaider), two Resident Evil cosplay groups (one focusing on the second game while the other focused on the original STARS roster), the Rune Knight cosplayer from Ragnarok Online (with her signature green mount), the Deathsaurer from Zoids and Turboranger’s Turborobo.