We at arkadymac.com love school events that celebrate the studentry’s love and admiration for cosplay and Japanese culture, which was why we were pleasantly glad to take part in Tanabata VII at Philippine Normal University in Manila. Organized by PNU NAMI, a university org that bridges both Filipino and Japanese culture together, Tanabata featured a festival of creativity and talent, highlighted by wonderful performances as well as the PNU leg of the Best of Anime Interschool Cosplay Competition. arkadymac.com is their exclusive media partner, and we are happy to bring you our coverage of their event.
Already on its seventh year, PNU-NAMI’s yearly celebration of Japanese culture within the campus has had a long legacy highlighted by with their Tanabata event. Students from all over the university as well as enthusiasts from all over the Philippines were welcomed and treated to a friendly and festive atmosphere as everyone was bound by their common passion for Japanese culture, anime, manga, games and cosplay.
The event was held at their gymnasium where the organization had set up booths along with their sponsors and partner organizations from other universities. There were merchandise stores with an assortment of goods, displays from exhibitors, as well as a booth where attendees can play fun games.
Various performances from the NAMI’s talented members kept the crowd excited all throughout the day.
An art contest was open to the attendees as well, going on throughout the afternoon as young artists earnestly put their skills to the test.
Then came time for the BOA Interschool Cosplay Competition, where students from TIP put on a great show in their best cosplays in front of an appreciative hometown crowd as a panel of keen judges had the difficult time of assessing them. I was honored to be one of the judges, and it really was a difficult task as everyone put on their best performances with the characters they love.
The highlight of the event is their Tanabata play where they reenacted the story of the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. As the legend went, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they could only meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The play was well rehearsed by their talented cast, and the audience couldn’t help but watch and look on in affection at their splendid performance.
We also had the opportunity to do shoots with the wonderful cosplayers who came to the event, among them were NAMI members as well who enjoyed cosplaying besides all the other things they had to do for the event. Many other students from the school also enjoyed having their pictures taken with them.
Eventually everyone was called for the awarding ceremonies. The top five cosplayers were named, and besides getting prizes from Primetrade Asia they will be going to Best of Anime 2015 to be held on September 19 and 20 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia to represent their school. Everyone was then called for some group shots and some final pictures were taken as Tanabata VII came to a close.
Congratulations to PNU-NAMI for a successful, well-prepared and organized event. We admire the sense of community that was evident all throughout. Many thanks as well for inviting us to their event as their media partner, as well as to Primetrade Asia for supporting cosplay and Japanese pop culture clubs and organizations all over Manila and helping them out with their events.
Thank you for dropping by, and do visit us again for more features here at arkadymac.com.
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