Ozine Fest 2013 Event Report

Ozine Fest 2013 Day 3  Report

(under cut)

Last Sunday, I attended the Ozine Fest day 3 my sister. Unlike my original plan to attend the event just to cover it on Day 2 something important came up and I was out of town. So on Sunday even though we were tired from our previous trip, we packed our costumes quick, hailed a taxi and arrived at SM Megamall by 2:45.

One of the first things to notice was there wasn't as many cosplayers roaming the mall away from the event proper at the 5th floor. Usually as I enter the department store at the upper ground floor I would catch cosplayers taking pictures or buying food or lining up for the CRs or just walking around. Maybe it's because the guards are getting stricter about cosplayers staying at the event proper...

We headed quick to the ticket booth and luckily the line wasn't long. Another new thing to me was that the entrance stamp they used is the invisible one that only shows in front of the white lights and therefore we didn't have to put up with having an ugly blue stamp on our arms that ruins cosplay pictures.

We delighted that they now provide a costume changing area and a baggage counter. The changing area was two covered booths that didn't have anything on it except for an empty box of... well, I didn't really look inside. It was dim and bare inside and lacked a mirror. On the bright side it prevents a longer queue outside because few cosplayers would overstay to do their makeup while people wait in line to change costumes. The baggage counter was big and manned by at least three staff/volunteers and I thought well-organized. I had to wait until they have free slots because I arrived late and all the numbers were taken. The staff were kind and accepted my bags on my return. It was really a nice experience to walk around in costume and not have to worry about carrying and looking after bags while people take a picture of you.

I didn't really watch the stage events that much. Mostly I would stop to watch a bit and move on. I loved it when someone performed Magic Knight Rayearth's Yuzurenai Negai. It always, always make me happy to hear theme songs from old favourite animes.

The indie artists booth was positioned away from the stage and near the maid cafe, and in front of the gaming area and toys display. I think there are more indie booths this year than the last. I was happy to meet new artists and I hope to join them again next time. The toys are great eye candy as usual, lots of K-On! figures, and there was also a Hisoka of HunterxHunter. I thought there's fewer toys in display this year though. I didn't enter the maid cafe and didn't go near the gaming area, but looks like those areas were quite busy. There were One Piece POP figures for sale and I almost emptied my ATM for all of the time-skip Nami figures. Good thing I left the ATM safely at home :D

My sister and I cosplayed characters from Fairy Tail. Whew. I'm never going to get used to having lots of people take a picture of me... oh well. The last time I cosplayed in a convention was in 2011 (which was only twice and both were of different Fairy Tail characters).  There was an abundance of Lucys and Erzas and I enjoyed bumping to people with the same series we were cosplaying. I remember back in 2009 when I first cosplayed a Fairy Tail character and most people didn't know who Mirajane or Lucy or Erza was. Back then I delighted when the few people who recognized calls me by the character's name. Now people know the character and it's nice to bump into a whole group cosplaying from the same series.

Overall my Ozine Fest Day 3 experience was quiet but fun. We were only there for five hours and one hour was spent changing into our costumes but I felt it was a good five hours spent.