This year AME was something I really looked forward to. Wait let me rephrase that, this year AME was something WE LOOKED FORWARD TO. Who is this we? We, Project Eiva that’s who we are. This AME was Feudal Japan in theme and once we learned that the theme was like that, my good friend Seedsop
suggested that we cosplay Samurai Warriors.

In our group we only have three available people who can cosplay for AME. Me, Seedsop and our group mascot and council member Ice. Seedsop cosplayed Magaoichi Saika, the playboy one, Ice cosplayed the mischievous Kunoichi and I cosplayed, the samurai princess Ina-hime.

L-R) Ina-hime, Kunoichi and Magoichi Saika
At our back is our Kurokus Ings and Eco

I personally don’t know how Ina-hime since I haven’t played Samurai Warriors. So I have to do some research and study how Ina-hime acts, how she speaks, what’s her personality and what not. Upon knowing who my character is, I was dead on cosplaying her, that’s why on the day of AME I was rather excited and nervous at the same time because, I will be Ina-hime for that day. Not only that, we decided to join the group cosplay. This is my first time competing, same goes for Seedsop. Lucky for Ice, she has already have experience competing in a cosplay competition both local and international.

On the day of AME NO JIDAI, we all set to meet up at Ice’s place in JP  Rizal in Makati. Her house is like 2 to 3 blocks away from the convention. AME NO JIDAI was held in A. Avenue Hall in Makati Avenue.

Took some time for us to prepare halfway. We went there half-dressed already. As soon as we stepped into the venue, we went to the cosplay registration booth and registered our group.

What I like about the group cosplay in AME, the kurokus AKA: cosplay human props  (you know those black-clad people that some cosplayers use when they want special effects in their skit) is also part of your group presentation.
To make it simple, two of ourfriends namely Eco and Ings cosplayed kurokus  for our skit. LOL.

As soon as we finished filling-up the registration form and handing our  audio that we will use for our group cosplay, we went inside and headed towards the dressing room provided for the cosplayers to finish dressing up.

Once we were done dressing up in our full costume we roamed around. I have to say that the place is well ventilated. The aircon was in full blast and even with a huge crowd in the venue, it still felt cold. To be honest, I was already shivering in my costume. Also, the booths were placed  in one side and there was enough space for people to go around the booth area. I have to say,the venue  was well appropriate for expecting  crowd. Speaking of crowd, I didn’t felt that there was a huge crowd because there were space that I could walk to without tripping especially since I am lugging around a bow that is taller than me. Ah yes, space I love it.

Now, lets go to the stage area. The stage area was for me was pretty okay though I was praying that we won’t hit any of the musical instruments on the stage by the time we perform our skit. It was big enough to accommodate
eight people. The stage also has a ramp area for the peruse of the  cosplayers. It’s not a long ramp. Just enough for the one minute time given to those who joined the individual cosplay and free for all.  However, the stage is not appropriate for mecha cosplayers. To be able to get on the stage, you need to climb a stair that has three steps. This is
where I give props to the Cosplay.ph people for putting a ramp (you know that ramp that physically challenged people use to get up the stairs?)  to accomodate mecha cosplayers last Cosplay Mania. The good thing is, they  allotted some space down the stage for the mecha cosplayers to pass through  and show their stuff.My personal favorite was this Gurenn Lagan mech cosplayer.  Man, he was huge and he needed assistance in moving his costume around.
It was that huge. I also wanted to congratulate our very one Eiva member and council member Vince in his first cosplay ramp. He cosplayed Kaito from Vocaloid.

The dressing room was really nice. It has a huge mirror and big enough if you want to practice their with your group. Inside the dressing room is a  bathroom which I found really nice. There are also marshalls guarding the
dressing room in case someone went into the wrong dressing room. You know what I mean.

Just right besides the dressing room is the Tea Room. Yes, the tea room. Me, Seedsop, Vince and our dear friend Ksolaris was able to experience it.  We got to meet Diego inside wearing the yukata. We had a fun time inside. I mean hello, free flowing tea and sweets plus a very accomodating host, it was really nice. It felt so appropriate for Seedsop and I since we were in a  fedual Japan costume with weapons. It doesn’t help that our characters despise
each other XD

I remember Seedsop telling me, if we were really our characters and if we were really in a feudal Japan tea house, we would be really fighting and there will be chaos. LOL. Don’t worry, we didn’t fight there. It was not time to be in character. Hehehe.

I also have to commend the setting of the connoseiurs. They were all located on  the 2nd floor. The placement of the food booths makes the crowd more disperse and not concentrated in one area. I would love to taste all the food there
but my costume forbid me to do so.

As the time goes by, we were just in the area roaming around, mingling with  people. I saw a lot of people dressed in feudal Japan costumes. There were geishas and people in kimono and yukata. There are people cosplaying non-feudal
Japan themed series. I saw Kuroshitsuji, Hetalia, Vocaloid and many more. There was this Michael Jackson cosplayer who managed to look like the real Michael Jackson. Awesome cosplay is Awesome. He was even doing the moonwalk.

Soon enough, it was time for the individual cosplay. Though it took a awhile, since there were a lot of delays. The cosplay competitions were pushed back late in the afternoon to evening. I empathize with the Hetalia group cosplay
they were already in the venue at 10AM.

When we registered, we were told that the group cosplay would be around 5PM. We ramped around 7PM. I know, it was pushed back so much that I don’t blame if some of the cosplayers feels rather tired already. Anyway, back to the group cosplay, the Hetalia group went first and then the group consisted of girls cosplaying Vampire Knight. After them, it was our turn.

I’m not going to elaborate how was our skit since I am planning to make a blog entry on our journey in becoming Samurai Warriors. What I can tell you is that it was awesome. I felt nervous while we were starting but on the latter part the nervousness was gone. I believed I was able to pull Ina-hime off. I didn’t do research on her for nothing and I have to say, we all did a very good job.

“Ina, Ina, Ina, don’t you look weird talking to yourself?”

“You seem to be lost in my eyes”

“In my heart I only have one man”

“Two versus One? Oh whatever shall I do?”

“Now at last! Hahahahaha!”

Moon Prism – Not not really ^^

After our skit, we decided to slowly shed off our costumes and started to relax. Waiting for the hosts to announce the winners took a long time. Actually, Seedsop inquire what time they’re gonna announce it, and he was told it would be around 10PM, right after the bands. Personally, I think that’s rather late already. At that hour, most of the participants of the contest have already left. I think, it would be better if they announced the winners before the bands so that the grand finale would be the bands.

When the winners were announced, we were already at Shakeys eating a very later dinner. Only Eco, Ings and Ice passed by the venue to hear who won. Guess what? WE WON THE GROUP COSPLAY! This is the first time I ever competed and in a group and we won. Frankly I was so high about it and some of us were teary-eyed about it too. I mean, we put a lot of effort in our costumes, in our props and in our skits. We gave our 110% percent. What’s so funny about it, we joined the group cosplay for fun. We never really intended to win. We just wanted to show what we got as a group.Thanks to all those who supported us, we love you guys!!!

All in all AME NO JIDAI was really fun despite all the delays. We had fun and I think that’s what important, to have fun and to make new friends. It was fun seeing old and meeting new friends. Glad to see Ate Rotch (who is one of the judges for the cosplay competition), Ate Jewel of SweetGeeks, Ate Rael and Ate Hazel. I am happy to see Romeo and Kia again too.

Until next UP AME Fair guys o/

PS: I will be posting another blog article regarding the preparation and other stuff for our group cosplay, so please stay tune.
PSS: You can check out Magnetic-Rose’s Event Report regarding AME NO JIDAI: UP AME NO JIDAI EVENT REPORT
PSSS: SUPER THANKS TO ATE JEWEL FOR THE FREE COOKIES. THEY WERE LOVE. ICE SENDS HER THANKS TOO. omnomnomnomnom~~~