ANIME FANS, GAMERS, GEEKS, and hobbyists would oftentimes enjoy the numerous pop culture conventions happening around the Philippines, with CONQuest, CosMania, and ESGS being some of the main attractions for diehard fans.
And while these conventions would bring the most popular names, the biggest brands, and an overwhelming community, there are some drawbacks. The large-scale nature of these events would mean that only a handful of venues could cater to their needs, with the SMX Convention Center becoming one of the main hubs.
But not everyone is comfortable visiting the SMX Convention Center due to the traffic alongside EDSA as well as the distance, and some of the events catered in those areas can be costly due to the high entrance fees.
To address these problems the Ozine Fest, an anime and cosplay event, decided to hold their festivals in various malls around the country without any entrance fees. Recently, the Ozine Fest held a Halloween themed event in Ayala Malls Feliz.
What makes the Ozine Fest stand out?
"That's when the team realized na it's time to host or organize more events across different venues because the usual events are SMX, World Trade Center, Megamall. For example there are kids from Marikina who can't go there, so Ozine decided to organize events who can't travel to SMX, World Trade Center, etc," as stated by Leny one of the event coordinators of Ozine Events in an exclusive with SPIN.ph.
It may not be as big as the other geek-related events in the country, but it manages to gain some traction from the community. Ozine's popularity reached new levels after an event in Manila Bay, which got the attention of malls.
"Well it wasn't like this pre-pandemic, it just happened in late-2022, when we introduced a free event in Manila Bay, and the response of people was so high, the foot traffic, sobrang dami niya," revealed Leny.
"Eventually the malls started reaching out to us, isa-isa na saying, 'Can you organize dito sa amin?' So that's why it kinda became a weekly or a monthly thing."
A small event with a big heart
While this is definitely a milestone worth celebrating, it certainly raises the bar and Leny would do everything to please the various parties involved.
"To be honest minsan nakaka-pressure. Siguro habang tumatagal, yung demands ng tao tumataas. So kami parang we want to make sure that we meet their expectations pero other than being pressured, masaya siya kasi we get comments like, 'Thank you for organizing such a wholesome event, even yung mga tennats happy kasi naso-soldout yung food nila. Nakaka-pressure pero at the same time, nakakalambot ng puso."
Given the weekly setup of Ozine Fest, things could be burdensome for Leny, however she remains motivated to provide the best experience for everyone. Leny juggles between her event coordination and HR job.
"For us kasi our goal is we want everyone to be happy, from our attendees, vendors, kasi sila business nila yung pagpunta sa event so we make sure na kumikita sila. Also yung mga photographers, kids, families, even the mall tenants are happy,"
And given her commitment, expect more to come. Fans who are interested to learn more about their events can check their official Facebook page.
"There will be more events, we're also planning to tap more malls and we're also coming up with new themes for next year. Yung sa January we'll have a circus theme, then after that we'll release other themes so abangan niyo na lang," she explained.
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