The most long-awaited pop culture and cosplay con in the Visayas has officially made its 2-day epic comeback at the grounds of Tower Garden at SM Seaside City Cebu starting from February 22 and ending in February 23.
Marking its 17th year in 2025, Otakufest has fully embraced its annual event with the theme “Mythical Mayhem,” aiming to highlight the legendary fantasies of Japanese and Chinese Festivals.
This season brings an extensive lineup of activities and a full motion of action-packed experiences!
Surpassing Expectations
Opening its ears to the public, Otakufest made sure to fully understand and grasp the people’s feedback to ensure that their expectations are met and fulfilled.
“It is not something that is openly known to the public that, this year, our team was able to do lots of improvements based on feedback we received last year,” Jomar Joshua Junasa stated, the current Chief Director of the event.
This season, Otakufest has brought in well-known special guests both international and local such as Mikki, Dokibird, Sol, Meream, and LiaBear — renowned figures in the cosplay and virtual entertainment communities making the event even a more exciting experience.
Aside from these, there were also a diverse lineup of other activities for everyone to play and engage in such as the Asian pop dance and ‘Kara-OK’ competition, artist alley, workshops, live band performances, merch concessionaires, mini-games, food stalls, and much more. And to make everything possible, their team has reinforced itself as a much better and stronger team this year to deliver and achieve more than expected.
And Beyond
Despite being one of the biggest and anticipated festivals in the Visayas, Otakufest has faced its fair share of setbacks and other challenges during pre-event and post event operations. For Junasa, one of the major challenges would be the outdoor venue of the event given that there are unforeseen circumstances like the instability of weather which caused delay on their first day. “We expect a lot of people to come in, but you know, there’s this sort of doubt,” Junasa expressed another concern regarding the crowd size.
