HONG KONG COMICS FEST & CYBER CARNIVAL 2001

We're back from our stint in the Hong Kong Comics Fest and Cyber Carnival where our very own JM Chua (Saito) won the grand prize of the regional cosplay!

Yes folks, the unexpected win was a major upset that left a lot of local Chinese fans, the AXN people and even the judges stunned. JM couldn't even believe it himself. When his name was announced (in Cantonese), it took him some time to finally understand that he won. The handful of us pinoys (Cherry, Bambi, Culture Crash people, Leah, Pow and Chris, weareanime reps, and Anima Anime!) shouted with what was left of our voices.

JM won an open ticket for Japan. Now who would have thought that being an anime fan and wearing dorky costumes would merit something like this?

The facts :

The comics fest started last July 27 and ended on the 31st. The finals happened late afternoon on the 31st. JM went against 2 cosplayers : the winner of the Singapore AXN cosplay and the Hong Kong comic fest winner. The singaporean, Huang Zhilong is only 16 years old and he played Shishio. The Hong Kong winner portrayed a local comic character.

The HK Comics Fest was a grand feat. It showcased the region's best local Chinese comic publishers with their own brand or merchandising. Two of the largest local publishers have been in the business for a decade and are both publicly listed in the stock exchange. It's also quite interesting to note that the event itself focused entirely on these local comics. We only found a couple of anime booths (Animate, Toei, and Bandai) and one Jpop/Jrock magazine booth (J-Pont, Music Rock).

The Analysis:

The Hong Kong Comics Fest basically showed the maturity of the region's market. Though a lot of local comic publishers have obviuosly adapted various anime styles, the local Chinese have maintained theirs, both in art and plotlines. This is the kind of mature market that the we see the Philippines finally getting into in 5 to 10 years. The fans in HK are in fact more fanatical and loyal to their own local comics as we saw long lines queueing for autographs, collectibles, or just to catch glimpses of the creators. A film version (live action) of a famous local comic title was even previewed onstage ("The Legend of Zu" - a crouching tiger hidden dragon meets mortal combat type of film).

This is the same kind of culture that CCOM (Culture Crash) is based on. Although still in the early stages, we believe that when the Philippine market matures and develops more towards originality and a basic local comic identity, CCOM will be there at the frontlines (we hope..).

There are more talented Filipinos out there. Hope you get out of your shell and help everybody reach our potentials.

In Summary

The Fest was great! Stuff in HK are so damn expensive! We walked and walked, searched the streets of Wan Chai, Mongkok and Causeway for anime stores, haggled in the night market, ate in restaurants with indecipherable menus, got lost several times, and bought and shopped and ate.