Eastwood City came to life this 14th August 2011 with colorful costumes and fun family activities, as cosplayers, J-pop fans, and foodies came together to greet Teriyaki Boy a Happy 10th Birthday! Teriyaki Boy, one of the pioneers of casual Japanese dining in the Philippines, celebrated ten years of great food and fantastic service with a mega blow-out at Eastwood City’s Central Tent. Packed with parlor games, cosplay contests, and raffle draws, this was easily one of the more enjoyable small cons we’ve been to in a good long while.

After a quick drenching in the midmorning no thanks to a sudden squall, cosplayers and guests started trickling into the venue after lunch. By this time, the programme was already in full swing, with a live performance by J-pop Anime Singing Contest 2010 winner Himitsu Heiki, followed by their Ongaku Society comrades PPF All-stars later in the afternoon. There were lots of fun, party-style games for the event participants — including trivia contests, relay games, even a manga hairdo showdown where contestants practiced their color spray and styling skills on their friends, siblings, and their moms!

One of the highlights of the event was — of course, the cosplay competition. Featuring a strictly Japanese-only line-up — manga, anime, and gaming cosplayers took to the stage to impress the judges from Cosplay.PH. I was also there as one of the judges, and I have to say if this contest was any indicator of how competitive the next few months will be on the local cosplay scene, then we’re in for an exciting ride! Here’s a quick round-up of all the winners for the Teriyaki Boy Cosplay Competition:

Best Male: Robert Torio (Den-O, Kamen Rider Den-O)
Best Female: Christine (Annelotte, Queen’s Blade Mad Knight)
Best Child : Zire Yvin John Salazar (GekiRed, Jyuuken Sentai Gekiranger)
Best Craftsmanship: Abraham Cruz (Master Gundam, Mobile Suit G Gundam)
Teriyaki Boy’s Pick: Ivan Valerio (Sumo Roll Boma)

The event was capped off by a special appearance of the birthday boy himself — Teriyaki Boy! Accompanied by his friends Fudo-zen the Japanese Chef, Kiyo-san the waiter extraordinaire, the lovely Kuuki and her warm ambience, and food-loving Jinno, Teriyaki Boy was definitely the star of the afternoon. A quick shout-out also goes to Moo and the Sizzling Pepper Steak Moo-vers, who joined T-Boy in a special dance number for their fans.

Fun and full of prizes, the enjoyment we had at this event was worth more than what they charged for admission. The programme was well-planned and there was nary a minute of dead air; the contests were orderly in spite of the exuberance of some participants. The front of the stage was sometimes so packed it was hard to move, but thankfully that did not slow down game contestants making a mad dash for the stage to claim their prizes.

If I had any complaints it would be more the other convention-goers’ fault than the organizers’. Some of them had a bad habit of jumping the temporary barriers set up to secure the venue, rather than going around the corner and using the main entrance. I was also puzzled by the number of cosplayers who opted out of paying for tickets and hung around outside instead — c’mon guys, surely PhP 50 isn’t expensive?! ^^;;;;

Anyway, congratulations again to the Teriyaki Boy Matsuri team for a job well done! Hope to see you again when Teriyaki Boy turns fifteen! 😀