Popular Demand and Extended Editions

Top Japanese pop culture blogger Danny Choo, who serves as director and presenter of Culture:Japan, saw a surge of Web traffic to his site on the night of the broadcast. Clearly, the show was a hit, and viewers were going online for more.

Based on behind-the-scenes photos taken during her shoot for Culture:Japan, Alodia seems to have worn two outfits for the show: one inspired by anime culture, and one inspired by gamer culture. Based on these screenshots from the show itself, the anime-inspired costume got most of the screen time. The Culture:Japan episode shown by Tokyo MX TV in Japan ran for thirty minutes; an hour-long version will be aired in Southeast Asia via Animax. We should see more of Alodia then.

Alodia also happens to be an anime VJ for Animax. Animax has been expanding its online initiatives recently; if Danny’s Web traffic surge is any indication, Animax’s Web efforts are about to get a pleasant boost.

Filipina Geek Representation

In case you’re wondering about the piano in the first screenshot, Alodia uses it to play music from the Final Fantasy series of Japanese role-playing games. If you look closely at the lower left portion of the third screenshot, you can see a framed photo of her in black tights. That’s Alodia cosplaying the villainous Baroness from the original G.I. Joe animated series. This girl lives and breathes geekiness.

The premiere episode of Culture:Japan marks Alodia’s Japanese television debut. Note the prominence of the Philippine flag in the lower right corner of the first screenshot. The episode’s original Japanese broadcast date, June 12, was Philippine Independence Day. How fitting that a fine Filipina should showcase Filipina creativity internationally on that day.

(Screenshots by Shun Emilio Kuroki.)

Alodia’s fame as a Japanese pop culture maven stretches all across Southeast Asia, where she’s a VJ for the region’s leading anime cable network, Animax Asia. Now her influence is about to reach the very source of all Japanese pop culture: Japan itself. Alodia is set to appear on Tokyo Metropolitan Television (Tokyo MX TV).

Geeky Passions

Alodia’s room in the Philippines is a showcase of her geeky passions, filled with all sorts of crazy toys and shiny gadgets. That’s why Alodia and her room will be featured on the premiere episode of Culture:Japan, the new TV show directed by top Japanese pop culture blogger Danny Choo. Danny discovered Alodia through a picture of her at ToyCon 2008 in the Philippines; Alodia has since appeared in two of Danny’s photobooks.

Alodia’s younger sister Ashley, herself a popular cosplayer, took photos behind the scenes of the Culture:Japan shoot. The pictures seem to show Alodia wearing at least two different outfits during the show: an elegant ensemble inspired by anime culture, and a casual look inspired by gamer culture.

Twenty-two-year-old Alodia is, of course, a lifelong fan of Japanese anime and video games. Hardcore gamers might recognize the PlayStation 3 game in one of these photos: Final Fantasy XIII, a new role-playing game from Japan. “I’ve always dreamed of doing a shoot expressing how much I love video games,” says the Filipina gamer babe, who’s actually a sought-after video game endorser in her country. “My love for games started when I was in my mother’s womb. Back then, she was already playing Super Mario Brothers on the Family Computer… and I could already hear it. Just kidding!”

Back to the Source

If you’re in Tokyo this Saturday, June 12, catch Culture:Japan on Tokyo MX TV from 9:00pm to 9:30pm, GMT+9. If you’re anywhere in Southeast Asia, watch out for the show’s subsequent re-airing on Animax Asia.

Filipinas are often quite passionate about their fandoms, but it takes a truly fine Filipina to bring her passion all the way back to the very source of her fandom. That’s exactly what Alodia has accomplished with her first Japanese television appearance.

(Photos by Ashley Gosiengfiao via Danny Choo’s Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.)

Combined with Jerry’s well-developed talent for spot-on character portrayals, those similarities make her perfect to cosplay the immortal witch C.C. From her frilly costume to her melancholic expression, Jerry shines in her portrayal of C.C. as the character appears in the fourteenth episode of Code Geass.

(Photos by Ashley Nelson.)

Ashley Gosiengfiao (left) and Alodia Gosiengfiao (right)

Having endorsed everything from anime DVDs to video games to Japanese skincare products, Filipina cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao has become an icon of Japanese pop culture in the Philippines. That’s why Alodia and her sister Ashley were the obvious choice to endorse Robot, a trendy new sushi bar in the Philippines’ central business district. Instead of putting the girls in traditional Japanese kimonos, however, Robot chose a more modern artistic direction for their new models’ outfits.

To understand why these young ladies are wearing flashy unitards for a sushi bar, you’d have to understand a recent cultural trend in the Philippines. Japanese pop culture fandom in the Philippines started flourishing when the country first went online in 1994, and completely exploded during the first decade of the new millennium. Now more and more Japanese pop culture fans are moving up in the corporate world.

As you might have guessed from the restaurant’s geeky name, Robot hopes to tap into that increasingly affluent market. That’s why they dressed Alodia and Ashley as staple characters from popular Japanese fiction: sentai, a class of high-kicking, robot-riding Japanese costumed superheroes. If you’re familiar with Power Rangers, those guys are sentai.

That Alodia and Ashley themselves are Japanese pop culture mavens certainly adds to the credibility of their endorsement. As you can see from these photos of the sisters in their superhero tights, these fine Filipina cosplayers can save the world with their looks alone.

Alodia Gosiengfiao (left) and Ashley Gosiengfiao (right)

(Photos by Nick Santiago.)

Filipina Net idol Alodia Gosiengfiao is the queen of cosplay in the Philippines. As a consequence of that distinction, Alodia’s become an icon for Japanese pop culture in the Philippines.

That’s why she’s in demand as an endorser for just about anything influenced by Japanese pop culture. Alodia and her sister Ashley recently did a photoshoot for a trendy new sushi bar in the Philippines’ central business district, wearing costumes inspired by Japanese superheroes. Now Alodia dons a stylized samurai outfit to endorse Kojie San, a Japanese line of skincare products.

Interestingly enough, Alodia beat mainstream Filipina actresses and Brazilian models for the Kojie San endorsement deal. She didn’t even bring a traditional model portfolio to the audition — just her cosplay pictures on her iPhone. Having endorsed all sorts of other niche products throughout her career, from anime DVDs to video games, this fine Filipina cosplayer is making quite a name for herself as an alternative model.

Video podcaster Gary Vaynerchuk espouses that the Internet enables people to cash in on their passions, no matter how niche. That’s exactly what Alodia is doing. “Being compensated for what you really love doing, in my case cosplay,” says the young Filipina Net idol, “is more than I could ever ask for.”

In case you’re wondering, that’s a real sharpened katana she’s wielding. Watch out for this geek girl — Alodia’s rapidly cutting a path to bigger and bigger things.

Matrix fans will also note that Jerry reenacts some of Jue’s gestures in these photos — from sword grips to licking lips to peeking.

Like many international fashion models, Phen has developed quite a passion for shopping. She boasts an impressive collection of Louis Vuitton bags, with Prada and Chanel on the side. In case prospective suitors want to add something to her collection, she dreams of owning a Hermes.

As adventurous as she is cosmopolitan, Phen loves to get wet and wild with water sports. When she’s not buying designer leather across Asia’s most happening cities, you’ll find her surfing and wakeboarding across the Philippines’ most beautiful beaches.

You would think that a woman with such a well-developed taste for travel and adventure and luxury wouldn’t be very down-to-earth. You’d be wrong. Phen grew up in the mountains of Baguio, having moved to the Philippine capital of Manila only three years ago. In matters of health and the heart, she’s very much the fresh-air mountain lass. She has no vices: she doesn’t drink, and she doesn’t smoke. She also rejects the bluster and bravado of the big-city bad boys of Manila, preferring instead the nice respectful highland boys of Baguio. Even her favorite book is all about staying grounded: The Purpose Driven Life.

Take note, guys: if you’re going to get her that Hermes, you’d better be totally nice about it. Be funny, too: Phen likes guys with a sense of humor.

Phen is a study in contrasts: a jet-set cosmopolitan surfer girl who’s into nice guys and clean living. Her smile is as sweet as her personality, her look as classy as her lifestyle. This fine Filipina combines the best of two opposing archetypes: the sophisticated model and the charming country girl.

After portraying the supernatural warriors of Witchblade on the first day of Anime Festival Asia 2009, Filipina cosplayer sisters Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao chose to cosplay friendlier characters on the second day. This time, they portrayed pretty mascots from the blog of top geek culture blogger Danny Choo.

Fittingly enough, Danny’s mascots themselves are sisters. Alodia cosplayed the blonde Mirai Suenaga, while Ashey cosplayed the fuschia-haired Haruka Suenaga.

(Photos via Gordon Ho and Chung Kar Loong.)

Once again, Filipina cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao manages to look beautiful, geeky, and deadly all at once. Along with her sister Ashley, Alodia performed on stage at the recently concluded Anime Festival Asia 2009. The girls looked absolutely resplendent portraying Amaha Masane and Shiori Tsuzuki from the anime Witchblade.

Click here for behind-the-scenes photos, and a video of their onstage performance.

(Photos by Danny Choo and The Banzai Effect.)