As I rekindle my blogging roots, I get back to writing about events. Now that we’re all technically locked up at our homes and aren’t allowed to gather en masse, virtual events have become the norm.
I’ll call this segment “Going Places,” as my mission is to be Mr. Worldwide and go attend all the online events I can visit throughout this quarantine.
First stop: Indonesia
I haven’t stopped talking about Indonesia in terms of Japanese pop culture – we’re basically parallel to them. While majority of the Philippines is Catholic, Indonesia is a Muslim country.
Here’s a quick rundown of all the parallels we have: Eat Bulaga!, It’s Showtime, Rappler (first through an Indonesian bureau, then through a partnership), local CNN branches, as well as Tokusatsu (their BIMA Satria Garuda to our Zaido: Pulis Pangkalawakan).
We’re not that different when it comes to fan reactions, including the cringe ones. My introduction of the country’s cosplay community is that cosplayers with the same costume will avoid each other. Little did I know that an issue similar to this nature will blow up again in my neck of the woods this year.
Another great thing about Indonesia’s J-culture community is the number of related online media that exceeds ours: KAORI Nusantara, Jurnal Otaku Indonesia, Japanese Station, RisaMedia, Nawala Karsa, Duniaku, they even have WibuNews.
Creators Super Stream by AFA Volume 2
The first event on the list is Indonesia’s Creators Super Stream by AFA Volume 2, held in the weekend of June 26 to 28. I have to put emphasis on the “by AFA” branding as it’s under Southeast Asia’s biggest event network related to the anime culture.
CSS held their physical events at Surabaya and Jakarta last year, and among their notable guests is 22/7’s Sally Amaki. The first Creator Super Stream was broadcast online for free last May 20 on Facebook Live.
How am I able to watch?
Unlike the first CSS, this three-night encore with exclusive content and guest stars is a paid event. A single-day ticket will cost you IDR 20,000 plus card processing fees, for a total of around IDR 25,600 – that’s Php90 for you. It took me 90 pesos to get into exclusive content.
Exclusive Content
The main reason why I got a ticket on the opening night as that’s dedicated to Virtual YouTubers in Indonesia: The Indonesian branch of Cover Corp’s hololive Production and Ichikara Inc’s Nijisanji, plus local group MAHA5 (say Maha panc[h]a).
If you want a deeper reason, sure, I’ll say it: Risu Ayunda.
Those who have been following me on Twitter would know that I’m hooked on Risu (which I fondly refer to as Indonesia’s answer to cute doggo Inugami Korone), who is very active on Twitter as well.
Risu is cute, period.
While there’s no subtitles to understand what they are saying, watching Risu along with her hololive ID colleagues Airani Iofifteen and Moona Hoshinova chat with Nijisanji ID’s Hana Macchia and ZEA Cornelia is a rare opportunity.
The versus matches are exciting, and the 100 seconds challenge gave us a glimpse of VTubers in Indonesia, which I really appreciate knowing that I am listing two VTubers to subscribe to.
There are also major announcements coming form event partners, and some of them do pack quite a punch.
Assessment
By my standards, shedding around a 90 pesos is a good deal for me to see content for more than 2 hours. The first night garnered hundreds of viewers, which is great!
One of the requirements in enjoying an online event is a stable internet connection, so I was wondering why I’m dropping out even with a stable connection? Perhaps I happen to chance upon a downtime on my end. I thought the stream got broken, but it was just my internet connection dropping out.
That said, I’m happy to watch the Creators Super Stream even for just one night. I’m sure the Art and Cosplay nights are as exciting as the VTuber night, and it’s a good choice for the event team to organize the activities based on niches.
Should there be more Creators Super Streams (or any AFA Online event), I’m confident that I’ll attend it. Congratulations to the team, and see you there in person soon.
Since I mentioned that recording the stream is not allowed, I settled with taking photos of my screen, and only two photos will be appearing here.
I am very well aware of the consequences but at the least I’d love to save a keepsake.
This event is also featured in my latest video now on YouTube:
