UnCon-Eventional Stories are event recaps more on the event itself than the experience.
Wonder what the event is like in the field? Check out, A Con-Eventional Story: Tanabata Matsuri & Anime Street
Credits to the Gemini Events Official Facebook for the featured image, and the various images seen in this post.
I DO NOT own the rights to any of these photos (If mentioned), ALL rights belong to Gemini Events.
Introduction
Ooh, ain’t that neat.
Have you ever heard the tale, of Darth Plagueis the Wise Tanabata?
An ancient folktale of 2 gods turned lovers, forcibly separated by the powers above them, with a sort of ‘merciful punishment’ of allowing them to reunite for 1 day.
The same day where people would make wishes, in hopes that the reunited couple will see said wish, and make it come true.
…which sums up what the Tanabata in Tanabata Matsuri is about.
The FAQ is this?
Tanabata Matsuri & Anime Street is a small scale 2-day event held at The School Jaya One, somewhere in Petaling Jaya.
Organized by the folks from Gemini Events, who you may recognize as the same blokes who hosted a similar event at Atria Mall from a few months back.
On the surface, it is an interesting blend of what an ACG event offers, plus the cultural stuff that’s often pretty absent unless it’s something an event mentions as part of its main shtick.
First Contact
The first indication of Tanabata Matsuri’s existence came on June 10th, via a cover photo update on the Gemini Events page, signalling the event’s coming in about a month.
With an Event Page created for it as well, on the same date.
Registration Open Season
- Credits to Gemini Events for the image.
June 14th – First call for Adults & Kids cosplay competition Registration
June 22nd – Second call for Adults & Kids cosplay competition Registration
June 24th – Event’s Workshop Registration.
What was unmentioned here was the on the spot registrations for the food eating contests on Day 1 & Day 2 of Tanabata Matsuri.
An odd thing to skip promoting I find. 🤔
Lineup Starts Here
- Credits to Gemini Events for the image.
Joining Tanabata Matsuri from all over Malaysia comes performers aplenty.
Many of which you’re more than likely to have seen in action at least once in the many lineups of events before this.
There’s singers, dancers, DJs, and Dance/Singer combos, taking turns on stage in short.
…go look up the event vids on Facebook, I guarentee you, ye will not be disappointed.
- Credits to Gemini Events for the image.
Joining the stage is also a Cosplay Make-up workshop, conducted by one of the Guest Cosplayers attending the event.
With a cosplay make-up workshop that has attendees watching a hapless willing volunteer spend about half an hour getting their faces worked on.
Only to come out looking simply fabulous.
- Credits to Gemini Events for the image.
Returning to the roles of guest judges for the cosplay competition comes two familiar faces as seen from the Atria Event a couple of months back.
Also no, one of them is not a dude, don’t be rood. >:
Both of them are ladies, one of them just happens to pull off the dude look really really well. 👀
Last and certainly not least, a promotional pic for the Anime Street, and Food Stalls.
That was…kinda accurate.
There was a Takoyaki booth too, just so we’re clear.
The Good Goods
The Good Goods brings you ALL the best bits an event has to offer!
Please keep in mind this is only for the current iteration of this event, which may or may not repeat for future events.
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Clarity of Culture
Say what you will about ACG events, but one thing I’ve always liked about events was them offering that one…something, that makes it stand on its own.
Especially the small ones.
Tanabata Matsuri itself, in the name, already shapes itself to be a fantastic idea that has a lot of potential to do well.
Since the event was a mix of cultural dances mixed with songs from ancient times, that’s complimented by modern day performances which balances each other.
This is before we event talk about the amount of workshops on offer, the yukata tryout booth and the promised anime street of stuff.
And the best part?
It helps remind the public that ACG events are not just hamfisted events featuring only cosplay, games and a whole lot of…not much else.
Without cultural elements to balance the contents of ACG events out, we’re basically promoting the wrong perspective about Japan.
Especially with the whole ‘Japan only has anime, games, cosplay etc’ mentality.
Which is a very distorted perspective towards Japan as a whole, which can be rather disrespectful.
I’m not saying it’s wrong for events to have what they’ve always had, since it’s been around for super long already.
I’m saying that it doesn’t harm either side by having cultural celebrations alongside ACG stuff.
Which again, can benefit not just the ACG scene as a whole, but also take out the stereotype trash perspective certain parties may have about Japan.
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The Tanabata Advantage
One great thing that Tanabata Matsuri has going for it is the celebration of this one specific festival.
In theory, if you play your cards right, you could potentially forge a pretty natural event that’s complimentary to the cultural themes of Tanabata itself.
The point here is to get the elements of Tanabata working for the event, so you can better inform your audience about Tanabata itself.
Let’s look at the folk tale story for a bit.
Notice how the story’s two characters are both ‘gods’ and ‘lovers’.
For the ‘god’ context, you could make stuff that’s themed towards the two gods themselves, like…mascots or something.
For the ‘lovers’ context, you don’t exactly have to start pairing up every person of the opposite gender together, das just awkward and rood.
Unless they came to the event as a pair, then…sure I guess?
Anyways, the activities you can come up here could involve at least 2 people, like that free to play ping-pong table at the event.
Consistently occupied by people…aw man.
Anyways, this is just 1 idea we came up with, and I’d highly recommend to skip it.
Since it can be kind of a $hit idea compared to the many ideas the organizers could come up with, which is way more likely to be better than what we can come up with. ;-;
In short, consider the things offered by Tanabata itself, and integrate into the event.
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Cheese
Cream Cheese Taiyaki.
Is surprisingly good despite this being a dish usually served cold. 🤔
The Bad Blehs
The Bad Blehs brings up some…bad stuff, about events, which need to be talked about since no event is without issues that can’t be fixed for the future.
Future Organizers and/or spies from other event organizers, you can learn a thing or two of what not to do at your event here. (As a guide, so that you’re not too busy repeating history.)
Please keep in mind these are only for the current iteration of this event, which may or may not repeat for future events.
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Page to Promote
This one’s a bit weird, since this was the first time I’ve seen an event’s promotional material only surface in its Event page.
Outside of the posts that involve calling people to register for the cosplay contests and workshops, most of the event’s performer lineup came only from the Event page itself.
This is a bit strange, since most events would usually publish their promotional material on the event’s page, assuming it has one.
Or the organizer’s page, one or the other.
Since those main pages are more likely to reach a bigger audience than seperate Event pages.
…which, let me level with you for a sec.
And say that Facebook Event pages are a load of wank.
To some degree it’s useful to let people know about your event/s that are coming, but why not just post the promotional material for both the Tanabata Matsuri’s event page and the Gemini Events page as well?
Can’t go wrong with sending out info on both fronts.
Since that way you’d maximize the amount of coverage you could potentially reach.
Also, a mention or two about the booths at the event would be neat to know about as well. ;-;
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“Adults” Cosplay
Not really a big issue but…
Well long story short, let’s just say we ran into some folks who accidentally interpreted this category of cosplay contest as well…
The kind of meaning that involves stuff people do behind closed doors. :monkaS:
…if you haven’t got it already, it’s basically 18+ BS.
I’d suggest a change to uh…Seniors category or something.
To make it still give the same meaning, minus the unintended misinterpretation.
That way, you can still give out rules about what age range qualifies under a Senior category too, to hammer home the point that this one’s for the older kids.
The Sequel?
Uh…well this is awkward.
Because Tanabata is an event who’s celebrations begin on July 7th, things…are a bit tricky here for next year’s iteration.
Since July 7th then is apparently a weekday. ._.
However, it is the organizer’s call if they are up for hosting an event like this again next year, to which we leave it to them to decide.
…having to answer to venue hosts makes event management tricky at times. 🤔
The Verdict
Tanabata Matsuri, in my honest view, is an absurdly small scale event than some events that exist today.
But it does carry with it the hidden potential of a cultural celebration in its name, which if we’re being honest, could wind up being a very effective event.
At featuring the likes of what an ACG event usually has, coupled with cultural celebrations that make it stand out among the ACG events pool.
Like a…Trinity if you will.
Wait, there’s only two elements involved here-
*END*
Author’s Note:
Thank you so much for reading!
If possible, I’d love to hear your feedback on what can we do better.
Be it the bad writing, horrible pictures, or just the fact I need more water, I’d love to hear about it.
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