PGS 2025’s Meet & Greet Highlights
We also managed to attend both Kamen Joshi’s and Marika Kohno’s respective Meet & Greets on the second floor of the convention center.
During Marika Kohno’s meet and greet, she shared her experiences during her stay in the Philippines, which included the adjustment from Japan’s fall cold weather to transitioning to the Philippines’ tropical weather in November, enjoying the fruits here in PH and as well as her performance during Day 3 she quoted that its like doing a live karaoke with fans with everyone knowing the Japanese lyrics to the songs especially with the Uma Musume songs, she was very happy and overjoyed with the MC hyped the audience which gave her more energy during her performance.
Aside from her experiences here in the Philippines, she also answered some questions asked by the MC during her meet and greet, which includes how does she builds the character she is portraying for a series, she stated that she focus on imagining herself as the said character she voices, another question involves which character she wants to play in the future, she mention she wanted to voice Pikachu but asides from that but as the experience of voicing a popular mascot character in Japan was her long dream as a child, she also done her own version of Pikachu’s voice after answering the question.
She also answered some questions related to her fans. She mentioned that she enjoyed hearing fans share their respective stories on why they love the characters she voiced, as its the most happiest thing that she can hear as a seiyuu. One notable moment for her was during Day 2’s meet and greet when one of her fans said that they were following her for almost 10 years. Marika also gave a message to her fans to the Philippines as she shared that she had already in the seiyuu industry for 11 years and her first time doing a meet and greet session in the Philippines, she was very happy for the warm welcome and cheering the PH fans brought to her during her performance.
Five fans also managed to ask a question during her meet and greet. The first fan was a long-time fan who visited the Uma Musume 4th Live Event “Special Dreamers” up to the recent 6th Live Event “The New Frontier” where he mentioned to Marika, “Okaeri Marika” as well as asking about the performance with Uesaka Sumire during Day 1 of the 6th Live. Marika said that everytime someone remembers “Okaeri Marika”, emotions are flowing to her and she is thankful for it.
Another fan asked if she had more time for her stay in the Philippines, which places would she like to visit, she answered that she would like to visit the sea while eating fruits, as she knows that the PH is ranked 3rd for the beaches.
Two of the fans asked her about singing-related questions, with one asking what other songs she likes. She answered that she likes to sing Japanese songs that are known globally, which is one of the reason for her setlist as she wants to connect with her fans. She also likes to sing songs that are sung by Yukari Tamura and Horie Yui. The second question was advice on what to aim for singers. Marika answered that singing is not really her speciality and she doesn’t know if she can give good advice, but she said that she really likes to do character-related songs where she excels at it. She usually images herself as the character and knows their emotions on how the character will sound like her.
Lastly, our very own event correspondent, Jersey, also managed to ask the last question to Marika. He was also a long time fan of Marika since her Akiba Trip’s The Animation/Earphones era. He asked about Marika’s experience as a solo artist and the meaning behind the titles of her two songs, New Story, the opening theme song for Seirei Gensouki, and Love & Moon, the ending theme song for Beast Tamer. Marika explained that for New Story, she’s imagining of trying to meet someone new, while for Love & Moon, she said that it’s like she and her fans are connected even if were miles apart from one another.
As the meet and greet came to a close, Marika shared a final message. She thanks everyone in the meeting room for the support, as well as the invitation PGS gave to her. She was very happy, and she wants to make more memories in the Philippines and wants to come back again to meet everyone.
As for Kamen Joshi‘s meet and greet segment. It was a really fun interaction with the group, though for those not familiar with them, they actually were missing a member who is not with them who was left in Japan at the time, Tomoka Igari, who is currently in a wheelchair due to her ongoing therapy due to a case of paraplegia (caused by spinal cord injury). They enthusiastically introduced her to everyone with a picture of her from their phone (like a soul pic) for everyone to see.
Fast forward to the meet and greet segment, the members of the group kept their high energy in answering everyones questions which were also in full Japanese, but in respect for other fans that were present who are not fluent in Japanese, the girls tried their best to convey their feelings in English to each and every question. From being asked for what they’re known for, what they think of each other, to their experiences in the industry up until their short stay here in the Philippines which they really enjoyed, with a bit of a shock due to how hot it is here as it is already Winter in Japan.
One notable interaction in the whole meet and greet segment is from this lady who attended not for her own, but for her brother who has passed away and was a very dedicated fan of the group. As the girls from Kamen Joshi were saddened by the news, you can see from their faces that they were touched with this lady’s gesture for her beloved brother that also brought merchandizes which her late brother had collected while he was still with us. The merch which were shown to the girls looked like they were from the early days of their career which left them in awe.
In this short but heartfelt interaction between these hardworking idols and their fans, it is without a doubt that a bond and influence if artists and their fans transcends time and it continues in the hearts of everyone, even those who are no longer here.
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