PRISM Love in the Philippines

If there’s one thing which Shogun—the producer for Sony Music Virtual’s PRISM Project—has told me, it’s that the Philippines is among the top 5 active countries across the project’s demographic. The country joins the US, Japan, Indonesia and in some cases Australia when it comes to audience reception by country.

It’s with this fact in mind that PRISM Project enters one of the country’s biggest pop culture events, Cosplay Mania. PRISM agents Rita Kamishiro, Shiki Miyoshino and Ami Amami spent one Saturday with the Filipino audience, meeting them up close and personal.

The meet and greet sessions, held individually at Meeting Room 4, gathered a modest but loyal audience. Most of them have known the VTuber agency for an average of 1 to 2 years.

The PRISM lovers have their share of experiences meeting their idols in person: One RKngel (a fan of Rita) told me it felt “like meeting my heroes.” In some instances, it was the Rita who asks her fans.

When it was my time to talk to Rita one-on-one, she appreciates the super nice welcome of the Filipino audience towards her and her fellow agents, thanking us for the warm welcome. The support given to them would mean the world to her—regardless of if they’re long-standing RKngels or newly-introduced viewers.

Side note: While I was unable to meet and greet Shiki, I touched base with someone who did. The conversation, he told NewsDrop, was pretty casual. Contrary to his anxiousness moments before he got in, he went out feeling much better.

Meeting time took a break as we transition to the Main Crunchyroll Stage for a special game segment: A well-researched game segment based on local hit game show “Pilipinas, Game K N B?” (Philippines, Are You Game?).

The full hour spent on playing two quiz games featuring topics such as Anime, the Philippines and even normie culture in front of a modest audience was excitingly fun to watch till the last minute.

Afterwards, I made it to the meet and greet with Ami, one of the new-generation talents who debuted this year because of the 2022 General Audition. We both agree that their stage segment was well-researched. It just felt so familiar to me.

The last time I catch up with Ami was when she was playing Only Up. Expecting that she would share her frustration with the open-world exploration game once I asked, she told me she enjoys it: Each time she falls, it gets easier to go back up. Once she gets back from her travels, she aims to finish the game in its entirety.

Just before the concert night where Shiki is set to perform, PRISM lovers concluded the fruitful meet-and-greet sessions. As we part ways, I kept with me the feeling of community that resides in everyone who loves the project and its agents: "PRISM Love!"

Shiki's performance was historical, as her record label debut song hanahaki syndrome, as well as the agency's anthem Be the Light, were first performed in a live concert.

At the end of the day, most of us have the same sentiment when we decided to be present at the 15th year of the annual cosplay event: “I wouldn’t be here if not for PRISM, to be honest.”

Updated October 2, 2023 with an additional sidenote for Shiki's meet and greet.