My "Senpai Noticed Me" Moment: Castlevania's Koji Igarashi

As I said on my About Me entry, I have been on and off the cosplay scene for years now. I just got back to cosplaying last year and the most amazing thing has happened to me.

First, a quick background. I live in the Philippines. We have loads and loads of anime conventions here (sometimes there is one con every week, and other times there are TWO cons happening at the same time, it's crazy) but there is a lack of a full blown gaming conventions over here. So when the Electronic Sports and Gaming Summit was announced, it piqued my interest.


But I wasn't really planning on cosplaying at first. I just want to roam around the con hall with my partner and check out all the games, especially that Final Fantasy XV demo (which I ultimately skipped anyway.) Less than a month from the event however, the organizers revealed that the creator of Castlevania, the main man himself, Koji Igarashi, is coming. Needless to say, we are shook.

I have to admit I haven't finished any Castlevania games yet (you know, I have this really bad habit of not finishing games but that's for another post), BUT. I have been waiting for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night ever since I've heard of it and I can't wait to play it. My partner is also a huge Castlevania fan so we figured, "Yo we gotta meet this guy!" And what better impression to leave on him than a full blown Miriam cosplay!

The best thing about wearing this costume is meeting the man himself, Koji Igarashi! Cant wait to play #Bloodstained! @SwordOrWhip #ESGS2016 pic.twitter.com/ysVi93zO3y

— Jazz Isn't Here (@kaireechuu) November 3, 2016

Fast forward to the event (I really don't want to talk about all the cramming, shipping problems and schedule issues I encountered during the process haha.) I got to meet IGA in the flesh! Even the staff at ESGS were all going "Hey Miriam, Iga's over there, go talk to him!" DUDE. It was so surreal. Me and my partner were totally starstruck. 

Great Miriam cosplay from Day 2! #esgs2016 pic.twitter.com/6UuQi5Xurh

— Bloodstained: RotN (@SwordOrWhip) October 30, 2016

I even got featured on the official Bloodstained Twitter page AND on one of the Bloodstained Kickstarter update spotlight! Talk about a senpai moment.

Check out my partner's happy face hahaha.

Iga is a really nice guy. He was just walking around the convention by himself, signing autographs and taking selfies and photos with everyone. It's amazing.

I really hope more game developers visit my country in the future. There were some big names at ESGS (Bandai Namco and Playstation were there, and Ubisoft just started a business here in the PH) and we are hoping for more to come! It's nice to go to a gaming con for a change!

PS: I didn't get to play the Bloodstained demo. The line was soooo long.