My Anisama World Experience - Anisama World in Manila 2025

Despite all the hurdles that arose, I'm happy to be able to experience ANISAMA WORLD 2025 here in the Philippines 🥹🫶🏻✨. But before I share my experiences, let me recount my story of how I desperately wanted to attend the concert...

My main reasons for wanting to attend are:

- FLOW

- Hiroshi Kitadani

- ASH DA HERO

- the venue, Araneta Coliseum

FLOW has been part of my Animé journey since my childhood (Naruto, Code: Geass, Eureka7, and more). I've been following their journey for a long time. They have already been a guest performer here in the Philippines, but I was not able to attend (I forgot the reason why). It will be my second time to meet Kitadani-san because I met him first during the APCC event around 2016 (?). Aside from those artists, seeing ASH DA HERO in the lineup hyped me so much more (I recently finished watching Blue Lock via Netflix), and I want to see them perform live. And yes, as I mentioned earlier, the venue is at the Araneta Coliseum. It'll be my first time there, and it's one of my bucket list to watch a concert there, so we bought tickets during the first 10 minutes of online ticket sales.

Before the Concert

After a few weeks, we were invited to be one of the media to cover and review the event. As mentioned above, we already purchased tickets (for my partner and for myself). But instead of us selling the tickets, we gave them to our closest friends as late birthday gifts. One of them is also an avid JPOP enthusiast, so they definitely deserved them 🥹🫶🏻

As the day goes by, rumors are starting to spread that ticket sales are not going well. I can't help not to think that if those rumors were true, the concert might not push through...

The production has been quiet since their very last post around May 19. And finally, just 3 days before the concert, we finally heard an update. The venue changed to New Frontier Theatre, which is actually almost across the Araneta Coliseum. They also announced the concert guidelines, the winners of the signed poster and group photo, etc. There's been a lot of confusion among the concert goers, but the answer from the production is very limited...

I felt relieved that at least the concert would still push through, but I feel sad for those who purchased tickets early and chose their desired seats. The ticket price for a higher tier is expensive, so for me, their reasoning is all valid.

So, back to my reasons for attending, Araneta Coliseum now has an X mark on my list above. I have been at New Frontier Theater already for the Michael Learns to Rock concert before, so it was a bummer 😕 But well, at least it's just a few walks away from the original venue.

After I saw those updates, we are confident and we booked a hotel near the area. We plan to make the most out of it because there's also the BushiRoad event at Gateway Mall, plus it's hard to commute at night.

It's also around that time that I finally decided what to wear for the concert (after so long trying to put my ryousangata outfit together). The clothes and shoes are all from the thrift shop, while the rest of the accessories and decorations are all made by yours truly.

During the Concert

The concert is finally here! We took photos of the stage and had a selfie as we arrived in our seats. During this time, we are still allowed to take some photos inside the venue.

The concert was on time. They started at exactly 7PM. The opening act was every guest singing Hiroshi Kitadani's "We Are!", which is the popular opening song of the Animé, One Piece. Each of the guests is so amazing! Ave Mujica's songs and their attire are definitely on point! I can definitely see that the artists were enjoying performing in front of everyone. 

The opening act "We Are!" (Photo from Wilbros Live Facebook Page).

ASH DA HERO performance is sooo good! I didn't expect it... Every member is so hyped, especially Ash-san! We finally saw Hiroshi Kitadani-san for the 2nd time, and we are glad to see him perform with a larger audience this time 🩷. Seeing FLOW's legendary jump as they perform made my heart swell... It's a dream come true for me to finally meet the JPOP artists that have been part of my childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. The other artists were so amazing, too! MindaRyn, Maeyu Maeshima, Toshiya Miyata-san (!!! 😍), and nobodyknows+ 🥳 I'm having goosebumps and I'm almost teary-eyed throughout the concert. Seeing them live had been a dream come true for me.

FLOW! (Photo from Wilbros Live Facebook Page).

I can definitely see most of the Filipino audience being polite to the person behind their backs. For this concert, you just can't help not to stand and sing along. I'm glad that the artists also encourage everyone to do so. Unfortunately, I've been seeing a lot of people using their phones despite the warnings by the ushers. Unlike KPOP concerts here in the Philippines, JPOP concerts are very strict (even in Japan). So I do hope that others should at least comply and understand...

After the Concert

After the concert, it was raining really hard. It was a good thing that our hotel was just nearby. Complimentary ticket holders don't have the photocard and lightstick freebies, so I asked my friends a favor to have the photocards days before the concert. They got MyndaRyn and Nobodyknows+.

I also saw one of my shop clients! We took some pictures together, and it's fun that we are both wearing Ryousangata for the concert 🩷.

The concert, for me, is definitely one of a kind. As someone who can't afford flying overseas to meet my favorite JPOP artists, seeing them perform here in the Philippines is a core memory that I'll definitely keep.

It's hard to organize such concerts which include a lot of JPOP Artists in one night. JPOP artists' management is strict in its own way. I'm pretty sure that the production here in the Philippines had a rough time, but still, congratulations for making this concert possible.

I just wish that this concert had been marketed well. For the ticket price, I am not really sure if it's too expensive or not, because we are talking about a lot of artists here. I unfortunately saw a lot of clips being uploaded on TikTok *sigh*, and you know what, most comments that I saw were people saying they didn't even know about the concert, and they are very much willing to go. But I guess the news didn't reach them.

(Photo from Wilbros Live Facebook Page).

I do hope that despite all the things that happened, the concert goers still had a great time. Thank you very much, Wilbros Live, for allowing us to experience the concert. We do hope that there will be more of this Anisama World in the future.

How was your experience? Let's talk about it!